Page 76 of Eternal Thorns

The entity's rage manifested as deeper corruption, black veins spreading through what remained of Thorne's ethereal form. “These memories should break you,” it snarled, still using his voice. “Should poison everything you are.”

Instead, thoughts of Silas created points of light the shadow couldn't quite touch. The entity forced him to watch as his corrupted power spread through the forest, transforming his realm of beauty into nightmare. Ancient trees twisted into new shapes, their natural magic turned wrong. Flowers bloomed black as starless night, beautiful and terrible and wrong.

Through his remaining connection to the forest, Thorne felt his guardians retreat. Border spirits fled from hisapproach, tree shepherds withdrew their roots from soil his corruption touched. Even the stone lords, typically immovable as mountains, pulled their power back from areas his darkness claimed.

They abandon you.Everything you protected for centuries now runs from what love has made you.

But something cut through the shadow's voice - a sensation that made Thorne's corrupted heart stutter. Through the last trace of their severed bond came a feeling that burned brighter than any darkness.

Silas was coming for him.

The entity seized on this immediately, cruel anticipation rippling through Thorne's twisted form. “Perfect,” it purred. “He comes to save what corruption has claimed.”

Terror gave Thorne strength to fight against the shadow's hold. He had to warn Silas, had to somehow convey the danger. But corruption ran too deep, twisting every attempt at communication into darkness.

Even now, corrupted and claimed, you try to protect him. But that very devotion will be his undoing.

The shadow began gathering power, using Thorne's intimate knowledge of forest paths to prepare its trap. Every defense he'd created over centuries, every secret way through the grove, now served to endanger the one he loved most.

Shall we show him what love has made you?Let him see his precious guardian transformed by the very connection he thought would save you both?

His beloved twilight flowers,once sources of pure illumination, now bloomed with poisonous beauty. Their lightdrew wandering spirits like moths to flame, trapping them in corruption's embrace. Where their glow had once guided lost travelers safely home, it now lured them deeper into darkness.

“Watch what your power truly becomes,” the entity whispered through his lips. “See how much stronger magic grows when freed from conscience.”

His connection to forest spirits, meant to protect and guide, became a tool for corruption. Young sprites who had once danced in his grove now fled screaming as his twisted influence reached for them. Those too slow to escape transformed into shadow versions of themselves, their light turned to terrible purpose.

The entity used his intimate knowledge of each guardian, each ancient ally, to break their defenses. Tree shepherds he'd known for centuries watched in horror as corruption spread through their roots. Stone lords retreated deeper into crystal hearts as darkness claimed their outer layers.

Each perversion of his gifts brought fresh agony, which the shadow entity devoured eagerly. Pain became power became greater corruption in an endless cycle.

His sacrifice hadn't just given the entity access to his power, it had created a direct link to its core. While corruption flowed one way, understanding flowed the other.

He felt the shadow's true nature. Sensed its deepest fears beneath the surface of its apparent triumph. The entity wasn't just corruption given form; it was the very essence of love denied, connection twisted, truth rejected.

The insight cost him immediately. Fresh waves of darkness crashed through his consciousness, punishment for daring to understand. But the knowledge remained, burning like a coal in his corrupted heart: the shadow feared true connection precisely because it couldn't corrupt it completely.

“Shall we test that theory?” the entity snarled, forcing him to watch another wave of corruption spread through his realm. “Let's see how well your pure memories stand against this.”

It threw the worst combinations at him - Marcus's betrayal overlaid with visions of Silas corrupted, every moment of shared wonder turned to poison. But something in Thorne's core refused to break. His memories of Silas remained untainted through sheer stubborn will.

“Your dedication is admirable,” the entity mocked, using his voice to twist praise into poison. “But ultimately futile. When he comes for you - and he will come - these precious pure memories will be his undoing.”

26

INTO DARKNESS

Familiar paths that had guided him to grove and garden now led to spaces that hurt to look at, where natural magic turned sick and strange.

“Last chance to reconsider,” Kai said, methodically checking their supplies for the third time. The protective charms Agnes had given them clinked softly in his pack, each one carefully wrapped in silk to prevent magical interference.

“You don't have to come.” Silas touched the bracelet on his wrist, feeling its weak pulse of Thorne's original magic. The forest guardian's power felt distant, corrupted, but still somehow his.

“Someone has to drag your romantic ass back out when this goes wrong.”

The Elder Willow's gift weighed heavy in Silas's pocket - a crystal vial of pure forest magic, meant to shield his heart from corruption's touch. Its silver light caught on the twisted landscape ahead, making the wrongness even more apparent.

“Remember,” Agnes said, appearing beside them with her usual unnerving silence. “The protection charms will help against general corruption, but they can't shield you fromwhat matters most.” Her clouded eyes studied him with uncomfortable intensity. “The shadow entity will use your love against you. Every genuine feeling between you becomes its weapon.”

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