Page 37 of Beyond the Treaty

gleaming with triumph. “You never did.”

Pain surged in my chest, bringing me to my knees. My vision

blurred, the world around me dissolving into a swirling vortex of darkness and fire. The beast’s voice was no longer distant; it was deafening, a guttural growl that drowned out my thoughts.

“Let me out,” it hissed. “Let me take the pain away.”

“No,” I gritted out, my voice trembling. “I won’t... I can’t...” But the resistance I had clung to for so long was slipping

away, torn apart by the relentless pressure of the Council’s magic. The chanting grew louder, and the very air seemed to close in around me.

“Good,” Withers said, his voice slicing through the chaos. “Yield. Embrace who you are, Kaelen. Become the weapon

you were always destined to be.”

With a final, anguished cry, I shattered.

The barriers I had built, the chains I had forged to hold the beast at bay, all shattered in an instant. A surge of raw, primal power erupted from within me, scorching through my body andspilling into the world around me. My vision turned red, my mind consumed by a hunger I could not comprehend.

I was no longer me.

The beast, fully unleashed, stood in my place. Its form was death itself. I could feel my skin turning greyer by the second, my eyes were no longer red but completely pitch black. My fingers elongated and grew sharper.

The enforcers faltered, their chanting silenced by the sheer force of the transformation. Even Withers, who has orches- trated this moment, took a cautious step back.

“Magnificent,” he breathed, and there was a tremor in his voice.

The new me roared, a sound that tore through the clearing like a thunderclap. Without hesitation, I lunged forward, my claw-like hands slicing through the first enforcer before they could even react. Blood sprayed across the ground, and the remaining enforcers scrambled to defend themselves, their magic pitifully weak against my new wrath.

But somewhere deep inside, the part of me that was still Kaelen screamed, but it was drowned out by my bloodlust. Each kill fuelled me, the power surging through my veins intoxicating and unstoppable.

Withers tries to regain control, shouting incantations and commands, but I was beyond his grasp. I turn to him, my eyes fixated on his. For the first time, fear crossed his face.

“Kaelen,” he said, his voice wavering. “You can’t...”

I didn’t let him finish, I struck with lightning speed, claws tearing through Withers’ defences as though they were paper. He fell to the ground, gasping for breath, his once-cocky demeanour replaced with desperation.

As I loomed over him, ready to deliver the final blow, a voice

cut through the haze.

“Kaelen!”

It was Elara.

Her voice was distant but undeniable, a beacon piercing

through the storm of rage and power. For a fleeting moment, I was me again.

But the Council’s magic and the darkness’s bloodlust were too strong. With a guttural growl, I turn away from Withers and vanish into the forest, leaving a trail of death and destruc- tion. I wasn’t myself. How could I face Elara like this? This thing had completely taken over, but when I heard her voice, a part of me snapped back to reality.

Deep down, I knew the Council had won, I was their weapon now.

CHAPTER 23

Iawoke, or rather, I became aware, within a prison of my own making. Shadows wrapped around me, endless and suffocating. I couldn’t see or move. The beast prowled the edges of my mind, its guttural growls echoing in the dark expanse.

This was not a dream. It is my reality now.

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