The snow had stopped falling, but the forest had never felt colder.
Each step Aric took left a faint, glowing imprint in the frost, the red light beneath his skin pulsing in rhythm with some silent, ancient drum. Neither Kael nor Selene commented anymore. They had run out of words for what was happening to him.
But Kael watched. Always watched.
They moved deeper into the Blackroot Pines, a place Kael had once called uncharted by map or mercy. The trees were too tall, the light too faint. Aric felt like he was walking through a graveyard of giants.
Three days passed with no sign of Malrik, but that made it worse. The silence. The absence. Aric kept expecting him in the corner of his vision or behind the next tree. A shape. A whisper.
Instead, the whispers came in dreams.
This time, Aric saw a city, drowning in fire. Screams echoed across broken stone. Shadows moved through the flames—not soldiers, not demons—people. Normal people, burning from the inside, their skin glowing like molten glass before they crumbled into ash.
Above them all, on a ruined spire, stood a figure with blackened wings.
Malrik.
His face wasn't hidden now.
It was Aric's.
The dream shattered.
He woke up gasping, chest slick with sweat despite the bitter cold. Selene sat nearby, sharpening her daggers by moonlight. She looked up, eyes narrowing.
"You saw him again."
Aric nodded. "It's always worse. He's showing me things I don't understand."
"What did you see?"
"My face. But it was him. I was him."
Selene lowered her blade. "Kael said Malrik doesn't just appear. He binds. Once he marks you, he doesn't need to stay close. He moves through thought. Through memory. Through power."
"Then what is he?" Aric asked. "A god?"
Selene shook her head. "No. Worse. He was a man once. That's what makes him terrifying. He chose what he became."
Kael returned just before dawn. His face was drawn, eyes tired. "There's a ruin not far from here. The Temple of Galesh. If he's pressing into your dreams, that place may hold something that can shield you—or at least reveal what's changing inside you."
Aric stood. "Then we go."
The journey to the ruin was quiet, broken only by crows. As they reached the crumbling stone arch, Aric felt a pressure behind his eyes—like hands pushing inward.
Inside the temple, forgotten statues lined the walls—stone gods with broken eyes. Kael lit a torch and led them toward the center chamber. There, beneath a collapsed dome, lay a cracked dais etched with symbols.
Aric stepped forward.
His veins burned.
The red glow beneath his skin flared like wildfire. He screamed and fell to his knees, clawing at the stone.
Then the voice came—not in thought, but real this time. Spoken aloud. Deep. Hollow.
"You remember."
A shadow formed behind the dais. A cloak. A face. Those same eyes—neither dead nor alive.
Malrik.
Kael's blade was out in an instant. Selene drew her knives.
But Malrik didn't move. He stood still, arms at his side, as if amused.
Aric struggled to his feet. "Why are you haunting me?"
Malrik tilted his head slightly. "Because you asked to be found. You touched something forbidden. And now it answers."
"You marked me," Aric growled. "You did this."
Malrik stepped forward—just once—and every torch in the room went out.
"You did this to yourself, Aric."
And then he was gone. No flicker. No sound. Just silence.
Kael relit the torch with shaking hands.
Selene helped Aric stand. "He's pushing harder now. He's not just watching."
Kael nodded grimly. "He's beginning to test you."
Aric stared at the place where Malrik had stood. The heat still lingered.
A terrible thought crept into his mind—one he couldn't shake:
What if Malrik wasn't shaping him into an enemy?
What if he was shaping him into an heir?