Darkness swallowed me whole. The world as I knew it ceased to exist in that moment, leaving only a suffocating void. I could no longer hear Alistair’s frantic voice, no longer feel his presence beside me. The disorienting pull of the magic wrapped around me like a binding curse, refusing to release me from its grasp.
I tried to scream, to fight back, but the very air seemed to stifle me. I couldn’t move. My limbs were heavy, my thoughts clouded by a thick, oppressive fog that threatened to consume me entirely.
For how long I floated in that abyss, I couldn’t say. It felt like an eternity, but it could have been mere seconds. Time had no meaning in this place. The only thing that remained was the relentless presence of the figure—the one whose voice still echoed in the corners of my mind.
