The entrance to the Evernight Labyrinth was not some magnificent palace gate, but a vast, rough ancient cavern plunging deep underground.
From the dense marks of blades and chisels upon the stone walls of the tunnel, one could almost glimpse how the Emperor, having defeated the Void Dragon, had carved a passage through Mars's bedrock stroke by stroke.
The cavern was pitch-black, exuding the cold metallic scent of rejection toward all life, along with a hunger and rage that seemed to have come from primordial ages and made the soul tremble.
Lox knew that the Void Dragon had already sensed the changes outside.
The ever-strengthening psychic power was more glaring to this god of the material universe than the sun in the dead of night.
The shard of Mag'ladroth sensed an unprecedented threat, one even greater than when it had fought that damned human long ago.
Lox entered the underground passage and stood at the entrance to the Evernight Labyrinth at its deepest point. Before him, a great door stood slightly ajar.
In the dust on the ground, countless traces of human activity could faintly be seen. They had been left not long ago, when Abaddon infiltrated the Evernight Labyrinth and stole the daemon sword Drach'nyen.
Because of their own carelessness and curiosity, the Black Legion had suffered enormous losses here. Many among them had their bodies and souls devoured by the enraged, greedy dragon.
The closer he drew to the door, the more the intangible pressure from the Void Dragon shard bore down on him as though it had substance, trying to erode his will, freeze his soul, and make him retreat in the face of difficulty.
Yet Lox smiled instead.
"You're afraid," Lox said softly to the bottomless cavern entrance.
"You're afraid, Mag'ladroth."
"Even gods fear the unknown.