"Come back."
"He's still in here."
"Don't you want to save him?"
Sienna's breath came in sharp, uneven gasps. The voice slithered into her mind, wrapping around her thoughts like ivy, pulling her toward the place she should not go.
She couldn't look back.
Because if she did…
She would see him.
Aldric.
Or whatever was left of him.
Her feet pounded against the forest floor as Kael pulled her forward, his grip unyielding. The air was thick, heavy, charged with something unnatural. The trees twisted and warped around them, shadows stretching in ways that made no sense.
The darkness was alive.
And it was following them.
She clenched her jaw and forced herself forward. One step. Then another.
But the whispers didn't stop.
"You can save him."
Her chest tightened. The voice knew exactly where to dig, where to wound.
Her steps faltered.
Kael yanked her forward harder. "Sienna, I swear.."
Something lurched behind them.
A sharp, inhuman screech split through the night, rattling in her skull.
And then..
Footsteps.
It was fast. Heavy. Gaining.
Sienna barely had time to register it before the ground beneath her shifted.
Roots exploded upward, coiling like serpents, twisting toward her legs. She yelped, twisting mid-step, barely managing to avoid them.
Kael swore under his breath and jerked her forward. "We're almost out! Just.."
A shape materialized ahead of them.
Not Aldric.
But something else.
A black figure, tall, cloaked in the absence of light, featureless except for a set of burning white eyes.
Sienna skidded to a stop. Kael shoved her behind him.
The thing tilted its head, its gaze unreadable.
"You fight so hard," it murmured.
Kael lifted his dagger, his voice cold and steady. "You're in our way."
The figure didn't move.
"You will not leave this place," it said, voice smooth, patient. Certain.
A flash of movement behind them..
Aldric's laughter.
Sienna's heart slammed against her ribs. She turned just enough to see him standing there, half-hidden in the shifting shadows, his too-dark eyes locked onto hers.
"Why do you run from me?" he whispered.
The voice was his. And not.
Her hands clenched into fists. "You're not Aldric."
He smiled.
"Who says?"
A sharp crack split through the air. The trees trembled. The shadows deepened.
The figure in front of them moved.
It didn't walk, it moved.
One moment, it stood still. The next, it was inches from Kael.
Kael lunged.
The dagger met empty air.
Sienna's breath caught.
The figure was behind Kael now.
A whisper, soft and taunting:
"You are too slow."
Kael whirled, but it was already gone again.
The laughter behind them grew.
Sienna turned, and her stomach dropped.
Aldric was closer.
Too close.
Her breath hitched. "Aldric.."
He moved faster than he should have, closing the distance in an instant.
Kael reacted on instinct. He shoved Sienna behind him, his free hand clamping onto Aldric's throat.
But Aldric didn't fight back.
He just… smiled.
A slow, knowing, wrong smile.
Kael tightened his grip. "You're not him."
Aldric's head tilted. "Aren't I?"
Sienna took a step forward before she could stop herself. "Aldric, if you're in there.."
His gaze snapped to hers.
And for just a fraction of a second, she thought she saw it.
Him.
Not the thing wearing his body.
But Aldric.
His real eyes, wide with something like fear, like desperation.
Her chest clenched. "Aldric?"
His lips parted. A sound slipped free..
Not a whisper.
Not laughter.
But a plea.
"Help me."
Her breath caught.
And then, the shadows swallowed him whole.
The forest exploded into motion.
Sienna barely had time to scream before something yanked her backwards, away from Kael, away from everything.
Darkness wrapped around her, thick and suffocating.
The world twisted.
She couldn't breathe.
Couldn't see.
Couldn't move.
A whisper curled around her ear, soft, intimate.
"You should not have looked back."
And then..
The darkness broke.
She hit the ground hard, air slamming from her lungs. Light burst behind her eyes.
For a long, horrible second, she couldn't move.
Then, Kael stretched his hands, gripping her wrist.
Kael.
His voice was sharp, desperate. "Sienna. Get up."
She sucked in a ragged breath and forced her body to move.
Kael was already hauling her up, his grip bruising. His eyes were wild, darting toward the shifting shadows around them.
"They're not done," he ground out. "We need to go. Now."
Sienna nodded, swallowing hard.
But her gaze flickered back.
To the place where Aldric had disappeared.
To the shadows writhing in the distance.
To the voice still lingering in her head.
"Come back."
She turned away.
And ran.