Everything in the temple was charged with energy, and the blue light seeping from the stone was growing stronger, transforming the place into another world, filled with a sense of helplessness and dread. The symbols on the walls danced, as if responding to Jacob's movement and his approach to the stone. He hesitated a little, his eyes shifting between the bright light and the dark shadows that were beginning to gather around them.
Everything inside Jacob was screaming for him to touch the stone, to open that portal between worlds. But his mind was resisting. He knew that this moment would be decisive; either he would release the dark forces that had been hidden since eternity, or this door would be closed forever, even if it meant sacrificing something deep within himself.
"If we don't close it now, it will be too late," Liara said, watching Jacob's movement nervously. Her face was covered in worry, but she knew that the time had come to take responsibility.
Jacob reached out his hand towards the stone, but before he could touch it, he felt something strange pulling him from within, as if a huge energy was pulling his soul, dragging him into the depths of darkness. As if those dark forces were slowly pulling his soul into a dark place from which there was no return.
Suddenly, a strange image appeared in front of him in his mind; it was an image of a mysterious face, a face he had never seen before, but he knew. This face was his face in another world, in another time. His eyes were shrouded in shadows, and he felt something deadly in that look.
"This is your chance, Jacob." The voice in his head, which sounded like his own but with a dark tone, said. "You can control this. You are part of this stone. Don't be afraid of the dark forces, but keep them, own them."
As he moved his hand closer to the stone, he felt something strange; there was resistance inside him, a part of his soul was screaming that this moment was a moment of loss, but another part, a dark part, was pushing him forward. He knew he had the power to stop it, but that power was consuming him at the same time.
In that moment, Jacob realized that what he was fighting wasn't just dark forces, it was a part of him. It was a part of this stone, a part of this struggle between light and darkness that he had started years ago.
"No... I'm not a part of the darkness," Jacob whispered, stepping back from the stone slightly. His mind was now realizing that he couldn't let the darkness possess him. He couldn't turn into the being he saw in his vision. But he knew that this struggle wasn't just with the forces around him, it was an internal struggle with himself.
"Jacob, we need you!" Liara shouted, rushing towards him. "You're the only one who can stop this. But you must decide now. If you don't, everything will change."
As he looked at Liara and Zara, he felt the weight of responsibility on his heart. He knew that his options were few. There was only one way to stop these forces, but that way was fraught with danger, and meant sacrifice.
At that moment, another voice echoed in his ear, but this time it was the voice of the spirits, the spirits that had warned him from the beginning.
"If you don't close it, you will lose everything... but if you close it, the soul inside you will be scarred forever."
That voice carried a mysterious warning, but it also carried a part of the truth. Jacob knew that nothing could ever be the same if he made that decision.
He had to choose between preserving his life and soul, or sacrificing everything to save the forest.
He gathered his strength, and remembered everything he had been through: the forest, the tribe, Liara and Zara, all the moments that had made him stand here today. He knew that this moment was the decisive moment.
With a decisive movement, he reached out towards the stone, and closed his eyes. A strange feeling swept over him, as if his soul was drowning in a sea of shadows, but he gathered all his strength at that moment. Then he whispered to himself, "If I am to sacrifice, I will do it for life. For the forest."
With those words, he felt a powerful pulse through his body. His hands were glued to the stone, and an overwhelming feeling surged through him. There was an internal struggle between light and darkness, and the stone itself was swinging between life and death.
Then something unexpected happened. The stone exploded with a bright light, and a massive beam poured out from it, engulfing the entire temple. The light was so strong that everyone had to close their eyes.
In the moments after the explosion, when things began to calm down, Jacob found himself alone in the center of the temple, but the energy that had surrounded him had disappeared. The shadows had faded, as if something great had passed.
But he felt something strange within himself. He felt as if a part of him had gone with the light. His power was now less than it had been, but there was something else, something new, nestling deep within him. A feeling of peace, but it was accompanied by a sense of loss.
As he looked around, he saw Liara and Zara approaching him. Their eyes were filled with astonishment, as if they had witnessed a miracle.
"Did you do it?" Zara asked, approaching him cautiously.
Jacob, wiping the sweat from his forehead, answered in a calm voice: "Yes. But... something else has just begun. We need to prepare for what's coming."
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