The darkness hit like a tidal wave. Emily screamed, her body slammed into the jagged stone floating in the void. The shattered spear in her hands flared weakly, golden light sputtering like a dying star.The Abyss pressed forward, coiling and twisting, its countless eyes fixed on Adrian’s flickering essence at the core.Grayson struggled to his feet, blood dripping from every cut, sword in hand, and roared into the void. “Emily! Don’t let it win! Push through!”Emily’s vision swam with pain, exhaustion threatening to pull her under. Adrian’s pulse inside the spear shimmered faintly, weak, but still alive. “…I’m still here,” his voice whispered inside her mind. “…Fight…”She gritted her teeth, forcing herself upwarad, despite the crushing force of the Abyss pressing down. She swung the spear fragments, sparks of golden light striking the tendrils that wrapped around the chamber. Each impact sent shockwaves through the hollow void.Adrian’s golden light pulsed stronger as she advanced,

The void pressed against Emily like a living weight, every step forward a struggle against the overwhelming darkness.The shattered spear in her hands pulsed faintly, its golden glow flickering like a candle in a storm. Adrian’s essence throbbed inside, barely alive, struggling against the choking shadows of the Abyss.Emily’s knees buckled, sweat and blood streaking her face. She pressed the shards closer to her chest, forcing herself to focus. “I won’t give up… I can feel you, Adrian… I’m coming…”The Abyss convulsed violently, massive tendrils lashing outward, slicing through floating stone and molten rivers of shadow. Emily dodged, rolling and swinging the shards, sparks of golden light cutting through the darkness.Grayson was beside her, battered, bleeding, but unyielding. “Keep moving! Don’t let it crush you!”The Abyss twisted and contorted around them, turning the void into a labyrinth of molten shadows. Each step Emily took felt like wading through quicksand, every motion me

The first thing Emily felt was pain. A deep, bone-splitting agony that made her wonder if she had been torn apart and put back together wrongly.Her lungs burned as if she were breathing smoke, and every inch of her skin tingled with the cold fire of shadows eating at her flesh.When her eyes opened, there was no light. No sound. Just an endless black ocean pressing against her body. She tried to move her arms, but something bound them chains, slick and burning, coiled tightly around her wrists and chest.A whisper brushed against her ear. “…Do you feel it? This is truth. This is the weight of what you fight.”Her teeth ground together. “Show yourself!”The Abyss laughed. The sound came from everywhere and nowhere, a low vibration that rattled her bones. “…You carry light, child. But light is fragile. Look.”Before her, the shadows parted, revealing Adrian. He hung suspended in the air, arms outstretched, black chains piercing his chest, shoulders, wrists, even his throat.His body wa

The light that erupted when the Abyss crushed the glowing core wasn’t golden, nor was it black. It was both searing brilliance and suffocating darkness woven into a single, violent storm.Emily was thrown back, her body smashing against floating stone, ribs cracking under the impact. She coughed blood, her spear nearly slipping from her hand.The fractured void around her shook violently, shards of space itself peeling away into nothingness. Her ears rang. Her eyes burned. But worse than the pain was the silence. No pulse. No whisper. No Adrian.“Adrian!” she screamed, throat tearing, but only the echo of her voice returned.The Abyss lowered its hand. The remnants of the shattered core dripped through its claws like molten light. Its eyes glowed with cruel triumph. “…It is done. The heir’s flame is extinguished. He belongs to me now.”Emily’s chest heaved. Her hands trembled so violently she thought the spear would dissolve in her grip. “No… no, you’re lying. He’s not gone. I felt hi

Emily plummeted. Her scream was swallowed instantly by the suffocating dark as she tumbled endlessly through the collapsing void. Her hands clawed at nothing, her fingers still tingling from where they had brushed Adrian’s.Her lungs burned. Her chest wound flared with searing pain. Golden sparks bled from her body, snuffed out one by one as shadows clawed at her.The Abyss laughed. A guttural, echoing roar that shook the endless dark. “…You think you broke my chains? Foolish child. He is mine. And now, so are you.”Emily’s tears scattered into the void, shimmering briefly before vanishing. Her voice was hoarse, broken, but fierce. “You won’t have him! You won’t”Her body slammed into something hard. Stone.Emily staggered upright, legs trembling. She stood upon a jagged spire of obsidian, suspended in an infinite sea of writhing shadow. The spire stretched endlessly upward and downward, its surface slick with veins of black fire.Her hands tightened into fists. Her spear shards gone.