CHOSEN LAST
Something unexpected happened, a visible ripple of energy pulsing from my position, catching her mid-stride and sending her stumbling backward with obvious shock.
“What…” she started, clearly startled by this unexpected response.
I didn’t wait for her to recover, sprinting past her while she remained momentarily disoriented, finally reaching the center point of the ritual formation where the strange, glowing symbols pulsed with unsettling energy against the darkened ground.
The corruption felt immediately different up close, considerably more intense than what I had sensed during my earlier diagnostic ritual, a discordant, wrong sensation that made my skin crawl and my stomach twist uncomfor