A darkness, viscous and heavy, like a living substance, pressed in from every direction, devouring all sound and warping every sense of direction.
This was a desolate region far from the light of the Astronomican, a maze of natural caverns and ancient mine shafts deep beneath the crust of a dead planet.
The air reeked of acrid Sulfur, dry rock dust, and something older and more ominous—a sickly-sweet metallic odor like rust mixed with rancid grease.
Only the occasional wan glimmer from a distant star, seeping through fissures in the towering ceiling, or the ghostly green and deep blue phosphorescence of certain fungi and minerals, faintly outlined the jagged rocks and passages twisted like the bowels of some enormous beast.
Absolute silence ruled here, broken only by the faintest patter of droplets falling from stalactite tips into subterranean lakes, and another sound, heavier and more ominous.
Bang!
A muffled impact suddenly erupted, tearing through the stagnant stillness and raising a brief, distorted echo through the tangled network of caverns.
Then came a second, and a third...
Bang! Bang!
The source of the sounds was moving, accompanied by low, inhuman panting that held back a savage fury, and the teeth-grating rrrip of claws tearing through air and flesh.
In the darkness, an enormous, agile figure, almost indistinguishable from the shadows, lunged and tore at his "prey" with astonishing speed.
Corax now resembled a bird of prey fallen into darkness, driven by the most primal hunting instincts and a profound obsession.
Bare-chested, he carried out this savage, efficient slaughter using only the extraordinary strength and speed of a Primarch, and his altered hands, their fingertips wreathed in gray-black shadow energy so dense it seemed almost solid.
His prey was an equally enormous creature.
Its humanoid outline was barely recognizable, its proportions warped,