Principal Kine’s sigh was deep and resigned. He stared at the curtain shrouding the shadow rift for a mont longer before saying, "I suppose we should enter. It’s not going to resolve itself from the outside."
Without waiting for Byun’s reply, Kine stepped forward. The curtain swayed as he passed through, his figure vanishing into the darkness beyond.
Byun followed with unhurried steps, his hands tucked behind his back as if they were simply going for a walk through the academy gardens.
The instant he crossed the threshold, the world changed. There was no ground, no sky, only an endless sea of darkness stretching in every direction. It wasn’t just dark in the way of a moonless night.
This was a darkness so deep it swallowed thought, a void that seed to press in from every angle. There was nothing tangible beneath their feet, yet they remained suspended, as if walking on invisible air.
"This is obviously not our world," Kine murmured, his voice carrying strangely in the emptiness.
Byun scanned the void with detached curiosity. "No kidding."
Kine raised his hands and called on his light magic. A sphere of brilliance blood between his palms, casting rays outward. For a mont, the suffocating darkness retreated, revealing hints of faint shapes, as if the void had texture.
But the light’s reach was limited, its edge quickly swallowed by the black.
Byun’s eyes narrowed as he studied the strange reaction. The shadows didn’t just flee from the light; they seed alive, writhing and twisting as if resisting its touch. An idea ford in his mind.
"Interesting..." he muttered. Extending his own power, he reached toward the nearest tendril of shadow. Instead of pushing it back, he pulled, absorbing it into himself.
The effect was imdiate. The space around them shifted, solidifying in places. The air grew denser, the ground beneath their feet becoming tangible stone. The oppressive void loosened its grip, and shapes began to erge, a dim horizon, the faint outline of walls.
Kine blinked, lowering his hands slightly. "Well... that was unexpected. How do they feel?"
Byun glanced at him. "Different. Colder than my usual shadows. Wilder, too, like they’d rather tear sothing apart than follow orders." His expression didn’t change, but his tone carried the faintest hint of distaste. "Once we’re done here, I’ll get rid of them. I don’t like carrying things I didn’t choose."
Kine’s light dimd slightly as he studied Byun’s face, but he said nothing. They began walking forward, their footsteps echoing now that the space had substance.
They soon found themselves in a long, narrow corridor, the walls smooth and unbroken except for the faint flicker of shadow movent along their edges. The end was too far to see, the perspective stretching into a hazy infinity.
Byun’s gaze followed the path ahead. "What are the chances we make it to the end without trouble?" he asked, his tone more rhetorical than hopeful.
Kine gave a faint smile. "Slim."
A low, guttural snarl answered the question before Kine could elaborate. From the left wall, a ripple passed through the shadows, and a dark shape slipped free.
It hit the ground with the fluid grace of a predator, its form taking shape, a massive wolf with fur made of smoke, its eyes glowing blood-red. Its teeth, sharp and too long for its mouth, glead faintly in Kine’s light.
Byun tilted his head. "Didn’t even let finish speaking."
Another ripple. Then another. Three more wolves erged from the corridor walls, each growling low, their movents synchronized. They spread out, advancing in a slow, deliberate formation that left little room to retreat.
Kine lifted a hand toward Byun. "Step back."
Byun obliged, though not without a faint smirk. "Don’t hold back on my account."
Kine’s fingers flexed and a sharp pulse of magic flared from his palms. A concentrated beam of light burst forth, searing the air as it struck the first wolf.
The creature let out a bone-shaking howl, its form breaking apart like smoke under a strong wind. The light burned through its chest, and in seconds, the entire beast evaporated into nothing.
The remaining three wolves froze for only a heartbeat before breaking into a charge. The sound of their claws on stone was a staccato rhythm, fast and closing.
Kine stepped forward, summoning another flare, but this ti the wolves split, one darting to the left and another to the right, forcing him to choose.
Byun’s voice ca calmly from behind him. "You take the front. I’ll handle the strays."
The shadow mage extended one hand and the stolen, colder shadows answered his call instantly. They lashed out like living whips, ensnaring the leftmost wolf mid-leap.
The beast snarled and snapped at the coils, but Byun tightened his grip, pulling the darkness inward. The wolf’s body trembled, then broke apart into the sa smoke it was made of, absorbed into him just like the ambient shadows had been.
The cold that followed was sharper this ti, like ice slicing through his veins. He ignored it.
Kine t the front wolf head-on, his light erupting again in a wide arc. The burst struck with such force that it slamd the creature into the far wall before disintegrating it. The final wolf lunged at Byun from the right, jaws wide.
Byun didn’t step aside. Instead, his own shadows surged upward from the ground, forming a spear that shot straight through the wolf’s mouth and out the back of its skull. The creature convulsed, its body collapsing into a shapeless mass before fading entirely.
The corridor fell silent again, though the faint hum of the void beyond the walls lingered.
Kine lowered his hands, his light settling back into a dim glow to conserve energy. "Efficient," he said with a sidelong glance at Byun.
Byun shrugged. "They were small enough.
Kine chuckled quietly at the understatent. His gaze shifted down the endless corridor, the light from his palms stretching only far enough to hint at the darkness ahead. "If this is the kind of greeting we get, I’d say the end of this place won’t be pleasant."
Byun smirked faintly. "All the better. I’d hate for this trip to be boring."
They started forward again, the corridor stretching out before them like a living thing, shifting subtly as they walked. Sowhere far ahead, another snarl echoed, deeper and more resonant than before.
Kine’s light flared instinctively. "Sothing’s waiting."
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