Vadim PoV
"Vadim, don't!" Aventine's cry echoed inside my skull, sharp and frantic, vibrating with the terrified resonance of a guardian angel staring into a bottomless trench. "If you crack that seal, there is no going back! The primordial abyss will swallow you whole!"
I took a single deep breath. "Relax, I know what I'm doing."
My left hand remained pressed flat against the center of my breastplate, fingers digging into the cold, blackened alloy right over my racing core. I exhaled slowly, shutting out the eerie glow of the eclipse, the frantic clash of Gregory's spear against Bulgae's claws, and the deafening creak of the falling citadel below.
