27. Loves Trial
27
LOVE'S TRIAL
SILAS
S ilas had thought he was prepared for what corruption would make of Thorne. He'd steeled himself through nightmare visions and twisted illusions, faced shadow wearing his love's face in a hundred horrible ways. But nothing could have readied him for the reality.
Thorne hung suspended in the corrupted heart of his own forest, transformed into something that defied description. His crown of branches had become living darkness, dripping shadows that moved with terrible purpose. Where luminous patterns had once traced his skin like flowing moonlight, corrupted magic now pulsed in sickly rhythms that hurt to watch.
Yet even twisted by shadow, he was breathtaking. The entity had turned Thorne's ethereal beauty into dark majesty, making him terrible and magnificent at once. Power rolled off him in waves that made the key burn cold against Silas's chest.
“Fuck,” Kai whispered from somewhere behind him. “That's... that's not what I expected.”
Silas couldn't look away from what had become of his lover. The forest guardian's eyes burned with tainted fire as that familiar-yet-wrong gaze fixed on him. When Thorne spoke, his voice carried echoes of seduction and threat both:
“Come to save me, little scholar?” Corrupted magic swirled around him like a dark crown.
Though beneath that cruel precision, through their damaged bond, Silas felt something else - Thorne's true essence screaming in silent agony as the entity used his voice to hurt what he loved most.
“Neither,” Silas managed, though his heart felt like it might shatter. The sword returned back to being a key that hung impossibly cold against his skin, responding to how thoroughly the shadow had corrupted their connection.
Something flickered through those tainted eyes - recognition or manipulation, it was impossible to tell. Thorne's corrupted form shifted with liquid grace as he descended toward them, each movement a twisted echo of his natural ethereal beauty.
“No?” Dark amusement colored that beloved voice. “Then why risk everything to reach this place? What drives you to face what love has made of me?”
Every protective instinct screamed at Silas to retreat as Thorne drew closer. The corruption rolling off him felt wrong on a fundamental level, like reality itself was being poisoned by his presence. Even Kai's strongest charms flickered weakly against such concentrated darkness.
But beneath the shadow's cruel performance, through their nearly-broken bond, Silas felt Thorne fighting. Each word meant to hurt them took tremendous effort to force past his resistance. His true self reached through corruption with desperate determination, trying to warn even as the entity used him as weapon.
The shadow entity seized on this defiance, sending fresh waves of darkness pouring into Thorne's transformed body. The forest guardian's perfect features twisted in agony as corruption tried to drown out his last traces of self.
That sight made something crystallize in Silas's chest. The key blazed suddenly warm against his skin as he stepped forward.
“I came to remind you of who we are together,” he declared, watching corruption recoil slightly from the pure truth in those words. “Not to save you or join you - to choose you, exactly as you are.”
Darkness started lashing out with Thorne's stolen power. But Silas held his ground as shadow crashed around him.
“Bold words,” the corrupted guardian purred, though something uncertain threaded through his voice. “But look what love has made of me.”
“Real love isn't about staying pure or perfect. It's about choosing each other even through darkness.”
Power rolled off Thorne in waves as the entity fought to maintain control. His crown of shadows writhed while corrupted patterns raced across his skin faster. But beneath that terrible display, through their healing bond, came something that felt like sunrise.
“You still don't understand what you face,” Thorne's voice carried equal parts threat and pleading. “This isn't some story where love conquers all. I chose this corruption to protect you. Let me bear it alone.”
“Not a chance.” Silas closed the distance between them, close enough now to see how corruption trembled beneath Thorne's skin. “You don't get to decide that anymore. Not when every moment of pain between us only proves what the shadow entity fears most.”
Silas reached up, fingers hovering just shy of touching Thorne's corrupted face. “I see you,” he said softly. “All of you and I will always choose you.”
The key flared impossibly bright against his chest as truth rang through those words. Through their strengthening bond came Thorne's answering surge of fierce love, his true essence fighting harder against corruption's hold.
THORNE
Through waves of corruption, Thorne watched in helpless horror as Silas approached. The shadow entity's hold on his form felt like drowning in liquid darkness, every attempt to move or speak requiring impossible effort. Yet somehow, seeing his love walk willingly into danger gave him strength to fight harder against the possession.
No , he tried to scream, but the entity used his voice for its own purpose.
Thorne felt his corrupted form move with terrible grace, each gesture a twisted mockery of his natural ethereal beauty. The shadow entity knew exactly how to use his body, his memories, his power to create the perfect lure. Even the way it made him tilt his head carried echoes of intimate moments between them.
But through their weakened bond came something that burned like sunrise. That pure connection sent fresh agony through Thorne's corrupted essence, the entity punishing him for every moment of genuine feeling between them.
“Stop,” he managed to force out, though the word emerged mangled. “You have to...”
The shadow slammed through him before he could finish, using his own power to create illusions of everything they'd dreamed of having together. The sacred grove restored to perfect beauty. Their magic harmonizing without fear or limitation. A future where love didn't mean constant sacrifice.
“All this could be yours,” it offered through his voice, reaching for Silas with Thorne's own gentle gesture. “Everything we wanted, everything we dreamed. Just accept a small touch of darkness. Let me show you how beautiful shadow can be.”
The pain of watching his love face this perfect temptation nearly broke Thorne completely. But through their damaged bond came something unexpected.
Silas kept approaching. Even as corruption began crawling up his arm the moment he reached for Thorne, he didn't hesitate or flinch away.
The entity's hold on Thorne's voice wavered, its control fracturing against such pure dedication. Through this crack in its defenses, he managed to force out his own words:
“Don't... trust what you see...”
Fresh agony crashed through him as the shadow retaliated, but that brief moment of true connection gave him strength to keep fighting. Through their strengthening bond came Silas's fierce recognition, his complete acceptance of everything Thorne had become.
“I trust what I feel,” Silas answered, and those simple words carried more power than any magic.
The entity screamed through Thorne's corrupted form, making shadows writhe while sickly light pulsed faster beneath his skin. But it couldn't quite maintain its hold against the truth flowing between them. Every genuine moment of connection burned it like acid, every freely chosen touch weakened its control.
Thorne felt himself fragment as the battle for his essence intensified. The entity tried to use his memories as weapon, but Silas's unwavering presence cut through those twisted visions with terrible clarity.
The entity sensed this dangerous realization. It gathered corruption around them like a closing fist, using Thorne's power to create the perfect trap. But even as darkness tried to consume them both, something pure and impossible bloomed in his corrupted heart.
Hope.
Not the desperate kind born from fear of loss, but the steady certainty that came from being truly seen and chosen anyway. Silas didn't need him to be unchanged or uncorrupted. Didn't need perfection or purity.
He just needed him to be real.
The shadow entity's realization hit like arctic wind. Thorne felt it seize control of his corrupted form with renewed violence, understanding exactly how dangerous their strengthening connection had become. Through their healing bond came Silas's answering surge of determination, making the entity's hold fracture further.
“No,” it snarled through Thorne's voice. “You don't get to save each other.”
Power gathered around them like a closing fist. Thorne fought desperately as the entity forced his magic to twist into weapon, corrupting centuries of protective instinct into something meant to destroy. Dark energy crackled through his veins while his crown of branches dripped liquid shadow.
“Silas, run!” He managed to force out the warning before corruption slammed through him completely.
But it was too late. The shadow entity released its attack through Thorne's hands, turning his love's own power against him. Corrupted magic exploded outward in devastating waves, aimed directly at Silas's heart.
Time seemed to slow as darkness raced toward his lover. Thorne felt Silas's complete acceptance of whatever came next. That pure trust hurt worse than any corruption.
The entity wasn't done torturing them. As its magic struck, it forced them both to face their deepest fears. Thorne watched in horror as Silas's love turned to hatred, those storm-gray eyes filling with justified loathing for what he'd become. Every tender moment between them twisted into poison, every shared joy corrupted by the monster he truly was.
See what you really are? See how love always ends?
Simultaneously, Silas faced his own nightmare. Through their bond came his lover’s anguish at watching corruption consume everything that made Thorne himself, leaving only beautiful hollow shadow behind.
The attack should have broken them both. Should have turned their connection into final weapon, their love into ultimate poison. But something unexpected happened as their pain and fear crashed together.
The key around Silas's neck suddenly flared with brilliant light, matching the bracelet's silver glow. Their combined magic responded not to the shadow's lies, but to the truth beneath their fears.
“No,” Silas breathed, reaching through corruption with desperate purpose. “This isn't how our story ends.”
Their shared agony, their mutual terror of losing each other, created a resonance that the shadow entity couldn't quite corrupt.
It was about facing darkness together.
“You can't break what chooses to endure,” Thorne managed through waves of corruption. The effort cost him terribly, but Silas's answering surge of fierce love made it worth any pain.
The entity screamed in rage, trying to drown them both in twisted visions. It showed Thorne every moment his love had caused pain, every time connection led to betrayal. Showed Silas every way Thorne's sacrifice would poison them both, every future where darkness won.
But those very attempts to break them only made their bond stronger. The key and bracelet blazed with impossible light as truth cut through lies.
“I'm not afraid of what you've become,” Silas declared, his voice steady despite corruption crawling up his arm. “I'm only afraid of letting you face it alone.”
SILAS
Through their damaged bond came Thorne's spike of terror as he realized what Silas intended. The forest guardian fought harder against the entity's hold, trying to force out another warning. But Silas didn't need warnings anymore.
He needed truth.
“I understand now,” he said softly, taking another step into Thorne's corrupted space.
The shadow entity's confusion manifested as ripples through the poisoned air. It had expected him to fight or flee the corruption spreading up his arm, not walk willingly into its embrace.
“Have you lost your mind?” Kai shouted from somewhere behind him. “That stuff is literally eating through our protective charms!”
But Silas kept his eyes locked on Thorne's corrupted face as he stepped fully into the void between light and shadow
Through their strengthening bond, he broadcast one pure truth. “I love you, in light or shadow. All of you. Even this.”
The simple honesty of those words made the entity's attack falter. It had prepared for resistance, for desperate attempts to maintain purity. This complete acceptance of darkness as part of love left it reeling.
“You can't,” Thorne managed through waves of corruption, his voice cracking. “I won't let you be poisoned too.”
“That's not your choice anymore.” Silas reached for him as shadow crawled up to his shoulder.
“Beautiful sentiment,” the entity tried to mock through Thorne's voice, but uncertainty threaded through its tone. “But corruption claims everything eventually.”
“Does it?” Silas let truth flow freely through their bond - not just love, but complete acceptance of everything Thorne had become. “Or does it only claim what we try to keep pure?”
The shadow's hold on Thorne wavered as this understanding struck home. Through their connection came his love's answering surge of recognition - they'd been fighting to protect each other from darkness instead of facing it together.
“Look at what you've become,” the entity snarled, forcing Thorne's corrupted form to display its full terrible beauty. “This is what love leads to. This is what trust creates.”
“Yes,” Silas agreed simply, watching corruption spread across his chest. “This is part of love too. The hard parts, the dark parts, the moments that hurt. I choose all of it.”
“You'll both be lost,” the shadow warned, but its voice held something close to fear now.
“Maybe,” Silas acknowledged, close enough now to touch Thorne's corrupted face. “But we'll be lost together. That's what you've never understood. It is all about choosing each other knowing darkness might come.”
He felt Thorne’s true essence fighting harder against the entity's hold. The key and bracelet pulsed in perfect harmony, creating patterns of light that made shadows retreat.
THORNE
I choose all of you. Light and shadow both.
Thorne felt his true essence surge stronger. His form began to shift, not fighting corruption but accepting it as part of himself. The change felt like coming home to a truth he'd always known but forgotten.
“You can't,” it tried one last time, but the words emerged weak and uncertain. “You'll lose everything you were.”
“No,” Thorne managed through waves of transformation. “We'll become what we were always meant to be.”
The key and bracelet blazed with new magic as he reached for Silas with both aspects of his nature intact. Light and shadow merged in his reformed body, creating something that transcended simple dualities of good and evil.
Their joined hands sparked with combined power just as the entity launched its desperate final attack. Magic exploded outward in a devastating shockwave, tearing through the corrupted forest with transformative force.
In that moment of pure possibility, as dawn broke over their changed realm, Thorne faced the truth that would reshape everything: Some loves grew stronger precisely because they embraced both light and shadow. Some connections transcended the very fear that tried to break them.
The entity's last strike hit their clasped hands like physical force, but they held firm as magic reshaped reality around them. Whatever came next, they would face it together - whole and real and unafraid of either darkness or light.
As the shadow entity finally released its hold, Thorne's form flickered violently. His crown of branches caught morning light one last time before his knees buckled.
“Thorne!” Silas caught him before he could fall, cradling him close as the forest guardian's ethereal nature wavered between shadow and substance.
“I'm fine,” Thorne managed, though his voice came rough and distant. “Just need to...”
His eyes rolled back as centuries of power finally overwhelmed him.
“Stay with me,” Silas whispered, pressing his forehead to Thorne's. The guardian's skin felt cool beneath his touch, but their connection hummed steady and strong. “We didn't fight this hard for you to pass out on me now.”
“He needs rest,” the Elder Willow said softly, her roots spreading protectively around them. “The transformation took much from him.”
Silas gathered Thorne closer, watching silver-gold light still dance beneath his love's skin. Even unconscious, their magic remained perfectly balanced between light and shadow. The forest guardian's crown of branches had settled into a new pattern - neither purely bright nor completely dark, but beautifully, impossibly real.
“I've got you,” Silas promised, feeling Thorne's essence respond even in sleep. “Take all the time you need. I'll be here when you wake.”