---

Beyond the shattered lands where light has ceased to crawl,

where the wind carries the scent of ruin,

a temple stands, half buried in the bones of those who failed.

Its walls breathe with the weight of forgotten tongues,

etched with prayers that died unheard.

I step into the threshold of unmaking,

where no shadow moves, where time stands still.

Columns twisted into screaming forms,

hands reaching, mouths gaping, frozen in agony.

Not statues,

but echoes of the lost, bound in the gaze of something eternal.

A whisper coils around my thoughts,

not sound, but pressure,

seeping into the marrow,

draining the will from my limbs.

The serpents stir, their tongues tasting the air,

sensing my hesitation, savoring my fear.

And then her eyes.

Twin abysses, void of light, void of mercy,

pulling at the seams of my mind.

A force beyond gods, beyond fate,

an existence that does not kill—

but unmakes.

I stagger, but there is no escape.

Venom spreads through unseen veins,

not through flesh, but through soul.

The world fades, fractures, distorts.

I am unraveling, becoming nothing,

another monument to her wrath.

Lips part, but no words escape.

I see my reflection in those hollow depths,

a final glimpse before sight is stolen forever.

One last breath, lost in silence,

one last thought, swallowed in shadow.

I do not die, I cease.