The Edge of Madness

Lips twisted, eyes clenched shut, he lowered his head. He had lost this race against time. Worse, he had naively believed that the whispers were the root of corruption. What a mistake. 

His heart drumming in his ears, he bit his trembling lips as his foot almost slipped into the abyss.

'I can blame no one but myself. I should have seen it coming, felt the distractions brought by the whispers, and dismissed the fragment the moment I defeated the poltergeists. Idiot! That's what I'm for failing to analyse the dangers. And a double idiot for still veiling my face.'

His knuckles whitened as the truth struck. The moment the chill receded. That's when he should have hurled the fragment back into a dark corner of his mind. But his gnawing fears of ghosts, worry about Karna's unknown fate, and the queen of magic's mysterious yet infuriating menace obscured his judgement.