It wasn't a gentle, warming glow. It was a furious, emerald conflagration that roared to life with a deafening whoosh, bathing the entire room in its ethereal light. The flame didn't burn hot; it burned… strange. It felt like looking into a nebula, a swirling vortex of alien energy that made Emily's teeth ache and the hairs on her arms stand on end.
The light revealed things the shadows had hidden. Strange, sigil-like patterns were carved into the black stone walls, glowing with a faint, residual energy that seemed to pulse in time with the torch's green fire. The air itself seemed to shimmer and warp, as if the laws of physics were merely suggestions in this place.
