Adam turned to Garduck, whose breathing stabilised, then spoke in a solemn tone. "There is no turning back from now on. We either succeed or die."
Garduck pushed himself off the floor, his eyes narrowing. "Nothing has changed. I'm right behind you."
Adam walked to the gates of Tartus, grinning. "We started this together. We'll end it together."
"Together."
With Garduck covering his back, he slammed the colossal gates wide open.
Instantly, a rush of suffocating air, heavy and whispering words of suffering, ruffled his hair. He narrowed his eyes on the desolate chain of burgundy mountains covering the horizon like the dried spine of a cosmic creature.
At their feet, golden chains dug into several thousand-meter-tall limbs. They coiled from dripping wounds to pull their grimacing faces against the stone's icy walls—the heads of creatures that had once ruled the cosmos: the Titans.
