The powerful dark energy unleashed from the altar sent shivers cracking through the air repressive force whirling around them, corrupting the once orderly ritual site before Lilly could utter a word in stunned silence as the Grey family struggled to regain control. Panicked now, the air was thick with the scrambling of family members who, just moments before, had been moving with calm precision in some carefully laid plans that were falling apart before their eyes.
Alexander Grey finally rose to his feet as family leader, his face contorted in fear and frustration. His dark robe whipped furiously around him, fed by the swirling winds of the dark magic, yet his voice was steady, commanding attention despite everything that had just happened.
"We have to contain it!" Alexander yelled above the deafening roar of energy, eyes fixed intently on the altar, where the shattered remains of the artifacts lay destroyed. "The entity is breaking free-we must complete the binding!"
But by then, it was far too late. The entity, that ancient eldritch evil, had been fed by their mistakes, breaking its way through the tiniest fissure in the structure of the ritual. Lilly could feel its presence now, looming above the graveyard like a dark cloud, its hunger to be free. The once-solid barrier between the worlds was now crumbling; the entity was seeping through, twisting the very air around them with its power.
The members, who had offered their blood to the ritual, reeled back in pale, stricken faces of horror. Their hands shook uncontrollably, still dripping with blood as they looked toward Alexander for guidance. The telltale fear in their eyes, however, told her all there was to know.
They had no idea how to fix this.
As she watched the scene before her, her mind reeling, her heart racing in her chest, she knew the ritual would fail. But a whole different thing it was to have it come into view right before her eyes. The desperation in the family's eyes, the way they scrambled to salvage what was left of the ritual, was heartbreaking.
And then, amid all that tumult, she saw him.
Silas.
He stood near the edge of the circle, his face set in grim determination. Unlike the others, he wasn't running. He wasn't panicking. His dark hair whipped in the wind, his sharp blue eyes fixed on the altar, on the swirling energy that was tearing the ritual apart.
The truth hit Lilly like a slap in the face, and her breath caught in her throat. This was it. It was the moment Silas had spoken of, the moment when everything went wrong.
Silas wasn't just a witness here; he was participating in the ritual.
Alexander wheeled to Silas, his eyes afire with urgency. "Silas!" he yelled, his voice cracking with desperation. "You must take your place now! You're the conduit! You are the only one who can contain it!"
Lilly's heart was racing as she watched the exchange. Silas had said a time or two that he was the one to be the conduit but to see it unfold before her was a completely different story. She could almost see the weight of Alexander's words settle onto Silas's shoulders, the crushing responsibility that came along with being chosen to bind the entity.
Silas didn't hesitate. He strode forward, his jaw set, his eyes hard with determination. This was the moment he had prepared for. The moment the entire Grey family had prepared for.
But as Silas approached the altar, the dark energy swirled around him, building in force with every step he took. The entity was aware of him now. It knew what he was and what his purpose was. And it wasn't going to let him succeed.
The ground beneath his feet began to shake and tremble, the power of the entity building into a deep, guttural rumbling that seemed to emanate from the earth itself. Above the cemetery, the sky darkened as if the setting sun was being consumed by the entity's shadow. Even the air seemed to vibrate with its malevolent presence, and Lilly could feel the darkness crowding in on her, suffocating her.
Silas finally approached the altar, his hands reaching out towards the broken remains. Before he could touch them, a wave of dark energy crashed on him with such force, sending him backward down to the ground and squeezing the breath out of his lungs.
"No!" Alexander soon shouted, his throat cracking, as he watched Silas fall. "Silas! You have to—."
But his words were cut off as another wave of energy ripped through the air this time, slamming into the rest of the family members. Lilly could hear their cries of pain, their desperate shouts attempting to hold the entity back, but to no use.
It was a failure of binding. The entity was free.
Silas had lain on the ground, gasping for breath, his body shaking with the force of the entity's attack. His hands were bloody, his clothes torn, a look of shock crossing his face that Lilly hadn't expected. He had prepared for this moment. He had trained for this moment. But this entity was stronger than any of them could have ever imagined.
Lilly's heart bled as she watched him struggle to rise, the weight of his failure hanging heavy in the air. She saw it in his eyes: the guilt, the despair. He was meant to bind the entity to save his family-and he had failed.
But he didn't give up.
Silas pushed himself to his feet, his jaw clenched with a determined offset of will. Swirling around him, the dark energy seemed to grow in intensity with each passing the presence of the entity closing in. Silas didn't back down. He wasn't running.
He would try again.
"Silas, no!" one exclaimed in a panicking tone. "It's too strong—you'll be killed!"
But Silas would not hear him. He moved closer, his eyes fixed upon the altar, to the broken artifacts still pulsing infinitesimal, flickering light. He knew what he had to do. He had to finish this ritual, at whatever cost.
Lilly's breath got stuck in her throat as she watched Silas approach the altar again and his hands shook while reaching for the artifacts. The air was heavy with dark energy around this man, the weight of the entity's power crashing down upon him, yet Silas didn't stop.
He wasn't able to stop.
His fingers touched the stone, and in that instant, the runes cut into the altar blazed to life, beaming a light so brilliant it could cut through the darkness. The shock made Silas's eyes widen; his breath caught in his throat as the power of the ritual surged through him.
For a heartbeat, it seemed as though he might succeed.
But it was too powerful an entity.
Before he could tie, the dark energy around Silas surged again, and this time harder. Throwing its weight in full in a single slam against him, the surge knocked him back and shattered the fragile connection he had made to the artifacts.
Silas hit the ground hard, body limp, with his eyes wide in shock as the reality of his failure set in.
The ritual was over.
Lilly's heart pounded against her chest as she watched the scene unfold before the air thick, it seemed, with the weight of what had just transpired. Across the clearing stood the Grey family members, their faces white with fear and disbelief. They had failed. The entity was free, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
Alexander stood in the middle of the clearing, his hands shaking as he stared at the altar, at the broken artifacts that once held the power to bind the entity. A mask of devastation just covered his face, his eyes hollow as the understanding of the depth of their failure set in.
"We're lost," he whispered, his voice barely audible over the howling of wind. "It's over. We can't stop it."
The rest of the family finally struggled laboriously to their feet, their movements uncertain and slow; they looked around them in despair. The air was heavy with the smell of dark magic; the earth beneath their feet was charred and cracked from the palpable force of the entity's power. As she watched them, Lilly's heart felt a pang. Where once there was determination—absolute confidence in stopping the entity from breaking free—the sisters had underestimated its strength. Now, they had the full weight of their failure heaped upon them, smothered by the realization that they were doomed, and perhaps the world along with them.
But Lilly was under no illusion that this was anywhere near the end of the matter. She knew that this couldn't in any way be flippantly the Greys' determination and relentless work. And she knew, too, that as far as Silas was concerned, this was by no means the end of this affair.
Once again, the vision blurred; the world about her began to fuzz, and the scene faded. Her heart was racing, her head spinning from all she had just seen. But in that last moment of the vision, something caught her eye, something that ran a shiver down her spine.
Lying in the dirt, gasping for breath as his body lay broken and bruised from the entity's attack, something started happening to Silas. The air above him wavered, and the dark energy swirling from the altar suddenly shifted towards him, as if drawn to him like a magnet.
Lilly's breath caught in her throat as she watched the entity's power wrap around Silas, binding itself to him in a shockingly deliberate way. The others, focused on their survival, didn't seem to notice, but to Lilly, it was as clear as day.
It wasn't simply attacking Silas, it was binding itself to him.