I woke up with a sharp gasp, my body jolting upright, as if a cold hand had yanked me out of the dark abyss I had just been in.
My head throbbed, and my limbs felt heavy, as if I had been submerged in water for hours. I struggled to open my eyes, but the oppressive darkness around me made it hard to see anything clearly.
Slowly, as my vision adjusted, I realized I was still in the cave.
The cold, jagged walls loomed above me, just as before.
The mana crystals embedded in the stone, which had dimmed earlier, were now glowing again—except this time, their light was different.
They shimmered with an otherworldly, ethereal glow that bathed the entire cave in an eerie, pale blue hue.
It was unsettling, like the light was alive, pulsing faintly with its own breath.
I blinked hard, trying to focus, and my heart sank as I saw my friends lying unconscious beside me.
My throat tightened, panic surging through me.
