The Obsidian Reliquary

Ulon and Iodel exchanged a quick glance before turning their attention back to the chest. With the barrier gone, it was time to find out what sinister force lay within. Iodel carefully approached the chest, his senses heightened for the residual dark energy that he could still sense from within the chest. Ulon stood ready, his sword poised to strike at the first sign of trouble.

Iodel reached out and slowly opened the chest. The moment he did so, his brows furrowed, as did Ulon's.

Inside the chest was a heart, a heart thrice the size of a human heart, one that was still beating.

The heart was pitch black, and dark energy was oozing out of the multiple open pores present in the heart. The heart, though sinister in appearance, pulsed with a life of its own, each beat sending ripples of dark energy into the air. Iodel and Ulon could feel the malevolent power emanating from it, a palpable sense of evil that made the air around them thick and oppressive.