Horam flashed his eyes open, sensing a new presence on the Dune. A long black snake slithered next to him immediately, wanting his attention. Horam chuckled and patted its head lovingly.
"Good morning, my fellow bald friend. It looks like we will have some entertainment today." Horam chuckled. In response, the snake hissed. Both of them then shifted their attention to the huge mirror in their base, where they could clearly see a lone man standing in the poisonous miasma.
"How long do you think that this one would last?" Horam smirked. The snake hissed. "I think so too buddy. Maybe a minute. Even that would be giving him too much credit.
The two continued watching when, suddenly, something surprising happened. A lot of miasma started gathering around the man, or to be more specific, his corpse. Obviously, no one could survive all that miasma. But his corpse seemed to possess something unique.
Horam’s eyes immediately lit up with excitement. A lot of his order members were currently on the move, and right now, he was the only one in the base. And it looked like this was his lucky day. He had stumbled into something truly extraordinary.
The corpse should have an amazing item on it to make the miasma react like this. Without wasting any more time, Horam immediately took out a potion and drank it. He then started climbing up a spiraling staircase, his slithering friend hissing alongside him.
As Horam reached the top of the staircase, the potion’s effects kicked in, turning his pupils slitted and his skin faintly translucent. His veins glowed faint green as his body adapted to the outside miasma.
When he reached the final gate, a massive door carved with various sigils, he pressed his hand to the center sigil. The gate moved, allowing him passage. Horam enthusiastically stepped outside, but the moment he did, he froze. The sight that greeted him was not what he had expected.
The man, no, the "corpse", was standing upright. Not dissolving. Not melting. Not even breathing heavily. The swirling miasma that should have erased his existence was instead orbiting him like a living storm. Each breath the stranger took pulled more venom into his body.
Horam’s grin faltered. His snake hissed uneasily. "What... in the name of..." he muttered, eyes widening.
Damon slowly turned his head, his crimson eyes glowing faintly through the haze. The corners of his lips curved upward in a dangerous, almost amused smirk. "Found you."
Horam’s blood ran cold. The miasma itself seemed to obey the man’s will, coiling and tightening around him like a throne of poison made flesh.
"You..." Horam began, but the word stuck in his throat. The miasma pressure alone made it hard to breathe. His snake hissed violently, baring fangs, but even it seemed reluctant to lunge forward.
The members of their order had some resistance to the poisonous miasma, but even they weren’t completely above it. They needed to consume the antidote potion beforehand, and even that granted them only a few seconds of immunity. But this man...
Damon stepped through the swirling poison casually as if none of it bothered him anymore. His gaze locked on Horam with predatory focus. "You’re with the Venom Sigil, aren’t you?"

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