The chamber carved from impossibly dark stone remained detached from the mortal world as it had been for centuries.
It existed in a fold between realms, severed from the terrestrial geography of the Four Kingdoms.
Within these unyielding basalt walls, no daylight could penetrate, no whisper of weather could drift, and the passage of mortal time was stripped of all meaning.
Even if a man were to strike an alchemical match or kindle a tallow candle, the abyssal properties of the stone would drown the flame within a span, leaving him blind beyond the tips of his own fingers.
The only illumination in the void emanated from the circular table dominating the center of the floor.
A pale, ethereal blue light pulsed from a smooth glass orb embedded flush with the table's surface. It cast a cold, shadowless radiance across the assembled figures, painting their flesh in the ghastly, bloodless hues of corpses laid out on an embalmer's slab.
