Chapter 33: The Darkness

"Alex…" Sarah's voice was barely a whisper, her body trembling as if on the edge of breaking. "What is this place? What… have we done?"

Alex couldn't answer. The weight of everything pressed on their chest, making it difficult to breathe, let alone speak. They crouched beside Sarah, fingers clutching the soft, glowing surface beneath them, heart pounding.

"I… I don't know," Alex finally managed to say, but the words felt hollow, meaningless. The figure looming over them remained still, the burning embers of their eyes flickering in the shadowed air, watching—waiting.

"Welcome to the Abyss," the figure's voice echoed in the unnatural silence. "A place where the forgotten and the forsaken dwell… a place you were destined to reach."