The underground chamber of Blackwell Manor no longer felt like a simple ritual room. After Alika stepped down from the chains, the air inside changed as if something long buried had been forced back into life. The candles that had once burned warm yellow now flickered violently, their flames stretching unnaturally before slowly turning into a deep, unnatural blue that should not exist in the normal world.Alika stood at the center of the ancient symbols carved into the stone floor, yet her body no longer carried the fragility of a normal human. Her hair fell around her shoulders, her eyes were fully open, and there was no confusion left in them. What remained was a kind of awareness that felt too deep, too old, as if two lifetimes had fused into one body.Ethan stood near the iron door, his breath stuck in his chest. He looked at Alika as if trying to find someone who had just disappeared in front of him, but the longer he stared, the clearer it became that something had permanently c
Read more