Run.

That was the only thought in Lucas’s head.

The flames behind them screamed, swallowing the chief’s body in a blaze of orange and black. The road was warped, broken, littered with the bleeding, groaning bodies of the townspeople.

Ryan grabbed Lucas’s arm, yanking him forward.

“MOVE!”

Lucas staggered, his legs like lead. His vision blurred—whether from the smoke or the grief, he didn’t know.

Caleb shoved past him, holding onto Tessa’s wrist as they dodged a woman whose skin was peeling in ashen layers. She reached for them, her mouth muttering something unintelligible.

They didn't stop.

The ground trembled beneath their feet.

Eli was changing the town.

Lucas didn’t dare look back.

But he could feel it.

The sky bending.

The air thickening like tar.

Eli’s laughter, low and endless.

The streets they once knew were **unrecognizable—**buildings twisted at unnatural angles, streetlights flickering with a sickly green glow, shadows slithering along the walls.

The town was alive.

And it wanted them dead.

Lucas pushed forward, his chest burning.

He couldn’t stop.

They turned a corner, nearly colliding into a rusted car, its headlights still flickering.

Tessa gasped. “The library! We’re close!”

Lucas’s heart slammed against his ribs.

The library.

Eli’s body was there.

It was their only chance.

But before they could reach it—

A thunderous CRACK.

The ground split open.

Lucas barely had time to scream before the earth collapsed beneath them.

The world tilted.

And then—darkness.

---

The cavern walls felt too close, pressing in around them like a living thing. Shadows stretched and curled against the jagged stone, the flickering lantern casting shapes that didn’t always move the way they should.

Rita’s breathing was shallow, uneven. The group watched her, tense and waiting, as she pressed a bloodied hand to the side of her stomach.

Lucas took a step forward. “Rita, at the pharmacy… we thought you were dead.” His voice tightened. “How did you survive?”

Rita exhaled shakily, her eyelids fluttering for a moment before she forced them open. “It’s… a long story.”

Caleb crossed his arms. “We have time.”

“No,” she whispered. “You don’t.”

A deep, unshakable silence fell over them.

Tessa’s fingers twitched at her sides. “What do you mean?”

Rita pressed harder against the cavern wall, using it to keep herself upright. “I mean I don’t have much time left.” Her voice was thin, fraying at the edges. “I can feel it. I’m going to pass out soon.”

Lucas felt a knot form in his stomach. “Rita—”

She shook her head sharply. “No. Listen.” Her breath hitched, her face twisting in pain. “I don’t know how much longer I can stay awake, so you need to hear this.”

She lifted her head, her dark eyes burning with urgency.

"Eli can’t be destroyed as long as his body is intact. The glass sarcophagus is keeping him tethered. If you break it, his soul will lose its anchor, and he will finally die."

Lucas’s breath caught in his throat.

Ryan narrowed his eyes. “Then we break it.”

But Rita kept going.

"But there’s another truth. Eli has already merged with the town. Killing his body won’t stop him—it will complete the ritual. If you break that sarcophagus, you’ll set him free in his full form."

The air seemed to go still.

Tessa’s hands curled into fists. “Wait—” Her voice was shaking. “That doesn’t make sense. Which one is true?”

Rita’s knees buckled. Lucas lunged forward, catching her before she hit the ground. Her weight slumped against him, her head lolling to the side.

“Rita?” He shook her lightly. “Rita—wake up.”

But her body was still. Her lips parted slightly, like she wanted to say more, but the words never came.

She was unconscious.

Ryan cursed under his breath. “This has to be a joke.”

Lucas’s pulse pounded. The choice was theirs to make now.

One option would save them.

The other would doom everything.

And if they chose wrong…

It was over.

---

Lucas sat motionless, his arms still wrapped around Rita’s unconscious body. The others were crying, breaking apart, their grief echoing off the cavern walls.

But Lucas… he couldn’t cry.

His mind felt detached, floating. The pressure in his skull was unbearable, thoughts twisting, unraveling, knotting back together. The choice was spinning in his head, over and over—break the sarcophagus or don’t.

“We don’t know what to do.” His voice came out flat, hollow. “We don’t know which one is right.”

No one answered.

He stared at the dark stone wall, his breathing shallow. Normally, he’d have a reflection to argue with. Normally, he’d have something to ground him.

But there was no mirror.

Still, he spoke anyway. “If you were here, you’d tell me something, wouldn’t you?” His voice wavered. “You’d have some cryptic warning. Some… awful truth.”

Silence.

And then—

A voice, whispering.

“You already know the answer, Lucas.”

His breath hitched.

The others were still in their own world of grief. No one had spoken.

But someone had answered.

Lucas’s fingers curled against the stone floor. “Who are you?”

A soft chuckle. “You know who I am.”

A cold wave of realization washed over him. His reflection—it had spoken to him before. Warned him before. But now, without a mirror, it was inside his head.

Lucas swallowed hard. “Then tell me what to do.”

A pause.

Then, the voice sighed. “Burn the body.”

Lucas froze.

The voice was steady, certain. “Burn Eli’s body. Reduce it to nothing. And then…” A slow exhale. “Cage his spirit.”

Lucas’s heartbeat pounded in his ears.

Burn the body.

Trap the spirit.

That was the answer.

But could he trust it?

Lucas stared into the darkness, his breath shallow. The voice in his head—the voice of his reflection—had given him an answer. Burn Eli’s body. Cage his spirit.

His hands clenched into fists. His body trembled, his mind spinning between fear and determination.

He exhaled sharply. “I’ll try something,” he muttered under his breath. His voice was hoarse, raw. “If I perish, I perish.”

The words settled in his chest like cold steel. There was no turning back.

The night was thick with smoke and death.

Lucas stood over Rita’s lifeless body, his hands trembling. His mind was blank, yet screaming at the same time. The air felt suffocating, pressing against his lungs, squeezing his ribs.

No one moved.

Tessa curled into herself, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs. Ryan stood with his back to them, fists clenched so tightly his knuckles were white. Caleb looked frozen, his face ashen, lifeless.

Lucas swallowed hard. His voice came out hoarse, almost unrecognizable. "We have to go."

No one responded.

"We have to—"

"Go where?" Ryan’s voice was sharp, cutting through the thick silence. He turned, eyes bloodshot, wild. “Because last time we had a plan, people died.” His gaze flickered toward Rita’s body, then toward the darkened road where the chief had fallen, bleeding out beneath Eli’s wrath.

Lucas's chest ached. The chief's last words still clawed at his mind.

“Save my wife. Save the town from doom.”

They had failed.

Ryan took a shaky step forward, his breathing ragged. "The chief is dead. Rita is dead. And you still want to act like we know what we're doing?"

Lucas had no answer.

Tessa wiped her tears away angrily. "You think you're the only one hurting?" Her voice cracked. “You think you’re the only one who cared about the chief? About Rita? We all did! And standing here fighting isn’t going to fix it!”

Silence.

Ryan exhaled shakily. “Then what the hell do we do?”

Lucas turned toward the library. His heartbeat felt like thunder.

"We burn the body."

Tessa flinched. Caleb’s gaze darkened.

Ryan let out a bitter laugh. "And how do we do that? With our bare hands?"

Lucas opened his mouth to answer—but stopped.

There was a truck outside.

And suddenly, a thought hit him.

—

The Truck

The truck was parked a few feet away from where the chief had fallen.

It was old, rusted, probably belonging to one of the people who had fled—or died.

Lucas ran to it first, yanking open the driver’s side door. The smell of stale blood and sweat filled his nose. Whoever had been inside… hadn’t made it.

Tessa gagged, covering her mouth as Ryan pulled open the back door.

Caleb moved to the trunk, yanking it open. His eyes widened.

“There’s a gas can.”

Lucas pushed forward. Sure enough, a half-full can of gasoline sat inside, next to an old toolbox.

His hands shook as he grabbed it, his fingers brushing against something cold.

A lighter.

Ryan’s breath hitched. "Holy shit."

Lucas held the lighter up, his grip tightening.

Tessa exhaled shakily. "This is it. This is what we need."

—

The Fire

Back inside the library, they stood before the glass sarcophagus.

Eli's body lay still, his face eerily peaceful. Too peaceful.

Lucas stared down at the gasoline in his hands. His reflection’s voice echoed in his mind:

Burn the body. Cage the spirit.

His pulse pounded.

“I’ll try something,” he murmured. "If I perish, I perish."

He unscrewed the cap.

The smell was overwhelming as he poured the gasoline over the sarcophagus, the liquid sliding down the glass in thick streams.

Ryan swallowed hard. "This better work."

Lucas flicked the lighter.

A small flame flickered to life.

His heart pounded.

Then he dropped it.

The fire erupted instantly.

Flames roared around the sarcophagus, the glass beginning to crack, bubble, distort.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then—

A scream tore through the air.

The sound was inhuman, agonized. A burst of dark energy exploded outward, knocking them all back.

Lucas hit the ground hard, his ears ringing. He forced himself up, his vision blurring.

The fire burned higher, and for a terrifying second, he thought—we made a mistake.

And then—

The air shifted.

The scream faded.

The suffocating presence that had been crushing them vanished.

The flames consumed Eli’s body completely.

And Lucas knew.

They had made the right choice.

The next thing they had to do was cage the spirit.

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