Kane sprinted toward the cave as a wave of dark energy knocked two fighters clean off their feet.
"Marek!" Kane shouted. "Get your people here, now!"
Marek was already moving, spear in hand, calling his own fighters forward toward the cave entrance where the pulsing light had turned violent and wild, cracks spreading fast across the ancient stone.
Sarai, still weak from her earlier sacrifice, pushed forward anyway, Talyn trying to hold her back.
"You're not strong enough," Talyn said.
"I don't care," Sarai said, pulling free. "If it breaks now, everything I gave before means nothing."
Kane reached the entrance first, and the sight inside made his stomach turn. The dark light no longer pulsed steady the way it had before. It thrashed, wild and uneven, like something in terrible pain f
