by DarkPlume
They called him harmless. A boy who carried another's bag and took another's blows without complaint — a joke, a loyal dog, a nobody. Then the girl he loved broke him in the mud, and the dark between his bones answered. To survive, Elias paid a price no altar should ever ask for. Now he walks with a shadow-forged blade, an empty stare, and a debt written in blood — dragging behind him the very girl who once called him worthless, bound to his shadow whether she wills it or not. But power built on a mother's ashes always asks for more. And the boy who swore he'd never feel anything again is about to learn that some things refuse to stay dead. The kingdom that made him "harmless" is about to learn what it created.
