Home / Fantasy / God of War: The Silent Healer / CHAPTER 8 — THE SHADOW THAT BREATHES
CHAPTER 8 — THE SHADOW THAT BREATHES
Author: OGU
last update2025-12-02 00:12:01

Darkness wasn’t absence. It was presence. It pressed against Spencer’s skin, cold, aware, predatory. A voice echoed in the void: “Breathe, vessel.”

Spencer flinched. “Stop calling me that!”

“Then stop behaving like one.”

Light ripped open the darkness, He stumbled backward into a half-collapsed rooftop, heart hammering.

Lira stood across from him, blade drawn, panting, eyes wild with panic. “Spencer, DON’T MOVE!”

He froze. “What, what happened? Where’s the warlock?”

“Forget him!” She pointed past Spencer.

“Look behind you.”

Slowly, dreading it, Spencer turned. His shadow was still there. Standing upright. Detached from his feet. Breathing in slow, unnatural rises. “Spencer,” Lira whispered, “it followed you through the shift.”

Spencer backed away. “How?! Shadows don’t teleport!”

“That’s not your shadow. That’s your remnant’s… shape.”

The shadow tilted its head, perfectly matching the motion Spencer had just made. Except… slower. More deliberate. Hungrier. “Stop copying me!” Spencer sn
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  • CHAPTER 10 — THE BODY THAT DID NOT WAKE ALONE

    Spencer slammed back into his body like someone dropped him from the stratosphere. He gasped, air stabbing into his lungs, vision spinning, Concrete above him.Moonlight. The cold loading dock. He was back. But something was wrong. “…Lira?” he croaked.Silence. He blinked hard. The world was unfocused, edges bending like heatwaves. He pushed himself up, trembling.His hands shook violently, silver light flickering under his skin like trapped lightning. “Lira… where are you?”Still nothing. His stomach dropped. She wasn’t here. “LIRA!” he shouted, louder, desperate.A faint echo responded, like his voice bounced off the wrong angles of the building. But no Lira. No shadow. No warlock. Just silence.Spencer whispered, “No. No, nononono, she wouldn’t leave me.”A cold voice answered from behind him: “You’re half-right.”Spencer spun, Lira stumbled out of the darkness. But she didn’t look like herself. Her face was pale. Eyes unfocused. Breaths shallow. Like she’d run for miles through ni

  • CHAPTER 9 — THE MEMORY THAT SHOULD NOT EXIST

    Falling wasn’t the right word. Spencer wasn’t falling. He was dropping through himself.Blackness tore apart into shards of blinding white, flashing like broken mirrors, each reflecting pieces of him he didn’t recognize.A voice echoed, layered and ancient: “Remember.”Spencer shouted into the void, “No! I don’t want to remember anything!”Another voice, his own, whispered directly behind his ear: “You don’t have a choice.”He spun, His shadow stood inches from him in the empty void, more solid than before—bone structure forming beneath the darkness, faint muscles shaping. “Stay away from me,” Spencer breathed.The shadow stepped closer. “You called me.”“I DID NOT!”“You awakened. That is a call.”Spencer clenched his fists. “Where am I? What did you do to me?”“This is inside your remnant. Inside us.”Spencer’s heartbeat thundered. Inside them. Inside a past he didn’t want. Inside a truth he wasn’t ready for. “Let me out,” he said. “Now.”The shadow smiled slightly. “Escape requires

  • CHAPTER 8 — THE SHADOW THAT BREATHES

    Darkness wasn’t absence. It was presence. It pressed against Spencer’s skin, cold, aware, predatory. A voice echoed in the void: “Breathe, vessel.”Spencer flinched. “Stop calling me that!”“Then stop behaving like one.”Light ripped open the darkness, He stumbled backward into a half-collapsed rooftop, heart hammering.Lira stood across from him, blade drawn, panting, eyes wild with panic. “Spencer, DON’T MOVE!”He froze. “What, what happened? Where’s the warlock?”“Forget him!” She pointed past Spencer.“Look behind you.”Slowly, dreading it, Spencer turned. His shadow was still there. Standing upright. Detached from his feet. Breathing in slow, unnatural rises. “Spencer,” Lira whispered, “it followed you through the shift.”Spencer backed away. “How?! Shadows don’t teleport!”“That’s not your shadow. That’s your remnant’s… shape.”The shadow tilted its head, perfectly matching the motion Spencer had just made. Except… slower. More deliberate. Hungrier. “Stop copying me!” Spencer sn

  • CHAPTER 7 — WHEN THE VESSEL OPENS ITS EYES

    Spencer woke to the taste of metal. Blood? Power? Both?The world was a blur, shattered concrete, twisting fog, the faint echo of his own heartbeat returning in slow, brutal thumps. Lira’s voice cut through the haze: “Spencer, answer me. Spencer!”He groaned. “D-did I… die again?”“No. But something inside you woke up in your place.”“That’s… terrible news.”“Yes,” she said quickly. “That’s why we need to move, NOW.”But Spencer couldn’t move. His limbs trembled like electricity was still crawling through them. “What happened to the warlock?” he whispered.Lira stiffened. “I don’t know. You, your remnant, repelled him. Violently.”“Repelled him how?”She swallowed. “It screamed.”“That’s… disturbing.”“You’re telling me.”Spencer tried to sit up. “We need to check if he’s gone.”Lira grabbed his arm instantly. “No. Absolutely not.”“Why?”“Because if he’s still conscious, he’ll finish the extraction.”“And if he’s NOT conscious”“Then that’s even worse.”Spencer blinked. “…Why worse?”

  • CHAPTER 6 — THE WARLOCK WHO SPEAKS WITHOUT SPEAKING

    The shadow at the end of the ruined road didn’t move. It didn’t breathe. It didn’t even sway in the wind. But Spencer felt it, in his bones, in the back of his skull, in the thing pulsing inside his chest.Lira whispered, “Spencer… don’t blink.”“I’m not even breathing,” Spencer whispered back.“Good. Don’t. Any movement might”The warlock’s voice suddenly slid between their thoughts: “Move. Don’t move. It makes no difference.”Spencer flinched. “Lira, he’s inside my head again”“He’s not,” she said.“Then what is he doing?”“He’s inside your remnant.”Spencer’s throat tightened. “Is… is it talking back?”Lira’s silence answered for her. The warlock lifted one hand, slowly, precisely, as if raising a curtain. All the fog around them tightened inward, spiraling like a slow-turning whirlpool.Lira stepped in front of Spencer. “Don’t respond,” she hissed.“I’m not!”“I meant the remnant.”Spencer swallowed. “Can you stop it?”“No. I can only delay it.”“How long?”“Minutes,” she said. “M

  • CHAPTER 5 — THE HEART THAT ISN’T HIS

    The symbols on the ground glowed faintly, pulsing like a heartbeat. Spencer stumbled backward as the message dissolved into dust. “Lira… what does it mean? Awakening too fast? How fast is too fast?”Lira didn’t answer. She didn’t breathe. She stared at the dust as if it were something alive. “Lira?” Spencer whispered. “Talk to me.”Finally, she spoke, soft, strained, terrified. “It means your remnant isn’t dormant anymore. It’s… accelerating.”“Isn’t that good?” Spencer asked desperately. “Doesn’t that mean I’m getting stronger?”“No,” Lira said sharply. “Awakening doesn’t mean strength. It means instability.”“Lira”She grabbed his wrist. “Spencer, listen to me carefully. If the remnant wakes too fast, it won’t merge with you.”“Then what does it do?”“It replaces you.”Spencer’s breath froze. “You’re joking.”“I wish I were.”He stepped away from her, chest tightening. “No, no, this can’t be happening. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t want any of this!”Lira followed him slowly. “No

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