Great—here's **CHAPTER 7: The Kingdom of the Out-of-Lights**, in its full, long, dark, and very comprehensive novel version.This chapter will be much longer, more atmospheric, and more intense than the previous ones.---

# **CHAPTER 7: The Kingdom of the Out-of-Lights**

The forest thickened with every step.

The fog, previously only hovering just above the ground, now hung between the trees like heavy curtains, grayish-brown and shimmering with an unknown energy. The lights the heroes had seen earlier—those delicate, greenish pulses—had completely faded.

Only darkness remained.

A deep, unnatural darkness, as if the forest had stopped breathing.

Jakub rubbed his eyes, trying to discern the path.

"Something's changed..." he said quietly.

The ally glanced around nervously.

"It's as if the forest was testing us... or preparing us for something worse."

Argo let out a short, low growl. It wasn't a simple warning signal.

It was… a premonition.

When the fog cleared, at least enough for them to proceed, they saw it:

a gigantic gate.

It wasn't made of wood, stone, or metal. It seemed woven from light—light that was slowly fading, as if someone were slowly cutting off its energy supply.

"This doesn't look good," the ally muttered.

Jakub remained silent. He felt the weight of this place.

Above the gate was an inscription—not in human language, but their minds could read it:

**KINGDOM OF LIGHTS OUT**.

As they crossed the threshold, the door closed silently behind them.

A complete, utter darkness fell.

---

### **The Darkness That Lives**

The darkness in the Realm of the Unlit Lights wasn't natural.

Nor was it passive.

It *was*.

It moved in waves, creeping, burning his skin like an icy wind, tugging at his clothes, assaulting his senses.

Jakub felt the darkness trying to penetrate his consciousness—not brutally, but in whispers.

"Jakub...Jakub...you failed..." The voices were like memories, like echoes of his own fears from the Circles of Perdition.

The ally walked beside him, suddenly quickening his pace.

"This is not ordinary darkness!" he shouted.

His eyes glowed intensely, as if an inner light were protecting him from the darkness's onslaught.

Argo...

Argo was acting differently than he had ever done before.

He didn't growl.

He didn't bark.

He walked forward confidently, boldly, as if he knew exactly where they were going.

Jakub noticed it first.

"He's leading."

"Is he leading us or... that thing?" the ally asked.

The answer appeared of its own accord—the darkness before them parted like a curtain.

--

### **City Without Light**

A city appeared before the heroes' eyes.

Large, sprawling, with winding streets, tall towers, and squares that looked as if they had once teemed with life.

But now everything was dead.

Desolate.

Like an abandoned dream.

Lamps lined the roads, but none were lit.

The houses had windows full of traces of light—like burned-out impressions of past energy—but now they were empty, like the sockets of bony faces.

"It... looks like the ruins of a great city," Jacob whispered.

“And yet, at the same time, it was as if they had just left,” the ally said. “See? The streets are clean. There’s no dust. There’s no trace of the passage of time.”

Jakub nodded.

“As if someone had taken… the life out of him.”

The Argo moved forward again, drawing them between the buildings and onto the wide main avenue.

--

### **Echoes of the Residents**

At the end of the road stood *they*.

Figures.

Dozens, maybe hundreds.

They stood still, like statues cast in black glass.

Their faces were hazy, out of focus, as if someone had erased them.

Each of them held a tiny crystal in their hands.

A crystal that had **once glowed** but was now dead.

Jakub approached cautiously.

“What happened to them…?”

And then one of the figures moved its head.

Slowly, painfully, as if every movement caused it pain.

The crystal in her hand pulsed with a faint, last, dying light.

And then they heard a voice.

Not from anyone's lips—from the very air:

**"TOO LATE."**

In an instant, all the statues turned their heads toward the heroes.

They had no eyes, yet they watched.

**"THE LIGHT HAS BEEN OUT."**

Jakub recoiled instinctively.

The ally extended his hand, creating a faint, flickering flame around himself.

Argo stood before them, taut as a string.

The statues began to raise their crystals.

Their lights flashed sharply, fiercely, as if momentarily regaining their former power.

And then they all asked simultaneously, in a voice that rang like shattering glass:

**"WILL YOU BRING US THE LIGHT?"**

---

### **The Heart of the City**

In the visions that hit them like waves, they saw the truth.

The city had once been full of light.

Each resident had a crystal in their heart, a shard of the Primal Energy of the Forest.

The light protected them, nourished them, allowed them to create.

But something came…

Something that swept through the forest like the shadow of an unstoppable hurricane.

Something that **devours light**, feeds on radiance, fuels itself with hope and energy.

The Shadow.

The Entity.

The Being.

It was she who took the light from this city.

"We know what we must do," Jacob said as the vision faded.

The ally nodded.

—MWe will find the Heart of the City. The only spark that still burns.

Argo barked briefly.

He was ready.

--

### **The Kingdom's Underground**

The entrance to the underground was beneath a vast cathedral.

Its vault was cracked, but still monumental.

The stained glass windows—devoid of light—looked like the empty eye sockets of ancient gods.

The stairs led down, deep, where their footsteps echoed like whispers.

The darkness here was denser, more vivid.

Almost tangible.

Argo stopped at a large steel gate covered in runes.

When Jacob touched it with his hand, the runes glowed faintly, revealing the way forward.

Beyond the gate lay a chamber.

At its center, a crystal the size of a human heart floated.

It pulsed faintly, as if dying.

“Behold the Heart,” whispered the ally. “The city’s last hope.”

Jacob approached cautiously.

He held out his hand…

And then a sound rose from the darkness behind them.

First, a low, vibrating sound…

Then it grew into a hiss.

Then a roar.

The entity that devours light materialized before them.

A gigantic being, composed of shadows, with eyes like two red lanterns in a nightmare.

It approached slowly.

Its footsteps were muffled by the darkness, but the earth trembled.

Jacob turned to his ally.

“We only have one chance. We must restore the Heart’s light.”

“And if we fail…?”

“Then not only will they be extinguished,” he pointed to the city above them, “but the entire forest.”

Argo leaped in front of the monster, barking, ready to fight even the darkness itself.

The creature howled, and the darkness around it rippled.

The battle was just beginning.

--

If you want, I can immediately create **CHAPTER 8: The Light Eater**, even longer, even darker—in which the heroes will face the entity of darkness itself.

Should I continue?