a surge of pure , white-hot rage went through him at the sight , a primal fury that brought stars to his eyes and tinged everything he saw with red-and at the same time , it washed through him , coursed through his veins like a river of molten steel while leaving his thoughts sharp , harsh , perfectly clear in a way that had happened only once before : deep in the caverns beneath alera impe-ria , where a mindless agent of the creatures known as the vord had come to murder his friends and his liege .