Chapter 182: A Darkness Within

**Lyric's POV**

“Lyric, listen to me,” Koffi’s voice was sharp, urgent. His hands gripped my arms, his golden eyes searching mine for some sign that I was still in control. “Tell me you’re still with me.”

I wanted to answer him—I tried. But my throat tightened as something dark, something ancient, slithered through my veins, whispering in a language I didn’t understand but somehow knew.

You are mine now, the voice coiled in my mind, deep and infinite, a sound that felt older than time itself. Stop fighting me, child. This body is only temporary, but your soul… your soul will be eternal in my hands.

I gasped, stumbling back. My head pounded, and for a second, I saw the world shift—shadows moving unnaturally, shapes curling at the edges of my vision like living ink.

Koffi caught me before I could hit the ground.

“Damn it, Lyric,” he muttered, his grip tightening as if he could physically hold me together.

I dug my nails into his wrist, grounding myself. “I’m still here,” I choked out, even though I wasn’t sure how true that was. “But something’s…wrong.”

Erya stepped forward, her face unreadable. “The Forgotten One is already sinking into her soul,” she said grimly. “We don’t have time to waste.”

Koffi exhaled sharply, then nodded. “Then we go to the witch.”

We rode hard through the darkened forest, the wind slicing through us like cold knives. The sky above was bruised with storm clouds, but no rain fell—just an eerie, oppressive stillness.

With every passing mile, the pressure in my chest grew. The whispers got louder.

They cannot save you.

They will betray you.

Why fight? You were chosen for something greater.

I gritted my teeth, pressing my palm against my heart, where the mark still pulsed with a faint glow beneath my skin.

“Almost there,” Erya said from ahead, guiding us toward a crumbling stone ruin buried in the woods. “If anyone knows how to stop this, it’s her.”

I barely heard her. My pulse was erratic, my breath shallow. Every part of me felt like it was unraveling from the inside out.

Then I saw her.

The witch stood at the entrance of the ruins, waiting. Her presence was unsettling—ancient, powerful, and strangely familiar. Her silver hair was tangled with dried flowers, and her pale eyes gleamed with an unnatural glow.

“I was wondering when you would come,” she murmured, turning her gaze to me. “Or rather… when he would.”

Inside the ruin, a fire crackled in a pit, casting flickering shadows against the walls. The scent of herbs and something sharp—something metallic—filled the air.

The witch sat across from me, studying me like one might study a caged beast.

“The Forgotten One does not take vessels lightly,” she said, stirring something in a small iron bowl. “You are not the first, but you may be the last.”

Koffi’s fists clenched. “Then how do we stop it?”

The witch sighed, setting her bowl down. “There is only one way.”

I swallowed, already dreading her answer. “What is it?”

She hesitated, as if weighing whether to even say it. Then, finally:

“The only way to save you is to kill you before the god fully takes over.”

The room plunged into silence.

Koffi took a sharp step forward. “That’s not an option.” His voice was lethal, edged with barely contained fury. “We didn’t come here for that.”

Erya’s expression darkened, but she said nothing.

The witch met Koffi’s glare with an unshaken calm. “And yet, that is the truth. If the Forgotten One fully merges with her, there will be no separating them. She will cease to be Lyric. And what remains… will be unstoppable.”

My stomach twisted, nausea creeping up my throat. “There has to be another way.”

The witch tilted her head. “There is.”

Hope sparked in Koffi’s eyes. “What is it?”

But the witch’s next words crushed it instantly.

“You must find the god’s original prison and bind him back before the transformation is complete.”

Before we could respond, a deep, rumbling laugh echoed through the ruin. The flames in the fire pit flickered, shifting from orange to an unnatural, pulsating black.

The voice inside me stirred.

You cannot imprison me again, it whispered, sickly amused.

A wave of pain crashed over me. I gasped, clutching my chest as a searing heat burned beneath my skin. The mark glowed brighter, veins of dark energy creeping across my arms like living cracks in porcelain.

Koffi was at my side in an instant. “Lyric—!”

The witch’s eyes widened. “It’s happening faster than I thought.”

Erya drew her blade, her voice urgent. “What do we do?”

Before anyone could move, the fire pit erupted in a black plume, and the shadows in the room twisted and stretched—forming into something.

A shape.

A figure.

Tall, skeletal, wreathed in ink-black mist. Its hollow eyes locked onto me, its grin stretching impossibly wide.

You are already mine, little vessel.

Then it lunged.