Chapter 5

"Okay here is what is going to happen" Mia started

 "You are going to have a shower first before the ritual happens" something flickered in her eyes—something almost like pity. "and hurry everyone is waiting for you."

That was enough to put him on edge. But he did as she said, stepping into the small bathroom and letting the cold water run over him. He had no idea what this ritual would entail, only that it would decide whether he lived or died. No big deal.

After a few moments, he dried himself off, wrapping the towel around his waist before stepping outside. Mia was still there, standing rigidly in the hallway. She barely spared him a glance.

"The ritual will be carried in the sacred hall, you will be placed on an altar and injected with demon and angel blood"

She looked at him from head to toe " In your case Alaric wouldn't want to risk you wasting precious resources by dying and so you will likely be getting injected with a low level demon and angel blood, but don't for a second think just because it is lower level your life wouldn't be in danger, oh and all this will be done under Intense heat"

Zane nodded as he soaked up the information, of course what else could make supernatural warriors capable of killing demons if not for demon blood? Oh and angel blood too and don't forget the heat.

At this point he was already starting to develop a very unhealthy fear of fire or anything hot after the incident at the forest.

"Alright, let's go," he said, shifting the towel into a more secure position.

Mia didn't move. "You know you will have to take that off right?"

Zane blinked. "Come again?"

"You can't wear anything during the ritual," she said, her tone casual, as if she were commenting on the weather. "It has to be done that way."

Zane stared at her, then scoffed. "Right. And this isn't some weird humiliation ritual?"

For the first time, Mia actually smiled. It was small, barely there, but it was real. "Humiliation will be the last thing on your mind during the ritual."

That did not make him feel better.

He sighed, adjusting his towel. "Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it."

They walked in silence through the empty corridors. The absence of other Shadowhunters was unsettling; the usually noisy base felt like a ghost town. 

She led him through a few corners and secret doors and then...

Then, the corridor opened into an enormous hall, unlike anything Zane had ever seen.

The room was big, with some archaic features, it sort of resembled a large cave. At the center of the hall was a massive stone platform, raised high above the rest of the floor like an altar, its surface covered in glowing runes pulsing with golden and crimson light.

At the base of the platform, a sea of white-cloaked figures knelt in silence. Each of them wore a pale mask, their faces completely hidden. The sheer uniformity of it was unnerving, as if they were part of some ancient cult. Zane turned to Mia, ready to ask what the hell was going on—

But she was gone.

He inhaled sharply, his hands clenching. "Fantastic."

A voice called out from above. "Come."

Zane's gaze snapped to the top of the altar, where a figure stood waiting. Unlike the others, he wore deep crimson robes instead of white, and he wore no mask. Even from here, Zane could feel it—that suffocating presence, an aura so powerful it pressed down on his shoulders like a physical weight. Alaric.

Zane climbed the steps, his skin prickling as he stepped onto the platform. He barely had time to process the sensation before Alaric reached out and, without a word, pulled the towel from his waist.

Zane barely resisted the urge to swear. "Little warning next time?" still he laid on the altar preparing his mind for whatever came next.

Alaric didn't acknowledge his words. Instead, he raised his hands, speaking in a language Zane didn't understand. The runes on the altar flared to life, and suddenly, heat seared against his back.

Zane inhaled sharply as Alaric's voice rang out. "Begin fusing the angelic and demonic blood."

The syringes plunged into his arms simultaneously. Left arm, angelic blood. Right arm, demonic blood. For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the world erupted.

It was like they had released two titans in his body who seemed to have an eternal hatred with one another, and he was just a bystander.... even in his own body.

"Most people associate shadow with darkness forgetting that it needs light to be casted, young warrior to be a shadow hunter you must be a being of both darkness and light, purity and corruption must be your nature. You must merge them and control them instead of letting them control you."

What the hell was this old fool saying!? Did he think he could control these wild things? They were simply unstoppable no matter how much he concentrated on them they simply did as they liked.

Then his arms exploded.

Blood both black and gold splattered onto the altar, pooling beneath him as his limbs were forcibly rejected by his body. It was as if his flesh could not contain the two foreign entities coursing through his veins. The pain was beyond human comprehension, and yet, Zane was still alive. Still conscious somehow.

A collective gasp filled the chamber, the Shadow hunters were now standing and watching in horror as his body continued to rupture like this wasn't supposed to happen. 

His left leg snapped off at the knee, dissolving into golden light. His right leg followed, darkness eating away at the limb until it was nothing but ash.

His screams echoed through the temple, raw as it could be.

Alaric's expression remained unreadable, but beneath his calm exterior, he knew something was very, very wrong. He narrowed his eyes, his gaze shifting toward the blood vials that had been discarded after injection. A flicker of realization crossed his face. The concentration of energy, the reaction, it wasn't possible unless...

His voice cut through the chaos like a blade. "Leo."

Leo stiffened in the crowd below, but before he could respond, the runes on the walls cracked. The temple itself shuddered, as if complaining about the strain the ritual was putting on it.

"THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" Leo's voice rang out, laced with disbelief and something close to horror. He took a step forward, his entire body rigid with realization.

He had swapped the blood vials, ensuring that the angelic and demonic blood used were of the highest possible caliber—Royal-level blood, a power that no human could survive. No Shadowhunter in history had ever succeeded in fusing such forces. The ritual should have killed Zane. Instantly.

Yet, here he was.

Dying, yes. But not immediately dead like the typical reaction.

Zane convulsed violently, his body rejecting and rebuilding itself over and over again. His spine arched off the stone, his flesh splitting open, exposing the raw muscle beneath before it sealed shut again with horrifying speed. His eyes flickered, one gold, the other black flashing between the two like a war being waged within his very soul.

His aura exploded outward, shattering the nearest runes and sending a shockwave through the room. Shadowhunters stumbled back, some collapsing from the sheer pressure that radiated from him.

Alaric's voice was sharp. "Contain the chamber! Reinforce the bindings!"

Several Shadowhunters scrambled, pressing their hands to the broken runes. But it was too late. The ritual had spiraled beyond their control.

Zane's torso caved inward, as if his own ribs were trying to crush his heart, before they burst outward, sending more blood spraying across the altar. His fingers curled into claws as newly forming tendons snapped, then re-knitted themselves in the wrong shape before correcting at impossible speed.

The battle inside him was reaching its climax.

He didn't know who was winning between the angelic blood and demonic blood but one thing was sure

He was losing.

For the first time, true fear flashed across Alaric's face.

"Zane!" His voice was commanding, slicing through the haze of agony. "Merge them, or they will destroy you!"

Zane barely heard him. His mind was being torn apart, filled with voices that were not his own.

SURRENDER

SUBMIT

GIVE IN

SURRENDER

YIELD!

They were trying to break him. To force him to submit to one side or the other.

But Zane wasn't here to submit.

Through the torment, through the blood and ruin of his own body, a defiant thought took hold.

No. You don't get to decide what I become.

Truth be told he had faced death a little too much recently that he was starting to look at it like a personal enemy.

He was not going to give in to that bastard!

And so he started fighting back, at first it was like an ant trying to push back an elephant but slowly but surely he was making progress, he was completely focused on himself, closing away any distractions.

He had to survive. He still had his sister back on his earth, she was bound to go through hardship if he never came back, and so he had to fight not just for himself but for her.

He didn't know how long the battle in his veins went on, maybe it was only a few minutes or maybe it was hours but to him it felt like days had passed before he saw a difference.

They were still fighting but the intensity had dulled, if they were considered mortal enemies before, now they just seemed like they had a huge grudge with each other.

A very minute improvement but he was ecstatic, he was finally seeing a way out of his predicament, he steeled himself again, he couldn't allow distractions at such a crucial time.

The intensity slowly reduced alongside the pain and destruction, and finally after a long time they stopped fighting and simply avoided each other begrudgingly.

Merge!

He poured all his will and concentration and slowly they began to merge, a drop, ten drops and finally his entire bloodstream.

He didn't know whether it took a minute or a day or even a week, but he knew eventually he had succeeded!

The silence that followed was absolute.

Zane stared at the top of the room, Mia was right.

He wasn't even bothered about the fact that he was naked right now, he was just happy he survived the ordeal.

What he didn't know what how different he looked

Alaric was the one closest and so he saw the details the most, his left eye was a strong golden colour while his right eye was totally black. His physique was flawless, and he was taller.

Alaric was the first to break the silence.

"…He survived."

Then suddenly

A feeling of something greater, something divine yet terrifying, washed over everyone present.

One by one, Shadowhunters dropped to their knees. Not out of submission, but out of something deeper, something instinctual, fear. They dared not look at his figure, their heads bowed, bodies trembling as an overwhelming sense of worship crashed into them like a tidal wave. 

Even Alaric, the unshakable leader, found himself struggling to keep himself from kneeling, his breath caught in his throat but eventually he settled for a bow. His mind fought against it, but his body refused to disobey the presence before him. Leo, for all his arrogance, for all his planning, was on his knees too, his face drained of colour.

Zane, no, the being that was once Zane slowly sat up and looked around. 

None dared move. None dared speak.

For in that moment, they weren't warriors, weren't Shadowhunters.

They were mere worshippers.

Zane's body finally decided to reset as it crashed on the ground in exhaustion.