Chapter 43: An Old Foe Reborn

Alyssa felt herself fall to the ground, and immediately she began coughing fiercely and inhaling as if all of the air in her lungs had been squeezed out. Once she was able to normalize her breathing and focus her blurry vision, she began to make out several figures clad in black armor and black cloaks standing around her. And suddenly she remembered the gorgon, Derek, and what had happened; but how had she gotten out of that valley and out of that cold, dark shell of stone.

“Who are all of you, and where am I?” Alyssa demanded, but all of the figures just stood there gazing down at her expressionless. It was only after her sight sharpened that she noticed an image of a coiled snake burnished onto the black armor that she put together where she was; the stronghold of Saeraboth Drund. “What have you done to Derek?”