A Terror

'Screechh' 

Adrian's eyelids twitched at the sound. Uncertain of what he was hearing, he didn't bother investigating and continued sleeping.

'Screechh'

The persistent sound disturbed Adrian, who was relishing his sleep. Opening his eyes slightly and finding nothing amiss in his surroundings, he closed them again and returned to slumber.

'Screechh'

The persistent sound finally jolted Adrian awake, prompting him to shoot open his eyes to investigate. His disrupted sleep left him displeased.

'Why can't I have a moment of peace, goddamn it.'

Thought Adrian as he surveyed his surroundings, attempting to locate the source of the noise. The cave, both inside and outside, was shrouded in darkness.

The blizzard appeared to have ceased, but the cold lingered persistently.

Suddenly, Adrian sensed a peculiar gaze directed at him. Turning toward the source, he found the twins looking at him.

'Why are they looking at me?' 

Adrian refrained from verbalizing the question, deeming it inappropriate. Choosing to ignore them, he scanned the small cave, realizing soon enough what had caused the disturbance.

It was a rat.

A rat scratching at the wall was the source of the noise. "Even this rat wants to die," Adrian thought to himself.

No longer paying attention to the rat, his curiosity satiated, Adrian turned his gaze to the kids and inquired, "How long have I been sleeping?"

He knew it couldn't be more than a few hours since it was still nighttime, but confirming the duration wouldn't hurt.

The kids remained silent, simply staring at him, which began to irk Adrian. Unable to hold back, he fired the question at them.

"What are you guys looking at?"

Hearing his question, the girl offered little reaction, maintaining her gaze on him. However, the boy chose to respond, still keeping his eyes fixed on Adrian.

"I've been pondering how you manage to maintain this form of yours," the boy said, his eyes unwaveringly fixed on Adrian.

The boy's question made Adrian ponder, but there was something else—something more pressing than this inquiry—that had been nagging at him for some time now.

"I was wondering... how are you able to see me in the dark?" Adrian asked, posing a question that seemed to come out of nowhere.

The boy was about to answer, but Adrian didn't let him as he continued, "Another thing that has been bugging me is that, even as an adult, I felt tired after traversing through all this terrain, but you guys... you guys looked perfectly fine to me."

Observing the boy's expression, Adrian sensed that something was amiss. He had been intending to ask these things but refrained, waiting to reach the temple to understand their intentions.

Now, witnessing their peculiar behavior, he saw no reason to hold back.

The questions did make sense, considering that the collar was affecting all three of them equally, unless... they had some way to neutralize the effect of the collars, which sounded a bit far-fetched.

Looking at Adrian, the boy, who had appeared normal as far as Adrian could tell, couldn't help but sigh and cast his gaze downward.

Waiting for him to answer, Adrian sensed he was onto something. There was something amiss with both of them, and he wanted to uncover the truth.

"When did you notice? I thought I was doing a perfect job blending in, but... it seems like being so perfect has its own cons," he said, and as he finished talking, a smile couldn't help but bloom on his face.

Upon seeing the smile, Adrian realized it wasn't the boy anymore, but the skinwalker they had been trying to evade.

"Setting your question aside, I want to ask, when did it happen? When did you... assume, if I may say, this form?" Adrian inquired, his mind working on finding a way out of this situation.

'Let's assume he gains the powers of whoever he possesses. But I have no idea what these two are capable of,' Adrian pondered.

The skinwalker, with the same smile plastered on its face, looked at Adrian, seemingly relishing the situation.

"From the beginning, did you think I only possessed that human slave? No, you are foolishly wrong," it continued. "I don't understand why you would think that I can only possess one person. Do I look that weak to you?"

Seated there, doing nothing except smiling at Adrian, it conveyed an air of assurance, as if it knew that Adrian had nowhere to run.

Hearing its words, Adrian found himself without an answer. He had been the one asking questions about the skinwalker, and now he wasn't sure how much of that information he could trust.

"Don't worry; I didn't lie about needing to have soul battles in order to possess someone," said the boy, seemingly aware of what Adrian was thinking.

Adrian couldn't help but curse his bad luck, finding himself in this situation without his consent. Yet he knew he was powerless in front of Mother's gaze.

Not just Her, but in front of everyone. Even his death was to be blamed on his inherent weakness.

'When will I get stronger?' 

The sudden burning desire to increase his strength and become powerful was so intense that Adrian's breathing became heavy.

'Sigh'

"I'm so tired of being weak. Just kill me if you want to. Why are you wasting your time by talking to me?" Adrian finished speaking, not giving the skinwalker a chance to answer as he continued.

"Or is it that... you can't attack me? Are you pretending to be strong right now? Let me see, in that human slave's body, you didn't do anything particular that showcased your strength, except for having a strong body."

Continuing, he added, "It could be said that when you swapped the soul, the restriction from this collar became invalid, and the strength you were showing was just that of the human slave."

Ceasing to talk, Adrian looked at the skinwalker, hoping that his hypothesis was accurate. He wished for it to be true because, otherwise, he didn't see any solution to his current predicament.