Part 5 – The Eternal TollNight had bled into an eternity of darkness, yet the bell continued to toll, each resonant clang carving itself into the air, the stones, and the very marrow of Thomas’s bones. He had long since lost all sense of time; minutes, hours, perhaps centuries, had merged into a singular, oppressive moment where reality, memory, and nightmare intertwined. Shadows swirled around him, no longer merely specters, but entities aware, sentient, their hollow eyes following his every twitch, breath, and heartbeat.The tower itself pulsed with life, a rhythm that synchronized with Thomas’s trembling body. He was no