Ethan's arms burned.
The sigils glowed gold beneath his skin, tangled with the void's black veins like dueling serpents. Every heartbeat sent jagged pain through his ribs—the codex's light and the Star's hunger warring for his soul.
Mara bandaged her wounds in the chapel's rubble, her gaze sharp as shattered glass.
"You look like hell," she said, tossing him a canteen.
He caught it, hand trembling.
"Feel worse."
The Keeper flickered into existence beside the shattered altar, his static-edged form wavering.
"The fusion is unstable. You're a lit fuse, Duskheir."
"Got a fix?" Ethan rasped.
"A bargain." The Keeper's grin split too wide. "Anchoring the Star requires a sacrifice. Someone… familiar."
Mara's dagger pressed to the Keeper's throat.
"Try it, and I'll unmake you myself."
Hollow's End had become a graveyard. The townsfolk fled, leaving behind empty homes and the stench of decay. Ethan and Mara scavenged supplies in a looted apothecary, shelves overturned, herbs scattered like ashes.
"The Order's close," Mara muttered, pocketing vials of wolfsbane. "They'll smell your blood."
Ethan's sigils flared as he grabbed a rusted sawblade.
"Let them."
A shadow moved.
Mara spun, dagger flying. It thudded into a cloaked figure in the doorway—a woman, her hood falling to reveal a face lined with scars and spite.
"Raina," Mara hissed.
The woman yanked the dagger free, blood slicking her palm.
"Miss me, sister?"
Rain poured as they faced off in the street. Raina's cloak clung to her armor, the Order's shattered-mirror sigil gleaming on her chest. Dozens more emerged from the gloom, blades glinting.
"You betrayed the Order," Raina spat. "Now you die with the Duskheir."
Mara bared her teeth.
"You first."
The Order charged. Ethan's sigils erupted, light shredding the dark. Soldiers screamed as their shadows turned on them, clawing at their throats. Raina jump at Mara, their daggers sparking.
"You left me to rot!" Raina snarled.
"You left our brother to die!" Mara kicked her into a water canal.
Ethan fought blind, the codex's power and the void's hunger merging into chaos. A blade sliced his side—he barely felt it. A soldier's face melted under his touch.
This isn't me.
Isn't it? the Star whispered.
The Keeper watched from the rooftops, laughing.
"Such delicious chaos!"
Ethan grabbed Raina mid-lunge, sigils burning her armor.
"Enough."
She choked, void-veins spreading from his grip.
"Mara… lied to you. The Order knows about the anchor. They're heading to Valenmoor."
Mara froze.
"What?"
"Your mother's grave." Raina grinned, blood staining her teeth. "They'll burn it. Then the Star… feasts."
Ethan's vision blurred—the chapel, Liora's locket, his father's sneer. Legacies are curses.
He snapped Raina's wrist.
"Run. Tell the Order I'm coming."
The Keeper appeared as Raina fled.
"Sentiment again. How dull.
Ethan seized his flickering collar.
"You knew. About the anchor."
"Of course." The Keeper's eyes gleamed. "Liora buried it with her corpse. Break the seal, and the Star devours this world."
Mara paled. "We have to stop them."
"Too late." The Keeper vanished, his final words dripping malice. "But the Duskheir's blood can reforge the pact… if you dare."
Ethan stared at his corrupted hands. The sigils pulsed, greedy.
"What's the plan?" Mara said, reloading her crossbow.
He strode into the storm.
"We kill the Order. Burn the past."
Valenmoor's cemetery loomed under a green-tinged sky. The Order's bonfire blazed around Liora's tombstone, flames devouring the Veyra crest. Their leader stood atop the grave, a hammer in hand—a man with Mara's eyes.
"Hello, little sister," he said. "Miss me?"