The battle was over, but the damage was everywhere. The Obsidian Spire, once a shining needle of black glass, looked like a tooth that had been left to rot. The walls were covered in a thick, sticky black mold. The ozone smell that Elijah loved was gone, replaced by the heavy, sweet scent of the Prince of Rot. Inside the Hive, 12,000 people were holding their breath. They were safe from the giant demon, but they were still trapped in a poisoned house.Elijah stood in the center of the Great Hall. His new form was terrifying. He was taller than he had been as a human, his skin a matte-black obsidian that seemed to suck the light out of the room. But now, he was different. Faint, glowing purple veins moved under his skin like little rivers of lightning. His eyes were no longer one gold and one black. They were both a deep, royal purple.He felt the power of the Prince of Rot inside him. It was a cold, heavy energy that wanted to break things. But he also felt the starlight of the Ang

The Obsidian Spire stood at the center of the world like a needle made of frozen night. At its very peak, two thousand feet above the ground, there was no roof. There were no walls. There was only a flat circle of dark glass, protected by a thin, shimmering veil of starlight.Elijah sat in the center of this circle. He was not sitting on his throne. He was sitting on the floor, his obsidian legs crossed, his hands resting on his knees. He looked like a statue, but inside, his mind was racing.He was no longer just a man named Elijah. He was the Destroyer-King. The purple veins on his arms hummed with the power of a dead Prince. The gold light in his chest glowed with the power of a stolen star. But most importantly, he was connected. He was plugged into the World-Heart Fragment at the base of the tower.Elijah closed his eyes. He didn't want to see the gray fog or the black walls. He wanted to see everything.He pushed his consciousness down the 200-story shaft, through the roots of