The cloacked shadows

This chapter is dedicated to @MonsterUnderTheBed.

Thank you for the supergift.

I love you!!

The chamber was dimly lit, the air thick with an unsettling silence that hung like a shroud over the gathered assembly. A heavy book lay open on the table, its pages empty, yet it seemed to pulse with a hidden power, as if waiting for the right moment to reveal its secrets. Around the book stood a group of figures, their faces obscured by the darkness that clung to the corners of the room. Each of them carried the weight of their master's will, and none dared speak as they awaited the signal.