Merene turned to the white-robed Adam, the fearful look on her face replaced by a mask of indifference. Then, her lips parted and she coldly said:
"Shut up."
The moment those words echoed in the circular chamber, Adam's body trembled. In that moment, his world shattered. His perception of reality crumbled away in an instant.
The fire burning in the center of the room threw long, shifting shadows against the walls. They twisted and writhed with every flicker of the flames, stretching into strange, distorted shapes that seemed almost alive.
The constant movement of the shadows made them unsettling, an ominous reminder of the things of the dark lurking just beyond the edge of sight. Or perhaps these dangers were just an illusion of the mind...
Sometimes there were four shadows, other times there were none. Sometimes there were two, other times there was but one.
Merene's cold voice continued to echo inside the chamber, pressing an unbearable weight on Adam's fragile, broken mind.
