The walls were moving. Not the slow, predictable shifting of a collapsing ruin, but sothing alive, pulsing, reshaping itself with a will of its own. The stone groaned, dust spiraling into the dim torchlight. The sound echoed, deep and unsettling, like a breath drawn through hollow lungs.
Marek cursed under his breath as he pushed himself up, brushing dirt from his jacket. "Tell this isn't so kind of elaborate death trap."
No one answered him. Cairon was already on his feet, blade drawn, his body tense with the kind of readiness that only ca from instinct sharpened by experience. The guide stood still, his face a shadow beneath his hood, his expression unreadable. I pushed myself up, my head still spinning from the fall. The air was thick, carrying the scent of sothing ancient, sothing wrong.
"What is this place?" I asked.
The guide's lips curved into sothing that wasn't quite a smile. "The first trial."
Before I could respond, the walls split open.
Shapes erged from the darkness—twisted, skeletal figures, their hollow eyes locked onto us with unnatural stillness. They moved in jerks, as though they had been frozen for centuries and were only now rembering how to exist. A whisper of sothing old and cruel slithered through the chamber, sinking into my skin like ice.
Cairon's voice was sharp. "Shades."
The mont he spoke, one of them lunged.
I barely had ti to move before its clawed fingers scraped against my arm. Cold unlike anything I had ever felt surged through , pulling. Not just warmth, not just breath—sothing deeper. Sothing essential. My vision flickered. For a heartbeat, I was sowhere else.
A throne room stretched into endless shadow. A pulse of power—deep, slow, inhuman—echoed through my bones. A voice, low and ancient, whispered at the edges of my mind.
"You were always ant to return."
I gasped as reality snapped back around . The shade was still there, its empty sockets locked onto mine, its fingers tightening. My knees nearly buckled under the weight of its presence. My heartbeat was frantic, my breath shallow, my body screaming to run—but it wasn't fear. It was recognition.
Cairon moved before I could react, his blade slicing through the shade in a clean, ruthless arc. The creature staggered but didn't fall. Instead, the wound rippled, knitting itself back together like water closing over a stone.
Marek swore. "Oh, that's just fantastic." He struck out with his daggers, but the result was the sa. The shades didn't bleed. They didn't die.
Cairon shifted closer to , his back nearly against mine. His voice was low, urgent. "Ideas?"
The knowledge ca unbidden, sinking into like sothing long-buried clawing its way to the surface. I knew how to stop them. Not with steel. Not with force. But with sothing older, sothing far more dangerous.
I t the shade's empty gaze and whispered a na.
The effect was instant. The shade recoiled, its form flickering like a dying fla. I didn't stop. I spoke again, and its body collapsed, vanishing into nothing.
Silence stretched in the aftermath.
Marek let out a low whistle. "Well. That's new."
Cairon turned to , his expression unreadable. "How did you know that would work?"
I hesitated. The truth was too dangerous to speak aloud. "I just—felt it."
Sothing dark flickered in his gaze. He didn't believe . And maybe he was right not to.
The other shades hadn't moved. They were watching, waiting. Their hollow eyes locked onto with sothing that felt almost like understanding.
I lifted my chin, ignoring the cold that still lingered in my bones. One by one, I spoke their nas.
One by one, they vanished.
The chamber fell into silence once more. I was trembling. Not from fear, but from the echo of sothing vast and unseen stirring in my blood. The guide was watching , his gaze thoughtful, assessing. "Interesting."
I turned on him, my voice sharp. "You could have helped."
He tilted his head slightly, as if I had just asked a foolish question. "And robbed you of the chance to prove yourself? That would have been unwise."
My hands curled into fists. "What, exactly, have I proven?"
His smile was slow, knowing. "That you are not what you were."
A shiver crawled down my spine.
Marek exhaled, breaking the tension. "Well, that was horrifying. Can't wait for trial number two."
Cairon sheathed his sword but didn't look at . Not directly. And I knew why.
He had seen it.
The way I had spoken those nas. The way the power had answered .
He knew I was changing.
And he wasn't sure if that was sothing he could stop.
We walked in silence. I could feel Cairon's eyes on , heavy with thoughts he wasn't saying aloud. I could feel the weight of the guide's presence, the way he seed entirely unsurprised by what had just happened. The further we walked, the deeper the feeling of unease settled into my bones.
I should have said sothing. I should have told Cairon that I was still .
But I wasn't sure that was true anymore.
And the worst part?
I wasn't sure I wanted it to be.
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