Chapter 11: The Miles’ Trial

Mark is called forward to face the next stage of his descent.

In the cold shadows of the warehouse, he’s promoted to Miles—Soldier—but advancement comes with a price. To prove his loyalty, Mark is ordered to punish a frightened teenage recruit, forcing him to relive the same brutal cycle that already haunts his conscience.

As the blows fall and another boy collapses at his feet, Mark earns the cult’s approval… and loses another piece of himself.

Afterward, Victor confronts him with a truth Mark isn’t ready to accept: the cult isn’t just testing him anymore—it’s reshaping him. What began as a mission to save Lily is becoming something darker, something irreversible.

This chapter is a breaking point—where promotion feels like imprisonment, loyalty tastes like blood, and Mark must face the terrifying possibility that he’s no longer pretending to be one of them.

Because the deeper he goes, the harder it becomes to remember who he was.

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Chapter 10: Allies and Enemies

The lines between friend and foe begin to blur.

Back at the safe house, Victor confronts Mark with a truth neither of them wants to face: the cult is changing him. What began as infiltration now looks dangerously close to transformation, and Victor fears Mark is losing the very thing he’s trying to save—himself. Their argument cuts deep, forcing Mark to confront the blood on his hands and the growing darkness inside him.

But the real test comes at the warehouse.

When Pater announces there is a traitor among the recruits, fear turns the room into a trap with no exits. Mark is forced to make an impossible choice—protect another life and risk exposure, or sacrifice an innocent to preserve his cover and stay close to Lily.

He chooses survival.

By the end of the night, one more name is erased, one more soul is broken, and Mark earns the cult’s praise at a cost he can barely endure. Allies are disappearing. Enemies are closing in. And with each choice, Mark feels himself slipping further away from the man he used to be.

This chapter asks a haunting question:

How much of yourself can you lose before there’s nothing left to save?

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Chapter 9: Deeper Infiltration

Mark returns to the warehouse knowing there’s no way back.

Still haunted by Rachel’s words and the boy he helped destroy, Mark steps deeper into the heart of the Mithras cult. The initiation may be over, but Pater makes one thing clear: loyalty is not a single act—it is a lifelong sacrifice.

As Mark is drawn into the cult’s inner teachings, he learns the ancient philosophy behind Mithras—its ranks, its rituals, and its demand that the old self must die to make room for something new. Each lesson strips away another layer of humanity, pulling him closer to the abyss he once believed he could control.

With Aaron gone and silence swallowing the truth, Mark feels the cult tightening its grip, reshaping him from the inside out. Doubt is forbidden. Mercy is weakness. And purpose comes only through blood.

By the end of the night, one terrifying reality settles in:

This isn’t just infiltration anymore.

It’s transformation.

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