(Chapter 41:Mira's Pov)
I dropped the blade.
A sharp clang echoed through the cavern as it hit the stone floor.
Silence followed.
Cold, suffocating silence.
The figures of the Abyss Order stood frozen around me, their hooded faces unreadable at first. Then, as if some unseen signal had been given, their expressions twisted into something dark. Furious.
"You dare?" one of them snarled.
A slow, creeping pressure wrapped around my chest, squeezing tight. The weight of their collective magic bore down on me, pressing into my skin like invisible chains. The torches lining the walls flickered, their glow stretching unnaturally, casting long, writhing shadows.
Lorenzo tensed beside me, but I didn't dare look at him. My heart pounded as the Order closed in, their robes whispering against the stone.
"You were given a choice," a deeper voice rumbled from the shadows. "And you failed."