Chapter 16 Shadows Of The Gate

They carried on through the night, the dense surrounding forest seeming to willfully take on a more neurotic and malicious aspect the further into it they got. Unseen forces hung heavy in the air, distant rumbles of thunder falling on the same dark frequencies as the seal marinating within Alex’s ribcage. With each step they took, the Abyss weighed down on them, a drug that called out at them a little too urgently. The living were on the other side of the gate, and they were calling to him. As the gnarled branches closed around them like twisted hands reaching through the dark, their thoughts poured and twisted. His heart beat sickeningly in his chest, and the whispers in his mind grew sharper, more insistent. And every time he heard, he remembered what Mara had said, her hand on his arm, keeping him grounded. We’re with you. Whatever happens, we will face it together. He clenched his fists; the burden had become heavier. The Abyss was waiting for him to fuck up, to stumble, and he couldn’t afford that?