The moment the shadows lunged, the temperature dropped to an unbearable degree. Ice crystals formed midair, the very moisture in their breath freezing before it could dissipate.
Then, the darkness coalesced, twisting into the monstrous form of a being long lost to time, a guardian of the frozen ruins, an abomination that had awoken to reclaim what had been taken.
It was massive, its body formed of jagged ice and the remnants of shattered stone. Its eyes gleamed with an unnatural light, cold fire burning from within the hollow recesses of its skull.
A crown of frozen spikes jutted out from its head, and its claws, long, serrated, and wickedly sharp, clinked together as it moved.
With an ear-splitting screech, the Ice Warden charged.
Azedreo barely had time to leap aside, holding the unconscious woman tightly as Aryndale met the monster head-on.
His sword struck against the beast's crystalline form, sparks of magic igniting along the blade.
