Chapter 218: Ch216. From black skies
Mara sat at her station, hands hovering just above the workbench, but she wasn’t touching anything.
Her gaze was fixed on the small vial of the [Broodmother’s Ichor] that sat in front of her, its dark contents shifting like thick, oily blood. It had been days since she’d first seen it, and even still, something in her bones told her it wasn’t just an item.
It was a message, a warning, maybe even a trap.
The glow of the forge, warm and steady in the background, seemed to dim slightly as Mara narrowed her eyes, focusing more intently.
The ichor didn’t shimmer with the vibrant energy of most artifacts, nor did it hum with anything that felt magical. It was just there, organic, alive, maybe, in a way she didn’t fully understand.
She had turned the vial over in her hands for hours, running her fingers over the surface of the glass, but even now, after feeling it pulse with something she couldn’t explain, it was still dormant.
Unyielding.
Her thoughts, too, were in turmoil, bouncing between the events in the forest and the strange foreboding that had settled in her gut ever since.
That nagging wrongness hadn’t left her. But right now, the ichor seemed... Quieter, less hostile.
A soft exhale slipped past her lips. It almost felt like it was no longer the same thing that had watched her before, but that didn’t make any sense. Nothing made sense these days, and that alone kept her from relaxing.
The forge was eerily quiet, save for the gentle hum of the golem, who was busy somewhere in the background, probably moving supplies or sorting scraps. She was alone here now, left with the sensation that the world outside was too far away for her to hear properly.