Dive Into The Lake (2)

I crouched at the edge, my breath shallow and ragged, the fight with the Reverberant Stalker still burning through my muscles. The lake shimmered, a sickly golden glow that made my eyes ache to look at it for too long.

"Just one more step," I muttered, more to myself than anything else. My voice sounded hollow, swallowed by the suffocating heat.

The System chimed faintly in the back of my mind, a fragmented hum that I'd come to associate with its cryptic bullshit:

"Synergy: 92%. Perseverance detected. Progression required."

"No shit," I snapped, but the sarcasm felt hollow. The truth was, I was stalling. My body begged for rest, my nerves screamed to turn around, but the molten lake wouldn't let me. It rippled again, like it knew I was watching.

The engravings around the shore glowed faintly in the dim light. I traced my fingers over the etched words for what felt like the hundredth time: