The oppressive feeling in the air became more and more intense, as if the whole world was shrouded in an insurmountable haze. Lucas stared at the suddenly appearing eye, which was deeply embedded in the shattered stone wall. Its ghostly gaze stared straight at him. His heart skipped a beat, and every nerve in his body was screaming, but he still managed to suppress the fear in his heart.
The scene in front of him gradually became blurred, as if shrouded in a thick fog. His vision was gradually swallowed up by the darkness, and it seemed that every second was silently pulling him into an inescapable abyss. That eye still flickered in the darkness, with endless darkness behind it, as if devouring all the light.
"What on earth is this...?" Lucas murmured in a low voice. His voice sounded particularly abrupt in this quiet yet tense environment. He gripped his long sword tightly, ready to face whatever came next. However, he knew that what was in front of him would be the most complex and strange event he had ever experienced.
"You shouldn't have come," Suddenly, a deep voice echoed in the air, as if coming from the depths of the stone wall. That voice carried an indescribable coercion, making one's hair stand on end.
Lucas's whole body shook. The voice contained an irresistible force. His gaze quickly swept around, trying to find the source of the sound.
"Do you think you can break the seal and escape this nightmare?" The voice became clearer, as if echoing right in his ear. Every word was like a sharp blade, cutting through his soul.
"I can't control this," Lucas replied in a low voice. Although he knew that even if he didn't want to, he had already been drawn into this catastrophe. There was no choice but to keep going deeper.
At that moment, the eye on the stone wall suddenly lit up. The shining light was like a sword light piercing through the darkness, instantly breaking through the surrounding fog. Then, the crack began to expand, and the wall slowly turned outward, revealing a bottomless dark space.
As the crack widened, an indescribable stench blew over with the wind, like a mixture of the smell of rotting corpses and charred meat, making it almost impossible to breathe. Lucas suddenly covered his nose, but his eyes remained unwavering.
He knew that this was the very place that held the ultimate answer they had been seeking. And that eye was like a guardian of the darkness, preventing any outsiders from intruding.
"You..." Lucas slowly opened his mouth, and his low voice was like it came from the abyss. "What exactly are you?"
Just as he was about to explore further, the crack in front of him suddenly shook violently, followed by an unbearable intense light. Lucas instinctively squinted his eyes and reached out to block it. Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of him.
That figure was extremely tall, wearing a tattered black robe. His face was as pale as paper, and there was no trace of life in his eyes. The figure slowly walked towards him. Every step carried a strong sense of oppression, as if all the power between heaven and earth was concentrated on this one person. "Who are you...?" Lucas's voice almost squeezed out of his throat, with a hint of
astonishment and doubt.
"I am the Guardian," The man said in a low voice. His voice was ancient and desolate, as if having gone through the baptism of thousands of years. "You shouldn't have broken into this forbidden area."
"We're here to find the answer," Lucas replied fearlessly, with a glint of unyielding light in his eyes. "We're not here to destroy."
The Guardian's gaze penetrated Lucas's heart, as if seeing through everything. "Your hearts are filled with desire, but you don't understand at all what you're going to face. The answer you're pursuing is something you can't bear."
Lucas was stunned for a moment, then sneered. "Then what right do you have to stop us?"
The Guardian's gaze became even colder. After a moment of silence, he finally spoke. "Then, if you want to move forward, you must accept the trial."
"A trial?" Lucas frowned. He vaguely felt that the situation was far more complicated than he had imagined. "What are you going to make us do?"
"You will face the deepest fear in your hearts. Only by passing the trial can you pass the final checkpoint of this forbidden area," The Guardian's voice was like a broken ancient bell, with an endless echo. "And if you fail, you will be trapped in this darkness forever and have no chance of escaping."
Suddenly, deep growls came from the darkness, as if some huge creature was approaching them. Lucas looked back and saw a shadow gradually approaching, getting bigger and closer.
"This is..." He was just about to say something when suddenly his eyes went dark, and he fell into an extreme void.
...
In this abyssal void, Lucas seemed to have lost all his senses, and his body became extremely heavy. His consciousness gradually dissipated, as if the whole world had become a void space, leaving him alone.
Suddenly, a harsh sound rang out in the air. Lucas suddenly opened his eyes and found that he was standing in a strange place.
This was a gloomy courtyard, filled with a rotten smell. In the center of the courtyard stood a tattered statue. The eyes of the statue stared closely at him, as if they could see through his soul. The closer Lucas got to the statue, the faster his heart beat.
He knew that the trial had begun.