In a single, violent motion, the beast’s hands grasped the leather straps on her breastplate and pulled. The only light came from the glyphs over which they stood that marked their appropriated places around the edge of the vast pillar that rose from the abyss. XXNX There was no sadness in her voice, nor mourning. She felt the claws tear through the under armor as though it were parchment. “She was my sister! “Finally,” Thyriol said. “I claimed this Vessel many years ago, from a planet with a dying sun.” The beast gestured at itself, “This is the last of its kind.”
Alda moved quickly, leaping to her feet. Its right hand held the breast to its mouth while its left hand ran claws lightly over and around her right nipple. She opened her eyes and looked down. She could see herself, upside down in the mirror through the Pale One’s legs. In its base, a single gate, wide enough for one man to walk through.
