The silence was absolute. A cold, impenetrable void surrounded me, pressing against my skin, seeping into my thoughts. There was no sound, no light, just an endless abyss. I couldn't tell if my eyes were open or closed, if I was standing, floating, or falling. Time seemed to have lost all meaning.
But then, out of the nothingness, came a voice soft, distant, familiar.
"Marcus…"
It was Evelyn's voice, barely a whisper, echoing through the void. I turned toward the sound, straining to hear it again.
"Marcus… I'm here…"
"Evelyn!" I called out, my voice sounding weak and hollow in the darkness. I took a step forward, but there was no ground beneath my feet, no resistance. I was moving, but it felt like I wasn't going anywhere. Panic clawed at the edges of my mind.
"I'm here, Marcus," her voice echoed again, closer this time.
"Where are you?" I shouted, my voice trembling. The darkness was suffocating, pressing in on all sides. My heart pounded in my chest, the fear gnawing at me.
"Just… keep moving," she said, her voice still distant but growing stronger. "I'm right here."
I pushed forward, driven by the sound of her voice. Every step felt like wading through thick, invisible molasses. The void resisted my every movement, although I was scared to death but I kept going, desperation fueling me.
After what felt like an eternity, I saw a faint light ahead—a tiny pinprick in the overwhelming darkness. It flickered weakly, like a dying ember, but it was there, a beacon of hope in the void.
"Evelyn!" I called again, reaching out toward the light.
"I'm here," she replied, and this time, I could almost feel her presence, as if she was just beyond the veil of darkness.
The light grew stronger, pulsing rhythmically, guiding me forward. As I moved closer, the darkness began to thin, the suffocating pressure easing slightly. The light flickered, and I could make out the faint outline of Evelyn's form, shrouded in shadows.
"Evelyn!" I cried, relief flooding through me as I reached out to her.
But just as my fingers brushed against her, the light flared blindingly bright, and the world around us shattered.
I was back in the cavernous chamber, the stone altar looming before us. The shadowy figure still towered over us, its form undulating like smoke. But the darkness was different now—less oppressive, as if the light had weakened it somehow.
Evelyn was beside me, her eyes wide with a mixture of fear and determination. She looked at me, her face pale but resolute. "We have to stop it, Marcus," she said, her voice trembling. "We have to end this."
"How?" I asked, my mind racing. The figure was massive, its presence overwhelming. I could still feel its malevolent power pressing down on us, threatening to drag us back into the void.
"The altar," she replied, glancing at the massive stone slab. "It's the source of its power. We have to destroy it."
I looked at the altar, feeling a surge of dread. It was carved from the same black stone as the peaks outside, and the glowing red runes that covered its surface pulsed with a dark, unsettling energy. Destroying it seemed impossible, but I knew she was right—there was no other way.
As we moved toward the altar, the shadowy figure shifted, its form expanding to block our path. Its eyes burned with a sickly yellow light, and its voice filled the chamber, a chorus of whispers that sent shivers down my spine.
"You cannot win," the figure intoned, its voice echoing through the cavern. "You are nothing but dust, fleeting shadows in the wind. This place… this power… it is eternal, So y'all should give up and give in because it's your faith from the origin and neither you nor your friend or anyone in this world can come against it."
"Maybe," I said, forcing my voice to stay steady. "But we're not going to let you win."
With that, I lunged toward the altar, ignoring the searing pain that shot through my body as I approached the pulsing runes. The air around me grew thick and heavy, as if the darkness itself was trying to stop me, but I pushed forward, driven by a single, desperate thought—this had to end, here and now.
Evelyn followed close behind, her hand outstretched toward the runes. As her fingers touched the stone, the runes flared brightly, and the entire chamber shook with a violent tremor. The shadowy figure recoiled, its form flickering and wavering like smoke in the wind.
"Now!" Evelyn shouted, her voice filled with urgency.
Together, we pressed our hands against the altar, channeling all of our strength, all of our will into the stone. The runes burned with a blinding light, and I could feel the darkness pulling away, retreating, as if the light was burning it from within.
But the figure was not done yet. With a roar that shook the very foundations of the chamber, it lunged at us, its massive form engulfing the altar. The force of the impact sent us both sprawling to the ground, the light from the runes flickering as the darkness closed in once more.
I struggled to my feet, my vision blurred from the force of the impact. The shadowy figure loomed over us, its form more solid now, more real. It reached out with tendrils of darkness, wrapping around the altar, smothering the light. Evelyn was beside me, struggling to rise, her face pale with exhaustion. The runes were dimming, the light flickering weakly as the darkness tightened its grip. We were out of time, and the void was closing in.