The dense jungle parted like a curtain, revealing the sprawling ruins of the forgotten city. Towering spires, weathered by time and nature, jutted toward the sky, entangled in vines as thick as a man's arm. The city—ancient, immense, alive—loomed before them, as if it had been waiting all along. The air was thick with anticipation, the weight of secrets clinging to every crumbling stone. It was a place lost to time, yet it pulsed with an energy that none of them could ignore.Adrian staggered forward, his eyes glazed, sweat dripping from his brow. His breath was labored, each step a monumental effort. He had seen this place before—in dreams, in nightmares. He felt its pull, the city reaching for him, a silent, invisible hand tightening around his throat. Every muscle in his body screamed for rest, but he couldn’t stop. Not now.“Adrian, you need to rest.” Lena’s voice was steady, though her concern bled through her calm exterior. She placed a hand on his shoulder, but Adrian shrugged i

The air thickened as they moved deeper into the stone labyrinth, every step echoing with a dull, resonant thud that seemed to be swallowed by the darkness. Shadows danced on the walls, flickering like spirits, whispering like secrets. The path, once merely a descent into the forgotten depths, now felt alive, pulsating with unseen energy, with a hunger that matched the cold malice of the city above.Adrian stumbled, his breath hitching as the pressure around him intensified. His fingers grazed the rough stone walls, each touch sending a shiver through his body as though the path itself was feeding on his despair."You feel it, don't you?" Jakob’s voice was gruff, strained as if he, too, was fighting the same invisible weight that pressed upon them. "It’s like this place wants to tear us apart."Adrian didn’t answer. He couldn't. The whispers, louder now, clawed at his mind, pulling him between past and present. The faces of those he'd lost&mdash

The air, thick with malice, vibrated as the rogue warrior—Talon—stepped forward. A wave of dark energy spiraled from his outstretched hand, crackling with an ancient power that threatened to tear apart the very essence of the prison they stood in. His eyes glowed with an eerie, unnatural light, a stark contrast to the determined resolve set on his face. Every breath he took felt like it was borrowed from the void, every movement a gamble with the abyss that beckoned.“You’ve been hiding this,” Lena’s voice trembled, though she stood firm, her gaze locked on Talon’s shifting form. The darkness wrapped around him like a cloak, pulsing in time with the beats of a heart they couldn’t see—an entity born of forgotten evils. “All this time, and you never said a word.”“I didn’t have a choice,” Talon replied, his voice a low growl. There was no room for softness now, no space for regret or apol

The abyss yawned before them, an endless maw of swirling shadows, darker than the night itself. The air crackled with tension as Adrian stood shoulder to shoulder with Talon, his eyes hard as steel, his resolve burning like a flame against the suffocating darkness. They were at the brink, teetering on the edge of something far worse than death. The rogue warrior, once feared and hated, was now their only hope, a living seal to bind the ancient evil and prevent its inevitable rise.Talon's breaths were shallow, his body trembling with the effort to contain the power that threatened to consume him whole. “This is it, isn't it?” His voice was hoarse, barely audible above the distant hum of dark energy that pulsed from the abyss.Adrian nodded, his jaw set. “It’s now or never.”Lena’s voice, thick with emotion, broke through the tension. “There has to be another way, Adrian. You can’t just ask him to—”

The air was thick with tension, each breath labored as the group stood in a circle, the druid’s words hanging ominously over them like a storm cloud about to break.“We must use the power of the sacred grove,” the druid said, his voice low and steady, “to lure the ancient evil into a trap. It is the only way to stop it.”Adrian's brow furrowed, his fists tightening at his sides. "A trap? Do you even understand what you're suggesting?" His voice trembled, not with fear, but with anger, frustration, a palpable sense of betrayal. “You're asking us to gamble with our lives—our souls.”The druid's gaze, calm but unyielding, met Adrian's. "Not a gamble, Adrian. A necessity. The grove holds ancient power, a power that can weaken the evil long enough for us to seal it. But the price... it is not one easily paid.""A price?" Jakob’s voice cut through the tension like a blade, sharp and bitter. "There's