Emily's eyes darted to the glowing symbols on the walls, her mind racing. "The altar," she whispered, her voice filled with sudden realization. "It's not just a ritual site. It's a trap."
Marcus frowned, confused. "What are you talking about?"
"The people who lived here," Emily explained, her voice gaining strength. "They didn't just worship these entities. They built something to contain them—to seal them away."
Sarah's eyes widened in disbelief. "Are you saying we can lock it away again?"
Emily nodded, her heart pounding with a mixture of fear and hope. "Yes. But we have to act fast. The symbols on the altar—they're a kind of key. If we can activate them, we might be able to trap the entity back in the cave, where it can't harm anyone."
Marcus glanced at the creature, which had paused, watching them with narrowed eyes. It seemed to sense what they were planning.
"We don't have much time," Marcus muttered, grabbing Emily's arm. "What do we do?"
Emily rushed toward the altar, the black tendrils snapping at her heels as she ran. Her hands fumbled over the ancient carvings, her fingers tracing the symbols that pulsed with a dim, eerie light. The knowledge of how to activate the altar flooded her mind, as if the cave itself was guiding her actions.
"The symbols," she gasped. "We need to activate them in the right order. It's the only way to seal the entity."
Marcus and Sarah joined her, their hands trembling as they followed Emily's lead. Together, they pressed the symbols, feeling the cave respond to their touch. The ground trembled again, but this time, the tremors seemed to be working with them, not against them.
The creature let out a furious screech, its body writhing as it realized what they were doing. "No!" it roared, its voice echoing through the cave. "You cannot stop us!"
The fissures in the ground widened, and the black ooze surged toward them, but the altar began to glow brighter, the symbols flaring with an intense, otherworldly light.