The creature lunged at them at a speed impossible to track. One moment, it was standing just a few feet away; the next, its clawed hand was inches from Kaiza's throat.Instinct had taken over. Kaiza dived to the side as the creature's claws scraped the air where his neck had been a heartbeat before. The ground under him shook, dust and debris swirling in the aftermath of the beast's attack.He pushed himself up, heart racing, every muscle in his body coiled like a spring. Damn it, this thing is fast. But he wasn’t going to back down. Not now. Not when Mina’s life was on the line."Mina!" he yelled, his voice croaky with panic, but she made no reply. She stood, frozen stiff as a statue, staring at the beast, her face like something set in concrete, expressionless as if under a trance that has again washed over her, same as that night.Kaiza shifted between the animal and Mina, eyes filled with question and doubt. What's happening to her? She should be resisting by now."Get away from h

Darkness.Kaiza's world suffocated him to death. The thick black fog hung like a wet sheet, clapping against his skin, not letting it breathe. There was no need to either open his eyes or close them since he did not know if his senses were still alive. But even numb, he felt his body ache at the sharpness of it all. His limbs weighed him down as if chained to earth itself.Get up. You must move. Mina needs you.Kaiza's mind screamed, but his body refused to comply. The growl of the creature, the terror in Mina's eyes, it all played back in his mind like a twisted, cruel loop. He'd failed her. Again."No…" His voice came out in a hoarse rasp. He could barely hear it over the pounding of his heart in his ears.He felt his chest open up from the inside, crushing him as though from the inside out. He needs to go through with this. He has to get to Mina. Not the monster could take her. She won't go; no, he won't let her.The darkness around him flickered, and then, a faint light pierced th

Kaiza's heart was pounding, his grip tightening around Mina's trembling hand. Darkness seemed to be alive around them, an energy that throbbed within it—ancient and living. The chasm spread before them endlessly, devouring everything in its wake, and Kaiza knew he was running out of time. If he did not do it now, they would never come out of this hellhole.Mina's eyes, once full of hope, were now clouded with fear. Her body shook, her breath ragged, as if the very essence of the curse was pulling her under, dragging her into the shadows where she would be consumed."We have to go, Mina," Kaiza's voice was low, edged with desperation. "We don't have much time.Mina gazed at him dully now, as though she were becoming a specter, losing bits of herself away with every dying second. What had bound the two together—that great amount of power to hold onto another person—ebbed out at every tick-tack. Also, along came the tightening choke of the evil curse surrounding Kaiza and himself."Mina!

Kaiza could feel the cold, relentless weight of dread pressing down on him like a thousand-pound stone. He'd been here before this sense of impending doom. The kind of feeling you get when you know you're up against something far bigger than yourself, far darker than anything you've ever seen.The shadows swirled before him, growing thicker by the second, suffocating the air with a stench of decay. His fists were clenched so tight his nails dug into his palms, but he didn't dare let go. Not now. Not when everything he cared about was on the line. Not when Mina was just out of reach."Mina, he whispered, a prayer of his lips with her name on his lips. Trembling was out of the question anymore. Not today. At least, since time immemorial, the man had been introduced to that pure fear called it. This one was now a fight. Surviving."You'll wish you came here, Kaiza," said a sly voice in darkness.He tensed, eyes narrowing. There, stepping out of the shadows, was a figure, looming and fore

Kaiza's head jerked back as a searing light burst from the depths of the darkness, engulfing him in a storm of disorienting flashes and a rush of cold air. His senses overloaded, his body thrown against an unseen force, the walls of the room no longer standing everything around him was in flux, swirling in a black vortex of malevolent energy. The overwhelming power pressing down on him was unbearable.His throat was burning; he gasped for air, but the air felt thick and choking. His eyes darted frantically about him, unable to focus on anything, unable to make sense of anything. Was this what Vernon had been telling him to worry about? Had he passed the point of no return?No.Kaiza shook his head violently, forcing his way through the dizzying swirl in his mind. He couldn't. He couldn't let this be the end. Not now. Not when he was so close.Suddenly, his vision cleared, and his feet slammed onto solid ground, but the moment he tried to take a step forward, he stumbled back, his knee