The attack of the Sovereign of Despair left Alex and Mara battered but standing.The shape of the creature shuddered and convulsed, its tortured shape flickering like a dying ember, as if reality was straining to hold itself together.Then, in an instant, it was gone into the abyssal void, its enormous presence retreating behind dark tides that receded from the shore like the going out of a tide.Yet, the short-lived respite was suffocatingly brief because the air was heavy with an unspeakable sense of foreboding, thick with the promise of impending catastrophe.The silence that followed was oppressive, palpable, and malignant, seeming to seethe and twist with an evil life of its own, whispering cruel assurances that the devastation was far from over and that the true horror was only waiting in the wings, biding its time before unleashing a maelstrom of unmitigated terror upon the world.Alex gripped Mara's hand tighter, their fingers laced together like lifelines. Her power still sho

The fissure widened with an earsplitting crack, a jagged wound splitting the earth beneath Alex and Mara’s feet. The eerie glow pulsed in time with a rhythmic, almost sentient heartbeat, bathing the chamber in a sickly luminescence. The Sovereign of Despair may have retreated into the shadows, but its presence lingered, thick and oppressive, clinging to the walls like a malevolent specter waiting for the perfect moment to strike once more.Mara gripped Alex’s arm instinctively, her fingers tightening as another tremor shook the ground. The darkness in the fissure roiled and churned, tendrils of mist slithering upward, whispering in tongues too ancient to decipher. Something lurked beyond, something neither of them had yet faced something that watched.Alex managed to even his breathing, though his heart beat in his chest like a war drum. He had battled innumerable demons and gazed into the darkness so many times, counting was pointless, but this… this was different. The Sovereign's pa

The tremors hadn't stopped.Even after they had escaped the collapsing ruins, even as they now stood on the deserted streets beneath the blood-red sky, the ground beneath Alex's feet still rumbled with an unnatural pulse, like the slow, deliberate heartbeat of something stirring beneath.Something waiting.Something hungry.Mara rested against a rusted lamppost, her breaths sharp, shallow gasps. Her spear, still clutched tightly in her hand, had lost much of its glow; the divine light flickered weakly. Whatever energy she'd poured into their last attack had drained her, and it showed.Alex peered down the path toward the remains of the cathedral, tightening his grip on his sword. The air hung heavy with dust and debris, but even through this miasma, he could feel it the Sovereign's presence had not been snuffed out. If anything, it was stronger, bolder."That thing," Mara said, swallowing hard. "It wasn't the real nightmare, was it?"Alex shook his head, jaw clenched. "No."The memory

Tendrils of shadow wrapped themselves around Alex's limbs like living chains, pulling tighter with every desperate struggle. His body was being dragged toward the abyss, toward the gaping maw of darkness that pulsed like a living entity, whispering his name in a voice that made his soul shudder.He dug his fingers into the crumbling concrete beneath him, his nails scraping against the debris, but it was futile. The abyss wanted him. The Harbinger had claimed him.And worst of all some part of him felt like it had always been meant to happen."No no, I won't!" he gritted out, every muscle in his body straining against the pull.The abyss responded.A shockwave of raw, eldritch power erupted from its depths, throwing splintering cracks through the ground. Buildings that barely remained standing crashed down, their ruins tumbling into the void. The air twisted, warping as if reality itself was unraveling at its seams.And the Harbinger? It stood at the edge of the abyss, regarding him th

The darkness was infinite, crushing.Alex continued to fall.The throne was beneath him, its jagged edges rising from the void like the bones of some ancient beast. The whispering voices had grown louder, insidious, wrapping around his mind like chains."Sit upon the throne, and all shall be yours."He gritted his teeth, fighting against the pull. Every instinct screamed at him do not sit.But the throne wasn't waiting on him. It called, its presence curling around his limbs like an invisible force.And then.A hand grabbed his wrist.A sharp pull yanked him to one side, ripping him from the free fall. He gasped as his body jerked violently and his momentum crashed into a solid form."Mara?!"She held onto him tight, her fingers digging into his arm with desperation.You think I'd let you fall alone?"She snapped, her voice shaking.Alex barely had time to process what was happening before the abyss reacted.The shadows roared.The throne below them trembled, and the darkness twisted i