Chapter 144 - Descent into Darkness

The night breathed secrets. The air hung heavy with tension as Ava descended the cold, narrow staircase leading deep into the earth. Each creak of the ancient wooden steps whispered of forgotten sins, of buried truths desperate to remain hidden. This was no ordinary archive; it was a vault of nightmares, a tomb for the antagonist's darkest memories. The flickering lights cast elongated shadows that danced like specters on the stone walls. Ava tightened her grip on the small flashlight, its beam barely cutting through the suffocating darkness that surrounded her.