The echo of Mormont's laughter still lingered in the back of her mind, but it was drowned out by something much worse.
Screams.
She skidded to a halt.
Her heart stopped.
Valeria was burning.
The city she had once called home, the city that had flourished under her father's rule, was now an inferno of death and destruction. Flames licked at the sky, thick black smoke twisting upward, blotting out the stars. The once-beautiful stone streets glowed orange with fire and red with blood.
And at the heart of it all—
The Golvon.
The monstrous beast towered above the city, its massive form wreathed in flame, its molten eyes reflecting the hell it had unleashed. Buildings crumbled under its claws. People fled in every direction, screaming, weeping, burning.
Ariel's breath hitched.
She knew war. She had seen battles, had witnessed death—but this…
This was a massacre.
