Chapter 163: An unexpected visitor

Breathing fast, my heart pounding in my throat, I scan around the darkness, peering at the oncoming form that makes its way towards me, shaking like a leaf.

"Stay back!" I warn, stretching out my hand to wave my fingertips which are alight with flames, revealing a familiar face in the beckoning shadows. My strength wavers.

"Woah, woah, calm down, darling. It's me," says Soren, who puts up his hands in defence, eyes wearily scanning the flames that coil at my fingertips. He of all people should know what these flames are capable of, he has every right to be terrified of what I might do to him. But that doesn't make me trust him.

We may not have reached Azrael's part of the maze yet, but that does not render the possibility of his illusions as null. In fact, it just makes them all the more probable. Azrael is a tricky creature, and I wouldn't put it past him to attempt foul play in a game of his own creation.