Liam's heart was racing as his hand wrapped around the dark crystal, its energy coursing through him like electricity. It was both foreign and familiar, a part of him, an echo of something long buried. The shadows writhed around him, a churning sea of darkness that threatened to swallow him whole as he stood on the threshold of an unthinkable choice.
Ava!)" he screamed, wildly searching for her as darkness descended. The room was collapsing around them, boulders falling from the ceiling as robed figures raised their chanting louder, a cacophony of malevolence seeming to shake the very walls.
The tall, thin figure he had seen earlier stepped back; his hollow eyes zeroed in on him. "You don't understand what you're holding," it hissed. "That crystal holds the key to her fate-and yours."
"
