Jason didn't waste a second after the fight was over. As the adrenaline began to fade and the weight of what had just happened sank in, he immediately reached for his phone and called his parents. They always had resources to help in dangerous situations—after all, their wealth had kept him out of trouble more than once. But this time was different. With their location so remote, neither maids nor butlers could reach them.
"No one can get to you right now, Jason," his father's voice crackled through the phone, sounding concerned. "Your location is too far off the grid. You need to find a safe place for the night."
Jason sighed, rubbing his temples. "We'll figure it out. We're heading to a hotel."
"Be careful, son. Whatever's going on… it's dangerous."
After hanging up, Jason turned to the group. "We'll stay in a hotel tonight," he said. "It's safer than being out here."
With their destination decided, they loaded back into the RV and headed to the nearest town. It didn't take long to find a small, nondescript hotel just outside the highway. The place looked worn down, the faded sign flickering in the dark, but it would have to do. They checked in quickly, each of them feeling the exhaustion creeping in after the night's events. The fight with the soul-devouring demon, the figure that had appeared out of nowhere to save them—it was all too much to process at once.
That night, everyone fell into a deep, dreamless sleep—everyone except for Damion.
Damion lay in bed, his eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling. The events of the night replayed in his mind over and over again. No matter how many times they fought, no matter how many times they seemed to win, something else always came for them. He clenched his fists, anger boiling inside him. Why? Why did these things keep attacking them? Why couldn't they just be left alone?
He couldn't take it anymore. Quietly, he slipped out of bed, careful not to wake anyone. He needed a moment to himself, a place to think. The bathroom seemed like the only option, so he padded across the room and closed the door behind him.
Damion stood in front of the mirror, staring at his own reflection. His dark eyes were heavy with exhaustion, but there was something else there—something darker. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, that he was missing something important.
The room suddenly grew colder. His breath fogged up the mirror, and the light overhead flickered. Damion blinked, stepping back as the shadows in the room seemed to twist and shift unnaturally. And then, right before his eyes, something impossible happened.
A skeleton, pale and grotesque, began to emerge from the mirror.
Its bones clacked together as it stepped forward, its hollow eye sockets staring directly at Damion. For a moment, neither of them moved. Then, in a voice that seemed to come from the depths of the earth, the skeleton spoke.
"Do you want to know your power?"
Damion's heart pounded in his chest, but he didn't hesitate. There was no fear in him, just a burning curiosity. He had always known that each of them was different, that they had powers yet to be revealed. And if this was his chance to discover what lay dormant inside him, he wasn't going to let it slip away.
"Yes," Damion said, his voice steady despite the eerie situation.
The skeleton's grin widened, and the room around them seemed to dissolve, swallowed by darkness. For a brief moment, Damion was floating in a void, nothing but endless blackness stretching out in every direction. The skeleton disappeared, and for a moment, there was nothing—no sound, no light, no sensation.
And then, slowly, words began to form in front of him, scrawled across the darkness like they had been etched into the air itself: Necromancy.
Damion blinked, the word burning itself into his mind. Necromancy. He didn't know much about it, but he knew enough to understand what it meant—control over the dead. The word pulsed in front of him, its meaning sinking into his bones, filling him with a strange new power.
Suddenly, the dark void around him vanished, and Damion found himself back in the hotel bathroom, standing in front of the mirror. But something had changed. His reflection was the same, but when he rolled up his sleeve, he saw a new tattoo on his arm—an intricate design of bones and skulls, wrapping around his bicep like a band.
The skeleton was gone, but the message was clear. Damion had been given something—something powerful, something dangerous. Necromancy. He wasn't entirely sure what it meant for him or how to use it, but he could feel the energy pulsing through his veins, the power waiting just beneath the surface.
He took a deep breath, staring at the tattoo. There was no going back now. He had been chosen for something bigger, something darker.
Damion left the bathroom, glancing back at his sleeping friends. They had no idea what had just happened, no idea that he had unlocked a new power that could change everything. As he lay back in bed, his mind raced with possibilities. This could be their advantage, their way of fighting back against the relentless monsters that hunted them.
But it could also be dangerous. He didn't fully understand necromancy, and he didn't know what kind of consequences came with it. All he knew was that the game had changed—and they were far from safe.
The next morning, when everyone woke up, Damion kept the events of the night to himself. There would be time to explain later, but for now, they needed to focus on getting back on the road. As they gathered their belongings and prepared to leave the hotel, Damion rolled his sleeve down, hiding the tattoo from view. He would reveal his secret when the time was right.
As they climbed into the RV, Jason looked around at the group, his eyes lingering on Damion for a moment. Something about his friend seemed different, but Jason couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"You good?" Jason asked, raising an eyebrow.
Damion nodded, forcing a smile. "Yeah. I'm good."
Jason didn't push the issue, though the suspicion lingered in the back of his mind. He had learned to trust his instincts, and something told him that Damion wasn't telling him everything. But for now, there were bigger things to worry about.
As the RV rumbled down the road, heading toward their next unknown destination, Jason couldn't shake the feeling that they were being followed. He glanced out the window, half-expecting to see another creature lurking in the shadows. But the road behind them was empty.
Still, the feeling persisted.
And as the day wore on, that nagging sense of unease only grew stronger.