The Shadow Within
The dawn broke with a crimson streak across the sky, a warning more than a promise. I sat on the edge of the crumbling cliff, staring down at the forest below. My hands trembled, still stained with blood that wasn’t entirely mine. The whispers in my mind had grown louder overnight, more insistent, like a chorus of voices trying to drown me in their song.
Ash was still asleep, his body sprawled across the mossy ground a few feet away. His dark hair fell over his closed eyes, his chest rising and falling in a rhythm that was both reassuring and haunting. He looked peaceful, almost human in the soft glow of morning light. But I knew better. We both carried monsters inside us—his just wore a sharper smile.
But something had changed in me since last night. It wasn’t just th
