Amara's mind screamed with confusion as the dark figure loomed closer, its presence like a suffocating cloud, pressing against her chest. The shadow reached toward her with hands that seemed to stretch beyond human proportions, its fingers long and thin, like claws ready to tear through the fabric of reality itself.
The pulse of the rift grew louder now, a deep thrum vibrating through her entire body. The energy coursed through the ground beneath her, each wave threatening to fracture her bones, to crush her into oblivion. She scrambled backward, trying to get away from the figure, but the world around her was folding in on itself, distorting, bending in unnatural ways.
This wasn’t possible. The rift had never felt like this before. It had always been dangerous, yes, but never alive. Nev
