The roar of the Beast echoed behind his eyes, but Kiran didn't scream.
He should have. Its claws tore reality like wet silk, its voice a chorus of miscarried endings. Yet something in him held. Something that trembled, flexed... and opened.
Darkness responded.
Not just around him—but from within.
The glyphs spreading across his chest writhed, sank beneath his skin, and re-emerged as shadows stretching from his back like wings still learning what shape they wanted to be.
Yllari and Leon's Beast were already engaged—flashes of silver script and shrieking wings filled the chamber. But Kiran stood frozen, limbs humming, vision vibrating with ink.
He felt Selena's voice before he heard it.
"Breathe, Kiran."
The lantern at his side flared. Her image shimmered faintly beside him, eyes locked on the chaos.
"Let it move through you. Don't command the shadow. Invite it. Let it answer."
He obeyed. Not because he understood, but because resisting would mean being devoured.
He exhaled.
And something answered.
The shadows beneath him snapped to attention. They didn't follow the lantern's glow; they curved against it. They reached up—hesitant fingers forming claws, faces, limbs—then collapsed again into a mass of writhing ink.
Selena knelt beside him, still only a phantom.
"The first instinct will be hunger. Control comes later."
He gritted his teeth. The ink tried to climb him, wrap him, bury him.
"How do I stop it?"
She shook her head. "You don't. You give it shape. You name it. Or it names you."
A scream tore through the air—Leon was slammed into the wall, his Beast sparking, arm fracturing like glass. Aria was locked in the air, suspended by pages that bled from the Beast's body like parasitic limbs.
Kiran stepped forward.
The shadows followed. Not behind. Not below. Inside.
He raised his hand, and they surged outward—not wild, but curious. They formed a wall between the Beast and Aria, blocking the pages with a hiss of steam and negation.
The Beast recoiled.
It recognized something.
Selena's voice cut through the moment. "You need to mask this. They'll sense it. The Editors, the Guardians. If they see what you're becoming before you're ready—"
Kiran snarled. "Then show me how."
The lantern pulsed. Runes flared across its surface, and her image reached out. Her translucent fingers touched his forehead.
"Fold the shadow behind your breath. Tuck it between your ribs. Speak not with voice, but with absence."
Pain lanced through his skull.
And just like that, the glyphs on his skin dulled. The wings of shadow folded inward, disappearing into the slits of his spine. The floor beneath him stopped writhing.
Aria collapsed, gasping. Leon groaned, spitting blood, but nodded with pride. The Beast was gone—retreated or banished, he didn't know. But the Node Gate had opened.
And the shadow was still inside him.
Hours passed in silence. The chamber cooled. The fight left behind a stench of broken ink and burned memory.
Kiran sat apart, back against stone, eyes closed.
He could feel the darkness breathing inside him. Not evil. Not even malicious. Just... alive.
Selena reappeared beside him, quieter now. Almost fading.
"That wasn't a Beast you called. Not yet. But it's close."
He opened one eye. "Is it mine?"
She hesitated. "It's a part of you the narrative tried to delete. A fragment of story that fought back. If you feed it, it will become a Beast. But unlike the others... it won't be born from death."
Kiran's voice dropped. "Then what?"
She looked at him.
"It'll be born from denial."
He stood. The lantern flickered. Aria and Leon watched him from a distance, whispering.
Selena's form flickered again. She was fading.
"You need to leave this Node. The next is farther north, through the Dead Chapters."
Kiran nodded. "How long do I have before they sense what I am?"
She didn't answer.
Instead, she said, "Sleep with your shadow in a box. But don't lock it."
He turned away.
And behind him, unseen, the stone wall reflected something he hadn't shown:
A silhouette.
Tall. Winged.
Grinning.