Page 26 of Shadows Rising


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"Why…" I manage finally, my voice cracking. "Why does it feel like I know you?"

Something flickers across his face—an emotion too complex to name. It lands in my chest like recognition that hasn't caught up to memory. The ache in my chest pulses harder.

"Your heart remembers," he says carefully, "even if your mind doesn't yet."

I try to sit up, but my body feels heavy, wrong. Malrik moves instantly to help, his hand steady on my back. Finn appears on my other side, and something about having them both near makes breathing easier.

"Where are we?" I ask, finally taking in the strange room around us. Magic hums in the air, ancient and powerful.

"Somewhere safe," the stranger says. "A sanctuary, hidden from the corruption."

"Hidden isn't the same as protected," Malrik adds quietly, his hand still warm against my back. "The barriers won't hold forever."

"Nothing holds forever," the stranger agrees, and something about the way he says it makes my chest ache sharper. "But they'll hold long enough."

"Long enough for what?" Finn asks, his usual lightness gone.

The stranger's ancient eyes meet mine again, and the pain nearly doubles me over. "Long enough for you to understand what's happening."

"And if I don't want to understand?" The words slip out before I can stop them.

"Some choices," he says gently, "aren't really choices at all."

Not a fan of that.

The pain in my chest spikes again, but this time it's different—not just from looking at him, but from something darker trying to take hold. The wrongness that was in my body earlier pulses once, sharp and cold.

"It's fighting back," the stranger says grimly. "The corruption doesn't want to let go."

"Well," Finn says, his hand finding mine, "that's not ominous at all."

Malrik's grip tightens on my other side, and for a moment, I let myself lean into their strength. Whatever's coming, whatever this all means, at least I'm not facing it alone.

Even if it feels like my heart might shatter every time I look at the stranger with ancient eyes who says he knows me.

"Come on," Finn says, helping me stand. "Let's get you somewhere more comfortable than this creepy healing chamber."

My legs shake embarrassingly, each step slower than the last. The room spins a bit, and I have to lean heavily on Malrik and Finn.

"For void's sake," Torric growls after watching me stumble for the third time. Before I can protest, he scoops me up like I weigh nothing. "This is painful to watch."

"I can walk," I mutter, though we all know it's a lie.

"Sure you can," he says dryly. "And I'm secretly a unicorn."

Aspen's lips twitch as he holds the door. "I always wondered about that rainbow mane."

"Shut up."

The stranger—I still can't think of his name, though it feels like it's right there on the tip of my tongue—follows silently. He moves with an unnatural grace, like something not entirely human, each step deliberate and soundless. He's impossibly tall, all angles and restraint, shadows flickering in his wake like they remember him too. Power rolls off him in waves I can almost see, disturbing my shadows as he passes. Every time he gets close, that ache in my chest pulses harder.

"Second door on the left," he says quietly. His voice sends another wave of pain through me, and I feel Torric's arms tighten slightly.

The bedroom is simple but beautiful, with tall windows letting in soft light. Torric sets me on the bed with surprising gentleness.

"We'll be right outside," Malrik says, but there's a question in his silver eyes.

I nod, understanding what he's really asking. "It's okay. I… I think I need to talk to him."