The world exploded into darkness.
For a moment, I couldn’t see anything. The cavern had been swallowed by a storm of black energy and blinding silver light. My ears rang violently, and the ground beneath me shook like the mountain itself was breaking apart.
“Kiara!”
Theodore’s voice cut through the chaos.
Strong arms wrapped around me as he pulled me away from the collapsing rock. His golden aura flared around us like a blazing shield, pushing back the waves of destruction that continued to crash through the cavern.
My chest heaved as I struggled to breathe.
The fissure below had fully opened now, stretching across the cavern floor like a wound in the earth itself. From its depths, darkness poured upward like living smoke.
But it wasn’t just darkness.
It was power.
Ancient. Monstr
