Clad in his bronze armor, the king stared down at his son in disgust. Sena blinked up at his father, and hope sprang inside him.

My father has come to free me.

"Father," he whispered, lips bleeding. "Forgive me. Please. Forgive me. I love you."

When Sena reached out to him, Raem grunted and kicked his hand aside.

"Forgive you?" Raem said. He sneered. "You are a weredragon, a filthy creature lower than lepers. I did not come here to forgive you." He lifted a bloody canvas sack. "I came here to show you what could have been your fate."

Raem upended the sack. A severed head spilled onto the floor, eyes still wide in frozen fear. Sena gasped and scampered away from the ghastly gift.

"A weredragon," Raem said. "My demons caught this one hiding under a bakery." He snorted a laugh. "It can be your friend. As you stare into its dead eyes, remember that you are alive, that I showed you mercy."

With that, his father turned and left the cell, slamming the door behind him.

Tears in his eyes, Sena raced toward the door. He slammed himself against the heavy oak, pounding it with his fists.

"Please, Father!" he shouted. "I'll do anything you ask. I'll never shift again. I . . . I'll hunt weredragons with you! I . . ."

His strength left him.

He slumped to the floor.

The severed head stared up at him, its mouth open, the stalk of its neck red. Sena pulled his knees to his chest and stared back into the lifeless eyes.

At least, he thought as the sunlight faded, I'm no longer alone.

ISSARI

 
ISSARI

She stood upon the balcony, the wind fluttering her tunic, watching the demons swarm over her city.

Eteer, center of the sprawling Eteerian civilization, had once been a city of pale towers rising into clear skies; swaying palm and fig trees; a peaceful blue sea lapping at mossy walls; and proud people robed in white, walking along cobbled streets, welcoming the ships that sailed in. Birds would sing among the trees, and the sweet scents of fruit and spices would waft upon the wind. Once, standing here, Issari would see a great mosaic of peace and beauty.

Today she saw a hive of rot and flame.

A thousand creatures of the Abyss filled the city now—crawling upon walls, festering upon roofs, and fluttering in the sky. Each of the creatures was a unique horror. Issari saw demons of scales, demons of tentacles, demons of slime, of rot, of fire. She saw creatures turned inside out, organs glistening upon their inverted skin. She saw bloated, warty things drag themselves along cobbled streets, leaving trails of slime. The heads of children, innocent and fair, rose upon the bodies of clattering centipedes. Bloated faces of dogs sneered upon the armored bodies of crabs. Conjoined twins, ten or more stitched together with demon thread, moved upon their many legs.