The light flickered again, growing weaker until it vanished completely, plunging them into a suffocating darkness. The walls seemed to ripple, pulsating like the beating of some unseen heart. The air was thick, almost tangible, pressing against their lungs and making each breath feel like a struggle.
Lumis and Eili paused, their senses heightened. The space around them felt alive, shifting with each breath they took. It wasn’t just the absence of light; it was something more profound. Something ancient.
“I can feel it,” Lumis whispered, his voice cutting through the oppressive silence. “We’re not alone here.”
Eili tightened her grip on the shard, its cold surface offering a semblance of stability in the uncertain gloom. “What now?” she asked, her voice tense.
They stood before a towering archway, adorned with intricate patterns that seemed to shift, like something organic was moving beneath the stone. It pulsed with a faint, otherworldly glow.
“Another test,” Lumis said, his eyes scanning the arch. “It’s as if the very walls are watching us.”
Eili stepped closer to the arch, her heart pounding. The shards in their hands had guided them this far, but this—this was different. The air crackled with an intensity she couldn’t describe.
“Are we ready for this?” Eili muttered, the words barely escaping her lips.
Lumis nodded slowly. “There’s no turning back now.”
They both approached the arch, but as they drew closer, the air seemed to thicken, and an invisible barrier pressed against them. They reached out, and the arch responded: the patterns on the stone shifted, forming new symbols, unfamiliar yet somehow familiar.
Eili held up her shard, the light from it blending with the glow of the arch. For a moment, everything seemed to freeze. Time itself stretched, and the world around them seemed to pulse in rhythm with their own heartbeat.
“Do you feel that?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
Lumis didn’t answer immediately. He, too, had sensed it. The choice before them wasn’t just about physical obstacles. This was a test of their very will, their resolve to face what lay beyond.
“Whatever happens,” Lumis said, his voice calm but firm, “we choose this path. We choose the unknown.”
With a deep breath, they stepped into the archway, and the world shifted around them once again.