The door creaked open just after nightfall. Shanane didn't move. She was sitting on the floor near the hearth, her knees pulled into her chest, her phone clutched tightly in one hand like it might anchor her. The light from the fire carved shadows across her face, thin and hollow, eyes red from hours of silent crying.
Eoghan stepped in, closing the door behind him. He didn't speak at first. He stood there for a breath, watching her. The moment his eyes adjusted, he saw the state she was in, how small she looked, how broken she was.
He approached slowly, lowering himself to a crouch in front of her.
__Eoghan: "Shanane… what happened?"
She lifted her head and looked at him. Her voice was ragged, cracked open at the seams.
__Shanane: "She's dead."
He blinked.
__Eoghan: "Who?"
__Shanane: "Ren. One of my closest friends. Atheramond did it. He killed her."
His stomach twisted, but he said nothing.
__Shanane: "He told me. He warned me. If I didn't submit, he'd take them one by one. And now…"
Her throat closed. She tried to finish the sentence, but her voice gave out. Her body curled tighter into itself, and her shoulders shook.
The huntsman sat beside her carefully, placing a hand on her back.
__Eoghan: "I'm so sorry."
__Shanane: "It's my fault."
__Eoghan: "No. Don't."
__Shanane: "If I had accepted...if I had done what he wanted...she would still be alive."
__Eoghan: "And what then? You would've become his servant? His mouthpiece? You think he'd stop there? He'd bleed the world dry with you as his vessel."
__Shanane: "Then what am I supposed to do? Just wait for the rest of them to die?"
Her voice rose, sharp with grief.
__Eoghan: "You're not alone in this. I promised I'd stand by you. And I meant it."
She turned her face toward him, eyes glassy with pain.
__Shanane: "Did you find him? The man in the mountain?"
He nodded once, slowly. Then he looked away.
__Eoghan: "I found him."
He exhaled hard.
__Eoghan: "But he wouldn't help."
Her mouth parted slightly.
__Shanane: "Why?"
__Eoghan: "He said that demon is beyond what he can face. He's seen things, done things but this… he said it would be suicide."
__Shanane: "So that's it?"
Eoghan: "No. He made a promise. He said he'd reach out. There are others, people who move in deeper circles, who hide from the world because they've seen too much. If anyone knows how to fight a demon of that level, it'll be them."
She looked back down at the floor. Her hands were trembling. Her voice was a whisper.
__Shanane: "I saw her die, Eoghan. Not just the posts. Not just the words. I saw it. In my sleep. He let me watch. Like it was a gift."
A silence fell between them. The fire snapped gently in the hearth. Outside, wind rustled against the windows.
__Eoghan: "I believe you."
She looked at him, eyes wide.
__Shanane: "You do?"
He nodded.
__Eoghan: "After everything I've seen, yes. I believe you."
They sat like that for a long time, the space between them filled with pain and loyalty and a growing, desperate resolve. Then he spoke again, quieter now.
__Eoghan: "He wants you broken. He wants to see you crawl. Every time you stand up again, you defy him. Don't give him what he wants."
__Shanane: "And what if he takes someone else tonight?"
__Eoghan: "Then we do what we have to. We fight. We protect. We find the ones who can help. But I swear to you, Shanane, I swear I won't let him win."
She leaned into him then, her face against his shoulder. He didn't move, didn't speak. He just held her. Because she had no one else. Because he couldn't walk away.
Because if they were going to stand against hell, they'd do it side by side.
And even though grief still sat thick in the room, even though fear hadn't left, it wasn't the only thing there.
There was also love. And love, even bruised and silent, still burned brighter than Atheramond's darkness.
________________________________________
∆ ☆ ATHERAMOND ☆ ∆
________________________________________
Darkness had fallen hard outside the cottage by the time Shanane drifted into uneasy sleep. The events of the day clung to her mind and refused to release her. When she finally fell asleep, it was as if she fell into a deeper version of the world she already feared.
The dream began with the hum of tires on asphalt, the wind whispering through the trees as the car sped down a narrow country road. Darkness pressed against the windows of the vehicle, broken only by the glow of the headlights. Inside, her friends, Aurora, Dalen and Maylis sat in silence. All of them wore black: black coats, black scarves, black eyes that held unspoken fear.
Shanane recognized the woman at the wheel at once. Aurora took a deep breath, her hands tightening on the steering wheel. The light from a passing lamppost glowed briefly through the windshield, illuminating her pale face.
__Aurora: "Are you sure this is the fastest way?" she asked softly.
Her voice trembled, though she tried to keep it steady. The others murmured their agreement in quiet tones.
Shanane sat in the backseat. She looked forward, at the line of headlights and the road ahead, her heart already pounding under her ribs.
The dream's soundscapes shifted then. The low thrum of the engine was joined by another sound, a heartbeat, distant at first, but growing louder with each moment.
Aurora looked in the rearview mirror and her eyes widened.
__Aurora: "Did you hear that?"
The others fell silent. Only the rush of rushing wind and night insects filled the car.
Suddenly, something moved.
It appeared in the middle of the road without warning. A dark silhouette, inhuman and tall, blocking the headlights. The figure remained motionless until the car was almost upon it.
Shanane's breath caught in her throat.
Aurora slammed on the brakes. The car screeched and swerved violently. The headlights spun as they tried to illuminate the looming shape ahead, but the darkness gobbled them whole. The tires lost grip, sliding across the asphalt.
Time slowed. The road tilted. The car spun. The world became a blur of metal and screeching tires.
The vehicle shuddered as it crashed into the undergrowth beside the road. Branches shattered the windows. Metal twisted and groaned. Shanane felt a weight slam into her so hard her breath was stolen from her lungs.
She awoke with a gasp.
Her body trembled. Her hands trembled. The sound of her own heartbeat pounded in her ears like war drums.
The candle beside her bed had sputtered low, its flame dancing with the captured breeze from the window. Rain tapped against the pane, as though echoing her rapid breathing.
She slid from the bed as though waterlogged. She knelt on the floor, chest tight, mind reeling with the vivid images of her dream. She could still hear the crash, still feel the weight of the impact crashing her world into the underbrush.
Her hands shook as rainwater dripped down the glass behind her.
"It was a dream… Just a dream." she murmured
But in the silence that followed, she knew it wasn't just that. It was Atheramond's hand, hidden and silent, delivering a message.
Deep in the silence of the night, tears slipped down her cheeks. Even after she shook her head and tried to will the images away, they remained.
She stepped toward the couch where Eoghan lay asleep.
__Shanane: "Eoghan. Wake up."
Her voice cracked on the second word. She gripped his shoulder hard. Too hard.
__Shanane: "Eoghan, please...wake up, something's wrong."
He blinked awake immediately, and the second he saw her face, pale, eyes wide, breathing erratic, he sat upright.
__Eoghan: "What happened?"
She didn't wait. The words spilled out, fast, panicked.
__Shanane: "It was another dream. But it wasn't a dream. I was with them...Aurora, Dalen, Elira. They were driving at night, and they were all dressed in black. There was this road, this endless road, and they looked so afraid, like they knew something was coming."
She stood suddenly and started pacing, her bare feet silent on the wood, but her presence loud, wild, unmoored.
__Shanane: "Then something appeared. I don't know what it was, it wasn't human. It was just standing there in the middle of the road. They crashed. And I saw it all. I felt it all. The sound of metal. The way the light disappeared. The screaming..."
Her voice broke. Her hands were shaking so hard she could barely hold her phone.
__Shanane: "I watched them die."
The huntsman stood, but slowly, letting her speak, letting her burn through it. He didn't interrupt, didn't try to quiet her, because he believed every word.
__Eoghan: "Do you think it's already happened?"
She stood frozen for a moment. Her lips parted, but no sound came out. Then her head dropped slightly, and her voice, when it finally came, was hollow.
__Shanane: "I don't know. I don't want to believe it. But it felt too real to be anything else."
She pulled out her phone with shaking hands. Her thumb hesitated over the screen, like part of her didn't want to confirm what she feared. But she forced herself to act. She opened her messages and tapped Aurora's name.
The phone rang but no one answered.
She stared at the screen, her thumb already moving to the next contact, Elora then Delia but they didn't answer either.
Her fingers fumbled now, the panic returning with every unanswered call.
__Shanane: "Their phones are off. All of them."
She said it like a verdict.
Her hands dropped to her sides, phone still in her grip, her shoulders sagging under the weight of what she now believed to be the truth.
Her voice rose into panic again.
__Shanane: "They always answer. They always post. Aurora has a story up every morning. She hasn't updated since yesterday."
She tried again. But every number went straight to silence.
__Shanane: "They're gone."
She sank to her knees, the phone falling beside her like something dead.
__Shanane: "He's doing it. He's keeping his word. Ren was the first. They're next. One by one until I'm the only one left. And then he'll come for me."
Eoghan moved toward her, crouching beside her, his hand reaching gently for hers.
__Eoghan: "This isn't your fault."
__Shanane: "It is. They're dying because I exist."
She pulled her hand away and pressed both palms into her face like she could keep it from falling apart.
__Shanane: "If I had said yes… if I had given in… maybe they'd still be alive. Maybe they'd be safe. Instead I keep dragging death behind me everywhere I go."
Eoghan's voice was low, steady, but full of something unshakable.
__Eoghan: "He's doing this to corner you. To make you break. That's his game. You say yes, he owns you. You say no, he bleeds your soul until you surrender. That's not a choice, it's torture."
Shanane looked at him, her eyes brimming with helplessness and fury.
-Shanane: "Then what do I do, Eoghan? Watch the people I love die one by one until I can't carry the guilt anymore? Wait until he comes and makes me watch Aurora's heart stop?"
She was shaking.
__Shanane: "I can't breathe. I can't think. I'm sitting here, alive, while they're...while they're..."
She couldn't finish the sentence. She collapsed against him before the rest of the sentence could form, her body racked with sobs. And this time, he didn't try to reason with her. He didn't offer hope. He just held her. His arms wrapped around her as if they could keep the world from touching her, from stealing one more thing from her life.
Minutes passed in silence, broken only by her cries.
__Eoghan: "You're not alone. I'm here. And I'm not leaving."
Her breath hitched, and her voice came in a whisper, raw and hoarse.
__Shanane: "You shouldn't stay. You'll die too."
__Eoghan: "Then I'll die fighting beside you. I'd rather that than walk away."
They stayed like that, curled into each other on the floor, two people at war with something neither of them fully understood. The silence that followed was thick with grief and something deeper: age, rising beneath the tears like fire licking dry timber.
Because this wasn't over.
Atheramond had struck again.