C13 The Price of Power

Darkness clung to Lila like a second skin, the tunnel’s walls narrowing as she and Ethan pressed deeper into the Hollow’s underbelly. Shadows wrapped around them, thick and unyielding, swallowing every flicker of light and sound, until the outside world felt impossibly distant. The air was thick, heavy with the scent of damp earth and the faint, acrid burn of void crystals