Sasha’s POV
The moment we stepped inside the temple, the world behind us ceased to exist.
It wasn’t silence that met us—it was absence. A stillness so absolute it pressed against my ears like water, muffled and weightless. The rustling trees, the breath of wind, even the heartbeat of the forest outside… gone. As if the temple had swallowed sound whole and left behind only breathless reverence.
The corridor curved like a serpent’s spine, carved from obsidian veined with fireglass. The black stone drank in the dim torchlight, but the veins shimmered faintly, pulsing like blood through an old heart. As we moved, the fireglass responded—soft glimmers dancing at the edges of vision, as if the very walls were breathing.
Runes blanketed the stone. Old Flameborne script, spiraling symbols I di
