Ellie's breath came in shallow gasps. The weight of her decision pressed down on her like an avalanche, suffocating, inescapable.
She had to do this.
Even if it came with a price.
Ben's hands trembled as they held hers, his voice thick with desperation. "Ellie, listen to me. If you do this—if you go through with it—you'll never be the same."
Ellie's chest ached, but she yanked her hands away. "Ben, I don't have a choice!"
"There's always a choice!" Ben's voice cracked. "You just haven't looked hard enough!"
Victoria's dark laugh slithered between them. "Oh, Ben. How quickly you forget." She turned to Ellie, her eyes gleaming. "You understand, don't you? You're not blind like him.*"
Ellie swallowed hard.
She had spent weeks trying to find another solution. And nothing—nothing—had worked.
This was it.
Ben's face twisted in anguish. "Ellie, please."
"Stop." Her voice wavered, but her resolve hardened. "I have to do this, Ben. It's the only way to end this."
His eyes filled with something raw—something that broke her.
"At what cost?" he whispered. "At the cost of your soul?"
She turned away.
If she hesitated now, she'd never go through with it.
Victoria stepped beside her, her form flickering between the living and the dead. "Then let's begin."*
A shiver crawled down Ellie's spine as Victoria raised her hand.
The air shifted, a cold pulse rippling through the space. Shadows stretched unnaturally along the walls. The air grew thick—suffocating.
Ellie gasped as a whisper curled around her ears.
"You're looking for a soul, aren't you?"
It wasn't Victoria.
It wasn't Ben.
Something else had answered.
Ellie's blood ran cold.
Ben must have felt it too, because his grip tightened around her wrist. "Ellie, don't—"
"Too late," Victoria murmured. "It has begun."
A gust of unnatural wind whipped through the room. The temperature plummeted.
Then, the voices came.
Soft.
Luring.
Desperate.
"Choose me."
"I will do anything."
"Take me back."
"Save me."
Ellie gasped, her head pounding. The whispers came from everywhere, wrapping around her like unseen hands.
A presence loomed behind her.
Cold breath ghosted over her neck.
"You seek a soul?"
She froze.
Ben yanked her back. "Ellie—!"
But she couldn't move.
Victoria smiled. "Now... let's find you a body."*
Ellie's heart pounded.
She had awoken something.
Something that should have stayed buried.