The endless back-and-forth across the churning black river became a brutal test of raw endurance, every second bought with blood, sweat, and sheer willpower.
Kyle's boots slammed onto the slick obsidian rock for the fourth time. The soles of his shadow-infused footwear sizzled softly where they touched the acidic residue, but his focus never wavered. Under his left arm, he held a young boy who was clutching his neck in terrified silence; under his right, a frail elderly man whose eyes were squeezed shut in silent prayer.
[Step left now, Kyle!] Snow's voice cut through the deafening roar of the river, sharp and intensely alive in his mind. [The stone's magnetic anchor is buckling under the weight of the current! Jump in two seconds!]
Kyle bent his knees, his muscles bulging under his dark demon scales, and launched himself across the gap just as the obsidian slab tipped violently backward, plunging into the black sludge with a heavy, corrosive hiss.
