If you touch that metal, Ethan, I will watch everything that makes you human burn away to ash.Evelyn's voice fractured the dead air of the subterranean vault chamber, her fingers clawing desperately at the fabric of his sleeve as if physical force could anchor him to reality.I do not have a choice, Ev, Ethan breathed out, his skin turning a sickly, pale grey as the darkness beneath his collarbone began to writhe and pulse like a trapped heartbeat. If I do not open this door, Malakar is going to slaughter every single one of you out here in the dark.And what happens to us when you lose your mind to the thing living inside your chest? Evelyn yelled, her voice cracking with a raw, desperate agony that made Garrick look away. You think any of us can survive you turning into a monster? Look at your eyes, Ethan. They are not yours anymore.A low, guttural growl echoed from deep within Ethan's throat, sounding less like a man and more like a

"You are walking right into a slaughterhouse, Ethan, and you are expecting us to just smile and follow you through the door."Garrick slammed his hand down against the cold stone table, his face twisted in a mask of furious disbelief as the glowing star-maps cast a harsh violet glare across his features."I am not expecting anyone to smile, Garrick," Ethan replied, his voice unnaturally calm as he kept his eyes locked on the shifting grid lines of the capital's defense perimeter. "I am expecting us to survive. That blind spot is the only crack in their armor.""It is not a crack, it is an invitation," Garrick snapped, stepping closer until he was practically chest-to-chest with Ethan, his breath coming in hot, ragged gasps. "The empire spent five hundred years fortifying that sector. They left a gap in the patrols just wide enough to fit a strike team because they wanted someone to look at it. It is a trap. A textbook honey-trap designed to lure

You brought a shattered soul to a slaughter, boy, and you expect me to feel pity when the fire takes you?Malakar's voice echoed off the soaring stone arches of the grand hall, smooth and laced with a toxic poison that made Ethan's teeth ache.I do not want your pity, Malakar, Ethan gasped, planting his boots firmly against the blood-stained flagstones as a wave of searing, white-hot radiance washed over him. I just want you to watch everything you built burn.Malakar let out a cold, melodic laugh, lifting his radiant blade higher as the golden sigils along his armor flared into a blinding brilliance. You speak of burning while your own shadow eats you alive from the inside. Look at your hands, Ethan. They are already turning to ash.Ethan glanced down at his palms. Wisps of dark, ethereal smoke curled away from his skin, hissing violently as they collided with the ambient holy light filling the chamber. Every breath felt like inhaling c

"If you do not run with me right now, Ethan, I swear I will never forgive you."Evelyn kept her grip locked tight around the hilt of her sword, her knuckles shining white against the dark stone as Malakar thrashed in agony against the pillar behind her."I am right behind you," Ethan panted, his voice a strange, dual-toned vibration that settled deep in the marrow of her bones as the abyssal shadow around his skin began to recede. "Just pull the blade out before his guards recover their senses.""There is no time to be careful!" she screamed, ripping the sword free with a sickening wrench of tearing flesh and shouting as a fresh wave of imperial archers poured down the upper gallery. "Move, Ethan! Move!"They sprinted blindly toward the back of the altar, where the hidden stone panels of the inner vault had ground open to reveal a swirling vortex of pale blue light humming with dangerous, erratic energy."Through the gate! Every

"If you think for one second I am letting you walk into this blizzard alone to die in the snow, Ethan, you do not know me at all."Evelyn slammed her boot down into the hard-packed ice, her face drawn tight with a fierce, unbreakable resolve that cut right through the howling gale of the northern storm."I am not trying to get myself killed, Evelyn, I am trying to bring him back before the cold finishes what the beast started," Ethan replied, his breath pluming out in ragged, white clouds as he pulled the heavy leather strap of his sword belt tighter across his chest."You cannot even see your own hand in front of your face out there," Garrick shouted over the roar of the wind, stepping up to block the path leading out of the camp perimeter. "That storm is a whiteout. You take ten steps past the ridge and you are gone forever.""If we stay here and wait, we are just cowards letting a kid get torn apart in the dark," Ethan shot back, his