The scream tore through, swallowed by the storm before it could echo beyond the ruined walls.
Seraphina clawed at the damp stone, her nails splitting against the rough surface.
The infection burned beneath her skin—veins black and shimring faintly like liquid rcury. The pain had changed now; it pulsed in rhythm with the rain, as though the storm itself fed her suffering.
She collapsed against the cold floor of what used to be the asylum’s chapel.
Moonlight filtered through the shattered ceiling, silver and pitiless.
The frescoes on the walls were half-burned, angels without wings staring down like mourners who had long abandoned faith.
Her breathing rattled. "You said... you’d never co back here, Lorenzo."
But his voice haunted every shadow.
In her delirium, she could still see him—Lorenzo —standing before her with that calm, cruel smile. "Perfection demands sacrifice," he used to say. "And you, my dear Seraphina, were always willing to bleed for power."
She spat blood. "I bled enough." Seraphina said weakly.
The toxin inside her flared again, spreading frost through her veins.
Symbols etched in her flesh—his experints—began to glow faintly, crawling like living ink.
The curse didn’t kill quickly, It rembered.
Every person she had betrayed.
Every soul she had silenced.Their voices now whispered through her bloodstream.
When she tried to crawl toward the altar, her fingers brushed against a small tallic box half-buried in the debris. It thrumd faintly—alive. Her pulse leapt, The Codex?
She pulled it free. A dull red light flickered at its center like a dying heart. It wasn’t a book but a device—Lorenzo’s favorite kind of cruelty, old magic fused with forbidden science.
"Alessia," Seraphina whispered, clutching it to her chest. "Co quickly..."
The storm roared louder. Outside, headlights carved through the mist.
*******
Two hours later, the Morano car stopped at the edge of the Sorella cliffs.
The air reeked of salt and rust. The asylum lood in the distance, half-swallowed by fog.
Its gates were twisted tal, its walls crawling with ivy that looked more like veins than vines.
Luca stepped out first, his gun already drawn. "Place is dead."
Alessia followed, the dagger strapped to her thigh beneath her coat. "Not dead," she murmured. "Just listening."
They moved carefully through the crumbling courtyard. Statues of faceless patients stood in rows, eroded by rain. Alessia’s boots crushed the gravel like bones.
Inside, the asylum slled of rot and wet stone.
The walls were covered with symbols—blood mixed with ash. So marks pulsed faintly, reacting to their presence.
Luca scanned the hall with his flashlight. "You really think Seraphina is still alive?"
"I think she’s desperate," Alessia said. "And desperate people leave trails."
They found the first one near the stairs—a sar of blackened blood forming a sigil Alessia recognized from the Morano archives.
"The binding mark of Lorenzo’s experints," she said. "He used it to tie souls to his research. Even death couldn’t erase the signature."
"Which ans she’s close," Luca replied.
They descended into the lower halls, the air growing colder.
Each step echoed too loudly, as though the building itself resented intrusion.
When they reached the old chapel doors, Alessia stopped. Her fingers trembled slightly as she pushed them open.
The sight froze her.
Seraphina lay on the floor, surrounded by circles of dried blood and glowing shards.
Her body convulsed once, then went still. The tallic box was beside her, humming softly.
"Seraphina," Alessia whispered, running forward.
Her rival or what remained of her—opened her eyes.
They glowed faintly red, the light reflecting sothing inhuman beneath.
"You ca," Seraphina rasped, lips cracked, breath shallow. "Too late."
"No," Alessia said, kneeling. "Not too late. Tell what to do."
Seraphina gave a faint smile that broke into a cough. "You were always too kind for this world."
Luca crouched beside them, eyes narrowing at the device. "What is that?"
Seraphina’s trembling hand touched it. "The Codex. But it’s... not what you think."
Alessia swallowed hard. "It’s supposed to reverse the infection, right?"
Seraphina shook her head weakly. "No. It chooses who carries it next. The curse doesn’t die—it moves. The Codex transfers the burden from one bloodline to another."
Luca’s face hardened. "You an if you activate it, it jumps into soone else?"
"Yes," she whispered. "And Lorenzo made sure it only responds to Morano blood."
Alessia froze. "That’s why he wanted ."
"You’re the vessel," Seraphina said. "You can either destroy it... or take it."
A low hum rose from the box, the light inside pulsing faster, sensing the blood in the air.
The dagger on Alessia’s hip began to glow faintly—the sa sigil carved along its blade now alive with answering fire.
"Alessia," Luca warned. "Don’t touch it."
But sothing inside her stirred—a pull both familiar and ancient. The sa voice that once guided her through the Rite of Blood now whispered again: Choose, Alessia. Salvation or sacrifice.
Seraphina gripped her wrist suddenly, her eyes wild. "He’s not gone, Lorenzo’s consciousness—he hid fragnts of himself in the Codex. If it bonds with you, he will rise through your blood."
Alessia’s heart pounded. "Then why call here?"
"Because..." Seraphina gasped, coughing blood, "I couldn’t destroy it. But you can. You’re the last one who still rembers rcy."
Thunder shook the chapel. The Codex split open like a flower of steel, revealing a core of swirling crimson liquid.
The scent of iron filled the air.
Luca aid his gun. "We destroy it now."
"No.. " Seraphina scread, her voice raw. "If you kill it, the infection in spreads uncontrolled. It has to be transferred—contained."
"Contained in who?" he demanded.
Her eyes shifted to Alessia.
For a long, heavy second, none of them breathed.
Then, from the shadows above, sothing moved.
A figure stepped out onto the balcony of the ruined chapel—tall, cloaked, face hidden beneath a tallic mask shaped like a serpent.
His voice was smooth, cold, and too familiar.
"Destroy it, and she dies," he said. "Take it, and you beco ."
Luca spun, gun raised. "Who the hell... "
"Lorenzo," Alessia whispered.
The figure tilted his head. "Echo, actually. A fragnt of his mind preserved within the Codex. I have been waiting, Alessia."
The light from the device bathed the room in crimson.
Seraphina scread as her veins flared white-hot. "Don’t listen.... he feeds on choices"
Alessia stood slowly, rain dripping from her coat, dagger gleaming faintly. "Then let’s give him one."
She slashed her palm open and let her blood fall onto the Codex.
The device drank it hungrily, the humming rising into a shriek.
The crimson light exploded outward.
Luca grabbed her, pulling her back as the chapel shuddered. Symbols on the walls ignited like fire.
Seraphina’s body arched once—then went still.
The Codex pulsed one last ti and then went dark.
Smoke filled the room. The figure above had vanished.
Luca coughed. "What did you do?"
Alessia stared at her bleeding hand. The cut had already begun to close—but the veins beneath her skin now shimred faintly with red light.
"I made a choice," she whispered.
He looked at her, realization dawning—and fear. "Alessia... what choice?"
Before she could answer, the Codex clicked open again—just once.
A single line of text appeared across its tallic surface:
"The new vessel is born."
The floor cracked beneath them.
Luca pulled her toward the exit, shouting her na as the chapel began to collapse.
Outside, the rain turned red.
And sowhere deep beneath the ruins, the serpent mask opened its eyes......
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