Erend saw only darkness and hatred. His mind contained only a single instinct: to protect the people he loved. And to protect them meant destroying everything that threatened them. At this moment that threat was Nyssara. Anything standing between him and that target became nothing more than an obstacle that had to be erased.
Somewhere deep within the endless darkness, a voice continued buzzing at the edge of his mind. It sounded distant and indistinct, almost as though it came from another world. Yet despite the muffled sound, Erend could still sense the emotions carried within it. Concern, fear, sadness. They were reaching toward him with desperate determination.
"Who are they? Why are they reaching for me from beyond this darkness? What is the point... when there is still an enemy that must be destroyed?"
None of it mattered. Nothing mattered. He only needed to keep fighting. He only needed to kill this being!
—
ROOOAAARRR!!
Erend's roar shook the sky.
