Chapter 9 The Watching Legion

Rhen pushed away from the tree and stood, breath coming fast. "Enough. I need to see what you really are."

He closed his eyes and reached for the bond, deliberately this time. The System responded instantly, a cold thread opening in his mind. [Access legion network?]

"Yes," he whispered. "Show me."

The world tilted.

Suddenly he was Tomas, small and terrified, watching the Light descend while his legs refused to move. "Captain!" he screamed, but the sound came out as Rhen's own voice cracking in his skull. Pain ripped through his chest as glowing threads tore something vital out of him.

Then it shifted.

He was Mira now, spear still in hand, roaring defiance as the ritual pulled her apart piece by piece. "Not like this, you bastards!" Her rage burned hot, then cold, then nothing. The scream stretched forever.

Another flash.

Jarek, the old veteran, cursing the king with his last breath. "Should've known... should’ve known..." The betrayal tasted like ash.

Rhen gasped, trying to pull back, but the perspectives kept slamming into him. Garrick begging for his family. A dozen others he barely remembered, all dying at once. Their final thoughts overlapped in a storm of fear, pain, and confusion.

"Why us?"  

"I trusted the Captain..."  

"It hurts... it still hurts..."  

"Where are you, Rhen?"

"Stop," Rhen muttered through gritted teeth, eyes still shut tight. "Get out of my head. I said stop!"

But the network held him. He was dozens of men now, all at once. Dying from different wounds. Watching different parts of the battlefield collapse. Feeling the Light harvest them like crops. Their voices layered, whispering, accusing, pleading.

Aldric's voice cut through clearest. "You held me, Captain. You promised."

Rhen clawed at the connection, panic rising. "I’m pulling out. Now!"

The pull resisted. For several long heartbeats, he remained trapped, tumbling through memory after memory. Each death played out in vivid detail. The warmth leaving their bodies. The endless screams echoing inside the Light. His own face, desperate and failing, seen from hundreds of angles.

He wrenched hard, forcing his awareness back into his own body with a violent mental shove.

Rhen gasped, eyes flying open. He dropped to one knee beside the tree, chest heaving, sweat pouring down his face. Brynn still slept nearby, undisturbed, her breathing soft and steady.

"Gods..." he whispered, wiping his mouth with a trembling hand. "What have I done to you?"

He looked up toward the treeline where the legion waited in the darkness.

Every single undead soldier was already staring directly at him.

Hundreds of them. Perfectly still. Faces turned in complete unison toward his exact position. Their eyes caught the faint moonlight, reflecting with unnatural focus. No one had made a sound. No one had moved their feet. They simply... knew.

Rhen’s blood ran cold. He hadn’t called them. He hadn’t sent any command through the bond.

Aldric stood at the front, just visible between the trees, his scarred face calm. "Captain," he said softly, voice carrying clearly across the distance. "You went deep. We felt you there with us. Every death again."

Rhen staggered back a step, heart hammering. "How did you know? I didn’t speak. I didn’t call you."

"We always know," Aldric replied. The rest of the legion remained motionless, still watching. "You entered the network. We were waiting."

Rhen forced himself to breathe. The bond felt different now. Wider. More alive. Like something had stirred awake and refused to settle back down.

He had entered the network. Something had followed him back.