The creature outline was vaguely serpentine, but the limited illumination made it difficult to determine its exact shape.
What Thoren could see was enough to tell him that it was considerably larger than any serpent he ever encountered..
For a moment, the serpent remained perfectly still.
Then its head slowly turned toward him.
Thoren's pupils contracted.
Its eyes were unlike anything he had ever encountered.
They were not the simple, instinct-driven eyes of ordinary beasts, nor did they possess the feral savagery he had grown accustomed to seeing in powerful monsters.
Instead, a disturbing intelligence gleamed within them, resembling the cold, calculating gaze of a human who had already decided how to kill his opponent.
The creature was watching him.
Studying him.
And judging him.
For a brief moment, Thoren felt as though he were not the hunter, but prey that had wandered directly into the territory of a far more experienced predator.
