Kael woke up screaming.
Darkness crushed him from all sides, thick and suffocating, dragging him back into a place that was not entirely a dream.
Chains coiled around his chest again,not real, not anymore,but the pain was vivid, burning through bone and soul alike.
You are mine.
The Ashen King's voice slithered through his mind, smooth and patient. It did not shout. It did not rage.
It waited.
Kael gasped awake, body arching violently as shadows rippled beneath his skin.
Sweat soaked the fur-lined bed beneath him, his claws gouging deep into the wooden floor. Every breath felt wrong, as though his lungs no longer remembered how to draw clean air.
"Maria" he choked.
She was there instantly.
Silver light flooded the chamber as Maria dropped to her knees beside him, hands gripping his shoulders. Her touch was grounding, real anchoring him to the present before the darkness could pull him under again.
"Easy," she whispered, though fear flashed unmistakably in her eyes. "You're safe. You're with me."
Kael shook his head weakly. "No," he rasped. "I'm not."
He pushed himself upright, trembling, and tore open the torn fabric at his chest.
Beneath his skin, dark veins pulsed slowly, forming ancient symbols unmistakable.
The Ashen King's mark.
Maria's breath hitched.
"It's spreading," Kael said quietly. "Not fast.
Not yet. But I can feel him when I'm weak when I'm afraid." His jaw tightened. "He feeds on it."
The bond between them flickered uneasily.
Mary reached out instinctively, pouring moonlight into him, but the corruption reacted violently, lashing back like a wounded beast.
She recoiled with a hiss.
"I almost lost you," she admitted softly. "And I won't pretend I'm not afraid of what this means."
Kael met her gaze, silver eyes burning with determination beneath the shadow. "Then don't be afraid of me," he said. "I won't give him control. I swear it."
Outside the chamber, the wind howled.
Far away, across corrupted lands and broken altars, the Ashen King smiled.
"Fight me," he murmured into the void.
"Struggle. Love. Hope."
His laughter echoed through the darkness.
"It will make your fall so much sweeter."
Kael clinched his first, the mark glowing faintly against the silver of his chest. Maria hand found his, the bond flaring against the darkness.
Together they would resist. Together they would survive.
But the shadow beneath whispered otherswise.