One night, as they sat by the fire, Sarah broached the subject. "What happened to you in that other realm?" she asked. "What did you see?"
Her friend's eyes grew distant, and for a moment, Sarah thought he might not answer. But then he spoke, his voice low and intense.
"I saw things," he said. "Things that no human should ever see. But I also saw the truth - the truth about our world and the forces that govern it."Sarah shuddered, unsure if she wanted to hear more. But he continued, his voice growing stronger with every word.
"I understand now that there are forces beyond our comprehension - forces that shape our world and our destiny. And I know that I have been given a gift - a gift that will allow me to tap into these forces and wield them for my own purposes."
Sarah felt a coldness in the pit of her stomach as she listened to his words. She knew then that her suspicions had been right - that her friend had been corrupted by the same dark forces that had driven the cult to madness.
As the night wore on, Sarah watched her friend carefully, wondering what she could do to stop him. But she knew that the forces he had tapped into were far too powerful for her to fight alone, and she wondered if they had sealed their fate by delving too deep into the mysteries of the unknown.
Days turned into weeks, and Sarah's suspicions continued to grow as her friends behavior became increasingly erratic. He would spend long hours poring over ancient tomes and muttering to himself, and he seemed to be growing more and more detached from the world around him.
Sarah tried to talk to him, to reason with him, but it was like trying to reason with a madman. He was convinced that he had been given a great power, and he would not listen to any arguments to the contrary.
And then, one night, Sarah woke to find the him gone. She searched the entire campsite, but he was nowhere to be found. As she sat by the fire, trying to figure out what to do next, she noticed a book lying on the ground nearby.
