The silver knife stopped inches above Arin's heart.
A giant black hand held Mira's wrist like stone.
Its touch burned cold through her skin.
The towering creature bent lower, hundreds of shifting faces moving beneath its body. One face pushed forward through the darkness—
Mira's mother.
Crying.
"Mira… help me…"
Mira froze.
The knife slipped from her fingers.
"No…"
The creature smiled through her mother's face.
"Still easy."
Kael, barely conscious beneath the fallen pillar, forced himself up.
"IT'S LYING!"
He coughed blood and crawled toward them.
Arin's father shouted, "Don't look at its faces!"
Too late.
New faces emerged across the monster's chest.
Dead cult members.
Children.
Strangers.
Then—
Arin.
Dozens of Arin's faces screaming silently from inside the shadow.
Mira staggered back in horror.
"What are you?"
The creature answered in many voices.
"What remains when grief is fed."
The possessed Arin suddenly grabbed the monster's wrist.
Black eyes burning with fury.
"You take what is mine."
The chamber exploded with pressure.
The giant hand released Mira as both monsters clashed. Darkness tore across the room like storms colliding. Stone pillars snapped in half.
Kael dragged Mira behind rubble.
"Listen carefully," he gasped. "That thing consumes pain. Every fear, every regret makes it stronger."
Mira looked at the silver knife on the floor.
"Then how do we kill it?"
Kael's face hardened.
"Someone must give it nothing."
Meanwhile, Arin's body was being torn apart by the struggle inside him. His skin cracked with red light. One eye black. One eye human.
He looked at Mira.
For a second, it was truly him.
"Mira…"
She ran forward.
Kael shouted, "Stop!"
Too late.
Arin shoved her backward just as the possessed side regained control. A blade of shadow burst from his arm where her chest had been.
He stared at his own hand in horror.
"I almost…"
The giant creature laughed.
"Yes. Hurt her. Fear her. Lose her."
Its body doubled in size.
The chamber roof caved further.
Arin's father limped forward holding the black bone dagger.
"I made this monster once."
He looked at Mira.
"I can end it now."
Before anyone could react, he plunged the dagger into his own chest.
Blood sprayed across the floor symbols.
The creature screamed.
Its many faces twisted in agony.
Kael's eyes widened. "His blood was the anchor…"
Arin's father fell to his knees, smiling weakly at Arin.
"Forgive me… son."
Then he collapsed dead.
The giant creature began shrinking violently, ripping faces away from its body as they dissolved into smoke.
Mira grabbed the silver knife.
"This is our chance!"
But Arin suddenly dropped to one knee, clutching his head.
The black side inside him was dying too.
If the monster outside died…
So might Arin.
Kael whispered the truth too late.
"They're linked."
Mira looked between the weakening shadow creature… and Arin coughing blood.
Kill one.
Lose both.
The monster, now smaller but faster, smiled through Mira's mother's face one last time.
"Choose again."
Then it lunged straight for Arin's human heart.
To Be Continued…