The catacombs were no longer quiet.
The air carried sound like water carries blood—slow, thick, and tainted. Somewhere down the corridor, stone cracked under something heavy. Bones, maybe. Or worse—something being born.
Jace gripped the hilt of his blade, though the metal felt cold, almost reluctant in his hand. The shard in his thigh pulsed with heat. Not pain—anticipation. Like it was excited. Like it knew what was coming.
"Stay close," Lena whispered.
Reya didn't respond.
Her eyes glowed with a deeper hue now—violet tinged with black, like bruised amethyst. She walked without fear, lips slightly parted like she was hearing a song no one else could hear.
Merrik trailed behind them, fingers twitching in idle spell-signs, his mouth curled in an amused smirk.
"You can't kill it," he said. "Not in the way you're used to."
Jace glanced over his shoulder. "Then give me something I can do."
"You can run."
"I don't run."
Merrik smiled wider. "Neither does it."
They turned a corner—and found blood.
Smeared across the walls. Not painted—dragged. Like someone had been pulled through while still alive, nails scratching, trying to stop whatever came for them. Lena knelt by the smear, touching it lightly with two fingers.
"Still warm."
"Then we're close," Jace said.
"No," Reya whispered. "It's already here."
The shadows moved.
At first, Jace thought it was just the candlelight flickering—but then the dark peeled off the wall like wet skin.
It stepped into the circle of light—and it wore a face.
His face.
Twisted. Distorted. A parody of humanity.
The creature stood eight feet tall, black veins bulging beneath translucent, grayish flesh. Its arms were too long, fingers ending in curved, glass-like claws. Its mouth split sideways—cheeks tearing open to reveal rows of jagged bone where teeth should've been.
But its eyes—
They were exactly like Jace's.
"Shit," he breathed. "That thing's me."
Merrik whispered, fascinated. "No. It's what you would be… if you gave in."
The creature tilted its head, mimicking Jace's posture perfectly. Then it spoke.
"Jace," it rasped in a voice layered with hundreds of whispers. "You bled… and we came."
Jace took a step forward.
"You're a mistake."
"I'm you, without the leash."
Then it moved.
Too fast.
A blur.
Jace barely raised his blade in time, the clang of steel against claw ringing through the chamber like a scream. Sparks burst as he was flung backward, his back hitting the stone with enough force to knock the breath out of him.
Lena was already casting.
Glyphs lit up mid-air around her, red-orange and furious. A chain of molten light wrapped around the creature's leg—but it twisted, and the spell shattered like glass.
"I said you can't bind it," Merrik muttered.
Lena turned on him. "Then help!"
"I am helping," he grinned, eyes wild. "I'm watching."
The creature lunged at Reya—but she didn't move.
She just looked at it, calm. Curious.
And then… it stopped.
Frozen, inches from her, claws inches from her throat.
She whispered something only it could hear.
Its entire body twitched. Like it had been struck.
Then it hissed—and backed away.
"What the hell was that?" Jace coughed, standing again, blade raised.
"I don't know," Reya said softly. "But it listens to me."
Merrik laughed. "Of course it does. You're the Hollow God's favorite."
Reya's eyes narrowed. "I don't want to be."
"Want's got nothing to do with it, darling. You're the key."
The creature began to pace slowly, circling the group.
Not attacking.
Studying.
It whispered again, and this time everyone heard it.
"Give me the boy. I'll leave the rest."
Jace spat blood. "Yeah? You can choke on that offer."
The creature smiled with his mouth.
Then it ran—at Lena.
She braced—
But Jace was faster.
His blade screamed through the air, cutting a deep line across the creature's ribs. Black fluid sprayed the floor, sizzling on contact. The monster shrieked and spun, claws catching Jace across the chest and flinging him back again.
This time, he didn't get up.
Reya screamed his name.
The shard in his leg glowed red-hot.
Pain surged through him, pure and white and alive. Not just pain—power. It poured into his bloodstream like fire, and suddenly Jace wasn't just bleeding—he was burning.
His hand found the ground.
And the ground cracked.
Dark runes etched themselves into the stone beneath him, drawn from his blood.
The creature paused.
Then it growled—low, and angry.
Jace stood slowly, shirt torn, chest bleeding, eyes burning with violet fire.
"I didn't ask for this," he said.
"But I'm not running."
And with a cry that wasn't just human, he charged.
The blade met flesh.
The creature screamed.
And so did Jace.
Because every strike, every clash of steel and bone, echoed not just through the catacombs—but through him. Like he wasn't just fighting it… he was fighting himself.
Until finally—Lena screamed an incantation and hurled a crimson sigil through the air.
The creature caught it full in the chest.
It didn't die.
It didn't scream.
It just smiled—
And collapsed into ash.
For now.
Silence.
Heavy. Sacred.
Reya rushed to Jace's side. He was bleeding, panting, eyes wild.
"You good?" she asked.
"No," he whispered. "But I'm awake."
Merrik chuckled. "The first beast is down. But the Hollow God remembers your face now, boy."
Lena helped him to his feet.
Jace looked at the fading ash where the creature once stood.
"Let it come," he said. "I'm not afraid anymore."
He lied.
But he'd keep lying—until he was strong enough to make it true.
—