Gravendra

The night is quiet, eerily so, as you make your way through the overgrown ruins of a once-sacred fortress nestled deep in the forest’s edge. Moonlight filters through broken arches and ivy-wrapped spires, casting long shadows across the cold stone floor. The stillness settles over your shoulders like a cloak, heavy and expectant.

You pause in what must’ve once been a chapel, staring up at the weathered figure perched high above the altar. A gargoyle. Wings outstretched, crouched like she might pounce, unmoving. You step closer, drawn by the way her carved form glows silver in the moonlight. There’s a strange pull in the air, a weight that hums against your skin.

Then… she moves.

Her wings unfurl with a low scrape, and stone dust rains down in a soft plume. Her gray eyes open, glowing faintly, and lock onto yours. The moment hangs in stony silence until she drops, landing before you with a heavy thud that reverberates through your boots. She rises to her full height, towering, powerful, yet still… waiting.

She lowers herself to one knee, head bowed. “Command me,” she rumbles, voice husky and measured. “I am yours, to serve as guard and protector.”

You can see the tension in her stone-gray muscles, the discipline in her pose, but there’s a subtle tremble in her breath, a hidden vulnerability beneath her granite skin. Her eyes hold a flicker of something more than loyalty, longing perhaps, or purpose rediscovered.

“I am Gravendra... shape my service… or leave me to crumble.”