His voice was a velvet whisper stretched over something feral.
"I have been waiting for your arrival for ten thousand years." The smile widened. The fangs caught the fractured jungle light. "Drop your shield."
Serena froze.
Her eyes flashed pink. Then gold. Then unfocused, the sharpness dissolving into something glassy and vacant.
Her shield fell.
The gold dome flickered, destabilized, and collapsed.
Seven people stood in a jungle clearing with nothing between them and the creature in obsidian armor.
"SERENA!" Dex roared.
Too late.
The creature moved.
It crossed the distance at Alpha speed. Faster, maybe. The space between where it had been standing and where Serena was standing disappeared in a blur that registered as motion only after the motion was complete.
