### As you touch the essence, your mind whispers of various sights and sounds. *The sanctum's causeways. A faded painting. Suspicion and hunger.* Pairs, small groups, muttering. They see us; they scurry away. Patience, stalking, one slips. I drag them off. Shrieking, they break, they snitch. I drag back three more. Aurkus grins; ushering me in to watch. His claw plucks an eye, a fang. Sinew and sanity never snapped so easily. Liars, traitors, and fools. All served up to the Midnight King.