Page 25

T he forest was hauntingly silent, a kind of silence that gnawed at the edges of my sanity.

Each step I took sent echoes into the void, the crunch of dead leaves underfoot feeling unnaturally loud.

I needed to go home. I needed to lock myself away.

I don’t know where Withers and his enforcers went.

I just have to get out of Lunairis. The moonlight barely penetrated through the gnarled branches above, and the shadows seemed to shift with intent, as though they were alive.

I could still feel it, the thing inside me, coiled and waiting. Its presence was no longer a flicker at the edges of my mind but a steady pulse, a heartbeat that didn’t belong to me.

Ahead, the forest opened into another clearing, and there stood Withers again, his face a mask of calm triumph. The enforcers flanked him, their weapons gleaming in the pale light. They stood between me and the path to Ebonshade Keep, yet I felt no fear.

“Kaelen,” Withers said, his voice smooth and mocking. “Running from destiny, I see. How predictable.”

I halted just before the clearing, my hand instinctively gripping the hilt of my blade. “Get out of my way, Withers.”

He smirked. “Oh, Kaelen. Do you still think you have a choice in any of this? The Council has shaped you, moulded you, and now... It’s time for you to fulfil your purpose.”

The beast stirred at his words, its presence surging like a wave of poison through my veins. My breath caught, and I

staggered back, clutching my chest.

“Stop fighting it,” Withers said, stepping closer. “You’ve

resisted for far too long. Let it out. Let it consume you.” “Shut up!” I growled, but my voice cracked beneath the

weight of the beast’s pull.

Withers extended a hand, and the enforcers began to chant.

The air thickened, charged with a dark energy that seeped into the ground, the trees, and the very fabric of the forest.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head as the beast screeched inside me, clawing at the walls of my mind. “I shan’t allow you,

”

“You have no choice, Kaelen,” Withers interrupted, his eyes

gleaming with triumph. “You never did.”

Pain surged in my chest, bringing me to my knees. My vision

blurred, the world around me dissolving into a swirling vortex of darkness and fire. The beast’s voice was no longer distant; it was deafening, a guttural growl that drowned out my thoughts.

“ Let me out ,” it hissed. “ Let me take the pain away .”

“No,” I gritted out, my voice trembling. “I won’t... I can’t...” But the resistance I had clung to for so long was slipping

away, torn apart by the relentless pressure of the Council’s magic. The chanting grew louder, and the very air seemed to close in around me.

“Good,” Withers said, his voice slicing through the chaos. “Yield. Embrace who you are, Kaelen. Become the weapon

you were always destined to be.”

With a final, anguished cry, I shattered.

The barriers I had built, the chains I had forged to hold the beast at bay, all shattered in an instant. A surge of raw, primal power erupted from within me, scorching through my body and spilling into the world around me. My vision turned red, my mind consumed by a hunger I could not comprehend.

I was no longer me.

The beast, fully unleashed, stood in my place. Its form was death itself. I could feel my skin turning greyer by the second, my eyes were no longer red but completely pitch black. My fingers elongated and grew sharper.

The enforcers faltered, their chanting silenced by the sheer force of the transformation. Even Withers, who has orches- trated this moment, took a cautious step back.

“Magnificent,” he breathed, and there was a tremor in his voice.

The new me roared, a sound that tore through the clearing like a thunderclap.

Without hesitation, I lunged forward, my claw-like hands slicing through the first enforcer before they could even react.

Blood sprayed across the ground, and the remaining enforcers scrambled to defend themselves, their magic pitifully weak against my new wrath.

But somewhere deep inside, the part of me that was still Kaelen screamed, but it was drowned out by my bloodlust. Each kill fuelled me, the power surging through my veins intoxicating and unstoppable.

Withers tries to regain control, shouting incantations and commands, but I was beyond his grasp. I turn to him, my eyes fixated on his. For the first time, fear crossed his face.

“Kaelen,” he said, his voice wavering. “You can’t...”

I didn’t let him finish, I struck with lightning speed, claws tearing through Withers’ defences as though they were paper. He fell to the ground, gasping for breath, his once-cocky demeanour replaced with desperation.

As I loomed over him, ready to deliver the final blow, a voice

cut through the haze.

“Kaelen!”

It was Elara.

Her voice was distant but undeniable, a beacon piercin g

through the storm of rage and power. For a fleeting moment, I was me again.

But the Council’s magic and the darkness’s bloodlust were too strong.

With a guttural growl, I turn away from Withers and vanish into the forest, leaving a trail of death and destruc- tion.

I wasn’t myself. How could I face Elara like this?

This thing had completely taken over, but when I heard her voice, a part of me snapped back to reality.

Deep down, I knew the Council had won, I was their weapon now.