Night fell heavy and strange.
The convoy camped near the whispering woods of Velden's border — a forest cursed in legends and feared by even the bravest soldiers. Trees bent unnaturally inward, as if the forest itself were leaning close to listen. No birds. No wind. Just the sound of breathing — and the fire crackling nervously.
Kai couldn't sleep.
The weight of Valeria's body felt foreign, heavy in all the wrong places. Her muscles twitched with instincts that weren't his. Her heart beat differently in his chest. Slower. Sharper. Like it remembered things he didn't.
Worse, her senses were... heightened. She could hear things he couldn't. Smell things he shouldn't.
And right now?
She was screaming at him.
Not in words — but in every nerve, every hair standing on end.
Something was wrong.
Something was coming.
---
Then came the scream.
It sliced through the night — high, shrill, and inhuman.
Soldiers jumped from their tents. Swords unsheathed. Horses neighed wildly and stomped in terror.
Kai was on his feet in seconds, already gripping two daggers — Valeria's signature blades, curved and enchanted with frost.
Rael emerged from his royal tent, shirtless but armed. "What in the name of the six gods—"
A shadow tore through the camp.
Fast. Blurred. Wrong.
It slammed into a guard, lifting him off the ground and flinging him thirty feet into a tree with a crack that turned Kai's stomach.
The firelight caught it just long enough for Kai to see — and his blood ran cold.
A creature of bone and smoke.
Its body was stretched and hollow, like something unfinished. It had six spindly legs, a hunched back like an overgrown wolf, and a mouth that didn't open — it peeled.
Black mist clung to its body, leaking like steam. And where eyes should be, there were glowing blue runes, etched deep into the skull.
The entire camp froze.
"What... is that?" someone whispered.
Then the creature screeched again — and attacked.
---
Chaos exploded.
Soldiers charged, only to be thrown aside like dolls. Blades clanged against bone but barely scratched it. The creature moved in pulses, teleporting through shadows, blinking between tents, striking like a ghost.
"VALEDRIA! MOVE!" someone shouted.
Kai turned, realized they were shouting at him, and swore.
He dove, rolled under a flailing limb, and came up behind the creature. Its back was armored in bony plates. But its legs — thin. Fast, but fragile.
Valeria's instincts kicked in.
Low strike. Right leg. Cut the tendon. Go cold.
Kai didn't think — he obeyed.
He spun, ducked a claw, and drove both daggers into the joint behind its leg. Ice bloomed on contact. The creature shrieked and buckled.
Then turned.
And locked eyes — or runes — with him.
And it spoke.
Not with words.
With thought.
> "You do not belong in that skin."
Kai's eyes widened. "What...?"
> "Your soul smells of confusion. Of wrongness. You are a thief."
The creature blinked again — and vanished.
Kai spun, searching — too late.
It slammed into him from behind and drove him into the mud. His breath escaped in a wheeze.
It clawed toward his throat — but Kai shoved a dagger upward into its jaw.
Frost exploded from the blade's core. The creature staggered back, snarling.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck from above.
The creature howled — its bony shell cracking.
Rael stood at the edge of the firelight, hand raised, lightning magic sparking at his fingertips.
Kai stared, stunned. "You're a mage?!"
Rael didn't look at him. "I don't need a sword when I've got stormlight."
Another blast surged from his palm, but the creature blinked sideways again — then launched itself at him.
"No!" Kai screamed.
He moved — fast. Too fast. Valeria's body obeyed without hesitation.
He leapt.
Mid-air, he twisted, slashed the creature across its side, and landed between it and Rael.
The creature staggered, injured now. Ice climbed its legs. Its shadowy form flickered.
> "You are wearing death," it hissed into Kai's mind. "Her soul stains you."
Kai growled. "Good. I hope it hurts."
The beast screamed once more — then collapsed into smoke.
Gone.
---
Silence returned.
The camp was wrecked.
Four men dead. Several injured. Blood staining the grass. Horses trembling.
Rael stood beside Kai, staring at the scorch marks where the creature vanished.
"That was a nightfang," he said slowly. "A cursed beast. They only awaken near necromantic energy."
Kai's heart stopped.
Necromantic.
The magic of death. Of stolen souls. Of unnatural resurrection.
Of him.
Rael looked at him, eyes narrowing.
"Valeria... why would a nightfang be drawn to you?"
Kai couldn't answer.
He couldn't lie fast enough.
Not this time.
But Rael didn't press. Not yet. He only said:
"You saved my life tonight."
Kai swallowed hard. "Yeah, well. I didn't want to listen to you lecture me as a ghost."
Rael gave a tired smile. "You're still not yourself."
Kai turned away. "I don't know who that is anymore."
He walked off, heart racing.
The creature had spoken to him.
It had seen him.
And worse — it knew.
He wasn't supposed to be here.
He wasn't just wearing Valeria's face.
He was walking around with her death stitched into his soul.
And the world?
Was starting to notice.