Chapter 60: Drowning in Darkness

Shade was falling.

Through the void, through the abyss inside his own mind.

Lucian's voice slithered through the black. "You thought you could fight me? Fight what you are?"

Shade clenched his fists. "I'm not you."

Lucian's laughter echoed through the emptiness. "Oh, my boy. You've already lost."

The darkness shifted. Images exploded around him.

Memories.

Killing his first target.

Holding his dying wife and son.

Jade looked at him like she was afraid.

Shade roared in pain, clutching his head.

Lucian's voice was in his ear now. "You were never meant to be saved."

And in that moment—

Shade felt it.

The last piece of his humanity slipping away.