THE BLACKTHORN CODEX
Episode 59 — The Possessed Shadows Rise
Date: November 18, 2023 — Time: 3:25 PM
As the previous episode ended, Clarisse and Leander, exhausted but still alive, stood up, ready to anticipate the next wave of victims. The screams of the possessed echoed, Selerion seemed to stretch, like a living monster, preparing for the next attack.
The atmosphere had become oppressive. The air vibrated with human screams and inhuman death rattles. Selerion's abyss seemed to throb, as if each possessed victim injected their own life into the world around them.
From the void emerged a new horde: mutilated and possessed bodies, but this time, many were still fresh. Their eyes glowed red, their twisted limbs seemed to deform with every step. Selerion's sorcerers, invisible behind these puppets, guided them with implacable precision.
Leander and Clarisse were struck simultaneously. A body flew towards Leander, its arms extending like electrified whips. Leander concentrated all his energy into his fists: an electric discharge shot out, slicing through the air with a high-pitched hiss. The body was pierced, but instead of falling, it deformed and split into two entities, each even faster and more aggressive.
Clarisse, facing three assailants, stretched out her arms. She summoned a whirlwind of fire and ice that swept across the ground and hurled the possessed victims against the walls of the abyss. The bodies shattered into black fragments, but a reddish glow erupted from within each: the sorcerers were recreating their servant with every passing moment.
The fight transformed into a choreographed horror. Each slain body returned more deformed: some had wings of membranous flesh, others tentacles sprouting from their backs, and still others bore two screaming faces on their chests and backs. The screams were simultaneously human and monstrous.
A gigantic figure rose from the depths. Its multiple eyes seemed to follow the heroes' every movement. Its body was covered in living chains that struck all around it like metal whips. Sorcerers began to partially appear, projecting waves of mental energy: horrific visions, distorted memories, images of loved ones horribly killed.
Leander felt his legs buckle, his memories and mental strength attacked. Clarisse screamed, a beam of fire erupting from her hands, destroying three bodies before her. But another appeared, bearing the face of an old friend who had fallen earlier. The horror of seeing it possessed broke his heart, but Borax whispered,
"Transform your pain into power." Don't let Selerion dominate you."
Guided by Borax, they combined their powers. Clarisse's fire and ice merged into a swirling storm, while Leander launched concentrated lightning bolts. Bodies were struck from all sides, some exploding into black dust, others writhing and rising again, each transformation more monstrous than the last.
In the center, the sorcerers began to materialize more, their faces veiled in shadow, their eyes gleaming with malice. They manipulated the matter around them, reanimating fallen bodies and increasing the power of the possessed.
The battle promised to be endless. Each attack, each dead body, revealed a new horror. Leander and Clarisse understood that the massacre would continue: ten episodes of intense combat, each episode revealing new possessions, new victims, and Selerion's growing horror.
As the episode ended, the two heroes stood up, exhausted, but with one certainty: they must survive and understand Selerion before this tide of death completely submerged them.