The ruins were silent, but the air thrummed with anticipation. Noona, Lisa, and Akin stood before the stone altar, runes pulsing faintly as if sensing their presence.
Noona knelt, tracing the symbols with trembling fingers. "This… is the seal," she whispered. "We have to restore it."
Akin crouched beside her, scanning the surroundings. "Something's… watching us," he muttered, eyes narrowing. Shadows coiled in the corners of the ruins, writhing and twisting, testing their courage.
Lisa stepped forward, chanting the incantation she had memorized from the fragments of ancient scripts. The air thickened, each word vibrating through the ruins. The pulsing runes brightened, feeding on their combined focus.
But the moment they aligned the energies, a scream erupted from the shadows. A figure, twisted and malformed, surged forward—an echo of the original curse, a sentinel that had waited centuries for the seal to be disturbed. Its eyes were voids, its hands claws of despair.
Noona raised her blade, light flaring as it met the sentinel's shadow. Sparks flew, darkness recoiling at the touch of her resolve. Lisa's incantation intensified, threads of magic weaving a cage of light around the fiend. Akin leapt, striking precise blows to the creature's limbs, keeping it at bay.
The ruins shook violently. Stones toppled, roots twisted, as if the earth itself fought against them. And yet, amidst the chaos, Noona focused on the heart of the seal. Her hand pressed against the altar, feeling the pulse—the trapped essence of centuries of darkness.
A wave of pain coursed through her mind, visions of every soul the curse had consumed flashing like lightning. She gritted her teeth, forcing the anguish into determination.
"By the light we hold… by the courage we share…" she whispered, pushing her energy into the seal.
The runes blazed white-hot. Shadows shrieked, clawing, reaching, but the combined light of the three friends pressed on. A final, blinding flash enveloped the ruins.
When their eyes cleared, the sentinel was gone. The runes glowed softly, the pulse steady, the heart of darkness finally contained—fragile, but mended.
Noona exhaled, trembling. Lisa smiled faintly, exhausted but relieved. Akin's shoulders relaxed, though his eyes scanned the horizon, wary. They had won, but the air still carried whispers—faint echoes of the past, a reminder that darkness never truly sleeps.