The Coven of the Cornerstone: The essence stealers

Previously

…Lorenzo knew, with a certainty that settled deep in his gut, that this was only the beginning. The darkness they had just invoked, the artifact they had stolen from the silent repose of the dead, was a key. And he had a chilling premonition that the lock it opened would lead to a place from which there was no return. High in the branches of an ancient oak, a lone owl hooted, its call eerily mournful, a natural world sensing the profound disturbance that had just rippled through its quiet existence. The mausoleum, bathed in the indifferent moonlight, stood as a silent testament to the encroaching shadow of the Cornerstone.