Prayer to Shadow

You reach out and gently brush your hand against a delicate veil of shadows. Your senses suddenly
dull as you feel yourself pulled into the entrancing darkness. As your senses return, you find
yourself beneath a beautiful night sky.

The Fulcrux of Nocht.
The image of a beautiful nighttime sky has been stretched across the fulcrux. Dim stars struggle
futilely to compete with the terrifying beauty of Mother Night. The ethereal image wavers on
occasion, the sky rippling like water in a pond. A lonely hill covered in tall grass leads up to a
single shrine. Behind the shrine stands a large blackthorn tree. The tree is taller than most of its
kind, extending upwards rather than outwards. Delicate blossoms shower down from its branches,
creating a flurry of white petals and filling the air with the pungent scent of wyrden foliage. A
complex series of stones orbit around a stygian orb here. A rippling image of a beautiful night sky
has been magically wrapped around the fulcrux here.
You see a single exit leading through an image of the night sky.

The cruel, curved blades of Avaris's taloned feet stab mercilessly into the earth
as he steps within the Fulcrux, and does not pause, striding relentlessly forward with his eyes
focused upon the shrine. Indifferent to the blackthorn petals that drift down to coat him, he does
not bow or kneel, but reaches out to grasp the shrine with a massive, clawed hand, squeezing tight.

Kneeling humbly, you press your palms together before you and close your eyes momentarily as you
pray devoutly to Nocht, the Silent, "[At once hollow and somehow flat, a cold array of voices speak
as one, emanating from a presence that is built from hardened, chill blades of sidereal light - Yet
cored out, empty inside. The words are terse, clipped, and direct.] I have something You want.".

Avaris releases his grip and turns sharply, huge feet impacting heavily as he makes
his way to the exit, his gait mechanical, graceless.