Chapter 24: Beneath the Bones
The deeper Elric descended, the more the air changed.
At first, it was the stillness—thick and unmoving, like something watching in the dark. Then came the scent. Not decay, not mold. It smelled like blood mixed with rain... and something floral.
He didn't like it.
Behind him, Veyra's steps were near silent, her blade already drawn. Keera walked with her bow ready, her ears twitching constantly.
They had descended at least two hundred steps then the walls began to change. The rough dwarven stone gave way to something older—smoother, carved not by tools but by... something else.
"Elric," Keera whispered, "this wasn't made by dwarves."
"I know," he replied. "I think this is the Tree's domain now."
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The stairs ended in a wide, circular chamber. The walls pulsed faintly with veins of red light, like a beating heart slowed to a crawl.
And in the center stood a tree—not alive, but not dead either.
It was stone.