Ethan's chest heaved as he stepped back into the now-familiar circular chamber. Each breath felt like fire, his body heavy and exhausted from the brutal trials he had faced—each one more grueling than the last. The echoes of his friends' voices, twisted and accusing, still reverberated in his mind, gnawing at his psyche. He had confronted his fears, doubts, and guilt, but the weight of those encounters lingered like scars on his soul. Now, he stood at the threshold of something even greater, something more profound than he could yet grasp.
Closing his eyes, Ethan let the silence of the chamber wash over him. The air, once oppressive and stifling, now seemed alive, humming with an otherworldly energy. It was a subtle vibration that set his nerves on edge, a quiet tension like the calm before a storm. Bracing himself for the next trial, he waited. But as the silence stretched into suffocating stillness, unease crept in.
Then the light changed.
