The night was still, heavy with the weight of what we had just done. The air hummed with an energy I could feel deep in my bones. I stood at the edge of the runic circle, heart pounding, unable to look away as the ground began to move.
It started slowly at first, just a soft tremor beneath my feet. But then the earth began to shift, the dirt cracking and splitting like the ground itself was waking up from a long sleep.
A hand shot up from the soil, pale and shaking, fingers clawing at the air.
I gasped. My heart skipped.
"Elias," I whispered, my voice barely more than a breath.
The hand gripped the earth, pulling, and I felt my stomach drop. A body began to emerge from the dirt, slow and hesitant, like it had been buried far too long. I pushed forward instinctively, reaching out for him, though I was afraid to touch him—afraid he might slip away if I did.
And then I saw his face, dirty and pale, his eyes half-closed, blinking as if they had trouble adjusting to the world.
"Elias?"
He coughed, gasping for breath, his chest rising and falling rapidly as if he had been drowning. When his eyes opened fully, they locked onto mine, and I felt my breath catch in my throat.
"Ronan?" he croaked, his voice hoarse, weak.
A wave of relief flooded through me, so strong it nearly knocked me off my feet. I reached for him, pulling him into my arms, my hands shaking as I held him close. His warmth was real. He was here.
But something wasn't right.
Elias didn't respond the way I expected. His arms hung limply at his sides. When he looked at me, his gaze was distant, not the familiar warmth I'd once known. There was something off, like a shadow behind his eyes that I couldn't quite place.
"Elias...?" I whispered, pulling back to look at him, searching his face for some sign of the man I loved.
He stared at me, confusion in his eyes. "Where am I? What's going on?"
Before I could answer, a voice interrupted us, cool and unfeeling.
"You've brought him back. But for how long, I wonder?"
Magnus stepped forward from the shadows, his voice dripping with an almost amused tone.
"What do you mean?" I snapped, standing between him and Elias.
Magnus gave me a look, like he was watching some kind of joke unfold. "Don't be foolish, Blackwood," he said, his voice sharp. "Do you really think you can play with death and not suffer the consequences?"
Elias turned his gaze to Magnus, his expression still a mix of confusion and disbelief. "Who are you?"
"He's the one who brought you back," I said, my voice tight. I didn't want to explain any more than that—not yet. Elias was still too fragile, too lost.
Elias's eyes flickered to me, and I could see the uncertainty in them. "What's happened to me?"
Magnus didn't wait for me to answer. "The first resurrection is always the easiest," he said, his voice cold. "But the price is paid with every return. And now that he's come back, he'll never be the same."
I felt a chill run through me at his words. "What do you mean, 'never the same'?"
"His soul is unraveling," Magnus said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "The more you pull him from death, the less of him remains."
I looked at Elias, and my chest tightened. He was staring blankly at the ground, his hands twitching at his sides, as if he didn't quite know what to do with them.
"Elias, look at me," I said, my voice shaking. "You're here. You're alive."
But when he lifted his head to meet my gaze, there was nothing in his eyes but confusion. He didn't reach for me the way he always had. He didn't smile, didn't offer any reassurance.
"Something's wrong," Elias said quietly, his voice distant. "I feel... different."
Magnus's voice cut through the silence. "Of course you do. You've been torn from the grip of death. It always leaves a mark. And the more times you die, the harder it is to come back whole."
I turned to face Magnus, my anger flaring. "You said it would work. You said you could bring him back."
Magnus looked at me with his usual air of superiority, as if I were a child asking a silly question. "I did," he said simply. "But you didn't listen. I warned you that resurrection comes with a price. You've paid for it. The question is, how much more are you willing to pay?"
Elias let out a quiet groan, his head dropping slightly as if he were fighting to stay conscious.
"Ronan..." His voice was barely a whisper. "I don't understand. What happened to me? Why do I feel so... lost?"
I knelt beside him, but the gap between us felt wider than it ever had before. "Elias, please..."
But he pulled back slightly, his face twisting with frustration. "I don't remember—" He paused, blinking rapidly. "I don't remember how I died. How did I die?"
I stared at him, the words lodged in my throat. How could I tell him? How could I explain that I had caused this—that it was my fault he was pulled from death, and that he might never truly come back?
But I couldn't lie to him. Not anymore.
"I made a mistake," I said quietly. "I thought I could save you. I couldn't live without you."
Elias's gaze softened for a brief moment, but then it hardened again. "I don't feel like the man you knew," he said, his voice trembling with something that almost sounded like fear.
I opened my mouth to speak, but Magnus interrupted again, his voice dripping with cold amusement. "You've already lost him, Blackwood. He might look the same, but inside, he's not the man you loved. Not anymore."
"Stop it!" I snapped, turning on Magnus. "Enough."
But Magnus just smiled, as if my pain was his greatest pleasure. "You'll see, soon enough," he said softly. "Death is not so easily cheated."
As Magnus turned and disappeared into the shadows, I was left with nothing but the weight of his words and the hollow feeling growing inside me. Elias was back, but the man I loved seemed like a stranger, a ghost of the person he had been.
And I had no idea how to fix it.