The black door stood fully open.
Darkness poured from it like smoke, spreading across the chamber floor. The giant shadow crawling out moved slowly, as if the room itself was too small to contain it.
Then it spoke again.
With Mira's mother's voice.
"Mira…"
The silver knife slipped from her hand and hit the floor.
"No…" she whispered. "No… you're dead."
The shadow laughed softly.
A familiar laugh.
The same one Mira remembered from childhood.
Her knees nearly gave out.
Kael shouted, "Don't listen! It steals voices from the dead!"
But Mira couldn't move.
The shape rose higher.
Long arms.
A body made of shifting darkness.
And where a face should have been—
Hundreds of faces opening and closing beneath the skin.
Each whispering different names.
Arin's father stepped back for the first time.
Even he looked afraid.
The being inside Arin's body snarled at the creature.
"You were not meant to wake."
The monster answered in many voices at once.
"You were not meant to fail."
The chamber shook violently.
Cult members tried to run.
Too late.
Dark tendrils shot across the floor and dragged three of them screaming into the shadow. Their voices were cut off instantly.
Mira stumbled backward.
"What… what is that?"
Kael answered grimly.
"The first hunger."
Arin's father gripped the black bone dagger tighter.
"It existed before names. Before death."
The possessed Arin turned to him.
"And you fed it."
Silence.
Mira looked at Arin's father in shock.
"What does that mean?"
He said nothing.
The monster answered for him.
"He gave me souls… in exchange for his son."
Mira's eyes widened.
Kael roared, "Liar!"
But the father did not deny it.
He only looked at Arin's body… with regret.
"I had no choice."
The possessed Arin laughed bitterly.
"You always had a choice."
Suddenly Arin's body froze.
His hands clawed at his own throat.
For one second his eyes changed back to normal.
"Mi…ra…" he choked.
She rushed forward.
"Arin!"
Then blackness returned and blasted her backward.
The monster behind the door spread wider.
"He weakens."
It was talking about the being inside Arin.
The possessed Arin turned sharply.
Fear.
Real fear.
Kael realized first.
"It doesn't want Arin…"
He looked at the shadow.
"It wants the stronger half."
The monster's many faces smiled.
"I want all of him."
The chamber ceiling collapsed.
Stone rained down everywhere.
Cult members died screaming.
The red symbol circle broke apart.
Arin's father grabbed Mira and shoved her behind a pillar.
"Listen carefully," he said fast. "If Arin regains control for even ten seconds, drive the silver knife into the shadow on his chest."
Mira stared. "What shadow?"
He looked at her with pain in his eyes.
"The mark I gave him as a child."
Before she could speak, a stone spear flew through his shoulder and pinned him to the wall.
He screamed.
The monster was now towering over everyone.
The possessed Arin slowly turned toward Mira.
His eyes flickered between black… and human.
He held out a trembling hand.
"Mira…"
Then his voice changed again.
"Run."
The floor beneath Mira cracked open.
And from the darkness below, dozens of pale hands reached for her ankles.
To Be Continued…