The moment I crossed the threshold, the temperature plummeted. The air was thick and oppressive, pressing down on my chest with an unnatural weight. The world beyond the gate was nothing but shadows—shifting, writhing, as if the darkness itself were alive, watching us.
Raven was right beside me, her grip firm on my hand, grounding me. Leif and Zara followed closely, their faces tense but determined. We had come too far to turn back now. There was no more running, no more hiding. The entity was here, and it was waiting for us.
The ground beneath our feet was slick with a strange, oily substance that seemed to ripple with every step we took. The sky—if there even was a sky—was a swirling mass of black clouds, flashes of sickly green lightning illuminating the vast expanse of shadows. Every nerve in my body was on high alert, the crystal inside me pulsing in sync with the dark energy that surrounded us.
