Nathaniel’s pulse echoed in his ears as the room fell silent once more, the last remnants of the fog vanishing into the stone walls like a fading nightmare. He could still feel its oppressive weight on his chest, the eerie chill that had settled deep into his bones, as though the mist itself had seeped into his very soul. But the air had grown colder, heavier now—charged, thick with the kind of unnatural stillness that only existed in the moments before something terrible happened.
His breath came in ragged gasps as he backed away from the face that had appeared in the shadows. The disembodied eyes seemed to follow his every movement, their glow sharp and unsettling in the dim light of the chamber. The face—pale, hollow, with skin stretched tight over its skull—was a grotesque reflection
