Page 74 of Eternal Thorns

“Don't you dare,” Silas started, recognizing that look. But it was already happening.

“Forgive me…” Thorne gritted out.

Thorne's magic surged against their connection, not trying to break it but to reverse its flow. Instead of letting the corruption spread between them equally, he began pulling it all into himself. The shadow entity's poison raced up his arms, turning his ethereal form darker with each passing heartbeat.

“No!” Silas tried to maintain their bond, to share the burden, but Thorne's centuries of power proved stronger. The connection between them started to fracture.

Through the breaking link came Thorne's last clear thought, crystal sharp with devastating purpose:

Better to sacrifice myself than watch love turn to poison again.

The key around Silas's neck grew suddenly cold as their connection shattered. The loss felt like having part of his soul torn away, leaving raw edges that screamed with phantom pain. The bracelet's symbols stopped moving entirely, going dark as their partnership broke.

Corruption ate through Thorne's form like acid through paper, transforming his ethereal beauty into something terrible and wrong. His crown of branches blackened while shadows consumed the luminous patterns across his skin. But his eyes - gods, his eyes remained clear and bright with love even as darkness claimed them.

“I'm sorry,” Thorne whispered, voice rough with pain and tenderness both. His last act before shadow consumed him completely was to throw Silas clear of the ritual circle, magic carrying him safely beyond corruption's reach.

The magical backlash left Silas on his knees at the ritual circle's edge, physically whole but soul-deep shattered. The key hung lifeless against his chest for the first time since he and Thorne had truly connected. Where their bond should hum with constant awareness, a terrible silence echoed instead.

Through tear-blurred vision, he watched helplessly as the shadow entity dragged Thorne's corrupted form toward the forest's darkest heart. The guardian's usually ethereal beauty had transformed into something wrong - crown of branches blackened, luminous skin turned shadow-dark, eyes that once held forests now empty as starless night.

Forest spirits fled in terror as their corrupted guardian passed, ancient powers retreating from what he'd become. Only the Elder Willow remained, her roots spreading in a protective circle around Silas as darkness threatened to consume everything.

“Breathe, young one,” she commanded softly.

But how could he breathe when part of his soul had been torn away? The bracelet's symbols remained dark, dead as the connection it represented.

“I have to go after him,” Silas managed, trying to stand on shaking legs. But the Elder Willow's branches held him gently in place.

“Not yet. Not until you understand why you failed.” Her bark-skin form bore visible signs of strain as she held back encroaching shadows. “And why there might still be hope.”

“Hope?” The word felt like ash in his mouth. “He sacrificed himself to save me.”

“Did it?” The Elder Willow's ancient eyes held dangerous possibility. “Or did Thorne's choice create an opportunity we never expected?”

“It was studying us,” Silas realized, the truth hitting like physical pain. “Learning our magical resonance, understanding how we worked together. By the time we tried the ritual…”

“It knew your combined power better than you did,” she finished gently. “Every moment of connection gave it deeper insight into how your magics harmonized. The ritual never stood a chance because the entity already understood exactly how to corrupt your bond from within.”

Fresh tears burned Silas's eyes as implications crashed through him. All those precious moments with Thorne, all that carefully built trust, had given their enemy the perfect blueprint for destruction.

But the Elder Willow wasn't finished. “Yet Thorne's sacrifice wasn't just about protecting you. By taking all that corruption into himself, he's inadvertently created something new - a direct link to the shadow entity's core.”

Hope sparked dangerous and unwanted in Silas's chest. “What are you saying?”

“The connection that let the entity corrupt your bond now works both ways. Through Thorne, we might finally be able to reach the shadow's heart.” Her roots shifted beneath her. “If you can get to him before the corruption is complete, your bond might still be the key to salvation rather than destruction.”

25

CORRUPTION'S HEART

Consciousness returned to Thorne like shattered glass being pieced together, each fragment cutting deeper than the last. The corruption flowing through his veins transformed everything it touched, turning his ethereal nature into something terrible and wrong. His crown of branches, once silver-bright with starlight, now dripped shadows thick as tar.

Where luminous patterns had traced his skin like flowing moonlight, sickly dark light pulsed instead. The shadow entity used his power with cruel precision, wielding centuries of knowledge to spread corruption through the forest he'd sworn to protect. Every tree touched by his twisted magic transformed, becoming beautiful in ways that hurt to witness.

This is what you are now,the entity whispered, using his own voice.This is what choice and sacrifice have made you.

“I chose this,” Thorne snarled back, though the words tasted like corrupted magic. “My sacrifice, my choice. You can't twist that.”

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