Kael's legs trembled with every step, but he couldn't stop moving. The crimson light of the moon never faded, painting everything in sickly shades of blood. If there was such a thing as dawn in the Dusk, he hadn't seen it yet.
The mark on his chest still pulsed faintly, the shadow bound to him whispering like a fever in his veins. He tried to ignore it, but the longer he walked, the louder it became.
Hungry… bind more…
He pressed his fist against his sternum, grinding his teeth. The first shadow had almost killed him. The second had nearly driven him mad. How many more could he take?
His stomach growled. Real hunger gnawed at him, sharper than the whispers. Back in the orphanage, hunger was nothing new. But here, in this place, hunger wasn't just weakness—it was death. If he slowed down, if he faltered, the next nightmare would end him.
The ground sloped into a basin choked with broken statues. Massive limbs of stone lay scattered like corpses. Heads taller than Kael's body stared up at the sky with eyeless sockets, their expressions frozen in silent screams.
Kael crept forward, every sense on edge. The Dusk was never quiet for long.
He was right.
A wet snuffling reached his ears. Something crawled between the statues, its movements jerky and wrong.
Kael crouched low, heart hammering. The creature revealed itself as it clambered onto a fallen head. Its body was gaunt, stretched skin clinging to brittle bones. Its arms were too long, its fingers hooked into claws. Where its face should have been, there was only a wide mouth and two slits for nostrils.
It sniffed the air.
Kael's breath hitched.
The beast turned sharply. Then it leapt.
Kael threw himself aside, rolling across stone shards. Pain lanced through his ribs. The creature skidded where he had been a heartbeat ago, then whipped its head around with a shriek that scraped his ears raw.
The chain-mark seared. Shadows stirred.
Kael staggered upright, raising his hand without thinking. Black chains erupted from the ground, jagged and alive. They wrapped around the beast's limbs, clamping it down.
The monster thrashed violently, shrieking. The chains rattled like living things.
Kael gritted his teeth. "You're not… taking me."
He pulled.
The chains tightened, dragging the beast down. Its body dissolved into smoke, which stabbed into him with knives of ice. He cried out, clutching his chest as the shadow burrowed deep inside him.
The hunger surged again. Louder this time.
More. More. More.
Kael collapsed to one knee, gasping. Sweat dripped from his forehead. His limbs felt stronger, faster—but his thoughts swam, blurred at the edges by whispers.
He forced himself to stand. He had survived another hunt. But he could feel it now: each chain bound made the voices louder.
How many would it take before he couldn't hear his own thoughts anymore?
He clenched his fists, glaring into the crimson sky. "I'll decide what I am. Not you."
The whispers laughed in reply.