Chapter 77: War for the Body

Pain.

It wasn't the kind Ellie expected. It wasn't physical—no sharp stabs or dull aches. It was deeper, like something was pulling her apart from the inside out.

The moment she surged forward, racing toward the world of the living, something snapped against her like a whip.

A force—one as old as the void itself—gripped her, slamming her backward.

"You cannot take what is already claimed."

The voice came from nowhere and everywhere. It echoed through the void, rattling her bones.

Ellie's body—her real, breathing body—was right there. She could feel it. Like a magnet pulling her, calling her back. But there was something else.

A barrier.

It screamed against her presence.

And then—pain.

Ellie felt the thing inside her body. Felt it coil around her flesh, its essence twisting through every fiber of her being. It was anchored, rooted deep like a parasite refusing to let go.

It knew she was coming.

And it wasn't afraid.

"You are uninvited," the voice sneered.

Ellie gritted her teeth. "I'm the rightful owner."

"You were. Now you are nothing."

A blast of energy sent her reeling backward. Ellie screamed as her soul was flung through the abyss, her grip on reality slipping.

No.

No, she would not lose this fight.

She clawed her way back, pushing against the force that sought to keep her exiled. The thing inside her body might have claimed it, but Ellie wasn't giving up.

A fierce pull yanked her forward again. This time, she latched onto it.

It was Ben.

His voice—faint, broken—was calling her name.

"Ellie…"

A single whisper.

But it was enough.

Ellie lunged.

—Back in the Living World—

Ben shot up in bed, his breath ragged.

For weeks, his dreams had been filled with nothing but static, an empty silence that left him hollow.

But tonight?

Tonight he had heard her.

Not the thing wearing her skin. Not the twisted presence that had erased Victoria, that had stolen his memories, that had turned his world into a nightmare he couldn't wake from.

But Ellie.

His Ellie.

And she was fighting.

His pulse pounded as he turned toward the figure lying beside him.

The thing in Ellie's body stirred. Her—no, its—eyes fluttered open, sensing his movement.

"What's wrong?" it murmured.

Ben stared at her—at it.

The way she smiled, the way she moved—it was all wrong. He had been forcing himself to believe otherwise, telling himself that this was just a part of the grief, that his mind was playing tricks on him.

But now?

Now he knew the truth.

Ellie was out there.

And this thing was in her place.

Ben jerked away, his heart hammering in his chest.

It noticed.

Its lips curled, eyes darkening.

"You felt her, didn't you?" it whispered.

Ben's breath caught.

The thing laughed.

"Oh, Ben," it purred. "She's trying so hard to come back." It reached for him, but this time, he pulled away completely.

For the first time since this nightmare began, he saw it for what it was.

A thief. A fraud.

"Get out of her," he growled.

The thing grinned.

"Make me."

A shockwave rippled through the room. The air turned thick, suffocating. Ben gasped as the walls seemed to bend, warping into something unnatural.

And then—

The lights exploded.

Glass shattered, raining down in tiny sparks.

And in the midst of it all, Ben heard her.

"Ben."

Ellie's voice.

She was here.

A sudden howl of rage tore through the room.

The thing inside Ellie's body screamed, thrashing as if something was ripping at it from the inside.

Ben's stomach dropped.

It was her.

Ellie was fighting back.

And she wasn't alone.

Because now, Ben was fighting too.