Chapter Seventy-Nine

The air was thick with tension as Clara and Ethan went in opposition to the abyssal creatures that beset them. Their shapes moved and twirled, showing up both strong and transient, as though they were made from the shadows of the abyss. The cavern had a life force with the beating of the enormous heart at its center, each beat reverberating profoundly inside of Clara's chest.

Ethan's eyes met Clara's, a glint of tenacity in his look. “That heart needs to be destroyed,” he whispered, his voice scarcely capable of being heard over the reverberating pulse.

Clara gestured, grasping her blade more tightly. “But we have to get through them first.”

The creatures started to advance, their movements liquid and unsettling. Each step they took appeared to deplete the light from the air, leaving a choking darkness. Clara felt their noxiousness, their hunger, like a physical constraint squeezing down on her.

With a furious cry, Clara charged at the closest creature, her blade cutting through the a