Esteban's cannons struck the place Aurelian had indicated. Mountains, trees, and streams alike were leveled in an instant. The blast bored through dozens of meters of earth, shattering the crust and exposing what lay beneath.0

What remained was a charred wasteland of torn, perforated flesh clinging stubbornly to the fractured rock. The only reason the ground had not collapsed entirely was because veins of sinew and root-like growths bound the soil together.0

Beneath the surface, the hollow underground caverns had long since been filled with flesh—not the bright crimson of living tissue, but a strange pallor that stretched and braced the hollowed spaces to form a grotesque yet coherent structure.0

The beating of wings rose from the ruptured opening. From the subterranean vaults, dragons emerged, twisted beyond recognition.0

Shreds of gore clung to wings not yet fully formed. Their scales were uneven, their hides mottled and raw. Tumorous flesh had grown over their eye sockets, as if a blindfold of living meat had been sewn across their faces. How such aberrations perceived the...0