Page 64 of Eternal Thorns

Thorne didn't wait for further discussion. He shadow-walked to the manor's edge, his form solidifying as he took in the scene. The protective wards he and Silas had so carefully strengthened now wavered under sustained assault. Darkness pressed againsttheir defenses like oil through water, seeking weak points with terrible purpose.

Movement caught his eye - a figure that shouldn't exist stepping out of gathered shadow. Thorne's breath caught as Marcus's face emerged, but wrong, twisted. The apparition spoke with Thorne's own voice, using their shared memories with surgical precision.

“Still so desperate to protect what you love,” it mocked, wearing Marcus's gentle smile with cruel intention. “As if that ever ends well for you.”

“Fuck off,” Thorne snarled, power gathering around him like storm clouds. His crown of branches caught moonlight as he squared off against this perversion of memory.

The shadow construct's laugh held echoes of his own bitterness. “Such fire. Such determination to believe this time might be different.” It gestured toward the manor. “But we both know how this story ends, don't we? Love makes you vulnerable. Connection becomes weakness. Trust shatters into betrayal.”

Thorne felt a spike of fear that wasn't his own. Not fear of the shadow entity, but fear for Thorne himself. That selfless concern hit harder than any shadow's taunts.

“You still don't understand,” Thorne said quietly, power rippling beneath his skin. “Love isn't weakness. It's the one thing you can't fully corrupt, no matter how hard you try.”

The entity's response came as pure violence, shadow constructs launching themselves at the manor's wavering wards. Thorne countered instinctively, his magic meeting their assault. But instead of his usual frost and shadow, his power now carried warmth - gold threading through silver where thoughts of Silas influenced his spells.

The entity's response came as pure violence, shadow constructs launching themselves at the manor's wavering wards.

“Not this time,” Thorne snarled, his crown of branches catching moonlight as he met their assault. But instead of his usual frost and shadow, his power now carried warmth - gold threading through silver where thoughts of Silas influenced his spells.

The first wave hit like a physical force. Shadow constructs twisted into nightmare versions of forest spirits - corrupted dryads with bark-skin bleeding darkness, spectral wolves with starless voids for eyes.

“You think you can use my own forest against me?” Thorne's laugh held dangerous warmth as he wove complex defensive patterns. “I am not the same guardian you first corrupted.”

“You cannot protect what you cherish,” the entity mocked, wearing Marcus's voice. Dark tendrils probed the manor's defenses.

“Watch me.” Silver-gold magic spiraled from his hands, meeting each attack with precise force. “I spent centuries hiding behind cold and shadow. No more.”

The entity launched another wave, wearing Thorne's own face distorted by shadow. “Your love makes you vulnerable,” it snarled.

“My love makes me whole.” Thorne's response came as transformed light, his power no longer limited to frost and shadow. “Something you'll never understand.”

Gold threaded through his silver magic as he crafted counter-attacks. The twilight flowers around Thornhaven bloomed impossibly bright, responding to this evolution of their guardian's nature.

The entity's attacks grew more desperate. It pulled darkness from impossible spaces, crafting horrors that shouldn't exist outside nightmares.

“Is that really the best you can do?” Thorne taunted, meeting each assault with transformed power. “Recycling old nightmares? I've faced my shadows. Have you faced yours?”

He was reinforcing defenses and driving back shadow manifestations. Each ward he strengthened glowed with combined power, human craft and forest magic working in harmony just as he and Silas had designed them.

During a brief respite between attacks, Thorne found himself in a secluded alcove, forehead pressed against cool stone as he caught his breath. The shadow entity's words kept echoing in his mind, playing on every doubt and fear he'd carried for centuries.

But those fears felt hollow now, stripped of power by the simple truth of what he'd found with Silas. Their connection wasn't weakness, it was strength. The very thing that made them vulnerable also made them powerful enough to reshape reality itself.

The shadow entity gathered for another assault, its darkness taking new forms - twisted versions of both past and present, memories corrupted into weapons. But Thorne faced them with growing certainty.

Something shifted in the manor's magical resonance, catching Thorne's attention. The wards they'd created together weren't just holding against corruption - they were actively repelling it. Each

The entity's rage manifested as deeper darkness, but its attacks grew more desperate rather than stronger. Every display of authentic connection seemed to hurt it as much as it tried to hurt them. The shadow constructs wearing Marcus's face became less stable, their borrowed voices cracking with something that sounded almost like fear.

Something caught Thorne's attention. Each time they encountered a ward, they recoiled as if burned. Not just blocked, but actively harmed.

“You're not just corrupting love,” Thorne said softly, watching another construct dissolve when it touched their shared magic. “You're trying to destroy it completely. Because as long as genuine connection exists, you can never fully manifest.”

The entity's response came as pure rage, shadows coalescing into Marcus's form again. But the construct looked less stable now, edges blurring as if it couldn't quite maintain the shape. Its borrowed voice cracked with something beyond anger.

They'd been fighting this wrong from the start. They were trying to protect themselves from corruption instead of embracing exactly what the entity most feared.

Thorne shadow-walked backto the grove, his form solidifying beside Oak Queen. “Gather the council. All of them, even the seasonal lords who hate leaving their domains. And find Briar - I need her to deliver a message to Silas.”

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