It was impossibly large, filling a significant portion of the chamber. Flesh-toned, but with veins that pulsed with a faint, internal light, like slow-moving lava. It breathed, a shallow, rhythmic expansion and contraction that created the heavy, metallic scent in the air. Tendrils, thick as tree trunks, extended from its bulk, disappearing into the surrounding rock. It was utterly, sickeningly alien.
Rattan stumbled to a halt, his breath catching in his throat. His mind, trained in neat categories of flora and fauna, struggled to process the monstrous entity before him. This wasn't a creature; it was… something else. It looked like an organ, magnified to grotesque proportions, yet alive with a disturbing, slow vitality.
"This is the 'Mother'," Vellok said, his voice quiet, devoid of his usual dry amusement. "The source of all goblins, our sign of existence."
Rattan tore his gaze from the pulsating horror to Vellok, his face pale. "The… the Mother? What… what is it?"
