ã€ŠThe Shadow Binder - Post-Apocalyptic Progression Fantasyã€‹


 1.1

    The stars were going out.

    It was a strange first thought to slip through the heavy black curtain of unconsciousness with, but it was the one universal truth Casek¡¯s freshly woken mind could grasp with any surety. The stars were going out.

    You will go the same way as them if you don¡¯t move!

    Casek¡¯s eyes snapped open, the alien voice penetrating the confusing haze of wild, stray thoughts clogging his mind like too many feathers in a pillow. He blinked, slowly at first, trying to clear the thick blanket of sleep from his eyes so he could find the source of the voice. It was no use. Even with what little light there was in the room, all he could make out of his surroundings were clumps of dense shadow¡ªfurniture, he supposed, sparse for a room of this size, and concentrated towards the edges.

    Blearily, he tried to move, and started when he felt resistance at his wrists and ankles. For a moment, he tried to peer down at them for an explanation, but the familiar feel of cold steel shook loose a fragment of clear thought. Shackles. He was bound. He should have felt more frightened by that knowledge. Memories from before waking here were non-existent, but that much he knew. Being captive like this was seldom a good thing.

    So why did he feel so reassured by their touch on his skin?

    Will you stop gawking and move, you moron¡ªthey will be here soon!

    Casek tensed at the sound of the foreign voice, frantically trying to find the source of the voice and failing once more. He opened his mouth to speak, but all that clawed loose from his parched throat was a spluttered croak that morphed into a dry, hacking cough. He hissed at the tearing sensation the coughing fit brought, but as quickly as it had come, a gentle warmth pulsed through him, numbing the pain.

    There, the voice came again, its tone far softer. I have no talent for Restoration, but I¡¯ve done what I can to ease the pain¨Cat least until we are out of here.

    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± Casek rasped, eyes darting around the shadow-dimmed room, still too poorly adjusted to see clearly.

    There was no sound at first, but Casek got the distinct impression of something¨Csomeone¨Csighing.

    Look, you have about three minutes before the incredibly ravenous shades that sensed you waking, make it to this room and turn you into a buffet. And that¡¯s only if something worse wasn¡¯t close enough to sense an easy meal. I get you¡¯re confused, and scared and must have a billion questions, but if you wait any longer, you won¡¯t survive long enough for the answers to matter. Move!

    He blinked, the desperation lurking at the edges of the voice creating even more questions with no answers. What was clear, however, was¡ªwhether or not he believed the words it spoke¡ªhe could not stay here, strapped to a table, forever. He needed food. Water. Answers. No amount of knowledge would help him if he didn¡¯t live long enough to use it.

    The iron restraints on his wrists rattled as he tested them, tugging at them with as much strength as his deteriorated muscles could muster. It was odd to feel so weak, as though he hadn¡¯t moved in only the Gods knew how long. It was odd to wake in a room so obviously decrepit by the acrid taste and smell of stale air. Most of all, it was odd how rust had rotted through the chains binding him¡ªso much so that his right arm yanked free at the third time of asking, chain links crumbling to amber dust.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    He freed his left arm with no more difficulty than the right, leaving only the manacles and a scant few surviving chain links upon his wrists¡ªa problem to worry about when he was away from here, and safe. Casek turned his attention to his feet and frowned when he realised the iron bindings around his ankles had been unlocked.

    Muscles quivering, he swung himself off of the metal table he¡¯d been strapped to, and his legs gave way beneath him, unprepared for his weight. He struck the cold stone floor with an unceremonious, fleshy thud, but managed to hold back the pained hiss his body wanted to let loose.

    Instead, he froze, his eyes adjusting to the dark locked on another dark shape with him on the floor. Fathomless black pits where eyes had once been stared back at him, set upon a yellow-tinged human skull. Behind it, the rest of the body¡¯s bones lay, stained by time. The corpse reached up towards where he had laid upon the table, a single skeletal hand stretching out towards him. In its hand, a key.

    For your bindings, the voice came again. When the Shadow came, he tried to free you. Almost succeeded.

    The shadow. The words stirred something in him. Memories not touched in a long time. The tear in the sky, and the horror that broke through it. Golden warriors stood thousands strong upon lush, emerald plains. The feel of good steel in his hands. Pride and hope.

    Casek could feel himself tremble, breathing ragged. He pulled himself to his feet as quickly as his screaming muscles would allow him. He looked around the room, movements jerky and wild, looking for something, anything, he could use as a weapon. Now that he could see well-enough, the state of disrepair the room was in sent a razor sharp sliver of terror through him like a blade.

    The walls, soot-blackened and crumbling, had lost the pure-white sheen he now remembered, and dust and dank air hung thick in the once sterilised air. Any semblance of furniture had been shattered into rotting wooden splinters thick with moss, and weeds had long since crept through the cracks in the brickwork and floor.

    Worse still, there was more than one body in this room with him. These had once faced away, towards the door, and had died facing what had killed them. Painfully, if the shattered ribs and cracked skulls were any indication. He scratched at his chin to still the growing shakiness of his hands, and realised for the first time in his life, he wore a beard, albeit an unkempt and matted one.

    Gods, how long had he been lying on that table? And why were the few memories he could gather nothing but the loose and scattered threads of a once beautiful tapestry¡ªfaint images and recollections, but scant concrete facts?

    The frantic panicked scratching at the back of his mind was growing ever-harder to keep reigned in, and Casek knew he needed to get out of this place before it overwhelmed him. Squaring his shoulders, he made for the door, a shambling stumble the fastest his body would carry him, his legs still not quite able to run.

    He emerged into a corridor of sterile grey concrete, its walls pockmarked and scarred, the floor littered with debris, some of which had once been living. Dust hung thick in the air, shafts of sunlight streaming inside through the crumbling stonework of the ceiling made them glow like the embers of a fire.

    His instinct¡ªor perhaps some trace of memory that he couldn¡¯t fully take hold of¡ªtold him he should head to his right, but the voice in his head had different ideas.

    Take the left. I¡¯ll guide you to where you need to go.

    ¡°But,¡± he protested, brow furrowed, but the voice cut him off.

    You need to trust me, Casek. I will explain as much as I can later, but right now, we just need to survive. To do that, we go left.

    The word ¡®we¡¯ sent an uncomfortable flicker of recognition through him that bordered on nausea. He had been operating under the assumption, or perhaps hope, that the voice was simply his dazed subconscious. If it wasn¡¯t, after all, why was it in his own head?

    A crash of metal on stone to his right banished the thought from his mind. It echoed through the empty corridors, the only sound many of these walls had heard for what appeared to be an eternity. Slowly, another sound became known. So faint that, at first, he mistook it for his imagination, or the last fading echoes of the first noise. It was soft. A gentle scratching, subtle at first, but growing into a cacophony of chattering movement, coming ever closer.

    ¡°Left it is,¡± he said, hardly daring to breathe.

    Quickly, the voice said, harsh with fear. The Shadow has come.

 1.2

    For the barest of moments, Casek stood frozen, the chittering scratching of countless sharp-edged limbs against concrete filling his mind. Then he was off, scrambling through the debris-stricken corridors as fast as his atrophied leg muscles would carry him. He knew, somehow, in the back of his mind that even this much should have been impossible.

    Any clear recollection of this place had been eroded long before he had woken, and what hazy impressions his mind had held onto told him this building had been new the last time he had been conscious within its walls. And if that was true, the condition of the place told him he had been sleeping for a long time. Casek supposed the hows and whys hardly mattered at the moment. All that did matter was escaping here with his life.

    He had expected to tire quickly; and, sure enough, the searing pain of lactic acid buildup in his legs came quickly, and his lungs burned as he frantically gulped in what oxygen he could. Somehow, the intense exertion, and the tremor in his heart at the feeling of imminent danger, was familiar to him. Like slipping into an old pair of well-worn in boots. Whatever his old life had been, he was no stranger to fighting for his life.

    What he hadn¡¯t expected, however, was the sensation of his old strength returning to him. Yes, exhaustion was setting in fast, but so too was his body regaining his old strength the more he used it, as though the running, and the danger, were breathing life back into him.

    Crumbling plaster and stonework whipped past either side of him, with Casek¡¯s pace only slowing to sidestep chunks of rubble too large to step over and the yellowed bones of the unfortunate dead. However, despite the pace he was setting, the sounds behind him grew ever louder. Now Casek could make out something else behind the clawing of limbs. A seething mass of high-pitched giggles chorused beneath it, dripping with dark amusement.

    Left again, Casek!

    The harsh, whispered voice caught him off-guard for a moment. He had been so caught up in escaping; he had almost forgotten about the other presence in his mind. What on earth was it? He almost scoffed at his own question. What else could it be besides a symptom of his own madness?

    Perhaps that was the reason he had been imprisoned in this place?

    His arrival at a corridor that branched off into two desperate directions not a few seconds later had him questioning everything all over again. Madness or something else entirely? He took the left path. Madness or not, he had nothing else to rely on right now.

    Casek barely noticed the rattle of falling stone from above¡ªthe only warning that his death could be imminent. A chunk of the ceiling fell away, and pale light streamed into this new section of corridor. Along with it came a pair of writhing black shapes, no higher than his knees, which landed heavily behind him on gangling limbs tipped with razor-sharp claws that gleamed obsidian beneath the scant light.

    Depraved burbling laughter erupted from shapeless mouths, and icy terror set into Casek¡¯s body. He forced his legs to pump faster, increasing his pace to get away from the creatures. They scrambled after him, too-long limbs moving with unnatural precision; their loping gait meaning they bound more than they ran, using the walls and floor to propel themselves after him.

    The roof ahead of them crumbled, and a third of the creatures plunged to the floor ahead of him with a victorious screech. This one landed more adroitly than the pair behind him, ready to launch itself at its victim. Casek found himself caught by the intensity of its gaze, emerald eyes fixated upon him and filled with a hunger that stole the breath from him.

    Instincts he couldn¡¯t remember having saved his life. Casek¡¯s body moved before conscious thought directed it. He crouched low and dived to the floor feet-first, sliding across the stonework on his left thigh. The creature¡¯s momentum took it sailing over him, no time to readjust, its outstretched claws falling just short of gouging out one of his eyes.

    He leaned forward, only stumbling slightly as his own momentum carried him upright and allowed him to keep up his pace. He ran on, a cacophony of furious howls ringing out behind him.

    ¡°What the fuck are those things?¡± Casek gasped as he dashed down the endless corridors.

    Shades. The voice responded. The weakest of the demons that make up the Shadow. Too weak to inhabit the bodies of even the most insignificant of life, but even a few of them are enough to take the lives of those who come across them unprepared.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    ¡°Can I fight them?¡±

    Not as you are now. They¡¯re almost completely impervious to anything you could do to them yourself. It¡¯s why we¡¯re running in the opposite direction to the exit. You¡¯d never have made it out that way.

    ¡°Then where are we going?¡±

    Casek got the distinct impression of something smiling in the back of his mind.

    The armoury.

    Another two corridors flashed by, and the sweat was pouring down Casek¡¯s face as his muscles screamed out for rest before the voice came again.

    There! Second door on the right. Bolt it behind you!

    Casek locked eyes with the door as the relentless scraping and howling behind him reached a fever pitch. He chanced a glance behind him and swore. A teeming mass of black shapes swarmed after him, a veritable tidal wave of flailing claws and gnashing teeth, hissing and giggling in a hysterical, starved frenzy.

    He bit back the agony and pushed his legs even harder, hurling himself at the door. How easily it gave way surprised him, and he stumbled through as it was flung open by his weight. Leaning too far forward, Casek had to fight to keep his balance before he could spin round and slam the door closed behind him. Adrenaline pumping, he slid across a weight steel deadbolt just as a series of thumps and thuds rattled the door on its hinges.

    The creatures¡ªshades¡ªthrew themselves at the door with reckless abandon, and Casek took a few stunned steps back as it shook from the assault.

    It won¡¯t hold them for long, but it will give us the time we need to be ready.

    Heart pounding, Casek turned away from the door to examine the room he was in. There was very little light, but from what he could see, it was in much better condition than anything else he had seen so far. Steel weaponry lined the walls; swords, pikes, halberds¡ªeven the occasional mace or club¡ªall rusted and dulled by time. These were familiar to him¡ªthe blades and pikes in particular.

    There were no concrete memories of using either of the weapons he could pull upon to explain their draw. Instinct had him moving without conscious thought towards the closest of the swords, a rust-bitten and worn-looking thing. Plain, but sturdy. He reached out a hand towards the tattered leather grip when the voice came again.

    That will do you no good. Not anymore.

    ¡°I¡¯ve used one of these before,¡± he said, the words straddling the line between statement and question.

    Yes. But¡ª

    ¡°Who am I?¡± he demanded, hand falling away from the hanging blade, and whirling to face the rest of the room, as though the voice in his head was lurking in some far, dark corner.

    Casek, I promise I will tell you what I can, but there isn¡¯t time¡ª

    ¡°Then speak quickly,¡± he said, voice low.

    The threatening edge came naturally¡ªmore naturally than he would have liked to admit. He didn¡¯t even know what he was threatening. His suspicion that the voice in his mind was more than simply his own madness had only grown in the short time he had been awake.

    You are¡ªwere¡ªa soldier. A warrior who fought against the Shadow when it first arrived on this world. But back then, there was no way to fight them. You fought bravely, but¡ª

    The voice hesitated. It was only slight, but Casek heard it all the same.

    ¡ªyou fell. In battle. The people here¡ªthey were working on you when the Shadow attacked.

    Casek couldn¡¯t find any hint of a lie, but his gut twisted with the certainty that it also wasn¡¯t the truth¡ªat least not all of it.

    ¡°How long have I been sleeping?¡±

    I¡­ have lost count, if I¡¯m being honest. But, at my best reckoning, you have slept for at least a thousand years. I¡¯m sorry.

    The words hit Casek like a punch to the gut. He bent over double, suddenly breathless, his heart thundering in his ears. One thousand years. Any trace of the life he once had¡ªwhatever it had been¡ªand the people in it had long since crumbled into dust and been ground into nothing by time.

    ¡°Did I¡ªDid I have any family?¡±

    You had a brother. But he fell in the same battle that wounded you. When you began your sleep, there was nobody.

    Once again, Casek picked up on a strange hesitation around the mention of his supposed brother. Not quite a lie, but also not the truth. Here, though, a note of fear had crept into the voice.

    The sound of Casek¡¯s breathing filled the room, joined only by the incessant pounding of shadowed bodies against the door. He licked his cracked and dried lips, suddenly intensely aware he¡¯d had nothing to drink for a thousand years. One thousand years.

    He finally sunk to his knees and emptied his stomach¡ªnot that there was much there to empty¡ªand tried desperately to regain a hint of composure through the burning at the back of his throat.

    If this voice spoke true, there was nothing for him here. No family, no friends. No place to belong or call home. But, from the sounds of things, that hadn¡¯t been far from the truth for whoever he had once been, either. It didn¡¯t appear he had really lost all that much during his long sleep.

    Crucially, however, he had gained something. A thousand years was an unfathomably long time. The world outside of these doors was, for him, brand new. A whole new world. A new life.

    A second chance.

    The door rattled again, louder this time, and a surge of resolve swelled up inside him. A second chance was only any good if he survived long enough to take advantage of it.

    ¡°I¡¯m not done with my questions¡ªnot by a long shot¡ªbut it seems like the time for talking has run out. If swords are no use, show me what is so we can leave this place.¡±

    Of course. You can call me Tauph, by the way. Let¡¯s get out of here¡ªit¡¯s been far too long since we breathed the open air.

 1.3

    Of course. You can call me Tauph, by the way. Let¡¯s get out of here¡ªit¡¯s been far too long since we breathed the open air.

    Casek made for the centre of the room, where rows of steel shelving sat, untouched for only the Gods knew how long, listening carefully to Tauph¡¯s description of what he was looking for. An assortment of strange, dust-smothered objects filled the shelves. Many were crafted from steel or some other metal dulled from time, in odd shapes that made it impossible to divine the use of.

    Others were made of grimy bronze or wood, and even a few mystery objects seemed to be carved from some sort of ivory or bone. Had he any idea what they might have been, he would have considered taking them. After all, it was almost impossible to believe that none of these things would be useful to him if he could work out how. With no pockets or bag to keep them in, however, he pressed on, rummaging through the shelves with increasing desperation.

    Finally, a row of shelves in the dead centre of the room bore fruit. These were black, rather than the once-gleaming silver of steel, and were mostly barren, save for a handful of ornately carved boxes, black with gold trim somewhere beneath centuries¡¯ worth of caked on dust and grime.

    The first two he prized open, laying bare moth-eaten velvet interiors that had, perhaps, once been a spectacular ruby-red. They were empty of anything. He scrambled across to the third box along and grinned madly as he opened it to the sight of a delicate golden band inside. Crafted from two threads of the precious metal, someone had masterfully worked it into a pair of intertwined serpents, their backs lined with a series of dull, cerulean jewels.

    He could feel Tauph¡¯s elation at the corners of his mind. Put it on. Quickly!

    The head of the snake clearly fastened to the tail, and Casek gingerly picked up the bracelet and clipped it onto his wrist. The effect was immediate. Deep in his core, he felt a distinct pull¡ªas though something he¡¯d never realised he possessed was being drained from him. Then a single jewel spluttered into life, producing a dull cerulean glow on his wrist.

    ¡°What now?¡± he asked, staring at the bracelet and waiting for something else to happen.

    The next part is on you. I need you to imagine that inside of you, is a well. A pool of water waiting for you to draw upon it. When you put on the foci, you should have felt it draw from that well, yes?

    ¡°I did,¡± Casek said, frowning. ¡°What is that I can feel? My memories are gone, but I still know things. I¡¯ve never felt this feeling before.¡±

    Power. The voice said, simply. When you were last awake, humans did not have the means to tap into their natural power, besides in very rare cases. You would probably call it magic, though that¡¯s much too crude of a description. What¡¯s important is that you can fight against the Shadow with it.

    The incessant pounding against the door continued to swell the longer they spoke, with more and more of the creatures arriving to throw their weight against it. They had little time. Casek could see the door itself had begun to splinter and crack, massive fissures in the heavy wood that grew larger by the second.

    ¡°We might need to skip the history, and get on with the how,¡± he said.

    Right. That water I told you to imagine? Try to direct it. Let it flow from the foci and shape it into your hand. Picture it forming a weapon¡ªthe one you are the most comfortable with, ideally. This foci is specifically designed to allow you to materialise a one-handed weapon, so don¡¯t bother with something like a spear or two-handed blade, at least for now.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Casek did as he was bid. The flow of power was spring-water cool, and it was easy enough to direct it in the way he needed. For the briefest of moments, he tried to force it into a shape, and the power slipped through his grip entirely, forcing him to start again. When he grit his teeth for a second attempt, he forced himself to relax. He guided the flow rather than directing it, allowing the power to channel itself where and how he needed it.

    A weapon sprang from his hand, viscous energy coalescing into a solid form in his right hand. He closed his grip around it instinctively, and the comfort of the grip surprised him¡ªlike the foci had moulded it specifically for his hand. He supposed, a wry smile forming on his face, that it technically had been.

    It was a simple enough blade. Comfortable leather-wrappings around the hilt, with a plain, round steel guard. The blade itself had a gentle curve with a single cutting edge that gleamed black in the dim light. Simple, but beautiful.

    The foci, as Tauph had called it, had changed too. The thin gold band was now set inside a black leather forearm guard that, to Casek¡¯s eyes, matched the weapon perfectly. Its surface was a plain black, besides a neatly carved circle inlaid with the same luminescent gems that were embedded in the bracelet itself.

    ¡°Impressive,¡± Casek grunted, glancing back towards the weakening door.

    Only a weapon created using a foci will harm The Shadow, it¡ª

    The voice stopped dead as one last crash finally shattered part of the door, and the quiet gibbering exploded into a violent maelstrom of triumphant howls. Shadowy limbs stretched into the room, tearing away strips of wood from the door, until one of the monstrosities made it through.

    It cackled, its face staring hungrily at Casek, serpentine tongue flicking eagerly across serrated teeth. Somehow worse than any of it was that this creature gazed at him from a twisted face that had no eyes at all.

    Shit. Essentials only, then. The jewels on your wrist serve as an indicator of how much power you have left. The more of them lit and the brighter they are, the longer you can fight for.

    The shade launched itself at him before Casek could answer. He tracked its movement with a steely calm he hadn¡¯t expected from himself. It was a clumsy attack, all gangling limbs and whirling claws. Fast and frightening to behold, but predictable.

    He stepped forward into the flurry of attacks; the movement timed to perfection, and his right arm lashed out with a precision that spoke of thousands of hours of dedicated practice, none of which Casek remembered.

    The black blade passed through the shade as though it were made of water, cleaving it neatly in two with one clean movement from left hip to right shoulder. It hissed and gurgled as oily black liquid bubbled from its mouth for only a split second before the shade burst into a dense violet cloud.

    The strange mist hung heavy in the air, and then, not a moment later, began to shift and swirl, drawn to the blade that created it. The weapon seemed to absorb the mist, and Casek frowned as the lone jewel lit on his wrist seemed to grow slightly brighter.

    A question for later. Three more shades streamed through the gap in the door, and this time, Casek moved to meet them. His movements were those of a well-trained swordsman. Drilled. Practiced. He carved them apart with little effort, his blade absorbing their essence as it had with the first.

    It was not that he was a brilliant swordsman. He knew how to use the weapon to a reasonable standard. That much was clear. But his gut told him he was merely competent, and there was a feeling inside telling him that in his old life, he had seen several men capable of felling him with as much ease as he carved apart these shades.

    Instead, it was simply that they were weak, just as Tauph had told him. More and more streamed through the door, and he cut every single one down in a single flowing movement that only ceased when the creatures hesitated at the door, no longer nearly so willing to step into the grinder.

    Sweat coated his face, and he held his muscles taut to stop them from shaking so visibly from exhaustion. The shade in the doorway stared at him, the essence of its fallen kin still hanging in the surrounding air, drifting towards his blade, and he stared back, an easy meal no longer.

    It ran, along with the others left outside the door, and Casek allowed himself to let out an unsteady breath. His sword faded into nothing, and he felt the pull on him disappear, leaving him panting. The noise filled a silence that hadn¡¯t existed in the building since the shades had first entered it, and Casek gave himself a moment to get his breath back before straightening and making for the door.

 1.4

    Casek took the path back the way he came at a far more leisurely pace. His new weapon had not made him feel totally secure, but he was a damn sight more confident walking through the barren hallways with it clipped to his wrist than without.

    The hollow scratching on limb and claw hadn¡¯t ceased entirely, however. Every so often, he caught a soft chitter, as whatever had been lurking in the shadows skittered away before he got too close. It was refreshing; the shoe being on the other foot. The hunter, instead of the hunted. Casek didn¡¯t allow himself to get carried away with the feeling. It only took one moment of carelessness for that to change.

    Still, the silence was bothering him. Left him far too much time to dwell on his lost memories.

    ¡°So¡ªTauph, was it?¡± he said airily, eyes ceaselessly scanning the murky darkness of the corridors ahead. ¡°What was this place?¡±

    It was a research facility. The people here were looking for a way to stop the Shadow¡ªor at least fight back.

    ¡°You told me they were working on my injuries here when it was attacked. Seems an odd thing for a research station to do.¡±

    Things were bad, Casek. Any place close to the front lines doubled as a place to help the wounded.

    Casek narrowed his eyes at the answer, but said nothing. Tauph was being too vague, too broad. He hated secrets.

    ¡°I¡¯m guessing by this thing strapped to my wrist that they succeeded.¡±

    If there are any humans left at all, it is because of the foci this place made. They are the only way the people of this world have to harm anything of the Shadow.

    ¡°Why is that?¡± Casek asked. ¡°What is it about those creatures that make them impossible to kill without a foci?¡±

    There was a long pause before Tauph¡¯s voice came again. Have you ever looked at a still lake on a clear night and thought that if you just reached out far enough, you could pluck the moon right off its surface? Only, if you were to try, your hand would only pass right through and into the water.

    The Shadow are beings that exist like that reflection. Everything in our reality has a reflection in another¡ªa mirror reality. The Shadow are creatures that straddle the line, existing simultaneously in both. This is what makes them so dangerous. They can affect our reality, whilst their true selves remain safe in the Other.

    ¡°And the foci gets around that?¡±

    The Other is a reality made up of sorcery. The power you felt was from the ¡®you¡¯ that is reflected in the Other. Humans normally cannot reach across the divide to access their magic, but the foci allows you to do so. Magic, just like the Shadow itself, is from the Other, and so weapons made from it can harm them.

    Casek whistled at the explanation. Hard as talk of other realities was to take, he had just woken from a thousand year sleep and been attacked by demons¡ªthe lines between what he knew was possible and what wasn¡¯t had been well and truly shattered.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t help but notice,¡± he said, voice tentative. ¡°You did a lot of referring to ¡®humans¡¯ just now. Almost as if you weren¡¯t one. I had initially assumed you were a just a sign of my own madness, or maybe a part of my subconscious that remembers things from before I slept¡ªbut now I¡¯m not so sure.¡±

    I¡¯m not your subconscious, and you¡¯re certainly not mad. I was here with you before you slept.

    ¡°Then what are you?¡±

    I¡­ I don¡¯t truly know. I am not human. But I¡¯m also not of the Shadow. I¡¯m¡­. Something else.

    ¡°You are lying,¡± Casek said, stopping dead in the hallway. ¡°And not for the first time, either.¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    There are things I do not wish to tell you, yes. Some are my secrets to keep, some you will find out when the time is right.

    ¡°Whatever this is¡ªhowever it is you¡¯re in my mind¡ªit cannot continue if you refuse to be honest with me.¡±

    A hint of steel entered Tauph¡¯s voice and Casek felt a strange pressure suddenly weighing down on him over his entire body.

    You have very little choice in the matter, Casek. You are welcome to hate me for it, but we are bound, you and I. By your choice, I might add. Not mine.

    Casek¡¯s fists tightened. ¡°I have no way of remembering if that is true or not.¡±

    I understand your frustration. But that doesn¡¯t change things. I cannot give you the answers you seek. Not yet.

    ¡°Cannot, or will not?¡±

    Both! There was a pause then, and Casek felt, rather than heard, the presence in his mind sigh. I know this is hard, especially when you have woken in the way you have. All I can do for now is to swear to you I am here to help you survive, and if I am keeping secrets, it is to further that aim. The second that keeping them puts you in danger¡ªthe moment you need to know the things I do¡ªI promise to tell you what you need to know.

    Casek ground his teeth, battling to keep his growing temper in check. There was no amount of ¡®it¡¯s for your own good¡¯ that made secret-keeping easier for him to bear, especially when those secrets concerned him.

    ¡°I suppose it is like you said¡ªI have very little choice in the matter. You said we were bound. I take it you meant permanently?¡±

    Yes. Our bond is until death. If it helps, if you die, I die right along with you. It¡¯s in my best interest that you stay alive.

    ¡°Assuming you¡¯re telling the truth about that, of course,¡± Casek said, bitterness creeping into his voice.

    The voice didn¡¯t answer, and Casek set off again down the long, winding stretches of debris-strewn corridor in silence, quietly stewing both over what Tauph had revealed¡ªand what he had refused to. They walked like that for some time, Tauph only breaking the silence to murmur a muted ¡®left¡¯ or ¡®right¡¯ to keep them moving in the right direction.

    Casek was glad for it. A fight he could handle. He got the impression he was no stranger to them. Now that things were calm, and he had space to think and analyse, he couldn¡¯t help but notice the scars scattered across his arms.

    He had woken only in a tattered grey shirt that left his forearms bare, and black, loose-fitting trousers. The boots covering his feet had once been sturdy, but now appeared to be barely holding together, their stitching coming loose, the material beginning to fray.

    These problems, too, he could handle. The secrets on the other hand¡ªbeing kept by a strange voice in his head no less¡ªset his teeth on edge, and made his heart flutter anxiously in his chest. Those, he was not equipped to handle. Not now, waking in ruin in an entirely new world, a thousand years after he¡¯d last closed his eyes.

    Casek knew they were close to the exit before Tauph said it. Not just from the way the hallway widened out, and the increase in quality of the now-ruined furniture and decorations. He knew it in the same way he had known his own name, or how to wield a sword.

    A shiver ran down his spine. An electric sensation that had the hair on his arms standing on edge. The black blade sprung to life in his hand just as a piercing shriek cut through the silence, rattling the walls and penetrating his heart with a frigid blade of terror. A great crash followed it through the building like an echo, along with the clattering of something falling to the floor in pieces.

    No, no, no! Gods, we were so close!

    ¡°What was that? I can feel it.¡±

    You¡¯re sensing magic. Shades are probably too weak for someone without practice to sense. This, though? No amount of inexperience could stop you from sensing this from this close. Be ready to run.

    Casek took a calming breath and forced himself to move forward again. Whatever awaited him stood between them and the exit. He would have to face it if he wanted to leave.

    They passed through another short corridor in uneasy silence until they reached a set of heavy oak doors, studded with black iron. He moved towards it cautiously, breath caught in his throat. Whatever it was padded around on the other side, the sound of its heavy-set footsteps carrying through the silence.

    ¡°What exactly is waiting for us on the other side of this door, Tauph?¡± Casek whispered.

    A Drau, almost certainly. Shades do not have corporal bodies, but if one can live long enough¡ªand accumulate enough power through feeding on the living¡ªthey can take the body of something else. Control it and twist it to their own purposes. Eventually, whatever poor soul was taken is no more. Only the Drau remains.

    ¡°Is that what we are, Tauph? A demon and their unwitting host?¡±

    Casek knew now wasn¡¯t the time, but the question slipped past his teeth, laced with bitterness, before he could help it.

    No. The hurt in the voice was undeniable, and Casek winced and dropping his gaze. I am bound to you. Not the other way around. I could not take control of you even if I wanted to.

    His brain screamed at him not to fall to the voice¡¯s deception, but his instinct couldn¡¯t help but believe in Tauph. Was that, too, a leftover from what remained of his memories?

    ¡°Do I have any chance of taking this thing?¡±

    Of killing it? Unlikely. Depends on what body it inhabits, really.

    ¡°Looks like we¡¯ll just have to find out,¡± Casek muttered, reaching for the door with his left hand, his right holding his blade at the ready.

 1.5

    He swung the door open and peered out into the room beyond. It was more spacious than any he¡¯d been in yet¡ªa reception or receiving room by the amount of chairs and benches lying in pieces around the room. On the other side of it lay another set of oak double doors, this one half-splintered, half shattered entirely. And, between him and it, stood the creature.

    It stared at him with gibbous obsidian eyes that gleamed in the darkness. Its body resembled the shades he¡¯d killed before. Jet black and imposing, yet somehow giving the impression of being formless, as though he were looking at a being made of mist.

    From its forehead sprouted a pair of mighty bone-coloured antlers, the tips of each razor sharp point glistening and dripping with crimson liquid.

    Unlike the top half, the bottom was almost too solid. The creature had the body of a deer or antelope; covered with brown fur and stood on four legs. Instead of hooves, however, the creature thudded back and forth on four very large, very human hands.

    You see how it still resembles a shade? The Drau is new-made. Possibly even less than a year old. We¡¯re in with a chance. In fact¡­ There was a pause then, and Casek could almost hear the gears turning in Tauph¡¯s mind. This might be a golden opportunity.

    It did not give Tauph the chance to explain any further. The Drau let out another cry, the force of its voice sending chunks of furniture tumbling away from it. It leaped forward, its movements unnaturally fast, barely touching the ground as it raced at him.

    Casek threw himself to the left, lashing out with his blade arm. He felt the weapon make contact along the creature¡¯s flank, cutting edge running across its entire flank as it tried to halt its momentum and turn back towards him.

    The skin, however, didn¡¯t give way. The blow he¡¯d landed should have opened a hole in this beast large enough for him to crawl inside, yet when he turned, there was no damage done at all.

    Not no damage at all. Remember, your weapon uses magic. So does the Drau¡¯s defences. You might not have done physical damage, but you have weakened it. Keep it up!

    Casek ground his teeth as the creature forced him to scramble away from a second charge that came too quickly for him to ready an attack in time. ¡°Why? Wouldn¡¯t it be better to make a break for it?¡±

    If the Drau was any more powerful, then yes. But one this young is a golden opportunity that we can¡¯t afford to pass up. I know this is hard, Casek, but you need to trust me.

    The statement couldn¡¯t have been better timed. The Drau wheel round, and this time Casek could do nothing besides raise his blade to parry its lowered antlers as it charged directly into him.

    He grunted as the force of the impact sent him flying back, tumbling painfully over chunks of stone and decrepit furniture. It howled triumphantly over him, rearing back on its hind legs and chambering the front hands to stamp down on him, its creepy, elongated fingers curling into fists.

    Casek rolled as the fists crashed into the space where he had been, scrambling to his feet, and setting off away from the creature at a sprint.

    ¡°What opportunity is worth being killed by this thing, Tauph?¡± he grunted, approaching the doors he had first passed through.

    The foci doesn¡¯t just produce a weapon for you to use. That is only the beginning of their function. No, their true purpose is to help humans grow their magical capabilities in order to give them a fighting chance against the more powerful entities of the Shadow. That is their true genius.

    ¡°How, though?¡±

    It allows you to bind Shadow entities to you. A twisted version of how I am bound to you, I suppose. You need to fight the creature first. Weaken it. Then you can enact the binding ritual using the foci.

    Casek blew through the doors back into the corridor, the Drau following not far behind. As unsettling as they were to look at, he was fortunate that the deer half of the creature did not have hooves. It was still unnaturally fast for how it looked, but he could keep ahead of it by nimbly avoiding the debris and rubble along the floor.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ¡°What does that even mean?¡± he said, legs burning as he leaped over a stray chunk of ceiling.

    One thing at a time. Fight first.

    He swore loudly at that, but as he rounded the next corner, he turned on his heel. The creature followed clumsily after him, stumbling into the wall as it tried to turn itself at speed. Casek took full advantage. He surged forward, using the tightness of the corridors to get close to the Drau.

    The black blade in his hand blurred as he delivered a flurry of slashes aimed at the Drau¡¯s exposed midriff. Tendril-like black arms reached down to block his attacks, and with each contact he could feel his power and the creature¡¯s warring for dominance; how each blow landed stole a little power from the beast and rejuvenated his own, whilst each parried cost him some strength.

    It was a grim realisation that he could not do this forever. Just maintaining the weapon cost him, whilst it felt as though the Drau had a limitless well. No matter how often he struck out, no matter how clean a blow he landed, it felt as though he could detect to bottom to it.

    Finally, the creature wheeled itself around despite his assault, and used its other arm to lift a stray chunk of wood from the ground and swing it around at him. The blow knocked the air from his lungs as he staggered away from the beast, gasping for breath.

    This time, he could not block the charge of the creature, nor avoid it in the narrow corridor. Casek raised his sword up in time, but it did not halt the Drau. The blade shattered, and spear-like antlers skewered him like a stuck pig. For a split second, it carried him along atop its crown like some grotesque ornament, before shaking him off and dumping him on the ground with a boneless thud.

    He groaned, shifting his body in the heap it had landed in, surprised he could even move at all. Casek had expected the hot copper tang of blood in his mouth, of course, but the lack of damp warmth emanating from where the Drau had pierced him with its antlers took him by surprise.

    He patted around the area of the injury with an only slightly trembling hand and frowned when he felt nothing at all.

    Remember, these are creatures of the Other. The chunk of wood has injured your physical body when it struck, but the Drau¡¯s antlers have wounded your body in the Other. Your magic.

    Casek glanced at his wrist, and sure enough, the singular glowing gem on the foci had reduced to the faintest of flickers, barely visible at all, even in the poor light of the building.

    A heavy pressure landed on his back, crushing him into the ground, and the Drau gurgled above him, the noise containing an ever so subtle note of satisfaction. Then something in the air changed. A sudden chill gripped him, pinning his body in place even without the pressure of the creature¡¯s hand.

    Icy tendrils of power crept out from where the Drau had him pinned, crawling across his skin, coating it in a slick layer of what felt like oil. Casek squirmed as the sensation bloomed across his body, creeping down his back in one direction, and inching up his chest and throat, and towards his face.

    He gasped as the sensation reached his mouth and slunk inside, coating the insides of his mouth. This left him unable to scream as the sensation progressed to his eyes, surrounding and covering them even as he clenched them shut.

    Tauph was trying to say something, he knew, but even this was muffled by the sensation that seemed intent on consuming everything about him.

    The Drau moved its hand, easing the pressure on his back, and Casek tried desperately to move. To escape. To do anything but remain in this place and suffer any more of this. But he couldn¡¯t. His limbs were frozen in place, his mouth and eyes locked open in a silent, horrified scream.

    Worst of all, he could still see as the sensation began to crackle and fizz with power, the oily coating covering him beginning to bubble and boil just on the surface of his skin. There was a snap, and from the bubbling on his cheek, just within eye-view, sprung a lilac crystal, pulsing with power.

    He felt another snap on his back, then another on his left thigh. Within seconds, the sensation exploded across the entirety of him; peculiar lilac crystals springing into life from the oily coating on his body and growing outwards, surrounding him.

    Soon, he was trapped in a crystal cage, like an ancient insect trapped in a prison of amber. Magic rippled through the crystals and him, and each pulse seemed to leave him feeling just a hint weaker.

    The Drau pranced around him for a while, braying and roaring and giggling, as Casek¡¯s power slowly became its own. Then it padded off, deeper into the building, leaving him imprisoned.

    Casek did not know for how long he stayed there. He could no longer feel his own breathing, nor his own heartbeat. The chill grip of panic took him as he frantically tried to move and no part of his own body responded to his brain¡¯s commands. It was as though he and his body were separated by the crystal, and he had been left here, trapped. Condemned to suffer, for only the Gods knew how long.

    Was this what he had woken for? To be imprisoned all over again, his power being drained by some forest demon? How long would it take before he died and could escape being fed on by this creature?

    If Casek could have slapped himself, he would have. There had to be a way out of this. A way he could escape this prison, and finally break out into the outside world¡ªhe¡¯d just be damned if he could see it. All he had to do was keep his wits about him and not fall into despair. Keep thinking. Keep on trying things.

    A familiar giggling broke through the crystal shell, and Casek¡¯s heart dropped once more. A half dozen shadows skittered into the room from the out the outside, scrambling over and around the crystal encasing him. They danced around it, whooping and howling with demonic laughter, and Casek felt several more pulls upon his magic begin, draining more and more from him.

    If Casek could have moved his mouth, he would have opened it to scream. Instead, all he could do was watch as the frenzied shades ate away, not at his body, but at his very soul.

 1.6

    Time crawled forwards. He couldn¡¯t be certain, but Casek was sure that night at least had passed without event. The Drau hadn¡¯t been back, and even the shades had grown bored with their dancing and parading around him, melting back into the shadows to search for some other hapless victim.

    Casek was, at last, truly alone with his thoughts. He¡¯d had to fight to get past the sheer despair and helplessness that, even now, lurked at the back of his mind, threatening to overwhelm him should he allow it. Once he had, however, he¡¯d moved on to other things.

    At the very least, he was certain he wasn¡¯t dying. When he had felt the drain on his magic, he was concerned that the Shadow creatures would empty him. Leave him a hollowed out husk. Tauph could not speak and confirm his suspicions, but Casek was positive that running out of magic would mean the end of his life.

    Instead, it seemed they were intentionally keeping him alive. Feasting until he was at his limit, before easing off and allowing time for his reserves to recover naturally. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder if this was the fate of the rest of humanity. Were there any people left at all, or where they all encased in crystal, perpetually slaking the hunger of the Shadow, unwillingly fuelling their desolation of the world?

    Then, he turned to more useful endeavours. The crystal prison was clearly magical and despite all of his restraints, his own magic as it was being siphoned away from him was one of the few things he could still clearly feel.

    Casek waited until he felt one of the Shadow draw upon his magic again, and he followed the sensation. He imagined it like rowing a boat down a stream within his own subconscious, following the flow of power away from him until he found its source.

    Tauph¡¯s analogy of a well had been a good one. A decent amount of time, and an ungodly amount of focus later, he could feel it clearly, a well whose water-level wavered violently as it was drawn from and simultaneously attempted to replenish itself.

    Peculiarly, however, that was not all that Casek could feel within himself. There was another presence there, more turbulent, more wild than his own power. Initially, Casek wondered if he had discovered Tauph¡¯s magic, bound to him just as the voice had said. He discarded the thought. He had felt Tauph¡¯s power, his presence, during their argument earlier.

    This was different¡ªdarker, somehow¡ªand, concerningly, this was his. The bottomlessness of it took his breath, the sheer vastness of it frightening him more than even the prospect of being stuck here for another thousand years.

    Casek hesitantly attempted to reach out for this power, just as he had with his own, but found this to be a far harder exercise. This well of strength was volatile¡ªexplosive, even¡ªand it fought every single thing Casek attempted to do with it.

    Eventually, Casek got fed up. A hot wave of frustration flooding through him, he reached out for his own magic and directed it towards the new cache of more volatile power. He used his existing magic as rope, wrapping its more volatile brother and attempting to drag it out for his use.

    But, as the two merged, something entirely unexpected happened. The threads of his own magic intertwined with the newer power, merging into something new. This, he discovered, he could touch. It was not like the originals. Gentle guidance did not work, but it no longer battled and fought against him.

    Instead, he pushed. Forced was not quite right, but there was absolutely a resistance in this new creation to be directed and used, an independence that Casek needed to fight through.

    He directed the power first to his mouth and throat, feeling for where the oily coating and crystal growths covered his eyes, and the insides of his throat. The moment the power reached the surface of his skin, touching the crystals trapping him, he felt the spark of a connection, of the two interacting with each other.

    Casek did not know how he knew it, but they were the same, the crystal and this new power of his.

    He kept pushing, forcing the power to the very edge of his skin and outwards towards the crystal surrounding him. Where the power and it touched, his prison retreated and faded to dust; first freeing his throat and lungs, and allowing him to take the first breath he had managed for hours before freeing his eyes.

    A grin blossomed on his face and continued pushing back against the crystal until he could move freely again, and, eventually, he could step out from his prison, a free man once more.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    The shades hadn¡¯t gone far, and Casek barely had time to collect his thoughts before they were upon him. His sword flickered too-weakly to life, using every ounce of power available to keep it corporal long enough to cleave the trio that rushed him apart.

    The new power, it seemed, was no good for working with the foci. Fortunately, he had absorbed just enough from destroying the shades that he could still fight in an emergency.

    Casek stood up straight and called out to his companion. ¡°Tauph, you still there?¡±

    I am. How did you do that?

    ¡°What?¡±

    Push back the stasis net. No human should be able to do that. Never.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I have some kind of other power in me. Something different from my other magic. I used that.¡±

    I¡­ see.

    ¡°Don¡¯t sound too thrilled we¡¯re free. We might live for another few hours yet,¡± Casek grumbled back.

    I¡¯m sorry. That really was spectacular. It was just unexpected, Casek. We learned once not to trust the unexpected.

    ¡°You¡¯re lying again.¡±

    Yes.

    Casek sighed but said nothing else, instead turning back towards the exit and heading directly for the door. The Drau had wandered deeper into the building, but there was no telling how long that would last for. If he was going to die, he wanted to at least do so beneath the open sky.

    The receiving room was empty save for a handful of shades the scrambled away as soon as he entered, unwilling to attack prey so obviously capable of defending itself. He paid them no mind, striding in between crumbling chairs and sofas, and sidestepping the scattered debris until he finally reached the doors to the outside.

    The Drau had left them in a sorry state, with what was left of the rightmost door hanging loose on its hinges, and the other shattered entirely, giving him a clear view of the outside world.

    Behind him, somewhere in the depths of the building, the Drau shrieked, cold and piercing, as though it knew its prey was on the verge of escaping.

    He didn¡¯t stop to admire the scenery. He launched himself out into the cool morning air at a run. Shafts of light streamed between the treetops, penetrating straight to the forest floor. The forest had grown up and around the building, tree roots and vines almost swallowing it entirely, as though seeking to reclaim the land itself.

    Casek darted off between the trees, skipping over thick shrubbery and loose roots, working his legs to put as much distance between him and the building where he had slept as possible. With any luck, he wouldn¡¯t ever have to see it again.

    He was just beginning to think about the places he might seek his first drink in over a thousand years when a wave of nausea so strong swept over him that he stumbled and fell, the earth beneath him lurching and spinning violently.

    Tauph¡¯s presence vibrated in the back of his mind, paralysing terror freezing both of them in place, unable to speak.

    He turned back towards the building, toward the source of the overwhelming presence that filled his consciousness entirely.

    A gargantuan black shape parted the arcing boughs of green that leant over the black stone roof, its mere presence blowing aside branches as thick as a full-grown man, ripping them from the trunks like fresh-sprouted twigs on a sapling.

    It descended atop the building¡¯s roof, the stone and tiles splintering and cracking beneath its feet. The being was vaguely humanoid with obsidian skin, but at least three times the size of a man, and eyes of burning orange and red. The sheer power it radiated stole the breath from him, and its leathery black wings spread so far outwards they practically blotted out the sun.

    The being turned its head back and forth slowly, scanning the surrounding forest, before turning his attention to the building beneath him. It frowned and thumbed its nose.

    A gasp slipped from Casek¡¯s throat. Something about that gesture had stirred something in him, something locked away, deep in the back of his mind, and tears sprung to his eyes. Just what that was, however, continued to elude him.

    He continued to watch, transfixed, as the being rose with the slightest movement of those great wings, hovering just above the building. It rose a single arm, palm raised towards the sun, and a crackling crimson orb sprung into life in the space just above its raised hand.

    Even from here, Casek could feel the sheer, overwhelming force of that orb. Then, without a moment¡¯s hesitation, the being hurled the orb towards the building, and it exploded in a burst of blinding light the moment it made contact, the heat of the explosion washing over him. If he had been any closer, it would have been utterly unbearable. Even at this distance, Casek huddled into the ground, covering his head with his arms and shielding himself from the worst of things.

    Then, the heat was gone. Casek dared to raise his head and look in the building''s direction, and his jaw opened, working silently as he tried to find the words to describe what he was witnessing.

    The building, and the surrounding forest close by, was gone. In their place, an enormous crater stood smouldering, black smoke trailing into the sky from the charred remains of what few trees that had survived being entirely burned to ash.

    Above it all, the winged creature hovered gracefully, a scornful scowl marring its face. It hung there for a few more moments, its eyes fixated on the spot where the building had been. Then, with a mighty beat of its wings, it disappeared so fast that Casek had trouble keeping his eyes focused on it as it vanished into the horizon.

    ¡°What the fuck was that?¡± he rasped, finally finding the words and the ability to breathe once more.

    That, Tauph gasped, was an archdemon. The being that rules this place. The most powerful of the Shadow you¡¯re likely to come across without crossing the ocean.

    ¡°Gods, it looked so¡­ human.¡±

    He could feel Tauph¡¯s discomfort swell. That¡¯s because it once was. More specifically, this particular archdemon is part of what became of your brother¡¯s mortal body.

 1.7

    Daylight had already begun to fade, leaving the world beneath the canopy bathed in inky half-darkness, before Casek had put enough distance between himself and where he had seen the archdemon that he felt comfortable enough to stop for the night. Setting up camp was an oddly comforting ritual, especially when he could not find the memories of ever doing the things he was doing before.

    He found a gnarled and ancient looking hawthorn, whose roots and lower trunk and spread and twisted out across the forest floor, creating a series of small nooks and sheltered crevices to set himself down inside for the night, atop a makeshift bed of moss and ferns. He gathered the materials for a fire¡ªdry firewood and stripped bark for tinder¡ªand used a chunk of flint for sparks.

    He¡¯d had reservations about building a fire, of course. Something so visible always risked attracting unwanted attention, and Casek¡¯s gut warned him that even ignoring the archdemon, this forest was a long way from safe. But, as the sun climbed down below the tree line, and the rapidly lowering temperature highlighted his stark lack of outdoor appropriate clothing, he was quickly glad he¡¯d prepared the materials for one, just in case.

    Now, hours into the night, he huddled around the only light penetrating the pitch black, gazing out into the nothing with a wary eye. It came as no surprise sleep was not coming easily to him, and not just because he had already done so much of it.

    Tauph had remained painfully silent as they had fled the archdemon¡¯s attack on the building, but now, sat with nothing else to distract them, Casek would not be put off any further.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to be able to avoid talking about this, Tauph,¡± he said, more calmly than he felt.

    And you should be sleeping and recovering your strength. Another day without food and water and we¡¯re in trouble.

    ¡°Then you should be all the more eager to talk so that I can clear my mind and concentrate on that. You can¡¯t tell me that thing was my brother, and expect me to let that go.¡±

    Tauph sighed. I know, Casek. I do. It¡¯s just¡ªI was there when he became that. So were you, but I remember it. I¡¯ve often wondered whether that day was the reason you were so quick to sacrifice your life and memories the way you did.

    ¡°Tell me what happened,¡± Casek said, eyes clenched shut. ¡°Please.¡±

    First, you have to understand the situation. The Shadow had attacked two years prior and ravaged everywhere they had appeared. Entire continents had fallen and gone dark, and now they were cutting an unstoppable path across our land. All this, and not a single person had confirmed they¡¯d killed even a single shade. Without magic as we have it now, the fight was hopeless.

    You and your brother volunteered anyway. You both fought long and well, but he¡­ Lost hope. Was corrupted. He betrayed us, Casek. The only way the Shadow can create an archdemon, is through the use of a willing human vessel¡ªin this case, your brother. The battle that wounded you¡ªthe one that put you in that building¡ªwas our last stand. Do or die, protecting our home.

    Your brother ascended in the middle of our ranks. Slaughtered almost everyone, and put you in that facility on the brink of death. It¡ª Tauph broke off, voice wavering as though he were holding back tears.

    It was a peculiar feeling¡ªheartbreak over someone and something he didn¡¯t remember¡ªbut it was there. A stabbing, wrenching pain in his chest, and the hot sting of tears in his eyes, that accompanied the somehow familiar, crushing desolation. He did not remember the man, or what he¡¯d done to hurt him so, and not even Tauph¡¯s words had sparked a hint of recognition, but he still felt the pain as keenly as any blade.

    Casek waited for a good while before speaking again, focusing his attention on the soft crackle of the fire he¡¯d built, and its soothing, constant hissing. The forest made no sound at all and hadn¡¯t since the archdemon¡ªhis brother¡ªhad levelled a good portion of it. Casek wondered if he would be nearly as safe with the fire alight if that hadn¡¯t happened. What manner of Shadow creature normally prowled beneath the trees?

    ¡°Well,¡± he said, with only a touch of hesitance, ¡°I understand how I ended up in that building. How did I end up staying there?¡±Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    A pulse of anger blossomed in his mind, and for a moment Casek thought he¡¯d asked his question too soon. They took advantage of you. They treated your wounds, yes, but they were not originally a medical facility. You were devastated, and angry, and grieving¡ªand they used that. Used you. Said you could help them create a way to fight back against the shadow. It would only take some sacrifice.

    ¡°I¡¯m assuming it wasn¡¯t them doing the sacrificing?¡±

    No. It was us. I still don¡¯t understand what it was they did, but we both suffered for it. I¡¯m glad you don¡¯t remember. Either way, it ended with us bound.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Tauph.¡±

    It¡¯s fine. You didn¡¯t know¡ªeven then. Besides, if they had asked, I would have been just as keen as you to volunteer. Your brother¡¯s actions hurt me as well as they hurt you.

    Tauph¡¯s voice made it clear exactly how not fine he was with being coerced into whatever happened to them, but Casek chose not to press the lie. Some deceits were better left well alone.

    ¡°Did they at least succeed?¡±

    Yes. The foci resulted from what they did to you. They forged them with your blood. Something about our bonding changed you. Your magic differs from theirs, but like the Shadow, you have a foot in both realities now, and can affect both the real world and the Other. To hazard a guess, once you grow in power, you¡¯ll be able to hurt Shadow creatures even without the use of a foci, though I think we¡¯re a long way from that.

    Freeing yourself from the stasis crystal like that? No human that I know of has ever done that. It shouldn¡¯t even be possible¡ªnot without what they did to us.

    ¡°Well, considering that ability saved my life, and I have no memory of the rest, I can¡¯t find it in myself to complain too much. I¡¯m not exactly happy with my situation, but there¡¯s not much I can do about it now, and bitterness isn¡¯t much use, either. I don¡¯t really have much choice but to push on. Given everything I¡¯ve learned, it sounds as though my life before this was nothing to write home about. Despite everything, this is a second chance for me. I don¡¯t intend to waste it resenting folk that died centuries ago.¡±

    I¡¯m glad for that, Casek. Truly. You deserved more happiness than you got in your old life. I can¡¯t let go so easily¡ªI remember everything, after all. But I¡¯ll do everything I can to help you with get the second chance you deserve. You have my word on that.

    Casek grinned. ¡°Who knows¡ªit might prove a second chance for you, too. Perhaps we¡¯ll find a way to get your freedom back, and we can make a new life for the both of us?¡±

    A wave of intense gratitude flooded his mind, a warmth not unlike slipping into a hot bath. But there was another feeling behind that. A bittersweet hint of sadness so subtle he could easily have missed it. Before long, his eyes grew heavy, and sleep took a hold of him despite the lingering touch of grief he could still feel across his and Tauph¡¯s bond.

    The following morning found Casek traipsing through the woods, his ancient boots already beginning to soak through from the dew-coated forest floor. Already he¡¯d scrounged a handful of nut and berries on his way through the undergrowth, the knowledge of which were poisonous already in his mind, an imprint from his lost memories that lingered to create an innate instinct around the things he¡¯d learned in his past life.

    It was not much, especially for somebody who hadn¡¯t eaten for as long as he, but it was enough to keep him moving, even as bramble and thorn nipped and poked at his tattered trousers.

    The most pressing concern was water. He¡¯d been able to wet his mouth with some of the morning condensation, picking out particularly moist leaves and plants that grew out of the reach of most of the ground-dwelling animals. However, this was obviously not enough, and a headache brought on by dehydration hampered the journey.

    He was tiring more quickly because of it, too. It had only been a few hours since sunrise before exhaustion had set in, his feet beginning to drag and his posture slouching. The only thing that kept Casek going were subtle signs he was going in the right direction. A flock of birds had given him a direction to head towards, and as they walked, animal tracks and sign became every more common to his eyes.

    Finally, the dense trees ahead of them parted, and Casek strode out into a small forest glade. A sea of emerald met his eyes, lush green grass standing waist high filling one of the few spaces in the forest not covered by looming trees. Crucially, the animal tracks he had been seeing led to the edge of the grass, and whatever mammal had caused them had carried on, creating a run for him to follow.

    A grin spread across his face as he reached the end of the run, and found the bank of a sizable forest pond, lined with towering rushes and shook and twittered with the movement of startled wrens and warblers that had been darting from plant to plant, feeding and singing.

    The water looked unspoiled, and Casek immediately set to work; stripping a beech tree of its bark and building a small fire. Beech bark made for a decent enough basket that, as long as you stopped it from actually catching alight, could boil water if you were without a pot or kettle. In the long term, he would need to find something to use as a skin so he could carry water as he travelled.

    For now, this would have to do. After only a few hours work, Casek set himself down beside his fire looking out over the pond as martins ducked and dived across its surface, plucking swarming midges from the air above it, and took the first proper drink of his second chance at life.

 1.8

    Casek covered little more ground that day. An abundant water source felt like too much of a stroke of good fortune to be too keen to move on from, so he had camped there overnight, forgoing shelter to keep the water close at hand.

    However, a nagging thought in the back of his mind got him back on his feet at first light the following morning. Since the encounter with the archdemon, he had seen or heard nothing of the Shadow. No burbling laughter. No scratching of clawed, scythe-like limbs. Nothing. It occurred to him that, ironically, the archdemon¡¯s attack was to thank for this.

    The blast had vaporised a substantial chunk of the forest, and every single living being, Shadow or otherwise, likely witnessed it and made themselves scarce.

    Which, of course, meant that Casek had an ever-narrowing window of opportunity to carve out the best possible opportunity to survive in this new world long enough to thrive. He¡¯d been forced to utilise every scrap of bush-craft knowledge his last life had left him; every knot and join, every bark and reed weave¡ªevery sliver of information about any given plant''s uses and function for survival.

    He first made a boot knife from chipped flint, and he used that blade to gather resources as he traipsed through the fern carpeted forest floor, sidestepping marshy ground and briar patches with practiced ease.

    Whoever Casek had been, he was a man at home in the forest.

    Soon, he had a makeshift bag slung over his shoulders, made from woven reeds, which he then filled with picked and foraged fruits and nuts¡ªas well as just about any useful item he could scavenge. He was particularly pleased to spot some small pink-flowered plants coating some parts of the forest floor. The name came to him quickly: Yarrow.

    Soon after, lavender-flowered Sage joined it in his bag, alongside a handful of red-petaled Nasturtium. The Sage would help with pain relief in a bind, and all three plants were good for infections and sickness.

    Eventually, he came to a wide open clearing in the forest, the vast, reaching arms of the ancient trees not entirely able to shelter the floor from the best of the sun¡¯s rays. This left a patch of ground bursting with colour¡ªviolets and pinks and yellows, all catching the sunlight brilliantly and sparkling like a field of precious jewels.

    Casek breathed deep, the scent of damp earth and grass being garnished sweetly by the tiny wildflower meadow that had bloomed in this place. He smiled, a warmth entirely new to him filling him.

    ¡°Time for a break,¡± he murmured, mostly to himself, but was gratified nonetheless when he felt a flush of approval from Tauph at the back of his mind.

    He strolled into the centre of the meadow, embracing the tickling of plant stems and grass brushing against his legs and allowing the crooning of the cricket to fill his ears. Ahead of him, a wave of flying insects burst from their shelter with every forward step, fleeing madly from the approaching giant until he settled in a spot almost directly in the middle.

    When the howls woke him, he swore under his breath as he scrambled to his feet; the sun having nearly completed its path across the sky.

    ¡°Fuck,¡± he hissed again, just for good measure. He hadn¡¯t meant to sleep. How many hours of travel had he lost? How many hours of preparation for the days ahead had he squandered? Fuck.

    ¡°Tauph. What the hell was that?¡±

    Shades. At least two. Squabbling, as far as I can tell. It¡¯s not uncommon. Especially when there¡¯s food involved.

    ¡°Food, in this case, meaning¡­ people?¡±

    Not necessarily.

    ¡°But possibly?¡±

    If it is, they¡¯re in stasis like you are. And that means they won¡¯t die¡ªthose crystals keep the prisoner alive as a continuous source of sustenance. And if there is a stasis crystal there, there¡¯s something more powerful than a shade there that created it. After what happened with the Drau, the farther we stay away from that, the better. At least, until you¡¯re stronger.

    But Casek had already stopped listening. The mere possibility of another person warranted an investigation, and if he confirmed that there was another human there, his mind was made up about what he would do.

    He peered into the swiftly darkening forest in the direction the noise had come from, and dashed back beneath the canopy, boots trampling the flowers underfoot. Vine and branch whipped past his face, refusing to allow even the occasional cut to his cheek to slow him down.

    Soon, the sounds of howling and grunting grew louder, and Casek slowed his pace down to a silent crawl towards the source of the noise until he laid eyes on them. It was, in fact, three shades, all wrestling and slashing at each other with fangs and talons, beneath the shade of a crystal construct that dwarfed the one that had covered him back in the research facility.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    The shadowy creatures were yet to see or sense him, far too focused on their prize and each other, and Casek was allowed time to circle around, scanning the surrounding area for even worse threats.

    Just because you see nothing doesn¡¯t mean there is nothing here.

    ¡°I know that,¡± Casek said, eyes locked on the shadowed human shape frozen deep within the crystal. ¡°But I still need to try.¡±

    He was moving before Tauph could say any more, his blade flickering to life in his hands, silent as a wraith. He carved the first shade before it had realised he was even there. The last two span towards him in mute shock, stumbling back and attempting to scramble away. One made it, too. The other, however, saw its own chest being cleaved in two by Casek¡¯s blade, its final essence absorbed by the foci.

    The third, incensed, desperate and by far the largest and most powerful of the three, threw itself at Casek, snarling. Casek swept his sword at the creature¡¯s throat, only for it to twist and parry, its blade-like obsidian arm clashing with his own weapon as though it itself were steel.

    Casek was a step ahead. Without breaking stride, he moved from the first attack and into the second as smooth as butter. The black blade flashed, and the creature turned to dust, leaving Casek alone with the crystal and its prisoner.

    The foci on his wrist vibrated gently against his skin, drawing his attention away from the person in stasis. He allowed the sword to dematerialise and glanced down at the golden band. The lit jewel shone brightly with the absorbed power of the shades he¡¯d slain, and now a second of the gemstones shimmered faintly.

    ¡°Huh, that¡¯s never happened before.¡±

    Each shade you kill has its essence absorbed by the foci, and it adds a fraction of its power to yours. Before, you were using them to keep your existing reserves topped up, so you didn¡¯t notice the difference. Now you¡¯ve killed enough to see, clearly, that you¡¯ve grown in strength.

    ¡°I thought I needed to bind one of the Shadow for that¡ªthat¡¯s why we took the risk of fighting the Drau?¡±

    Not exactly. I won¡¯t beat around the bush, Casek¡ªyou are weak. One foci, and barely enough magical reserves to be noticeable to most of the threats in the forest. Shades are little more than insects in the ranks of the Shadow. They are simply not worth the risk of binding.

    Casek frowned. ¡°What risk?¡±

    Binding a demon to you is the start of the process of you absorbing its strength to take as your own¡ªknown as ¡®cycling¡¯. Once you have fully absorbed, say, a Drau, it ceases to exist, and your power will have grown exponentially. But this takes time. And during that time, the entity you have bound will be continuously vying for freedom. For control.

    ¡°Let me guess: I lose, I die.¡±

    Worse. The Shadow are entities of possession. The demon will do to you exactly what you were trying to do to it. Claim your body and power for its own. It is a slow death, where you are forced to watch, helpless, as it parades around wearing your skin.

    ¡°Why even bother, then? Especially when I can just kill shades and achieve the same results.¡±

    Because you can¡¯t. Like I said, Shades are weak. There will come a time where even killing thousands will make little difference to your strength. If you have any plans for survival, binding and cycling more and more powerful Shadow entities will be the only way to ensure you are strong enough to live.

    For now, though, we¡¯ve got bigger issues.

    Casek glanced back towards the crystal and concentrated on the humanoid shadow imprisoned within. He still could not make out any clear features, or even confirm for certain whether what was inside was actually human, or merely in a similar shape.

    ¡°What are the chances that¡¯s one of the Shadow trapped in there?¡±

    Cannibalization is not unheard of, particularly when sustenance is scarce¡ªbut I sense nothing of the Other in that prison. You should be careful anyway, Casek. If it is a person, there is no telling how long they¡¯ve been inside, and what their mental state is. It could have been a week and they¡¯re totally sane. It could have been a century and they¡¯re, well, not.

    It was true, of course. Casek had at least been allowed to sleep through his millennia of imprisonment. He couldn¡¯t imagine having had to be awake for that long, kept alive only to serve as sustenance for the Shadow. This person could be incredibly volatile. Violent, even.

    That didn¡¯t mean he had a choice.

    Even if it wasn¡¯t plainly the right thing to do, the tightness in his throat¡ªthe rapid pounding of his heart¡ªwould have moved his hand up against the stasis crystal regardless of the danger. He¡¯d had enough of being alone. Of silences filled only by himself and the voice in his head.

    Casek didn¡¯t need a place to belong, not really. He needed people to belong with. This person might not be that for him, but he couldn¡¯t walk away from the chance that they could, no matter how infinitely small that chance was.

    He let out a long, steadying breath as the coolness of the stasis crystal seeped into his hand and up his arm. Casek closed his eyes and sought that dark well of power he¡¯d found before, and repeated the process again. Combining it with his own magic and pushing it against the crystal.

    Shards of lilac fled back from his touch, shattering to dust in a wave of tiny explosions until the entire shell of crystal had pulled back and been cast to the wind. The figure inside slumped to the floor, no longer held upright by their prison.

    It was, thankfully, most definitely human. She wore a long travel dress the colour of sapphires, well worn and often repaired. Its sleeves came down to her wrists, tucked beneath dark leather arm guards. All were more than a little grubby, showing that, whoever this was, they had been in the wilds for a time before they had been captured.

    Even so, Casek was suddenly acutely aware he was clad in rags as he knelt down beside her. Well travelled they may be, but her clothes were of a high quality. And the quality of the pouches tied to her waist with leather chord¡ªlikely holding survival equipment¡ªspoke to a person serving in a well-equipped military or mercenary outfit.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Casek said, as he reached out towards her shoulder, looking to turn her over and check that she was still alive and healthy, when the woman¡¯s hand darted out faster than he could track and grab hold of his wrist in a grip so tight it made him grunt with pain.

    The woman turned to face him, and Casek was met with a pair of dark, furious eyes. He swallowed, and a light caught his attention adorning the arm that held his own.

    She wore her own foci, and inlaid upon its surface were seven gleaming crystals, shining brighter than any of his own ever had.

 1.9

    Casek stared, wide-eyed, at the woman for a moment, before he felt a viscous pull on the arm he was being held by, and he was yanked off his feet. He hit the floor on the other side of her with a painful thud and she used the momentum to pull herself up to her knees and pull back her other arm high above his head.

    It was only when he felt cold steel against his throat that he realised she had let go of his arm, the hand closest to him pinning him to the floor with a short-blade pushed into his throat. A black steel blade, not unlike his own, crackled to life in her other hand, thrumming with power.

    He swallowed, mouth suddenly dry, but his words failed him. Hers, however, did not.

    ¡°Who¡ªwhat¡ªthe fuck are you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m¡ªI¡¯m Casek,¡± he blurted, eyes wide.

    Hers narrowed, and the sharp edge of her swords pushed harder into his throat. ¡°That doesn¡¯t answer what.¡±

    ¡°A¡­ person?¡± he suggested, at a loss for how to answer.

    ¡°A person can¡¯t do what you just did. Try again.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the truth,¡± he ground out, the pressure on his throat becoming unbearable. His vision was getting spotty; lungs burning in his chest. ¡°P-please.¡±

    ¡°That was a shitty attempt at declaring your innocence¡ªeven for a demon. Perhaps we can start with a bigger question: why even let me out at all?¡±

    But Casek no longer had the air to speak. The surrounding earth spun, and everything but the woman¡¯s two blades had fallen out of focus. Blackness closed in around him. He reached for his power and summoned his own sword in one last attempt at keeping himself alive.

    The woman stood up, movement a blur, and stamped down on the offending arm, driving it into the dirt. All he could focus on for now, however, was the lack of pressure against his throat, and the glorious sensation of breathing unimpeded. When he gathered himself enough to peer up at her, she gazed back down at him, a thunderstruck expression plastered across her face.

    ¡°But, on the other hand,¡± she murmured, half to herself. ¡°The Shadow can¡¯t use the foci. Their magic won¡¯t allow it¡ªeven if their possessing a person who wore one. So how did you do that?¡±

    ¡°Because I¡¯m a human being,¡± he gasped between deep, gulping breaths. ¡°I had no interest in hurting you until you tried to throttle me, and you¡¯re clearly strong enough to stop me either way, so if you wouldn¡¯t mind letting me up, we can talk.¡±

    She peered down at him through narrowed eyes, ink-black hair falling around her face, before clicking her teeth and stepping away from him. She never broke her gaze, though. Her weapons never flickered in her hands.

    ¡°How. Explain quickly. No human has ever been able to even affect the stasis crystals. Only the Shadow.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how. I don¡¯t even remember most of my life. I woke a few days ago in a ruined building close to here. Found a foci inside, fought my way out and ran into a Drau.¡±

    She scoffed, and Casek allowed himself a self-pitying smile. ¡°Yeah, it went about as well as you¡¯re imagining. It trapped me in one of those crystals, only I found I could feel it. I used my own magic from the foci to break out.¡±

    Not the entire truth, but Casek got the impression this person didn¡¯t need to know about the other source of power he¡¯d discovered within.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been surviving in the woods since. Luckily I haven¡¯t run into anything worse than Shades,¡± he smiled and shot her a look, ¡°not counting you, obviously.¡±

    She scowled. ¡°That is about the most unlikely story you could have come up with.¡±

    ¡°And, yet, it¡¯s the truth.¡±.

    This brought the first crack in her stony facade. ¡°So you say. I don¡¯t know what you are. I still think you¡¯re just as likely to be of the Shadow as you are humanity.¡±

    ¡°¡­But?¡±If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°But I might have a way for you to prove yourself.¡±

    ¡°If that involves me not dying by your hand, I¡¯m all ears.¡±

    She turned towards the forest, eyes distant. ¡°When I was imprisoned, I was the last standing. There are others¡ªmy team¡ªtrapped.¡±

    Realisation dawned on Casek. ¡°You think I can help free them?¡±

    ¡°If you can do it for me, why not them?¡±

    ¡°Do you even know how long you were imprisoned for? Is there any guarantee that they¡¯re still¡ª¡±

    She whirled round, eyes blazing, striding towards him until they were only a few paces apart. ¡°They¡¯re alive,¡± she hissed. ¡°The Shadow rarely kill¡ªespecially binders. They keep their prey alive to¡ªto feed.¡±

    Casek pretended not to notice the quiver in her voice when she got to talking about what might be happening to her companions and instead nodded slowly.

    ¡°If they¡¯re still alive, there¡¯s no reason I can¡¯t help¡ªespecially if it will go a ways to convincing you I¡¯m not some kind of monster.¡±

    She kept her eyes locked on him for a moment, searching for any sign of deception or trickery. Then, her shoulders relaxed slightly, and her blades faded from view.

    ¡°I am called Raelynn. If you can help me with this, you will have my gratitude and my trust. I will vouch for you when we return to Oreia, if you choose to come with us.¡±

    ¡°Oreia?¡± he asked.

    Raelynn blinked. ¡°You really don¡¯t have any memories, do you? Oreia is a city. The last. At least, it¡¯s the last one not smothered by stasis crystals and, for all intents and purposes, lost.¡±

    It was Casek¡¯s turn to look thunderstruck, jaw dropping, and eyes wide with horror. ¡°What do you mean, last?¡±

    For the first time, Raelynn looked at him with something that might have been sympathy, or pity.

    ¡°I mean last. Oreia is what is left. Our last bastion against the Shadow. Gods, how long have you been sleeping? This war we¡¯re fighting? The Shadow cannot lose¡ªnot unless something changes. No matter how many we bind and kill, they are endless, and we are not. This world is a ruin, filled with shattered cities and peoples lost to time and darkness. Even our knowledge is dwindling¡ªour history¡­¡±

    She trailed off, idly palming a leather-bound book strapped to her side. It was a deep brown, and intricately carved with a web of spiral patterns all interlaced with each other, its nest of cream parchment bound tight with black chord.

    ¡°An avid reader?¡± he asked, nodding towards the book.

    Raelynn jerked back as though she had forgotten he was even there, and shifted her body, shielding the tome from his inquisitive gaze.

    ¡°That is not your concern.¡±

    Casek bit the inside of his cheek to hold his curiosity in check. ¡°Personal, then. Got it. So, our deal is I help you free your friends, and you vouch for me in Oreia?¡± She nodded, and Casek smiled. ¡°Then I accept your terms. To be honest, I would have done it for free. I spent a few hours trapped in one of those crystals, and that was plenty. I¡¯ll not leave somebody else trapped in one if I can help it.¡±

    Her face softened, and the corners of Raelynn¡¯s mouth upturned into the faintest of smiles. ¡°Then let¡¯s not waste any time. I had some supplies stashed close by. They should at least be enough for a couple of days. By the looks of things, it¡¯ll be the best meal you¡¯ve had in centuries.¡±

    Casek snorted, and Tauph chimed in for the first time since meeting Raelynn, muttering, if only she knew¡­

    But, as he followed Raelynn into the trees, Casek¡¯s smile began to slip, until it fell away entirely. The afternoon sun illuminated the forest floor well-enough, despite the thick emerald canopy above, but his thoughts had quickly darkened.

    Things were worse than he could have possibly imagined. The last human city. One. Scraps of hazy knowledge buzzed around in his mind. Memories of great, continent spanning empires. Shining fortresses. Gleaming cities and spectacular marvels dotting the landscape, numerous as ants.

    Now, there was nothing. Crumbling rock gathering moss and dust, whilst humanity dwindled and died. Of the great civilisation he¡¯d known when awake, only one city had survived to see his waking. And even that, if Raelynn was to be believed, was dying slowly, fighting a losing battle as more and more of its warriors were encased in crystal.

    He stopped suddenly, breath catching. Surely, he could do something about that. What if he didn¡¯t stop at rescuing Raelynn¡¯s companions?

    If he could save them, what was to stop him rescuing everyone else?

    One thing at a time, Casek. One thing at a time. If you really want to do that, you¡¯ll have to get stronger than you can possibly imagine. Frozen individuals¡ªRaelynn, for example¡ªwill not be so well or jealously guarded as groups of folk. The more people trapped in one place, the more powerful the Shadow entities guarding it. We¡¯re talking far worse than just Drau.

    ¡°This is exactly why we sacrificed what we did, Tauph,¡± he whispered, trying to keep his words hidden from Raelynn as she forged ahead through the underbrush, her blade cutting swathes of bramble and ivy aside, clearing them a path. ¡°To win the war. If I have the power to free people, I could never stand by and not use it¡ªnot when it could save the number of people it could.¡±

    I know. I just want to keep you safe, Casek. Strength doesn¡¯t mean much to me in its own right. Nor do other people. But you do, Casek. You have no idea where this road might lead.

    Casek sighed at the cryptic warning. ¡°I understand the dangers, Tauph. But how can I turn my back, knowing what I know? Knowing that I could make a difference. Save lives. I can¡¯t walk away from that.¡±

    Suddenly, Raelynn stopped dead up in front of them, raising a hand to halt them, too. She glanced back, steel in her eyes and held up four fingers, and pointed into the knot of twisted trees ahead of them.

    The sign was clear enough in meaning, even if he hadn¡¯t already known.

    Up ahead. Four enemies.

    Four fingers became two, and a quickly mouthed word.

    Two Drau.

    Four enemies, two of which were Drau.

    Fuck.

 1.10

    Casek swallowed, glancing up at the slivers of open sky he could see between the canopy. The afternoon was passing quickly, and the light beneath the trees would fade even faster. There was little enough time to make camp, let alone fight a group of the Shadow.

    His companion¡¯s face, however, was all hard lines and iron-resolve, however. Casek knew the look. Poorly disguised hate radiated out from Raelynn like a signal fire¡ªshe had already decided to fight, never having even considered retreat.

    He pushed himself up against the tree trunk he¡¯d hunkered down behind, several feet behind Raelynn¡¯s hiding place. Chunks of bark dug into his spine, and the smell of damp moss filled his nostrils as he took measured, calming breaths. Casek could sense them up ahead. A cluster of foul-feeling presences on the periphery of his awareness¡ªlike a sour taste stuck on his tongue.

    There had been four distinct presences at first, but others had joined them. They were shades, he thought, all far weaker than the two forces he could sense at the head of the group.

    ¡°Two Drau, Tauph. I couldn¡¯t stand up to one!¡± he hissed.

    Try to stay calm. I can sense the power within Raelynn. She should be enough for them. Concentrate on keeping the Shades from her back, and she¡¯ll handle the Drau.

    Raelynn turned back toward him and frowned, before crouching low and scuttling across the bed of dead leaves and earth to reach him.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to have to take the Shades. I can kill the Drau, but I¡¯m concerned there may be something worse lurking in the background. Drau normally need to be forced to be in the same place.¡±

    ¡°Can you sense it?¡± Casek asked.

    Raelynn¡¯s dark eyes snapped to him, and Casek had to fight the urge to shrink back from the intensity of her gaze. ¡°What do you mean, sense?¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t do that?¡±

    ¡°Nobody can.¡±

    Uh, guys? Tauph said, saving him from having to find a response to Raelynn¡¯s statement.

    The first Drau¡¯s howl rang around the forest, its murderous gaze honed in on where the pair crouched. It padded towards them, head low and teeth bared, glistening saliva dripping from its hanging maw. It looked like some kind of twisted wolf, coated in white fur broken by strange, spine-like black protrusions. They swayed and writhed like tentacles, reaching out for some imagined prey.

    Just behind it, a more familiar image of a Drau stood¡ªhalf deer and half-shade; a mass of smaller Shadow-beings teeming between its hoofed legs. Even this far back, Casek counted nearly a dozen shades, and more seeped from the shadowed canopies and protected crevices on the forest floor every second.

    ¡°Shit!¡± Raelynn hissed, spinning toward their assailants and drawing herself fully upright.

    Her swords sprung to life in her hands as they had earlier, but this time, a pulse of power flowed across her clothes. Steel plate shimmered into existence, strategically placed to protect her vital areas. At least, it appeared to be steel. The gleaming material moulded perfectly to her body, and moved and shifted as she did, allowing her to move as though she was wearing no protection at all.

    Casek summoned his own sword, only slightly jealous of the added protection his new companion possessed.

    She must wear more than one foci. Some create various kinds of weapons, but not all. The more powerful you are, the more capable you¡¯ll be of utilising multiple foci, Tauph said, just as Raelynn set off toward the foe.

    ¡°So it comes back to binding, then. Don¡¯t suppose you could explain exactly how to do that?¡±

    There was a pregnant pause. Sorry. I¡¯ve been stuck with you for the entirety of your sleep, Casek. I know of the foci and how they work, because they were being developed whilst you were awake. Actually using them? Not so much.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    ¡°Learn on the job, then. Got it. Can you¡ªcan you see? Like, independently of my vision?¡±

    You want me to watch Raelynn whilst you fight¡ªto see if we can learn how? Yeah, I can do that.

    Casek smirked. ¡°Perfect.¡±

    The shades accompanying the Drau had already flowed out around Raelynn, knowing instinctively that, for them, attacking her as she was would mean death. Instead, they looped around her, keeping out of range of her blades, and searched for weaker prey.

    Instead, they found him. He dashed at the closest Shadow-entity, his speed surprising the gangly creature. It gurgled viscous, oily fluid as his sword cut through its torso and dissipated into dark mist. Casek didn¡¯t stop to watch the haze be absorbed. The next two shades were upon him immediately, lashing out with deadly claws and unnaturally elongated limbs.

    He ducked below the first strike and lashed out with one of its own. These shades were better prepared for him, however, and his intended victim skittered away from his attack. The second of the pair followed up with its own blow, but Casek adroitly stepped inside its guard and pierced the creature through the chest.

    Power flowed into him as his foci absorbed its essence. These were larger than the shades he¡¯d fought in the research facility. Better fed, he supposed, able to gorge themselves on whatever they found in the forest. The increased power seemed to correlate directly with the speed and strength they could move with.

    The shade that had danced away from him appeared to b grotesquely obese¡ªfar more so than it was possible for any human its size to be¡ªyet it darted, dashed and weaved between the flurry of thrusts and slashes Casek launched in its direction. A third shade joined the fray, and he snarled, steel flashing and opening up the newcomer with a viscous vertical cut.

    Giggles burbled out of the obese shade¡¯s mouth, as though Casek killing its kin whilst it evaded the human¡¯s blade was the funniest thing it had ever seen. That moment of hubris was enough, however. It hadn¡¯t realised it was still within Casek¡¯s reach, and he lunged suddenly, catching it unawares.

    It died laughing, Casek¡¯s blade in its mouth and pierced through the back of its neck.

    Raelynn had no such problems. The Drau stomped and charged, rushing at her with claw and tooth; only for the woman to gracefully step around each of their attacks as though they had been made in slow motion. Every so often one of her swords would flicker, and a fresh wound would open up on one of the Drau, partnered with a fresh, pained shriek. He didn¡¯t even see the weapon move.

    She was enjoying this. Their pain. Their helplessness. She was savouring every howl, every oozing black wound she had inflicted. She moved with an arrogance offset only by the spite plastered across her face.

    Casek worked his way closer to her battle, aiming to position himself at Raelynn¡¯s back. He no longer feared the two Drau to be too much for one person to handle alone, but he wanted to ensure no shade could somehow affect her obvious superiority.

    He might not be an expert at fighting the Shadow, but he knew combat. A well-timed blow from even the weakest of opponents could mean the difference between life and death.

    A fresh wave of shades threw themselves at him, and he dispatched them with practiced ease, one after the other. Maintaining his blade was costing him magic from his reserves¡ªas was each blow he struck against the enemy¡ªbut he was recouping so much by absorbing the fallen creatures that he wasn¡¯t tiring at all.

    In fact, there was a barely perceptible difference growing in how he moved. He was a shade faster, a hint stronger, with every shade he killed.

    Remember, Tauph¡¯s voice chimed in. That won¡¯t last. Think of the difference between a raindrop on a teaspoon and a drop of water in the ocean.

    ¡°I have to be strong enough to do that first,¡± Casek said, cleaving another shade in half.

    True. I¡¯m just trying to manage expectations. Your strength increase with each shade slain will taper off dramatically at a certain point. Once you reach it, binding more powerful Shadow-entities will be the only way to grow noticably stronger.

    Two things happened simultaneously, then, that had Casek¡¯s heart leaping into his throat. First, Raelynn charged, suddenly and violently at the wolf-Drau, lopping off its head with a single, clean sweep of her main sword. Then, as its head rolled away, face stuck in a contorted expression of horror, a piercing shriek rang out through the treetops, forcing Casek to clap his palms against his ears in a vain effort to block out some of the noise.

    Raelynn kept her composure, ducking to the floor as a dark, swooping shape arrowed at her through the air, golden talons outstretched as if to pluck her from the floor. Whatever it was, it was certainly large enough that it might have been able to pull it off.

    Not only that, but it elicited the first flicker of fear from Raelynn.

    The shape swept off back into the trees, visibly wheeling around in the sky for a second strike. It was definitely some kind of bird, and it positively thrummed with power.

    How did I not sense that? Tauph muttered at the back of his mind as Raelynn scrambled back toward him, face taut.

    ¡°Shit! I¡¯m sorry, but you¡¯ll have to fight the Drau. Hold it off, distract it¡ªeven just lead it away from here somehow. I will come back and help, but I cannot fight both Shadowspawn at once.¡±

    ¡°What the hell is that?¡±

    Raelynn spat, scowling towards where the creature had disappeared into the canopy. ¡°That is a Bel¡¯gor.¡±

 1.11

    Raelynn¡¯s words brought more questions than answers, but Casek was given no time to ask them. The Bel¡¯gor let loose another cry as it swept back beneath the canopy, great wings stretched wide as it dived at them.

    The creature reminded him faintly of an eagle with its razor sharp talons and crooked, black beak. Casek could see no eyes, for there were none. Only inescapable, weeping black pits on its oddly human face. Its feathers, however, shone in a vibrant display of prismatic colours that moved and shifted in the fading light. It was a captivating creature¨Ca strange combination of beautiful and horrific in equal measure.

    ¡°Move, you moron!¡±

    Raelynn¡¯s heavy shove probably saved his life. He stumbled to the floor, face-first, and the Bel¡¯gor¡¯s talons passed right through the space he¡¯d once occupied. It turned sharply, black limbs bursting from the creature¡¯s flesh to steady it and provide a platform for launching itself back at them.

    Raelynn stepped between him and it, swords shining brighter than he¡¯d ever seen them. A faint glow of power surrounded her, making the air around her shift and squirm as though she were burning up.

    ¡°The Drau. Now.¡±

    Casek didn¡¯t bother formulating a response. He dragged himself to his feet and turned away from Raelynn¡¯s fight. The difference in strength was far too pronounced for him to make much of a difference by joining that battle. The most he could do to help was to keep the other Shadow creatures from distracting her.

    The deer-Drau still circled the pair of them, predatory gaze never having left the two humans. It was at least wise enough to be wary of getting between the Bel¡¯gor and its prey, hanging back as a handful of remaining shades danced around it.

    Casek stepped away from Raelynn, bringing his blade to bear in an obvious challenge. The Drau stopped dead in response, honing its attention on the fresh enemy. Casek could sense the creature¡¯s deep well of power, greater than his own by a not inconsiderable amount. He licked his dry and cracked lips. If he did not play this perfectly, he would die.

    Of course, if Raelynn didn¡¯t kill the Bel¡¯gor, he would be dead whether or not he played it perfectly, but he was trying not to think about that.

    First, he ran. He chose a dense part of the forest, where gnarled tree roots intertwined with thickets of new saplings and bramble, and slipped between two relatively young trees before turning back to look at the Drau.

    As he¡¯d suspected, weaker prey breaking off had been too much of a temptation for it to bear. The creature bound after him, spittle flying from its hanging jaw, glistening on the tips of spear-like fangs that would have looked far more at home on its wolf counterpart.

    He carved a swift path through the maze of root and thorn, weaving back and forth through the undergrowth. Over open ground, the Drau would have caught him quick; but here, Casek could put his greater agility to use, swinging around trees and turning too sharply for the thing to follow at pace.

    Still, he made certain to keep the fight between Raelynn and the Bel¡¯gor in sight, Tauph watching when he could not. That battle, too, was a game of cat and mouse. Which combatant was which, Casek couldn¡¯t say. Raelynn moved at speeds he could barely comprehend, sometimes moving so fast that she seemed to disappear from one place and reappear in another in the time it took him to blink.

    Each retreat and dodge served a purpose. Another narrow miss allowed Raelynn to swing out a shortblade, catching the creature along its wing. It shrieked. There was a fizzle of magic, and the Bel¡¯gor retreated, a touch weaker than it had been.

    Casek took a sharp left around the thick trunk of an ancient oak, ducking slightly to avoid a low-hanging branch. The Drau snarled as it skidded around the same bend, its hooves struggling to get traction in the soil. He halted beside a trio of sturdy young trees and turned to face his pursuer.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    The creature hurled itself forward, teeth bared, and leaped straight for his throat. Casek rolled to the side, jerking out his sword arm and running the blade across his side. There was a clash, like nails on slate, as the sharp edge scraped along its tough hide and the Shadow creature grunted in pain.

    A sliver of magic flowed into him from the contact. Not much¡ªthere wasn¡¯t much damage done¡ªbut it was a start.

    He scurried away into the woods, making his way toward the shades that had trailed after the Drau, looking to share in the creature¡¯s easy meal. Casek dispatched them without slowing his escape, and their power also bled into him.

    We can¡¯t do this forever, Casek. There was a quiver to Tauph¡¯s voice, a dose of genuine concern that left a lump in Casek¡¯s throat.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have to. I just have to outlast this thing enough. It¡¯s the same thing Raelynn¡¯s doing. Do enough damage to wear the creature down. Weaken its defences. If I were a betting man, I¡¯d say that¡¯s the first step to binding Shadowspawn.¡±

    Understanding dawned in the other presence. You¡¯re not just trying to survive. You want to bind this thing.

    Casek halted once more, the Drau¡¯s footfall behind him growing ever closer. ¡°If I want to survive, I¡¯ve no choice. There are far too many things in this forest that can kill me far too easily as I am now. Make sure you¡¯re watching her, Tauph. I don¡¯t want to miss how she does the binding itself.¡±

    Of course. Just don¡¯t die in the meantime.

    ¡°Thanks for the support,¡± Casek groused.

    The Drau, seemingly, had learned its lesson. It stalked forward, each step measured, its eyes scanning for the slightest hint of movement in Casek¡¯s body. Casek glared back, daring the creature to lunge at him once more. He was more agile, but the Drau was faster. He needed it to commit first. To lash out, and allow him to counter and run before it could do him any damage.

    Trouble was, the Drau knew it.

    Just past its head, Raelynn¡¯s battle with the Bel¡¯gor continued. The two had exchanged good hits since he¡¯d last seen them. Raelynn wore two long gashes across her face, crimson stark against olive skin. The Bel¡¯gor was considerably worse off. Its feathers stood at odd angles, bent and broken, with streaks of oily black matted through the once beautiful colours.

    It swept at her, diving low across the forest floor, and Raelynn chose then to make her move to end the fight. Instead of ducking out of reach and lashing out, she stepped into the attack, jumping over its flight path and twisting, snatching up a handful of feathers. The momentum of the thing yanked her forward, dragging her behind it through the air.

    The Bel¡¯gor let loose a panicked squawk, craning its neck around to get a look at the stowaway. Raelynn didn¡¯t give it the opportunity to react. She raised her longsword up and drove it through the creature¡¯s chest cavity. Casek could tell, even from this distance, she had avoided anything vital; but the blow still sent the pair skidding along the floor, raking up a mass of yellow and brown leaves.

    Raelynn hauled herself to her feet, standing over the still flailing Shadowspawn, dirty and bloodied, but victorious. She pressed her booted foot down on its head, and the creature increased its squirming, all too aware of what came next. Casek couldn¡¯t help but stare, even as the Drau padded ever closer, as Raelynn raised her sword and a three-pronged blade emerged from the bottom of the hilt.

    Her mouth twisted into a satisfied smile, and she plunged the new blade into the Bel¡¯gor trapped beneath her boot. It screamed. The sound tore through Casek¡¯s skull like a knife had been thrust into his eardrums, and drawing even the attention of the Drau. It was the primal sound of a creature that knew it was about to suffer.

    The Bel¡¯gor melted, dissolving into the peculiar obsidian ooze the Shadow bled when wounded. Then, much like the black mist of the shades, Raelynn¡¯s blade drew it in; drinking in the essence of what had been, only moments before, a mighty creature.

    Triumphant, Raelynn stood the moment nothing more of the Bel¡¯gor remained, panting, but smirking.

    Casek wore a smile of his own. Not because of Raelynn¡¯s victory, though that certainly contributed to his mood. No, his smile was because he¡¯d seen what he needed to see. He didn¡¯t really understand exactly what she had done, but he could at least try to replicate it with the Drau in front of him.

    The Drau met his eyes, before glancing back at the slowly approaching Raelynn. It turned back, knowing its only way to escape was through him. It crouched low, ready to attack, and Casek readied his blade.

    There would be few better opportunities than this to take his first proper step toward survival in this new world, and he was going to take it. It was time to bind his first Shadowspawn.

 1.12

    The Drau huffed, hot steam and black liquid flying from its snout. Casek locked eyes with the creature, willing it to charge, even as Raelynn approached it from the rear.

    It answered Casek¡¯s challenge with a mighty bellow and launched itself forward. Its hooves sent dirt and rotting foliage into the air as they propelled it forward at a speed a creature that large shouldn¡¯t have been able to manage. He only had a heartbeat to react. A subtle movement took him out of the path of its towering antlers, and he jutted out his sword into the charging creature¡¯s flank.

    Once more, its power flowed into him. Not much, but enough to be noticeable. Enough that the Drau could not keep up this game for long if it didn¡¯t start landing its blows.

    It ground to a halt, skidding through the leaf-litter to whirl round to face its prey once more, fury written across its face. The Drau hesitated, its chest heaving as it took great, gulping breaths. Raelynn drew level with Casek, and Casek could see the creature considering its options.

    Of course, there was only one that didn¡¯t involve it dying.

    It darted away from them, trying to escape into the thick underbrush. Casek barely had time to mutter a curse at the loss of an opportunity before Raelynn appeared in front of the beast, blade flashing.

    He waited to see the creature fall and dissipate into black mist, but instead it stumbled back, aggression giving way to blind panic in the face of a far superior enemy. Raelynn¡¯s blade had carved a deep trench into the forest floor at the creature¡¯s feet¡ªa line in the sand the Drau wasn¡¯t to cross.

    Casek wondered briefly whether the deer-like Shadowspawn would understand the message, but it peered up at her for only the briefest moments before turning heel and fleeing in the opposite direction. It ran in an arc around Casek, trying to flee behind him, but Raelynn was there again, fast as lighting, to cut off its path.

    Twice more it tried to escape, and twice more Raelynn cut the beast off. After the fourth time, she looked straight past the creature, directly at Casek. To his surprise, the Drau seemed to pick up on the message. It turned hesitantly to face him, glancing back every so often at the woman behind it, before concentrating its attention on him.

    The idea that the Shadowspawn might be more sentient and aware than he¡¯d thought fell to the wayside as Raelynn¡¯s intent became clear to him. She was trapping it here for him. He met her eyes, seeing the challenge in them, and nodded his thanks. Raelynn rolled her eyes, and the Drau charged.

    At first, their battle continued exactly how it had left off. Casek dived, ducked and rolled away from its surging attacks, attacking wherever he could, chipping away at the creature¡¯s strength. Problem was, the Drau grew wise to his strategy pretty fast. It slowed up, and began expecting his dodges, forcing Casek into more and more desperate manoeuvres to escape its blows.

    Casek rolled away from another brutal swing of its coal-black antlers, and darted straight towards the still recovering Drau, hoping to take advantage of its lack of mobility. Its antlers shifted as he approached, independent of its head. Before he could react, they shifted from something rock-solid to something else.

    They whipped round, intercepting him, lashing out like spiked rope. The closest struck him across the chest, and Casek immediately felt the pull on his power as the Drau drew from him. Unlike the slivers he had been taking from it, the Shadowspawn took from him in great, sudden gulps. The feeling took the breath from him, as though he was being squeezed tight around his chest by some unrelenting force.

    He squirmed away, only for the other antler to grasp him by the throat, and hoisting him into the air.

    His mouth opened, desperate for any kind of air it could find, and his sword arm lashed out. Unlike in the research building, his blade made contact with the Drau¡¯s face, delivering a heavy slash across its cheek and through its left eye.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    A pained howl escaped the creature¡¯s mouth, and Casek slumped to the floor, already in the throes of a coughing fit. The blow had stolen strength from the Drau, but not nearly as much as it had taken from him.

    He glanced at his wrist, and the second jewel had faded completely, and the first wasn¡¯t as bright as he remembered.

    ¡°I need to drain more power from it. This just isn¡¯t enough,¡± he rasped.

    The more magic you use, the more powerful your attacks. As you are now, you might just not be strong enough.

    Casek peered up at Raelynn, who was watching far too nonchalantly for Casek¡¯s liking. Was that disdain on her face, or just plain indifference?

    The Drau drew itself up straight, and Casek hauled himself upright to be ready for its next charge.

    ¡°Then I¡¯m just fucked, then?¡± he asked.

    Tauph hesitated for only a second, but given the situation, Casek found even that was significant. Well, that¡¯s not exactly true. You don¡¯t just have your usual power, after all.

    ¡°The magic I used to escape the stasis crystals? I have no idea how I could use that here.¡±

    Do what you did before. Use your magic to force it into your sword. Imagine your magic cutting it free from the well and absorbing it.

    Casek frowned, but there was no time for any more questions. He dashed away from the Drau as it readied itself for another attack and searched his subconscious for that mysterious well of power he¡¯d found within himself.

    He arrived at it quickly this time, only awed for a moment at the sheer size of it. Immediately he called forth his own power, allowing it to flow through him into the well, and directing it into the shape of reaching arms. It scooped up a fair amount of the power he could feel and he pulled.

    The power seemed to squirm and twist and struggle, desperate to avoid leaving its safe place to help him. Casek dragged it out into the open and did as Tauph had described. He imagined a tendril of his own power and channelled it up behind the magic being pulled from its well. He pushed it through the connecting strands of power, severing them, and leaving him with a cluster of foreign magic in his system.

    His sword blazed into life as the new power struck it. Wispy tendrils of black bloomed and swirled around the blade with growing intensity, and a fresh strength blossomed throughout Casek¡¯s body. He felt, frankly, incredible. Faster. Stronger. Better.

    The foci at his wrist shone brightly with three gleaming jewels.

    When the Drau charged this time, Casek sidestepped the creature with ease, and his counterstrike opened a cavernous wound in its side, fully penetrating its magical defences. It staggered silently, fighting to stay upright, before admitting defeat and collapsing into the dirt with an exhausted shudder.

    Casek took a breath. Thinking quickly, he pictured a three-pronged blade popping out of the hilt of his sword, just as had happened with Raelynn¡¯s. He smirked as a jet-black version burst from the end of his hilt, and strode over to the collapsed Drau, hoping the next part of the process was as simple as Raelynn made it look.

    He didn¡¯t hesitate. The blade plunged into the Drau¡¯s side, and the creature fizzed and dissolved just as the Bel¡¯gor had for Raelynn. Then he felt it. A sharp, surging swell deep in his core; a terrible rush of alien strength flowing into him like nothing he¡¯d ever experienced before.

    His knees hit the forest floor as the world spun around him, and he battled hard to keep hold of what little he¡¯d had to eat that day. Casek¡¯s blade dissipated, and he clenched his eyes shut as the deafening roar of a great waterfall filled his mind; an overwhelming sound that consumed every ounce of his attention and concentration until there was nothing else but the feeling, and that noise.

    As quickly as it had come, it disappeared, and Casek was suddenly acutely aware that he was lying on the floor where the Drau had been, earth still vaguely spinning.

    ¡°Congratulations. You¡¯re officially a Binder now. At least, one that might finally be a touch more useful than a literal child,¡± Raelynn said, smirking.

    ¡°Wha¡ª¡±

    ¡°You bound the Drau. If nothing else, that confirms to me you are, at least, human, and not one of the more powerful and crafty Shadowspawn.¡±

    Casek blinked owlishly, still trying to collect himself, and Raelynn sighed heavily.

    ¡°Get on your feet. If I wasn¡¯t in stasis for too long, I should still have a stash nearby. We¡¯ll eat and talk. Since you are human and everything, I should probably explain a few things.¡±

    She stood without waiting for him to answer, and began trudging into the woods, the light filtering down into the forest''s under-story fading rapidly.

    He groaned and got to his feet. ¡°Well, that could have gone a lot worse. You really saved my skin there, Tauph, thank you. How did you know how to do that, anyway?¡±

    There was no answer. Worse still, the indomitable presence of Tauph in his mind had shrunk away to practically nothing. He was still there, but was scarcely a shadow of what he had once been.

    ¡°You okay there, Tauph?¡± he asked.

    No response came.

    He glanced up towards Raelynn¡¯s rapidly disappearing figure and swore. She wasn¡¯t even checking that he was following. He couldn¡¯t afford to be left behind. There was little option to jog after his new companion, anxiety twisting at his gut.

 1.13

    Raelynn led them through the trees at a brisk pace, moonlight drifting through the canopy and painting the forest in a silver sheen. They moved in silence, broken only by the snapping of twigs under boot and crinkling of dry and dead leaves. The lack of noise made Tauph¡¯s absence more pronounced, and the thick lump at the back of his throat even harder to swallow.

    The only thing that kept Casek moving was the slight dragging of foreign exhaustion at the back of his mind, the one, immutable sign that Tauph was not actually gone. Something about the binding had affected their bond, damaged him or it somehow.

    Casek had no idea whether there was anything he could do to help, or even what was actually wrong, so he focused on what he could do. Keep moving. Keep them safe.

    Finally, Raelynn slowed her pace before a great, twisted hornbeam. Its thick truck was gnarled and thick with knots and crevices, the deep pockets of space scattered along its surface like a mass of screaming faces. It dominated the space its ancient branches had claimed, with its great arcing boughs reaching out across the canopy, claiming a vast area of sky as its own.

    It was so old that its great arms had grown back down towards the ground, the longest of them digging into the earth and propping up the tree¡¯s enormous weight, steadying it against storm-winds and time-wrought weakness.

    Raelynn ducked between the supporting branches, and began feeling around the base of the trunk, investigating the valleys and crevices along its surface. She grinned, the first earnest smile he¡¯d seen from here since she¡¯d woken, and pulled out a weathered leather backpack.

    It was built for travel, with a maze of pockets and extra pouches, and a bedroll slung from the bottom. She dropped it to the floor and knelt down beside it, rummaging through its contents.

    Casek approached slowly, acutely aware she did not fully trust him, and sank to the floor across from her as she searched her bag.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t imprisoned for as long as I feared,¡± she said, eyes intent on the contents of the bag.

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    Raelynn pulled out a bundle of cloth and unwrapped it slightly, revealing a mess of rotted fruit and berries. ¡°The fresh supplies are spent, but not so badly that they could have trapped me for more than a week.¡±

    A faint smile slipped onto his face, to mask the twinge of pain the needled into him at that. ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±

    ¡°Very. It reduces the odds the Shadow will have moved any of my team. Not to mention in means my grandfather won¡¯t have been alone for too long.¡± She hesitated then, pausing her rummaging to peer up at him. ¡°I have you to thank for that. I can¡¯t say that I trust you¡ªit wouldn¡¯t be the first time the Shadow has tried to infiltrate Oreia by stealing a man¡¯s body¡ªbut in case you are genuine, thank you.¡±

    Casek shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s no problem, really. You¡¯re the first actual person I¡¯ve seen in a very long time. I¡¯m just happy I could help.¡±

    Raelynn only grunted and shrugged, returning her attention to the contents of her bag. Eventually, she found what she was looking for. The small, bound bundle of tinder, together with a sturdy-looking flint and steel, had a fire going far quicker than he had managed the previous night.

    With only a few brief minutes of gathering dry-enough deadwood, they were being warmed by a generous fire beneath the arcing boughs of the great hornbeam. The feeling of safety he felt being enclosed in its low-reaching branches was purely psychological¡ªthey were no safer here than out in the open¡ªbut he appreciated it nonetheless.

    He picked at what few scraps of berry and nut he¡¯d gathered before coming across Raelynn, as she nibbled determinedly at some cured meat from her own pack. Outside of the thank you, she had only regarded him with something somewhere between suspicion and open hostility.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    Casek understood it. From what little he¡¯d picked up about the state of the world, she would have been at least somewhat justified if she¡¯d simply killed him in case he was some kind of trick or deception. But, understand it or not, he had to build even a sliver of trust between them if they were to travel together.

    ¡°I¡¯m still trying to wrap my head around how fast you were back there,¡± he said, idly gazing into the fire. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anything like that before.¡±

    She scoffed and shook her head ruefully. ¡°I am an apprentice binder. Second Circle, although not far off Third. Hardly what you¡¯d call powerful.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± Casek said, eyebrows raised. ¡°If it makes you feel any better, I have literally no idea what any of that means. Either way, you¡¯re a damn sight stronger than I am.¡±

    To his surprise, this only made her frown deepen and her face crease up in consternation. ¡°What do you mean you have no idea? How is that possible? Come to mention it, where are you even from? There are no other human settlements left. There is only Oreia. So, if you aren¡¯t of the Shadow, where the fuck did you actually come from?¡±

    ¡°Being as honest as I can be,¡± he said, keeping his tone as level as he could manage in the face of her anger and confusion. ¡°I just don¡¯t remember. I only woke a few days before I found you.¡±

    This seemed to stymy her anger a little. ¡°How long were you trapped for?¡±

    He swallowed and smiled ruefully. ¡°As best as I¡¯ve been able to work out: longer than a few weeks. A lot longer.¡±

    ¡°There have been stories for generations about people waking and getting free. Returning to us¡­ It¡¯s never happened¡ªnot even a single time. Once you are imprisoned in the stasis crystal, that¡¯s it. No escape, no rescue. Life over¡­ You really remember nothing from before?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s strange. I remember knowledge. I can remember sword forms, but not practicing them; how to start fires, navigate, find and cook food, but not a single meal I¡¯ve ever eaten before I woke. I can remember my name, but nobody who might have ever called me by it.¡±

    Raelynn leant back, rubbing her chin with her hand. ¡°So you really know nothing?¡±

    ¡°Well, that feels a little harsh, but basically, yes,¡± he said, a dry chuckle escaping his throat.

    She pursed her lips in thought for the briefest of moments, before hopping to her feet and taking a seat on the floor beside him. She raised her wrist, showing the thin, golden foci strapped to it.

    ¡°May as well do some educating, then. If you are being honest, I can¡¯t have you dying from your own ignorance before you free my comrades. Activate your foci.¡±

    Casek blinked, and did as he was bid, black blade fizzing into existence in his palm, a black leather guard wrapping around his arm. Raelynn gestured to his two lit gemstones, currently glowing more brightly than ever.

    ¡°These gemstones are a visual representation of your magical power. Think of it like combat stamina. The more that are lit, the more power you have at your disposal. There are seven in total. You look like you¡¯re nearly at your third after binding that Drau, but you¡¯ll progress pretty quickly once you cycle its power.¡±

    Her hand moved up to his arm guard, towards the shining circular pattern on the forearm section of the guard. ¡°This shows what rank of Binder you are. Once you reach a certain level of power, your foci will change. Evolve. You¡¯ll be able to do more. Wield more power.¡±

    ¡°So, what rank am I?¡±

    ¡°First Circle. You¡¯ll move to the Second Circle once you¡¯ve grown your strength enough to overfill all seven of the gemstones on the foci.¡±

    ¡°And I do that by binding or killing Shadowspawn.¡±

    ¡°Binding is better. But you can only bind one Shadow entity at a time¡ªat least until you¡¯re Third Circle¡ªso you won¡¯t be able to bind another until you¡¯ve fully cycled and absorbed that Drau.¡±

    Casek blinked, and Raelynn sighed. ¡°Right,¡± she said. ¡°Cycling is the process of gradually stealing a bound Shadow¡¯s power until all of it is your own. You can use your foci, so I¡¯m assuming you¡¯ve found your own well of power. Well, now you have two. Yours, and the Drau¡¯s. You can use your magic to tear away chunks of its strength and absorb it into your own well.¡±

    Casek¡¯s heart stopped dead, even as Raelynn pressed on with her explanation. That process sounded an awful lot like what he¡¯d done to take down the Drau.

    ¡°Be careful, though,¡± she said. ¡°Take too much, too fast, and your foci won¡¯t be able to remove all the Shadow¡¯s influence from the power. It can influence you. Even possess you entirely, if you¡¯re reckless with it. That¡¯s why it¡¯s important to cycle slowly¡­¡±

    But Casek was only half listening. Instead, his thoughts raced through the events of his fight with the Drau, and his use of the deep well of black power he had within him. The more he searched for any hint that he was wrong in his suspicions, the more certain he was that he was right.

    He¡¯d cycled something to grant himself enough power to bind the Drau, and there was only really one likely explanation for just what that something was.

    Tauph, what in the name of the Gods are you¡ªand where has your voice gone?

 1.14

    Kitto pressed his boot upon the chest of the Drau taking the shape of a twisted, blackened tawny owl¡ªonce a common sight in these woods¡ªand yanked his blade free. It dissipated into black smoke and fled back off into the shadows to reconstitute itself.

    He spat, and sheathed his weapon, pausing only to wipe the sweat from his brow before hurrying away in the opposite direction. There was no killing the Shadow, at least no way anybody had discovered. Killing the poor creature it had possessed delayed them, but they would come back.

    They always came back.

    Kitto had little choice but to run. Hunting had, once again, been a bust. The front line of the War was half a world away, but since they¡¯d received word Riawa had fallen, everything had changed. Shadowspawn arrived on their island in drips and drabs from the sea, slinking into the forest and gorging themselves on the souls of its inhabitants.

    Now, even people were not safe to travel alone. Kitto was lucky. His father had been a career soldier and had taught him and his little brother enough of the blade that he could defend himself¡ªat least well enough to get away. Others living here didn¡¯t have the same privilege.

    He darted between shadowed thickets of trees, making as little noise as possible. His eyes scanned the surrounding area constantly, each oddly shaped clump of shrubs or angled branch taking the appearance, at first glance, of another Shadowspawn.

    The paranoia had become a constant figure in his life since his parents¡¯ passing. Always watching over his shoulder. Always tense and on guard. Then again, who wasn¡¯t now? Riawa had been the centre of human progress and strength¡ªa beacon of light even as the Shadow rent holes in the sky itself, and descended from above, swarming the northern hemisphere of Feres.

    As long as Riawa stood, there had been hope.

    Now, there was no force left that could stand between humanity and the Shadow, no sanctuary for those that remained. Every day was now simply another inch of a slow, inescapable crawl to the end. What was worse was that everybody knew it. Armies collapsed as their soldiers fled to spend their last days with families. Cities fell to madness as their citizens realised that with no future, there were also no consequences. Each story that came from the north made Kitto thankful they lived on a relatively small and remote island at Feres¡¯ southernmost point.

    Finally, home came into view. A humble trapping cottage built beside a running stream that, in the warmer months, teemed with life. The soft babbling always sent a rush of warmth through him. Even a decade on, he could hear his and his brother¡¯s laughter carrying through spring air as they traipsed through its shallow waters, picking out handfuls of frogspawn and depositing it in buckets.

    He swallowed as he traipsed across the gently winding path to their battered front door, the warmth in him fading. More and more, thoughts of his little brother soured his mood. The world was dying, and Kitto would die right alongside it. He had made peace with that. Accepted it.

    But the thought of his brother sharing that fate? The thought sent ripples of impotent fury through him. It was his job to protect his younger brother¡ªhe was the only one left that could. He was going to fail, he knew, and there was nothing he could do about it.

    Kitto raised a trembling hand to the door handle, taking a deep breath before relaxing his facial muscles, willing the anger and frustration out of his expression. A frigid chill ran across his spine the moment his hand touched cool metal, and he felt a bony hand fall upon his shoulder.

    ¡°You know that¡¯s not quite the truth, dearest Cristopher,¡± a rasping, paper thin voice whispered into his ear. Kitto went rigid at the familiar touch, and the use of a given name even his own mother never really used.

    ¡°I already gave you my answer!¡± he hissed, trying to keep his voice low enough that his brother would not hear him on the other side of the door. ¡°Now leave me, before I¡ª¡±

    A cold, rasping chuckle cut him off. ¡°Before you¡­ what? You cannot harm me. And even if you could¡ªwould you? Even though you know that I alone can save your precious, baby brother?¡±Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    Kitto ground his teeth. ¡°I would never.¡±

    ¡°For now. We shall see how long your resolve holds. Perhaps until this forest burns around you? Or perhaps you will hold out until his broken body lies at your feet, his final, mortal breath rattling free from his lungs. We shall see.¡±

    Kitto whirled around, fist barrelling through empty space, as a cold, rasping laugh reverberated through his head.

    He screamed, and Casek¡¯s own scream joined with it, the two sounds merging into one piercing, discordant note.

    Casek sat up, ram-rod straight, sweat coating his face and soaking through his shirt. Across from him, Raelynn crouched, prepping her side of the camp to leave. She peered at him, expression unreadable.

    ¡°Nightmares?¡± she asked. At his shaky nod, she returned her attention to her bag, before muttering a brisk, ¡°me too.¡±

    Strangely, Casek appreciated the lack of further comment almost as much as he did her choosing to share that she also suffered from nightmares. The dream had been startlingly real, and almost visceral in its clarity. He didn¡¯t know how he would have even begun to explain it had she asked, nor how much of it was based in reality and how much of it was simply his brain trying desperately to fill the gaps in his knowledge with something.

    Riawa was a real place, Tauph muttered, making Casek leap nearly halfway out of his bedroll.

    Tauph, you¡¯re talking again? What happened to you?

    I¡­I¡¯m sorry about that, he said, voice weary. I wasn¡¯t expecting that to happen. Truth be told, I don¡¯t really remember what happened.

    I bound the Drau. I had to use some of the other power¡ªbut I managed it. After that, you were gone. Did having the Drau bound to you have some kind of effect on your ability to speak?

    Not¡­exactly.

    Tauph¡¯s hesitation brought on a sickening sinking feeling in his gut. I figured as much. That extra power¡ªit¡¯s yours isn¡¯t it? I cycled it during that fight?

    I¡­Yes. I suppose there really isn¡¯t any hiding that anymore. You knew I wasn¡¯t human already. That source of power you felt is mine.

    Casek¡¯s mind raced as the possibilities span round in his head. Are you one of the Shadow

    No. I¡¯m¡­ Something else.

    But only the Shadow can use magic naturally, you said so yourself.

    No, I said that only beings of the Other could access their magic naturally. For the record, Tauph added, with more than a hint of attitude, I also said pretty definitively that I wasn¡¯t one of the Shadow.

    Yes, whilst hiding a secret well of power. Do you not think that might have come in handy? Or even that it might have helped me trust you, if you¡¯d have told me?

    Casek could feel his fists clench and unclench rhythmically as he fought to keep his temper. He wanted to trust Tauph so badly¡ªwanted to believe this voice was not that of some devious monster¡ªbut the secrets were making it almost impossible, let alone the fact he¡¯d been given no real reason they needed to be kept besides ¡®his own good¡¯.

    Waking with no memories meant that besides the essentials of survival, information was his most vital commodity. He was perfectly capable of finding his own food and water, of building shelter, and even fighting when it came to that; but all this meant was that his own ignorance was the thing most likely to get him killed.

    Tauph could help with that, but was choosing not to.

    Casek, I didn¡¯t even know for sure that you could access that power. We didn¡¯t exactly have the time to stop and start experimenting¡ªnot until we got trapped in that crystal. Look, you seem to think I¡¯m hiding all of these big, earth-shattering secrets from you. I¡¯m not. There are only a handful of things I will not talk about¡ªmostly to keep a promise I made to you before you lost your memory.

    How would telling me break a promise to me?

    There are things you wanted to forget. When you found out what was being done to you would cause amnesia, you made me promise to let you.

    And I¡¯m supposed to just accept that?

    We¡¯ve been down this road already. You can stomp your feet like you did when you were a baby as much as you like¡ªit won¡¯t change anything. You can¡¯t force me to do anything.

    Casek¡¯s breath caught in his throat as a soft forest breeze gently lifted the leaf litter on the forest floor around him and sent it drifting airily across the ground. When I was a baby? How long have you known me, Tauph?

    For a moment, the only sound was the whisper-faint rustle of leaves, punctuated by Raelynn¡¯s distant rummaging. Since you were born, Tauph said, finally. I¡ª

    ¡°Are you getting up, or what?¡± Raelynn¡¯s impatient bark cut through Casek¡¯s mind like a war-hammer through ice. His mouth worked silently, trying and failing to form a coherent response, and Raelynn rolled her eyes. ¡°Move. We need to be moving fast if we¡¯re going to make decent time before dark.¡±

    She strode away to finish packing her last pieces of equipment, leaving Casek to scramble to do the same.

    How can you have known me since I was born when you¡¯re not even from this reality? That¡¯s one hell of a friend of the family!

    I wasn¡¯t exactly a friend. But what I always have been was your protector. Right from the day you were born to now, everything I have done has been for you. Everything. I need you to remember that, Casek. No matter what, it was always to protect you.

 1.15

    Walking through the early morning forest since had been an unsettling experience since his waking. An all-consuming silence covered the place, causing every sound he made to grate madly against his nerves. It was an excruciating quiet. Unnatural. He had no point of reference for what the forest should have sounded like at this time of the day, but Casek¡¯s subconscious seemed convinced that silence was its antithesis.

    Fortunately, several hours into their sullen traipse amongst the trees, the birds began to flitter between branches once more, whistling out their first tunes of the day. Small mammals followed soon after. Squirrels skittered across the floor, and woodmice darted away through the underbrush as soon as they came close.

    As life returned to the wood, Casek felt himself relax slightly, as though some kind of natural order had been resumed. Even Raelynn, who had studiously stayed a dozen paces ahead of him¡ªno matter how fast he moved¡ªseemed to lose some of the tension in her shoulders and face.

    Perhaps that was what prompted him to once again try to strike up some kind of conversation with her.

    ¡°You know, if you¡¯re wanting me to help with your friends, you¡¯re probably going to have to tell me where we¡¯re actually going and what we¡¯re up against. Gods, even just knowing where we actually are would be a blessing at this point.¡±

    Raelynn looked back, face tight, but still answered. ¡°What do you mean ¡®where we are¡¯?¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± he said, shrugging. ¡°I know we¡¯re in a forest. But beyond that? No idea. I have no idea what this place is called or what part of the world we¡¯re in¡ªeven whether we¡¯re near or far from other people.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re on the southernmost landmass on Feres. As far as I know, it was once a rural country called Pyria. We know little about it anymore. It was the last place to fall to the Shadow, and the only country of the World That Was that recorded to have won a battle during The Fall.¡±

    A smile threatened to spread across her face as she continued, eyes distant. ¡°A ragtag militia of farmers, fishermen and hunters. Normal men and women who stood against all the horrors the universe can muster, and won. At least, at first. It is from here that the foci came from originally.¡±

    The words stirred something in Casek. No memory was forthcoming, but a heated pride stirred deep in his core. He knew this place.

    Of course, came Tauph¡¯s sombre voice. This is where we lived.

    Casek sucked in a breath. It was only a name, really. He still had no memories of ever being here, no recollection of the people or places he¡¯d once known; but it was still strangely fulfilling to learn where you came from. If nothing else, it would explain why he was so at home in these woods, and why the skill of survival here was so firmly embedded in his subconscious.

    ¡°Is this where Oreia is, then? In the last place to fall?¡±

    Raelynn shook her head. ¡°No. Pyria was abandoned not long after. There are no more records after that. The scattered remnants of humanity fought on for many years after. Oreia was created centuries later.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m trying to imagine what kind of fortress that place must be to have held out for so long against the Shadow, but I can¡¯t even begin to picture it. I bet it¡¯s some sight.¡±

    Raelynn stopped dead. She peered back at him, mouth slowly opening, eyes wide with shock. A disbelieving scoff escaped her mouth, before the smile finally slipped through her self-control.

    ¡°You really don¡¯t know anything, do you?¡±

    ¡°I told you¡ª¡±

    Raelynn raised a hand, cutting him off. ¡°I know you told me. It¡¯s just this might be the first time I¡¯ve truly believed you. Nobody in their right mind would call Oreia a fortress, nor would they believe such a thing could hold back the Shadow for as long as Oreia has.¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Then how?¡±

    ¡°One thing alone keeps us alive after all this time,¡± Raelynn said, setting off again, but this time allowing him to match her pace. ¡°It¡¯s no impressive fortification or disguise. Simply the grim reality of humanity¡¯s situation.¡±

    Casek frowned. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°How does it serve the Shadow to put any effort into seeking out and destroying our last city?¡±

    He opened his mouth to respond, but hesitated as he his mind connected the dots. ¡°It¡­doesn¡¯t?¡± Casek started, and at Raelynn¡¯s insistence, he pressed on. ¡°For the Shadow, we¡¯re a food source¡ªas long as we are controllable, why would you eliminate a self-replenishing source of energy for good?¡±

    ¡°Exactly. The entirety of human civilisation is gone. What they left is no credible threat to them. So the Shadow puts very little effort into rooting out Oreia itself. Instead, they only pick off those who venture out, allowing our numbers inside the city walls to stay reasonably consistent. The reality is that Oreia belongs to them, in much the same way free-roaming sheep belong to their shepherd. The sheep might have the run of the mountainside, but in the end they¡¯re still mutton. They know we don¡¯t have the numbers to fight back, and that we have no way of acquiring them, either.¡±

    She glanced at him then, with a startling intensity. ¡°Well, until now, that is.¡±

    The whole thing made a sick sense to Casek. Of all the things his mind had carried with it through the sleep, the memory of how coastal anglers selectively fished particular areas sprung to mind. They would intentionally steer clear of known breeding grounds, knowing that this would restock the fish supply for the following year.

    For the Shadow, Oreia was that. The hunters giving their prey an amnesty in one place, so there would always be an ample supply of game.

    He forced himself to smile. ¡°Strangely, that hasn¡¯t put me off. Just the idea of other humans makes the rest of it easier to bear. Besides, like you said: now we have a way to fight back. To free the people who have been trapped. Maybe even to restore a little part of what has been lost.¡±

    Raelynn really did laugh this time, a soft and awkward sound, as though she were unused to the very idea of laughter. ¡°That¡¯s what I want, too. To restore what was lost. So much of our history and collective knowledge is gone¡ªpart of the reason I became a Binder in the first place was to try to recover some of it.¡±

    ¡°Is that what you were doing out here with your people? Looking for lost parts of history?¡±

    The smile slipped from her face, but there was no trace of anger in her voice as she explained. ¡°No. The Binders who operate outside of Oreia are mostly hunters and scavengers. We help feed the city and acquire the resources it needs to keep going. We were here searching ruins for foci. Too many of those have been lost in the centuries of fighting, too.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t make more?¡±

    ¡°The artificers say the material that makes them work no longer exists. They can replicate all of it besides the bit that actually allows you to touch magic. We had a healthy supply, once, but every lost Binder is also a lost foci. Eventually, that adds up, and we need to find more.¡±

    ¡°I take it you ran into problems?¡±

    Raelynn scoffed bitterly as she ducked under a low-hanging oak branch. ¡°No part of this mission has been without them since we made land in Pyria. There are more powerful Shadowspawn active here than we could have possibly predicted. They picked us off one by one until I was all that remained. I survived because I was the weakest¡ªthe least appealing meal¡ªuntil I was the only meal. A pair of Bel¡¯gor attacked me at once whilst my power was spent, and you know the rest.¡±

    Casek nodded, noting that the tree cover around them was thinning, allowing more and more of the crystalline sky to show through the canopy above.

    ¡°So,¡± he said. ¡°Who are we rescuing first?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re heading to the southernmost tip of Pyria. The Shadow took the last of my team beside myself in a ruined town by the coast. Idris is a character, but we won¡¯t get far with rescuing the others without him. He is an artificer.¡±

    At Casek¡¯s blank expression, she went on. ¡°He can make things. Useful things.¡±

    ¡°What are we coming up against here?¡±

    ¡°We need to get there first. We¡¯ll be out of the forest soon, and will have to cross a fair few miles of marshland before making it to the ruins. The marshes themselves are teeming with shades and Drau¡ªbut hopefully nothing more dangerous than that.¡±

    Casek suppressed a grimace. To his mind, a single Drau was dangerous enough, let alone more. ¡°What about in the town itself?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s where we run into our first major problem. A nest of Bel¡¯gor, half a dozen strong at least, has gathered up all the townsfolk to feed. Had Idris been at full-strength when we stumbled into the middle of them, we would have both made it out, but¡­¡±

    He swallowed, but brought his hand up and placed it reassuringly on her shoulder. ¡°You will both make it out this time. Whatever it takes.¡±

    Raelynn nodded, but didn¡¯t respond, and Casek tried not to let the panic show on his face. It would do no good now. He had his mission, and people relying on him to get it done. No matter the danger arrayed before him, it wouldn¡¯t be fear that brought him down.

    For one thousand years, humanity had fought on, knowing full-well they were fighting a war they were doomed to lose. Today, that changed. He narrowed his eyes, taking a deep, steadying breath. If Casek wanted that second chance at life, it had to.

 1.16

    Soon, the trees reaching overhead shrank in stature. Clumps of silver birch and whip-like willow branches, thick with drooping leaves, replaced mature oak. So too did fern and leaf-litter give way to a thick, mossy floor that Casek¡¯s boot seemed all too happy to sink into. Moisture from the moss squeezed out with every step, soaking his boots and filling them with ice-cold water.

    Eventually, the patches of forest pond grew ever more frequent, until they were weaving their way through a maze of shallow pools teeming with insect life. Vibrant blue and orange damselflies streaked from one reed-lined water-source to the next, picking off prey with precise, lightning-fast swoops.

    All things considered, he should have been miserable slogging through the worsening marsh, every step dogged by the possibility of death leaping from the shadows at any point. But he wasn¡¯t. The buzz of life around him, the natural orchestra, burned away the tense silence of the deep forest and with it, the crushing anxiety it stirred in him.

    This was good. It freed his mind to concentrate on other things. Casek glanced ahead of himself, planning his next few steps so he could take them without ending up shin-deep in muddy water, and then turned his attention inwards.

    He searched for the sources of power in his subconscious. Besides his own, there were now two dark wells. One was infinitely larger that the other, a vast ocean of strength that sat serene and silent, a frozen lake of unfathomable depth. This was Tauph¡¯s power, and what he used to interact with the stasis crystals used by the Shadowspawn.

    The second was a different matter entirely. Even focusing his attention on it turned his stomach, a nauseous twist so severe it made it difficult to maintain focus on it. The surface of it roiled violently, bubbling and popping like molten lava. An insidious hiss filled his mind when he concentrated on it, like water running off a cliff. But, when he really concentrated, he could almost hear faint whispers deep within the noise, sending a thrill of ice surging through his veins.

    You sure I just do the same thing, here Tauph?

    It won¡¯t be as easy, but the general principle is exactly what you did with my power. Drag some out with your own magic. Sever. Absorb.

    Casek took a steadying breath, checking his footing in the forest before refocusing. Raelynn knew he was going to try to cycle the Drau he¡¯d bound, so she was keeping watch for any threats whilst he was distracted.

    Raelynn said it would fight back. How the hell does that even work?

    You know as much as I do. My power is similar, but not the same. It stands to reason, though. The Drau you bound isn¡¯t dead¡ªit¡¯s just imprisoned within the foci and linked to you. Why would it just let you siphon away its power without at least a struggle?

    Casek was clear on the logic, of course. He just didn¡¯t enjoy fumbling around in the dark, trying to work these things out when his life was on the line. Raelynn had described the process as best she could. Warned him of the dangers. The Drau would try to fight back. To influence him. To take control. All he had to do was steal some power and resist.

    If he didn¡¯t, he and Tauph would be dead, and his body would belong to the Shadow.

    This was cycling. And he¡¯d have to repeat the process over and over until he¡¯d absorbed the entirety of the Drau¡¯s power and made it his own. Only once that last scrap was gone would the Shadowspawn truly be dead, and he would be free to lower his guard.

    At least, until he bound the next creature and was forced to repeat the entire struggle over and over.

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    He found the cool, revitalising spring of his own power and guided its flow as he had before. Easing it towards the Drau¡¯s. Wielding his own strength had quickly become intuitive, like moving a limb he¡¯d had since birth. It flowed around a healthy globule of the Drau¡¯s magic and grasped it.

    Casek shivered as the nausea worsened, the oily hissing rising to a fever pitch in his mind. If there were words, he could not understand them. He could feel them, though. The hate. The twisting, roaring disgust. The hunger. He hated him. He should die¡ªshould kill him. He should kill¡ª

    Casek!

    He started, palms sweating profusely. Right.

    His power yanked at the Drau¡¯s, and Casek fought to keep the influence of the creature at bay. There was only a moment of hesitation before he swept a blade of his own power through it, and allowed the freed segment to be absorbed.

    Suddenly, the deafening, unrelenting noise in his mind vanished, leaving him in an unnatural silence that rang around his head.

    Only, it wasn¡¯t silence. Before, there had been, but now, there was a definite something. A noise he couldn¡¯t quite pin down. It was on the distant edge of his consciousness; at the tips of his fingertips.

    Casek was surprised to realise he was grinding his teeth.

    Tauph¡­

    Remember, the power doesn¡¯t become entirely yours until the Drau is gone completely. It will try to influence you in any way it can before then.

    How long will it be like this?

    A few days, if you cycle consistently. Raelynn said you get used to it. It becomes sort of instinctive.

    A hand on his shoulder tore him from his subconscious. Raelynn had pulled up beside him, regarding him with a wry smile. It was by far the friendliest expression he¡¯d seen on her, and it, together with the strange buzzing in his mind, stole the words from the tip of his tongue.

    ¡°Here,¡± she said, extending an arm towards him. ¡°It helps, trust me.¡±

    She held a small jar out at him, filled with a thick amber liquid.

    ¡°What is it?¡± he said, taking it and peering inside.

    ¡°Black pine resin. Scoop some out with a finger and chew it. It doesn¡¯t exactly taste wonderful, but it¡¯s not so bad once you get used to it. It helps,¡± she said, tapping her finger against her temple. ¡°With the noise.¡±

    Apparently, he didn¡¯t cover his dubiousness well enough, because she snorted. ¡°Just trust me. That bastard whispering is unbearable and only gets worse as you bind stronger things. The resin is sort of therapeutic. Gives your brain something else to focus on.¡±

    It was only then he noticed she was subtly chewing on her own piece. He relented, unscrewing the cap and dragging out a fingertip of resin.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± he said, before sticking it into his mouth.

    Immediately, his face screwed up as a rush of bitterness filled his mouth when his molars pressed down through the nugget of resin. This time Raelynn laughed fully.

    ¡°I warned you it wasn¡¯t good.¡±

    ¡°That was vicious,¡± Casek groused as he chewed, the flavour already softening.

    ¡°It works though, doesn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Begrudgingly, I have to give you that¡ª¡±

    He paused as something reached around his ankle. For a moment, his heart skipped a beat as he thought he was tripping over a tree root. Then it gripped his ankle tight, dragging him off his feet through the slushy undergrowth.

    Casek twisted his body around, fighting to reach an arm down to free his leg as he slid across the moist ground, but as soon as he did, a second black tentacle burst from the moss layer and coiled itself around his arm.

    ¡°Raelynn!¡± he spluttered, flying marsh water and flecks of dirt and foliage filling his mouth

    Casek, take a breath!

    He followed Tauph¡¯s instructions without question, and had just enough time to take a deep gulp of air before he plunged headfirst into the frigid water of the marsh. The cold nearly made him gasp, and only supreme presence of mind stopped him from doing it and filling his lungs with the filthy water almost immediately.

    Water resistance slowed the tendrils dragging him, and he forced his eyes open despite the water stinging at them. Something was dragging him, and if he wanted a chance at fighting it, he¡¯d have to at least try to see it.

    At first, all he could see was the debris-laced brown of the water, as he was pulled through the depths. Then, he raised his right arm to his face, scarcely able to make out the lights of the foci-jewels on his wrist. Four of them.

    He grinned, sword flaring to life and flashing through the tendrils binding him, the pulsing magic powering it lighting up a swathe of the bog¡¯s depths. As he raised his face, finally free, the smile faded.

    Ahead of him, he saw it. Anchored to the bottom of the marsh, the creature stared up at him through bulbous yellow eyes. Its black tentacles were splayed out around it, suspended in the water like a widely cast, slowly drifting net.

    Shit.

 1.17

    The creature¡¯s eyes shone in the murky water like lamplight through mist, reflecting the luminescence of Casek¡¯s blade back at him. A dribble of bubbles streamed from the corners of its grotesque mouth, uneven, crooked fangs jutting out at odd angles past thin, fishlike lips.

    For a moment, Casek couldn¡¯t think through the horror. Then, as though possessed, he started thrashing his legs madly, trying to propel himself back through the water and away from the monstrosity before him.

    It lazily opened its mouth, baring row upon row of ferocious teeth, and suddenly a group of its strange tentacles arrowed through the water at him. He twisted, avoiding the first, and his sword diced the second as it got close, muscles burning to move his arm fast enough to do so.

    The third, however, caught hold of his wrist, the rope-like appendage winding around his wrist tightly. With the contact, came a pull on his magic as it tried to drain away his strength. Casek severed it quickly, the removed segment dissolving into black and being absorbed by his sword, much the same as a shade would be.

    Another wave of sinuous appendages darted at him, and Casek cut off his attempts to swim away in order to fight them off, slashing wildly through the water to keep them at bay. The thicker ones took considerably more effort to cut through, some requiring him to hack at the limbs two or three times to remove them.

    I don¡¯t have time for this! His lungs burned, the wild movement expending what little oxygen he had left from his initial breath. I¡¯ll drown if this keeps up for much longer.

    Take more power. Tauph¡¯s voice sounded strangely distant and garbled, as though he, too, were drowning. Take more, or all of us will die.

    He cut away another pair of serpentine tentacles and focused his mind, searching out the sources of his power. He¡¯d used Tauph¡¯s power before to give him a boost in strength to bind the Drau. There would certainly be enough¡ªthe well holding it seemed to be unfathomably deep.

    However, the process had left Tauph out of action for an entire day, and he hadn¡¯t really been right since. Why do that to Tauph again, when he had a second source of strength to pull from right here? Of course, there were risks to using the Drau¡¯s power, but at least he¡¯d be taking that risk on himself, instead of forcing it on Tauph.

    He focused on the Drau¡¯s well, ignoring the mumbled sounds of protest in his mind the Drau was trying to influence him with. This time, he dragged free the largest portion he could manage. Ignoring the screeched whispers it forced through his mind, he cut it loose, absorbing it into his own well all at once.

    The rush of strength was immediate. Power flooded through him, pouring into his muscles and mind, making him stronger. His blade flickered and brightened, practically buzzing with power in his hand, and he grinned at the newfound strength.

    But there was something else. A feeling nagging at the back of his mind, like a splinter just underneath the skin. His stomach fluttered with anxiety, even as his blade swept through half a dozen of the creature¡¯s reaching arms in one fell sweep, the sword moving through the water as easily as air.

    The beast howled, seeing its prey strengthen before its eyes. It lifted from the lake-bed, stirring up a storm of silt, propelling itself at him like an octopus. Casek readied his blade, a grin on his face. He could sense this creature, feel its power. This was a Drau, one stronger than the one he¡¯d bound before, admittedly, but then, he too was stronger than he had been then.

    Casek concentrated on his power as it approached, focusing it into his body and blade, allowing it to fill him entirely. One strike was all it would take.

    The Drau came within range, its rows of crooked, reticulated teeth bared, when an earth shattering screech cut through his mind, like metal grinding against metal. Casek¡¯s blade fell away to nothing, and his hands clutched at his hair and head so desperately it was as though he were trying to dig his way inside to remove the noise that way. The unearthly grinding persisted, even as the creature barrelled into him, Casek barely able to lurch out of the way of its fangs.

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    Then, something about the noise changed. Or was it that something was added over the top? A babbling, throaty mockery of Tauph¡¯s voice boomed through his mind.

    SHRED. WORTHLESS. KILL. PREY. DIE. FEED.

    The words echoing a baser instinct echoed and repeated, reverberating through themselves, creating layer after layer of unbearable noise. Casek gave up the pretense of holding his breath as a scream tore its way loose from his throat, a torrent of bubbles made up of his last precious scraps of oxygen erupting from his mouth in place of actual noise.

    Languid arms wrapped their way around his limbs and chest, crushing and squeezing. Casek thought his head might explode. Or perhaps the beast would rip him apart. Or even tear strips from him with those sickeningly white teeth.

    Anything, anything, besides the slow and agonising death that would come the second he took that last breath. He could no longer see or think. All that existed was the noise, and that voice, and the exquisite, excruciating pressure in his chest that told him he still hadn¡¯t taken that final breath.

    A flash of blue light. A terrible cloud of oily black smoke. Freedom. That last thing comforted him. Freedom was good¡ªrelaxing, even. He breathed. A scraping, gasping breath, as though his lungs had arms that could reach out and tear oxygen right from the sky; and sweet, clean air filled him. He took another, and the blackness started to fade.

    Above him, the cloudless sky stretched for miles around, unbroken by even a whisper of cloud, yet it still seemed to dance and swim before his oxygen starved mind. For a long while, Casek did nothing else but breath precious air.

    By the water¡¯s edge, Raelynn stood shivering, wet travel clothes hanging heavy with marsh water, wringing out her loose, black hair.

    Tauph, what the fuck happened?

    You drew from the Drau¡¯s power in the middle of a fight. It did exactly what Raelynn warned you it would¡ªtry to get you killed so it could take your body. Why didn¡¯t you listen to me when I warned you?

    Casek frowned, wiping the silt-laden water away from his eyes. What do you mean, warn me? All I heard was you telling me to take power. I figured it would be better to take the Drau¡¯s than yours, because of what happened last time.

    There was a hesitation, then, and a pit of anxiety settled in Casek¡¯s stomach like lead. Casek, that wasn¡¯t me.

    Raelynn knelt down beside him before he could even process what Tauph had just told him.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± she asked, eyebrows knitted in concern.

    ¡°Other than a little waterlogged, yeah. Thanks to you,¡± he said, a nervous laugh bubbling from his mouth.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry it took so long¡ªthe murky water made it difficult to actually see where you had been dragged to. Luckily the light of your foci gave me a rough idea before it gave out.¡±

    Casek sat up, shrugging. ¡°Its fine. I should have been able to, really, but the tentacles made it difficult. Then I started running out of air. I tried to draw on the Drau I¡¯d bound to compensate, but¡ª¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s almost impossible to maintain a weapon whilst cycling,¡± she finished for him, a wry smile on her face. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t be the first to try. Only the most powerful binders are able, though.¡±

    ¡°Raelynn, it¡ªspoke to me. Not anything coherent, but actual words.¡±

    Her brows knitted. ¡°It¡¯s almost unheard of for Shadowspawn weaker than a Bel¡¯gor to be able to do that. Even among that rank, it¡¯s rare. Usually, the more powerful the Shadow entity, the closer to what we¡¯d regard as human consciousness they come. Are you sure?¡±

    He nodded, and Raelynn¡¯s face twisted uncomfortably. ¡°I¡¯d have to speak to the archivists in Oreia to know if a Drau ever has, but I¡¯ve certainly never heard of it. I suppose it must have been stronger than I guessed¡ªclose to metamorphosis into a Bel¡¯gor. Either way, it¡¯s dead now. We¡¯d best get to making camp so we can dry off. It¡¯s getting colder already.¡±

    Casek hauled himself to his feet, and aided Raelynn in gathering firewood, but the knot of anxiety had only grown. Raelynn might have been willing to believe she had misjudged the Drau, but Casek was positive he¡¯d been right. After all, he¡¯d sensed the same.

    Tauph, what do you think?

    If I had to guess, it probably had something to do with the additional being from the Other you have bound to you. Perhaps I make you more susceptible to being influenced? Either way, we¡¯ll have to be careful. We¡¯re lucky to be alive.

    Casek scoffed as he bent down to pick up a piece of dried, dead birch from the ground. Waking with no memories in a world where death lurked at every turn, where places he knew he¡¯d once felt safe and at home had been tainted by the presence of these creatures? Second chance or not, he wasn¡¯t sure he¡¯d ever be able to call that lucky with a straight face.

 1.18

    Even the following day, Casek¡¯s clothes still hadn¡¯t truly dried. His sodden boots, in particular, were a source of sharp misery. His buoyant mood had waned with the tree cover, with only sparse weeping willow left to break up the endless marshland, their dense, drooping branches reflecting his mindset.

    He tried to focus on the rhythm of chewing the piece of stale resin swirling in his mouth, as within his subconscious, he cut free another piece of the Drau, despite its best efforts to sway him. Its well of power had been drained almost to completion, with only the dregs remaining, its surface now nearly as still and serene as Tauph¡¯s.

    Unfortunately, this left his own mind at fever pitch, as the Drau¡¯s magic did everything it could to get his concentration to slip.

    Its voice in his mind screamed and howled, and the pain in his temple had become so great, it felt as though someone were driving a stake directly through it by hand.

    That might be better, he groused, and caught a distinct flutter of sympathy from Tauph.

    Only a little longer, Casek, and it will be gone. Half a day, I¡¯d say. Raelynn warned you this would be the worst of it¡ªit¡¯s dying gasp.

    She had. That didn¡¯t make it any easier to bear, though. Any chance you think I could speed it up a little?

    Not a chance. Remember, that¡¯s what it¡¯s hoping for. You siphon off too much at once, and it has an opening.

    He sighed and stepped round an especially sloppy segment of thick mud. This, of course, was the other ever-present danger of their trek through the marshes. The bog sprawled out in every direction around them; large marshy lakes, lined with thick reed beds and rushes, lay placid between unbroken stretches of tacky mud.

    Each step was just as likely to suck you in, knee deep, as it was to take your weight, and there was precious little way of telling for sure where was safe to tread. Oddly, he was managing better than Raelynn, and for the first time, he was leading them with her following close behind, tracing his steps exactly.

    He swore as his left foot passed straight through what he thought was solid ground, leaving him knee deep in the mud. Raelynn helped haul him free, and they trudged on, the mud beneath each step clinging onto their boots just fiercely enough to be draining.

    Miles passed before they saw a landmark to differentiate this part of the marsh from another. A small shack, made from rickety planks of aged wood, and built upon stilts raising it up above the moisture of the bog below. A small set of wooden stairs, rotting and crumbling, led up to a collapsed door. Casek frowned, as he peered at the surprisingly good condition of the place.

    Unbidden, his mind summoned images of pine resin-curing timber for longevity in damp conditions. Still, even allowing that the curing process would have allowed the cabin to stand intended for centuries, the prickling familiarity of the place told Casek it was older than even that.

    This place should not still be standing.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± he called back to Raelynn.

    ¡°I think we should be very careful. This seems far too inviting for it not to be on purpose.¡±

    ¡°Do we ignore it, then?¡±

    Raelynn grimaced. ¡°No. It¡¯s a good trap for a reason¡ªit¡¯s too good of an opportunity to pass up. Food? Books, even? Gods, we have found foci in stranger places than this. It would be negligent for me to ignore this as a Binder.¡±

    ¡°We could come back,¡± he suggested. ¡°With some of your companions, once we¡¯ve freed them?¡±

    ¡°Something we find here might come in useful during the rescue. Besides, once we have Idris, we won¡¯t be coming back this way.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Casek muttered. ¡°Headfirst into the potentially deadly trap it is. Is there any plan here¡ªbesides ¡®hoping for the best?¡¯¡±

    Raelynn tilted her head, the corners of her mouth turning ever so slightly upward. ¡°Huh. Never would have pegged you for a coward.¡±

    ¡°Common sense isn¡¯t cowardice,¡± he said. ¡°Stupid-brave is, in fact, usually just stupid.¡±

    Raelynn chuckled, pulling level with him. ¡°Point taken. Look, it¡¯s a risk, and given the state of that place, the rewards aren¡¯t likely to be great. But you¡¯re walking through this marsh in crumbling, soaked through boots and rags. Even if it¡¯s just an extra blanket or something, we¡¯re hard-up enough that it¡¯ll be worth our while. We¡¯ve been lucky with the weather so far. That won¡¯t last.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t considered the potential of new clothing. Even now, he could feel the holes in his boots, and they had been growing daily. Attempts to keep his only shirt and trousers clean had also failed spectacularly, and he was increasingly conscious of the biting chill in the air come the afternoon. There was no telling how much travelling was left to do, or even what the weather would do next, and he was clad, essentially, in rags.

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    ¡°Fine,¡± he muttered, ¡°but you¡¯re going in there first.¡±

    Raelynn smirked and quickened her pace to pull ahead of him as they approached the base of the stairs. Casek activated his weapon at the same time as her, and Raelynn raised a black boot and pressed it down on the first step, testing its structural integrity.

    When nothing gave way beneath her, she climbed, testing each step carefully as she kept her eyes fixed on the doorway. Casek followed her movements, but also scanned their surroundings, in case something decided to try to take advantage of their distraction.

    Only when they reached the top of the stairs did anything stir from inside. A rush of Shades swarmed from the musty interior of the shack, gibbering and frenzied, and each met their end at the tip of a sword. The pair dispatched the last of them with ritual ease, and Raelynn nodded to him before stepping inside the ruined doorway.

    Casek followed, teeth grinding.

    Inside had been homely once. Humble, but well-loved. A child¡¯s drawings lined the walls, the parchment they had been drawn on now yellowed and decrepit, looking as though it might crumble to the touch. At the sides of the room, various boxes and dressers lay, covered in a millennia of dust and cobwebs, but appearing on the surface, at least, to be as sturdy as the day they had been built.

    That, too, should not have been possible.

    Raelynn moved straight for these, pulling open drawers and beginning to unceremoniously rifle through what had once been somebody¡¯s life. Casek¡¯s hands began to tremble as his eyes wandered to the centre-right of the room, where a rusted kettle hung over a long-dead fire, ash and half-spent fuel still at the base. On a small table before it stood a table, slightly uneven, with two moth-eaten and ragged cushions just before it.

    Lying on top and riddled with dust were the unclean wooden plates of the last meal the people that lived here ever ate.

    Raelynn muttered away to herself, itemising the things she was finding and cataloguing their usefulness as Casek finally allowed his eyes to wander to the very back of the cabin. To the thing he had been trying to avoid looking at again since he¡¯d stepped through the threshold.

    At the very back, a pair of beds lay, just as time-ruined and crumbling as the rest of the place.

    The first, the smaller of the two, lay still-made and empty, ragged blankets still neatly tucked beneath its straw blanket. Upon the other, larger bed, two figures lay unmistakably intertwined in a last embrace.

    Casek¡¯s feet were moving against his will, pulling him towards the back of the shack, heart thundering in his ears.

    Oh, Gods. Casek¡­

    He barely registered Tauph¡¯s voice as he approached the bed, and the sight of the two skeletal figures filled his mind. An adult man, a father, had died, his arms wrapped around his dead or dying child. They had died together, these two, and the rusted knife in the man¡¯s hand told him exactly how.

    His eyes drifted upward, to a scrawled carving on the shack¡¯s wall, a final message from a man a very long-time dead.

    They have us surrounded now. I can see them in the water, and behind the trees. At night, they even come right to the steps. They haven¡¯t the courage or numbers to climb them yet, but it¡¯s only a matter of time. We haven¡¯t heard from the wood-folk for months, nor any town. No help is coming. We have no food, no clean water. I Can¡¯t leave to get any without being taken.

    I won¡¯t let them have Catelyn. I¡¯ve seen what they do. I won¡¯t allow that to happen to my girl. Mixed henbane and bryony through the last of our food. She won¡¯t feel what I must do now.

    Gods forgive me, for I never can.

    Casek shook, as hot tears stung at his eyes. I knew these people, didn¡¯t I?

    Yes.

    Raelynn stepped beside him then, eyes soft as she looked down at the figures on the bed.

    ¡°You see this, sometimes, outside of the city. People knew what was coming. Some ended things on their own terms. I won¡¯t tell you it gets easier, but you do get desensitised to it. Come on, let¡¯s move. I¡¯ve gathered some supplies. We shouldn¡¯t test our luck.¡±

    Raelynn made for the door, and Casek¡¯s teeth ground painfully, jaw muscles twitching at his cheeks.

    ¡°No.¡± He ground out, eyes never leaving the bodies.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I said no,¡± he insisted. ¡°I won¡¯t leave these people here like this.¡±

    Raelynn blinked slowly, aghast. ¡°You can¡¯t be serious. Look, I get it, I really do¡ªbut we don¡¯t have the time. What would you do, bury them out there? We¡¯re too close to nightfall already, and we still haven¡¯t made camp.¡±

    Casek shook his head, instinct telling him that burying would have been wrong, even if it was dangerous. ¡°We need to burn them.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s even worse!¡± Raelynn exclaimed, pitch rising ever so slightly. ¡°Every Shadowspawn for miles around will see it. It¡¯s an absurd risk.¡±

    It was true, and he knew it. But he couldn¡¯t let this go. These were not just strangers. He couldn¡¯t picture their living faces, nor could he remember the sound of their voice, but every fibre of his being screamed at him that these people had known him. Had been friendly, even.

    Allowing his heart to rule his mind was dangerous, and there was no room for sentimentality when there was a job to be done. He knew that. He just didn¡¯t care.

    ¡°If you won¡¯t help, you¡¯ll have to go on without me. I¡¯m doing this.¡±

    Raelynn¡¯s eyes narrowed, and the heady weight of her power filled the room. It seemed to shrink around them, making the shack feel far too small for the two of them to stand in it together.

    ¡°I won¡¯t let you jeopardize the chances of saving lives for this, Casek. We leave. Now.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re free to drag me away from here¡ªI couldn¡¯t stop you,¡± he said, meeting her gaze with a steely look of his own. ¡°But if you want your friends free, you need me alive and, crucially, willing.¡±

    Her eyes widened, furious, and she stalked out of the shack without another word. Her power dissipated along with her presence, and Casek sank to his knees as its weight disappeared from his shoulders.

    We¡¯d best hurry, Tauph muttered. As much as I can appreciate what you¡¯re trying to do, Raelynn wasn¡¯t wrong. We need to be going.

    Casek sighed. He¡¯d dug himself a fine hole trying to do what felt right¡ªnow it was time to see if he could dig himself out again.

 1.19

    Burning the shack proved to be more difficult than even Casek could have predicted. The treated wood made it impossible to simply light the thing, and the lack of sufficient dried wood nearby made crafting a pyre inside, around the bodies, a brutal slog in the darkening marsh.

    It was a task made even more difficult by the emergence of Shades as the sun disappeared, hoping to take advantage of Casek¡¯s visible exhaustion. Cutting them down was the only pause from the work he allowed himself besides wiping the sweat from his face, but eventually there was enough stacked wood and tinder to burn the entirety of the place.

    Raelynn lit the wood with her flint and steel, her only contribution to blaze, and they watched together as the shack was slowly engulfed in flame, along with the two people Casek had once known, but could no longer remember.

    Tauph had also been strangely silent, breaking it only halfway through the building to tell him a little about the two people in the shack. Then, as it did now, grief flooded across their bond, a hollow, all-consuming ache, carving a deep pit into his friend¡¯s heart.

    The flames climbed ever higher as the moist wood of the shack caught fire, launching a vast plume of spiralling black smoke into the night sky. Casek¡¯s face pinched as the moisture in the wood tainted the smell of burning filling the surrounding air, turning it acrid and musty.

    ¡°Are we just going to stand here until this catches the attention of something worse than a Drau?¡± Raelynn bit out, her voice tearing through the silence like a blade.

    Casek sighed and shook his head. ¡°No. We can go now. It¡¯s done.¡±

    ¡°How gracious of you,¡± she said, bitterness staining the words. ¡°We¡¯ll have to walk through the night to get enough distance from this place now you¡¯ve rung the dinner bell¨Cthat is, of course, unless something¡¯s already¨C¡±

    ¡°Their names were Aodh¨¢n and Catelyn,¡± he said, eyes never leaving the dancing flames bathing the marsh in amber. ¡°I don¡¯t remember their faces, but I remember how it felt to talk to them. You can send as much scorn as you like my way, but if we were to tell me this was my last night¨Cthat tomorrow I¡¯d be torn to shreds by some Shadowspawn¨CI¡¯d still not change a damned thing.¡±

    Raelynn¡¯s eyes widened, and her mouth opened to reply, but Casek was already moving past her, the heat of the fire warming his back as he trudged onward through the swamp.

    The sun was almost at its zenith before they spoke again. Their night-long trek through the marsh had been an exhausting march through the worst of the terrain, feet sinking deep with every step, and no way of telling in the dark where the deep pits of sludge lay.

    Thankfully, they had to contend with nothing more dangerous than Shades. The gibbering creatures hounded them all through the night, flailing out of the darkness in number whenever any of them got stuck, or looked as though they might be flagging.

    By the time the sun rose, and the frequency of attacks had faded to almost nothing, the pair of them were utterly spent. Casek¡¯s burning muscles dragged him on for a few hours longer until they finally gave out.

    He dropped to the floor atop the driest piece of ground he could find beneath the drooping branches of a willow tree. The more exhausted he¡¯d become, the louder and more pervasive the Drau¡¯s whispering in his mind had grown, and it was now a constant, near-deafening din. He clenched his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose, fighting to block out the pain.

    Raelynn tapped his shoulder, extending the jar of pine resin out to him once more. He took it gladly, resuming the soothing chewing.

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    She shrugged. ¡°The resin is also a mild pain reliever. It won¡¯t work any miracles, but it¡¯ll take the edge off.¡±

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    Casek and Raelynn chewed on the resin in silence for a while, the repetitive motion almost meditative, as clouds drifted by overhead. The sun travelled across the sky above them in fits and spurts, the only clue they had been drifting off to sleep intermittently in the willow''s shade.

    It was afternoon by the time the two hauled themselves up upon aching legs. Raelynn finally had the time to share what she had taken from the shack with him. She passed him a pair of white linen shirts; well-worn but sturdy black trousers, along with a pair of blankets and a properly sturdy travel pack to replace the one he¡¯d made in the forest.

    Lastly, she handed him a battered travel cloak, navy blue with red lining, and allowed him some privacy to change. He ditched the rags with particularly savage relish and pulled on the relatively fresh clothing. They were the clothes of somebody who worked in the outdoors; visibly worn, but well-tended and hardy, made of solid material.

    The warm gratitude filling him lasted until he was forced, sour-faced, to pull on his still-wet and freezing cold boots.

    Regardless, it was a much warmer man that set off after Raelynn from the shade of the tree, and he couldn¡¯t resist mumbling a muted thanks to the man whose clothes he now wore.

    They were those kind of people, Tauph said, melancholy weighing down his words.

    We knew them well?

    Reasonably. Your family hunted the woods we were in before for some time. The last time we saw him, we were leaving. We warned him to do the same.

    He should have listened.

    I doubt it would have made much difference, Tauph said, their conversation falling quite as Raelynn fell into line with him.

    She stared at him for a moment, dark eyes unreadable but for the restrained anger held in the tight lines of her face.

    ¡°You knew those people.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t a question.

    ¡°That¡¯s the strange thing,¡± he said. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Not really. I feel as though I did. That shack, their names. It stirred something in me. I don¡¯t have any memories to prove it, but every instinct I have tells me I did.¡±

    Raelynn sighed, rubbing her eyes heavily with her right palm. ¡°Casek, the writing on that wall talked about implied Shadowspawn had only recently taken the towns and villages around them. That means that shack has been abandoned for more than a thousand years.¡±

    She met his eyes again, and he returned the look, unyielding. ¡°I know that.¡±

    Raelynn¡¯s eyes darted, searching his face for any sign of deception or uncertainty. Anything to tell her that what Casek was saying was false. She would find nothing.

    ¡°Shit,¡± she whispered.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± he said. ¡°I worked it out when I had just woken. There was a stash of old weapons¡ªswords and spears and the like, proper steel¡ªand realised I knew how to use them pretty much instinctively. I must have known how¡­from before. The foci, though? No idea. I didn¡¯t even know for sure it was a weapon. I just guessed because it was with the others.

    The lie slipped off his tongue with only a tinge of regret. He needed to get the balance of truth and lies just right to avoid questions he couldn¡¯t answer. He very much doubted Raelynn¡¯s trust would last long once she found out about Tauph¡¯s presence in his head.

    But Casek, came Tauph¡¯s voice, more than a little smug. I thought you hated secrets, no matter the reason they were being kept.

    And if I were living in her head, you might be halfway to a point.

    He ignored Tauph¡¯s laugh and fought to keep the irritation from his face as Raelynn responded.

    ¡°One thousand years,¡± she muttered, eyes wide. ¡°And you remember nothing?¡±

    There was an unmistakable hope in her voice that vanished as he shook his head. She removed her hand from the leather-bound book strapped to her waist, a subconscious touch Casek had noted more than once, and let out a deep breath.

    ¡°Look, Casek¡ªI get it. I¡¯ve lost people I knew¡ªpeople I loved¡ªto the Shadow. Some are imprisoned, others just killed. If I had found any of them like that, I would have been devastated. But you have to understand: this is the world now. I can only think of a handful of people who¡¯ve seen more than fifty winters. You can¡¯t afford that kind of useless sentimentality if you ever want to even get close to that milestone.¡±

    Casek opened his mouth to argue, but Raelynn rounded on him suddenly, a finger jabbing into his chest. ¡°But even apart from risking both of our lives¡ªyou also put the lives of everyone we¡¯re trying to save at risk with your actions. If we had died because of it¡ªand who knows, we still might¡ªthen my entire team stays imprisoned. Forever being feasted on, unable to escape. Unable to sleep, or even die.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯ve realised, yet, just how important what you can do is. You are the only person ever who can do what you can. With you, we can free everyone who¡¯s ever been taken. Maybe even start to take back our world. If you dare throw that chance away for all of us by getting killed doing something as pointless and selfish as that was, you¡¯d better hope you¡¯re actually dead, because what I do to you will be far, far worse.¡±

 1.20

    The pair pressed on through the marshes in uneasy quiet after their last conversation, Raelynn¡¯s words ringing through Casek¡¯s mind. The thought of all the good he could do had, of course, come to mind before, but he¡¯d not stopped to consider things from Raelynn¡¯s perspective.

    This fight, as far as he could remember at least, was new to him. He¡¯d only been fighting for days. True enough, it had been difficult and awful in equal measure, but Raelynn had been fighting it all her life. Her mother and father had been fighting it before her, and her grandparents before them.

    How many people had she lost? How many of her friends and family, her ancestors even, were out there somewhere, encased in crystal and suffering?

    He couldn¡¯t imagine how it must feel for her¡ªhim even existing. How many people had she and her people given up for dead and grieved for, who could now be saved by his hand? Casek stood behind his actions, still firmly believed that he had done the right thing, if not the most pragmatic. But he had to acknowledge that Raelynn had every right to be angry at him¡ªfurious even¡ªfor jeopardising the amount of good he could do. The lives that could now be saved.

    Least of all, of course, the comrades she had most recently lost. The whirlwind of emotions and states of mind she must have gone through at a remarkable speed must have been difficult to cope with. Losing her companions one after the other, grieving and mourning as she fought to get home alone. Realising she had failed. Only for the impossible to happen right before her eyes, and hope to arrive where there had been none for so long.

    Truthfully, Casek didn¡¯t know how much of a difference he could actually make. He was one man, and not an especially strong one at that. But he could make a difference. And, as much as he stood by his choices, he understood that on some level, they had been selfish. That he¡¯d been putting his beliefs and wants ahead of the lives of real people that could still be saved.

    It¡¯s not your responsibility to save the world, Casek. That¡¯s too much weight for any shoulders to bear, no matter how strong. You deserve to make your own choices about what you do with your life without having to consider the bloody planet first.

    When you have power like I do, Tauph, only a weak man would take advantage of the benefits whilst attempting to shirk the responsibilities. It¡¯s not especially fair, but there it is. I have a duty to help as much as I can. Why do I deserve a second chance more than anyone else still imprisoned?

    He could feel Tauph¡¯s disgruntlement, and a strange sort of smile played at Casek¡¯s lips. It was odd, as a grown man, to have someone so unabashedly put his wellbeing ahead of everyone else¡¯s. He couldn¡¯t remember what it was like to have an older brother, but he imagined it was similar.

    Still, as they crested a hill taking them out of the marshlands that overlooked a mercifully dry, grassy plain, Casek grimaced as the first genuine test of his commitment to that responsibility appeared on the horizon.

    Across a vast chalk plain smothered in a patchwork quilt of vibrant wildflower meadow, the town they were aiming for loomed dark in the distance. From here it was an indistinct blend of stone and dark wood tones, and on its other side, the sparkling blue ocean vanished over the horizon.

    Casek let out a deep breath, chewing at his lip even as the sight of the sea eased the fluttering in his stomach. It was larger than he expected¡ªa sprawling mass of building that could hide almost anything within its depths. Not far to the east lay a second cluster of buildings, and this he recognised from the storage houses he could see on its outskirts as a mine. On the west, stood a dilapidated mill, its sails long since deteriorated and cast to the wind, leaving what was left of its spindly wooden arms crooked and visibly rotting away.

    ¡°Makavi,¡± Raelynn announced, eyes fixated on the town¡¯s centre. ¡°The largest settlement we have record of in Pyria, including the capital. The last time I was here, it was crawling with Shades even outside of the walls, so stay sharp as we approach.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the plan?¡± He asked.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be hard to come up with anything concrete until we know what the Shadowspawn activity is like. We found there were three gates centrally, one to the west, and several on the mine¡¯s side. We got into the city just fine, but it was a trap. Drau and Bel¡¯gor surrounded us and cut off our escape routes. I lost Idris at the docks.¡±

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    Raelynn¡¯s face was taut, and her arms shook with the tightness of her clenched fists as she spoke, reliving the memory of losing the last of her team. ¡°The west gate is closest geographically, so I suppose we start there. There¡¯s no real way to sneak in, but we¡¯ll keep it fast and quiet. Hopefully, we won¡¯t even need to tangle with Shadow creatures outside of Shades.¡±

    They set off towards Makavi, grim determination written across their faces. The knowledge that there would certainly be a fight ahead focused Casek¡¯s mind. He used the time as effectively could, continuing to cycle slivers of his bound Drau¡¯s power. It was nearly spent, and the persistent whirring in his mind was reaching a fever pitch, pain lancing through his head no matter how much resin he chewed or how used to the constant headaches he got.

    Every step closer to the town they took through the rolling fields of poppy and cornflower cranked the tension up a notch. Beneath his boots he occasionally felt ridges beneath his feet, and every so often had to step around heavily rusted lumps of worked iron¡ªboth evidence of farmland long since overgrown.

    By the time the town walls were close enough to observe properly, Casek was grinding his teeth so much he thought he might wear them down to the gums. The walls were, of course, dilapidated and crumbling, with cracked and splintered timber framing weather-worn stonework.

    Half of the stones were missing or broken, moss covered and scattered around the floor surrounding the town¡¯s border. They skirted westward around the three central gates, two of these destroyed entirely, toward the only partially standing west gate. The thick timber boards were worn and half-rotted, some having fallen away to the ground below.

    Glancing at each other, they nodded, and ducked into the town through a space in the shattered gate. Casek followed Raelynn a handful of steps behind as she darted from building corner to corner, moving with far more ease than he over the cobbled streets.

    Makavi had once been a beautiful and wealthy port town. Close to the walls were the remains of more basic wooden houses, charcoaled husks, all that had been left of them. But before long, they were replaced by larger houses, beautifully worked stone on their ground floor capped by the remains of top floors constructed from pine imported by boat.

    The timber was resin-treated pine and spruce, just as the Aodhan¡¯s shack had been, and built to last far longer than most wooden structures. Even then, Casek was surprised by the quality of them. The bleached plaster facades that covered the stones on the ground floors, once painted an array of stunning colours to match the wildflowers surrounding the town, had crumbled and faded to dirty and dulled imitations of the colour they had once been.

    The timber, whilst worn and damaged by whatever battle had taken place here when the shadows had come, was still in remarkably good condition, considering how long they¡¯d been standing.

    ¡°Any sign of them yet?¡± Casek muttered as he pulled up next to Raelynn after hurrying through a back alley and paused at the corner of a building on the main street that led to the docks.

    Raelynn shook her head, a sheen of sweat coating her forehead, fine strands of black hair sticking to her head. ¡°It¡¯s bothering me we have seen none of them yet. Some shades at least should have been tempted into a fight by now.¡±

    Casek nodded and swallowed. Unbeknownst to Raelynn, he could feel Shades teeming all around them, so many they were barely indistinguishable from each other. Every so often, he caught a hint of other things. Stronger things.

    Yet the streets were bare, and the buildings deserted. Despite what he could sense, there was nothing at all here.

    ¡°Well, remember how I told you I can sense them?¡± he asked, eyes darting from shadow to shadow, searching for any sign of movement.

    Raelynn stopped dead and jerked her head towards him, eyes narrowed. ¡°I hadn¡¯t remembered that, no. We were just about to fight, as I recall.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. The thing is, I can feel them. Now. The place should be teeming with shades. Drau, too, unless I¡¯m misreading what I can feel.¡±

    ¡°And yet they¡¯re not here.¡±

    Casek shook his head, and Raelynn frowned. ¡°Lets just keep our wits about us then. We¡¯re close to where I left Idris.¡±

    Raelynn led him on, past a large stone building on their right. The shattered glass remains that still partially filled the window caught his eye for their bright colours, and the hints of iconography. The tower on one half of the structure reached higher than any other building in the town.

    Tauph was silent, and Casek knew the swirling abyss of profound loss in his head that was not his own well enough to not disturb his companion¡¯s peace.

    Finally, they rushed down a wide, curved set of stairs and underneath a crumbling stone arch, and arrived at the docks. They had emerged onto a broad plaza, large tiles of granite lining the floor. Ahead of them, the ocean spread out in infinite splendour, its surface serene and glittering, but for the broken and rotted wooden poles protruding from its surface in rows, the only remains of the piers where trading ships once moored.

    Raelynn saw none of it. Her eyes were fixated solely on a space in the centre of the plaza they were standing in, unblinking and wide with horror. Her mouth hung open, and hands opened and closed around imaginary blade hilts.

    ¡°Raelynn?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not there.¡± The words came out in a harsh, horrified whisper.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Idris. This was where he was trapped in the stasis crystal. I saw it happen. He¡¯s gone.¡± She turned to him, desperation raising her voice by an octave. ¡°How can he be gone?¡±

 1.21

    Casek watched the panic swell within Raelynn, her shoulders heaving as her breathing grew more and more erratic. She darted her head around the square, searching desperately, vainly, for any sign of the man they¡¯d come to rescue. It hadn¡¯t occurred to Casek until now, but it was a strange thing that in the entire part of the town they¡¯d walked through to get here, they¡¯d seen no sign of any stasis crystals.

    Of course, not all the town would have been imprisoned. Some would have escaped, and some would have been killed in the fighting. But for there to have been none? It was more than a little odd¡ªit was downright impossible.

    He peered around the plaza, searching for some sign of what could have happened.

    ¡°No,¡± Raelynn said, her repeated muttering of the word cutting across the gentle lapping of the ocean like a knife. ¡°No. No, no, no¡ªIt can¡¯t¡ªhe can¡¯t be¡ª¡±

    ¡°Raelynn.¡±

    She jerked her head towards him, face twisted in confused grief, the pain of hope being mercilessly stripped away, writing its way down her face in tears. ¡°He¡¯s gone,¡± she repeated.

    ¡°But not for good,¡± Casek said. ¡°We know they won¡¯t kill if they can help it. He¡¯s alive. We just need to work out where. Look.¡±

    Casek gestured toward the ground, close to where Raelynn was standing. Faint scrape marks streaked their way across it, broad gouges that led into the eastern part of the city. Had these been leading directly from the pier, Casek might have assumed they were from folk dragging cargo, but they had caught his eye precisely because they didn¡¯t. They began right here, directly in the centre of the plaza.

    Raelynn frowned, her eyes following his pointing. She crouched and ran her hand across the drag marks. ¡°The wind and rain have not smoothed these at all. They¡¯re fresh.¡±

    ¡°They lead eastward, toward the mine,¡± Casek said.

    ¡°The mine?¡± Raelynn said, standing and wiping the tear tracks from her sleeve and glancing toward the street that led to the eastern gate. A moment passed, and then her eyes widened in realisation. ¡°When I was first here with Idris, they ambushed us from the underground¡ªDrau attacked from the cellar of a house we were searching for supplies in.¡± She grimaced. ¡°The Drau possessed¡­ arachnid bodies.¡±

    ¡°Spiders?¡±

    Raelynn nodded, and Casek swallowed thickly. Deer and wolves were one thing. Horrifying in their own right, twisted abominations that were uncomfortable even to look at, but spiders had been that even before the Shadow had existed.

    ¡°How big?¡± He asked, wrapping his coat around himself a little tighter, as though it could shield against the chill, creeping dread growing inside him.

    Raelynn blinked before a small smirk tugged at her lips. ¡°The Drau were about the size of a large dog. The Bel¡¯gor that followed us into the plaza, on the other hand¡­¡±

    She laughed as an audible groan escaped Casek¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Come,¡± she said, smile lingering even as she turned eastward. ¡°Let¡¯s follow these marks to the mine and get Idris out of there.¡±

    Casek¡¯s stomach twisted at the thought of going underground, knowing what kind of enemy awaited them, but he nodded regardless and set off alongside her.

    ¡°And Casek?¡± Raelynn said, looking up at him from the corner of her eyes as they walked. ¡°Thank you. I shouldn¡¯t have fallen apart like that. I¡¯ve lost people before¡ªI should be able to¡ª¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± he said, waving away her thanks. ¡°You thought you¡¯d lost your friend for good after thinking you¡¯d be able to save him. I get it. You don¡¯t need to apologise for normal human emotions.¡±

    ¡°I should have kept my head far better than I did. If we¡¯d have been in a fight¡ª¡±

    ¡°But we weren¡¯t. Besides, it¡¯s been a wild couple of days for both of us. It would be weird if emotions weren¡¯t fraught. Cut yourself some slack, Raelynn¡ªif only because holding on to that kind of thinking will get in the way when the fighting starts.¡±

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    Raelynn looked at him shrewdly. ¡°Those sound like words borne of experience.¡±

    ¡°I honestly couldn¡¯t say,¡± he said, shrugging. ¡°I think so, though. I remember the lesson learned, just not how I learned it. Same with my own name, or even swordplay. The knowledge and experience is in me, but it¡¯s like the learning itself has been plucked right out.¡±

    Above them, the skies were darkening, and the buildings flanking them were casting ever larger shadows. Still, Casek could feel the shades swarming around them. Still, he saw no sign at all of them. The prospect of delving underground was causing an ever larger lump to form at the back of Casek¡¯s throat, especially as his mind connected the dots and drew the conclusion that the Shadowspawn he had been sensing were all, in fact, beneath them.

    ¡°It¡¯s odd, though,¡± Raelynn continued, oblivious to Casek¡¯s growing discomfort. ¡°I have no such memory loss. Admittedly, I was imprisoned for far less time than you, but I remember every single excruciating second of it.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± Casek said, grimacing as he decided it was time to be a little more open with the woman. ¡°I don¡¯t actually know if I was within a stasis crystal.¡±

    Raelynn stopped short, turning to him with knitted eyebrows. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± he said, rubbing the back of his head. ¡°My first memory is being awake in that Gods-forsaken building. If I was trapped in one of those things, there was no sign of it when I came to, and I have no memory of being trapped in one until I tried to escape.¡±

    ¡°How can that be possible if not for a stasis crystal?¡±

    Casek shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ll let you know if I ever find out.¡±

    ¡°If you ever get your memories back, it¡¯ll probably be one of the last things I ask about.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Casek said, quirking an eyebrow as the pair set off again towards the eastern gate.

    ¡°My grandfather collected books,¡± she said, eyes locked on the ground. ¡°He had a thing for preserving what little knowledge we¡¯d been able to keep hold of after the war, and eventually became the Head Archivist of Oreia. The house was full of them. The historical ones are what really caught my attention. Stories of the world before the Shadow.¡±

    ¡°Hopefully a vision for the future, as well as the past,¡± he said.

    ¡°It was more the gaping holes that drew me in. The mystery of it. Thousands of years of human writing, reduced to a haphazard collection of books and scrolls¡ªfull of gaps and inconsistencies. Puzzles for me to solve, answers for me to unravel.¡±

    ¡°Is that what the book is for?¡± Casek asked, nodding towards the leather-bound tome she wore at her waist before returning to scanning the rapidly swelling shadows.

    ¡°Yes, and no. Keeping a good record of now is just as important as finding those of the past,¡± she smiled softly, patting the book gently. ¡°Besides, keeping records for future generations reminds me that, no matter how bad things get, I still hold hope there will be future generations. Hope that things will have gotten better enough that they can afford to spend their time reading books, rather than learning the sword.¡±

    ¡°That is a goal I can get behind.¡±

    ¡°Goal? It¡¯s a pipe dream, really. Our people are on their last legs, Casek. We rely on the amnesty of our enemies to even have a chance at survival. Even with you being able to do what you can do¡ªthings are too far gone. All we can do now is delay the inevitable for as long as possible. There is no peaceful tomorrow. Not really.¡±

    Casek had no response to that. He didn¡¯t believe it, but this had only been his fight for as long as he¡¯d been awake. He had no right to argue, and there was nothing he could say that would comfort the deep despair the laced Raelynn¡¯s words.

    Instead, they walked together in silence through the deathly silent town, waiting, muscles taut with fear, for any sign of the enemy.

    Nothing came. They reached the entrance to the mine. It was a crumbling, pale stone building with an arched entry instead of a door. Inside, Casek could see a path lined with heavily rusted cart tracks that led gently down a slope into the pitch black depths within.

    Casek swallowed thickly, and Raelynn moved to march into the darkness. Before he could stop himself, he reached out and caught her by the shoulder, stopping her in her tracks.

    ¡°In the dark with no preparation? Are we sure that¡¯s the best plan?¡±

    She quirked an eyebrow. ¡°You have an alternative?¡±

    ¡°Waiting for daylight, for one,¡± he scoffed. ¡°We make camp and get a proper night¡¯s sleep, and crucially prep some torches, so we aren¡¯t fumbling around in the dark. We won¡¯t be able to rescue anyone if we step out over a pit and fall to our deaths.¡±

    Raelynn sighed, but acquiesced to Casek¡¯s suggestion. They made camp a short distance from the entrance, opting not to make a fire to avoid any unwanted attention. Casek took first watch, allowing Raelynn to get some much-needed rest ahead of tomorrow¡¯s task.

    He spent it gazing into the pitch black surrounding them, straining his eyes to distinguish potential threats moving in the dark, from the shifting of his eyes playing tricks on him. As he waited, he cycled the last of the Drau¡¯s power, stealing away the last scraps of strength from the well in his mind. It faded, leaving behind only Tauph¡¯s deathly still pool.

    There was a whimper in his head, and suddenly the howling of the Drau was gone, leaving his ears ringing, but blessedly free of noise. Casek glanced at his wrist. Upon the foci, six gleaming jewels shone back at him in the darkness, with a seventh faintly shimmering beside them.

    Strength he¡¯d never felt before filled him as his increased magical reserves reinforced his body. He had done all he could with the time he had.

    Casek just hoped it would be enough.

 1.22

    They found themselves standing outside the mine entrance once more early the next morning. Casek held a makeshift torch in his hand, crafted from greenwood harvested on the outskirts of the town, one end soaked with the rest of Raelynn¡¯s pine resin. They¡¯d had enough to make four, and Casek had a second hanging from a belt loop at his waist.

    Even knowing he would have light, the darkness ahead of them loomed, overbearing. He could still feel the mass of Shadowspawn that filled the mines, a teeming swarm of hungry enemies that would surely descend upon them en masse as soon as they were discovered.

    Worse was knowing the form the stronger Shadow creatures had taken. Drau in the shape of spiders was enough to turn Casek¡¯s stomach¡ªBel¡¯gor that big made him want to run for the hills.

    Try to remember how much you¡¯ve grown, Casek. The Drau we fought in the woods with Raelynn would fall to you now, far easier than it did back then. The Drau down here will do the same.

    It¡¯s not really the Drau I¡¯m worried about.

    The Bel¡¯gor are why we have Raelynn.

    And if more than one comes at a time?

    Tauph hesitated. We¡¯ll cross that bridge if we come to it. Hopefully, we won¡¯t.

    And that was exactly Casek¡¯s problem with their task. Too much rode on their luck holding out. Raelynn was a capable fighter, and far stronger than he, but could she fight multiple Bel¡¯gor? Two had been enough to defeat her before.

    Of course, there was also the fact that these enemies were oversized spiders to add to the swirling pit of unease in his stomach. He would have to fight past his fear of arachnids.

    One look at Raelynn told him that any pleas to delay their plans any further would fall on deaf ears. She stared into the darkness; her face the picture of stony determination, jaw clenched and a hardness to her expression that made her seem carved of stone.

    Her eyes slid to him. ¡°Are you ready for this?¡±

    ¡°Nope,¡± he answered, voice dripping with false-cheer, before the smile slid from his face, and he allowed some of his own determination to show through. ¡°Let¡¯s go rescue your friend.¡±

    Raelynn nodded and lit her torch, striding into the darkness. Casek followed closely. He wouldn¡¯t light his own torch until her first was spent, or it was clear they needed the light of both. No sense in wasting precious light when exploring a place like this, after all.

    The first section of the mine was by far the broadest tunnel; with well-crafted wooden struts lining the way down and panelled timber covering the walls, keeping out the soil from collapsing in on the tunnel. Carts and strangely hooked picks lay abandoned intermittently along the track they followed downward, along with a variety of other knick knacks left behind when somewhere like this was abandoned in a hurry.

    What really shocked Casek, though, was the condition of everything. The wooden structures here had held up to the degradation of time remarkably well, and even the rails here were coated far more thinly with rust. It was as though the place had been abandoned five hundred years later than it actually had.

    They pressed on deeper and deeper, the frigid bite of the air growing more severe the further they travelled. Soon, the wood panelling grew more sparse, before eventually, it disappeared entirely, revealing tool-marked pink stone that glowed softly in the torchlight. There was a salty tang in the air that stung at his eyes and lips, drying them out.

    The swarming mass of shades he¡¯d sensed the previous day drew ever closer, their tainted presence growing stronger and fouler with every step, until Casek expected them to leap out of the darkness ahead at any moment.

    Soon enough, they did.

    Gibbering, gangly beasts tumbled from the mirk. In dribs and drabs at first, but soon they crashed against Casek and Raelynn in great waves of scything limbs and gnashing teeth. They poured out of the black, skittering along the walls and roof when there was no more room on the floor.

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    At this point, they were a minor inconvenience at best, blades cutting through them as easy as mist, but cleaving a path through them slowed progress down the mines to a crawl.

    The dissipated smoke flooded back into their blades. Raelynn seemed not to notice, but strength pulsed through his veins, the rapid influx of heady power setting his heart racing. He and Raelynn settled into an easy rhythm, dancing through the flood of enemies, a storm of flickering blades and acrid, black smoke.

    The Shades continued to hurl themselves at them, even whilst their numbers thinned, until only handfuls of the frenzied creatures hurled themselves upon their blades.

    ¡°Back in the building I woke up in,¡± Casek grunted, running his sword across the gut of an especially bulbous Shade. ¡°They got the message pretty quick when I started cutting them down.¡±

    ¡°Something is driving them on,¡± Raelynn replied, eyes narrowing as a pair of shades leaped at her, forcing her to lash out with the short blade in her offhand and bisecting both with a single clean strike. ¡°The stronger shadowspawn below are trying to wear us down by throwing the chaff at us.¡±

    The trickle of enemies soon faded to nothing, and once again the pair were left standing in the darkness, the sound of their heavy breathing the only indication there had been a fight at all. Raelynn relit her torch.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know they were that organised.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯ are plenty of stories from the more experienced binders,¡± Raelynn said, crouching down in front of a shaft at the end of the tunnel they¡¯d been walking down. ¡°Bel¡¯gor leading packs of Drau on hunts. Shades gathering close to more powerful shadows. Nothing confirmed beyond circumstantially, of course¡ªpeople who try usually don¡¯t end up coming back.¡±

    With no small amount of trepidation, Casek joined Raelynn beside the shaft, staring down into the impenetrable black below.

    ¡°I have zero interest in climbing down into that hole,¡± Casek said bluntly, pointing towards the ladder-lined hole that would take them down to the next level of the mine. ¡°So if you were to ask me where I thought Idris was, my money would be on down there.¡±

    ¡°Sadly, I think you¡¯re right,¡± Raelynn answered.

    She took a deep, steadying breath and without a moment¡¯s further hesitation, she reached for the ladder and hauled herself down below. Casek swore softly, and hurried after her, fumbling his way down the rough iron steps and into the darkness. The salt tang on the air sharpened the further down the ladder they went, and each tremble and shake of the iron sent shivers of panic down Casek¡¯s spine.

    Raelynn pressed on, undeterred, and it left Casek to do his best to keep pace, forcing himself after her. Whatever waited for them below would have to face them both together. Thoughts of shadowspawn drew his eyes momentarily to his wrist. All seven gems gleamed in the dark, the last dimmer by only a barely perceptible amount. He was close now.

    It was a blessed relief when Casek felt the kiss of stone beneath his boots, only made larger when Raelynn¡¯s torch lit the cavern they¡¯d descended into. It was far broader than the entrance tunnel, the pale pink saltrock hacked and hewn to a far greater degree than above. Tool marks marked every inch of the floor, walls and ceiling, every available scrap of rock that could be mined out without collapsing the place taken.

    Like above, wooden struts lined the walls, with support beams dug in above. But even seeing their relatively good condition did nothing to assuage the nagging ache in his belly that the roof could be moments from collapsing in on them.

    They pushed forward, and quickly, Casek wished they hadn¡¯t. The floor became strangely sticky, holding onto their boots for just a moment as they tried to walk over it. He looked down, curious, and felt the colour drain from his face. A fine coating of pale white silk covered the floor, a whisper-thin matting that stretched out ahead of them into the darkness.

    It spread up the walls, reaching across the corners in intricate threaded patterns. Dotted throughout the white were the desiccated bodies of the unfortunate cave creatures who tried to walk across the coating of what was undoubtedly spider silk.

    ¡°Raelynn,¡± he said, voice a harsh whisper, trying to get her attention. She wasn¡¯t listening. Her attention had been stolen by something else up ahead. Casek followed her gaze, and his own eyes widened in awe as he saw what the flickering light of Raelynn¡¯s torch had unearthed.

    The cavern ahead sparked pink and lilac as the firelight danced across the surface of a network of crystalline structures filling the entire width of the cavern. A gemstone web from floor to ceiling, that reached back as far as their light was able to travel.

    But it was not even this that had stolen his breath from him. It was the dark black shapes dotted throughout the structure like flies in a web.

    Humans. Hundreds and hundreds of people, a thousand years trapped by the shadowspawn that had ravaged their home. Casek stumbled forward to the closest figure, a blond-haired man clad in simple earth-tone clothes, his eyes frozen wide in the terror of his final free moments.

    Casek moved his hand up to press it against the crystal structure, and as he did, the man¡¯s pupils shrunk to adjust for the closeness of his hand.

    ¡°Gods,¡± he whispered, as the true horrors of what had been done to the world since he¡¯d begun his long sleep sunk in. He looked up at the vastness of the crystal web, the sheer number of people here, not quite alive, and forbidden from dying. How many times and in how many places was this scene repeated? Entire populations of people trapped and grazed upon like cattle for entire millennia.

    The enormity of cruelty set the world spinning around him, and he dropped to his knees and reacted in the only way he could as the thought of being in this place, awake and aware, for a thousand years filled his mind.

    He vomited.

 1.23

    ¡°Gods,¡± Casek whispered, unable to tear his eyes away from the man encased in crystal. ¡°There are so many.¡±

    ¡°Try to avoid looking if you can¡ªit¡¯s easier to deal with, then.¡±

    He glanced her way and saw that she was being true to her advice. She glared steadfastly ahead, out into the darkness beyond the tangled web of crystal.

    ¡°How many times have you seen something like this, Raelynn?¡±

    She sighed. ¡°I¡¯ve only been an active duty Binder for a year or so¡ªpart of the ranger corps for half that. In that time, I¡¯ve only been to two or three places outside of Oreia that were once particularly populated. At each one, there is something like this. Nobody has been spared, Casek. Every city¡ªevery town, village and hamlet¡ªhas been reduced to this. And we¡¯re forced to meekly scavenge for scraps among the living corpses, functionally dead because we can do nothing to free them.¡±

    ¡°But we can do something. Right here and now.¡±

    ¡°The thought has crossed my mind,¡± Raelynn said, an edge to her tone that Casek didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°So¡­Shall I get started, or¡­?¡±

    She rounded on him, eyes tight with barely restrained frustration.

    ¡°And then what, Casek? These people have been here for a thousand years. Awake. Seeing everything. Aware of everything. What kind of state do you think their minds are in? Even if they¡¯re still sane¡ªand that¡¯s a big if¡ªwhat are we supposed to do with them? Do you have the food and water to keep them alive for long enough to get back to Oreia? You and I are the only ones with foci: can you escort them back safely?¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°If we free these people now, we¡¯re only consigning them to a short, brutal period of freedom before they¡¯re picked off again.¡±

    ¡°At least they¡¯ll have a chance.¡±

    ¡°No, they won¡¯t. Look,¡± she said, placing a heavy hand upon her shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m not saying we won¡¯t free them. But let¡¯s do it right. We¡¯ll get support from back home to keep them safe and fed. We can bring more supplies, more Binders for security. We¡¯ll actually save a lot more of these people that way.¡±

    The idea of leaving these people here was abominable to him, but Raelynn was right. They couldn¡¯t ensure their safety. Those that didn¡¯t starve would likely be caught again, only this time, they¡¯d be more difficult to find, scattered instead of all together.

    And yet, you have to wonder what they themselves would choose.

    That¡¯s my problem with Raelynn¡¯s solution, Tauph. If it were me, I¡¯d want to take my chances. Better than even another second trapped in there. One thousand years¡­ I¡¯m forever grateful I can¡¯t remember my sleep. C¡ªCan you remember it all?

    It¡¯s different for me. I¡¯m a part of you. When you¡¯re not conscious, things are not the same as when you are. They¡¯re not as clear. As defined. Time moved differently when you slept.

    I¡¯m glad about that much, at least.

    ¡°Come on,¡± Raelynn said. ¡°We need to move. I still see no sign of Idris, so there must be further chamber where people are being kept.¡±

    Casek clenched his eyes shut, the weight of leaving these people here making it nearly impossible to move his feet. He opened them again, forcing himself to meet the man¡¯s all-too aware eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry. We¡¯ll be back, and when we do, I¡¯ll free you all. I swear it.¡±

    He touched the crystal again, briefly, before tearing himself away and moving after Raelynn, further into the black.

    They roamed through winding paths left in the crystal webs lined with the still-living townsfolk, who watched them pass with eyes that burned at Casek¡¯s back as he walked on. Deeper and deeper they went, the light of Raelynn¡¯s torch fading to a flicker, before it died.

    The black swallowed them whole. Casek fumbled at his waist for his own torch, pulling it from the belt loop, and fumbling around for his firelights.

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    ¡°Casek,¡± Raelynn hissed. ¡°What is that?¡±

    He froze. Casek heard nothing at first. He strained to hear past his own breathing in the pitch darkness, eyes vainly scanning for movement that was not his own. Then he heard it. A subtle scratching of something on stone. The sound trickled around them like ice-water down the back of the shirt, his muscles cringing as they tried to anticipate an attack before it came.

    ¡°Get that light on!¡±

    His hands jerked back into motion, fingers searching out his flint and steel blindly. The clawing grew closer as he struck at the flint with increasing desperation. It seemed to echo all around him, the close crystal walls casting the sound at him from every direction.

    Mercifully, the torch lit in a burst of amber light in moments, bathing the area in dancing light.

    They both searched vainly for the source of the scratching, even as it grew in volume. Now, there was more than one source. Raelynn turned back towards him, and behind her, he saw it. Spindly black shapes, reaching lithely around the crystal at her back, two at first, then two more.

    Attached, a grotesque black shape was pulled along behind the unsettlingly graceful limbs bearing it aloft. It was in two clear sections, a bulbous shape at the rear, streaked violently with orange and yellow, and a smaller segment at the front that wielded a pair of viciously hooked fangs.

    Casek fought back the urge to vomit again. The entire world narrowed to exclude everything but that hideous shape advancing across the ceiling toward an unaware Raelynn. Raelynn.

    His mouth worked soundlessly, terror pinning the words to the back of his throat. She frowned, realising something was wrong. Too late. Its two most forward limbs reared back. Raelynn¡¯s mouth moved, asking him what was wrong, but he couldn¡¯t form the words, terror stirring his mind into a storm.

    Shit. Desperation spurred him to action, even whilst his words failed him. He dashed forward, blade flaring to life in his hand. The increased strength from the Drau flowed through him, legs working faster than he¡¯d once thought humanly possible. Casek was a blur, salt-dried air stinging at his eyes, and he lashed out, cleaving the two front legs from their owner as they descended to strike.

    The creature shrieked, its lost legs dissolving into mist and being taken in by Casek¡¯s blade. Casek¡¯s instincts kicked in, his battle experience outweighing the fear, and he pressed the advantage, regaining enough presence of mind to feel out the creature¡¯s strength. It was a Drau, and not one of the stronger ones at that. He pushed forward in the face of reaching limbs, and ran his blade through the spider creature without mercy, its power flowing into him.

    A second followed the first, bundling into Casek before he could react and knocking him to the ground. He twisted beneath its writhing legs, avoiding a darting bite aimed at his throat, and responding with his own fang. He drove his sword into its gut, stealing its life away. The effort of killing this one was greater than the first, its more impressive strength more difficult to break through.

    Casek climbed to his feet in time to witness the swarm of arachnid Drau rush into the room. A far larger spider followed too, the magic pouring from this one dwarfing the others. Fortunately, Raelynn had already sprung into action, her foci-spawned blades a whirlwind as she cleaved a path through the horde towards the most powerful opponent.

    His role in the fight was clear¡ªto keep the Drau from interfering in Raelynn¡¯s battle, and he took to the task with a fierceness and spite that could only come from being deathly afraid of the enemy. He would not, could not, allow himself to fall to these creatures. Casek couldn¡¯t imagine a more viscerally perfect hell for him than to be trapped here in a nest of arachnids, even if he could break himself out.

    Casek, behind!

    It was a good thing Tauph was paying attention. Casek threw himself to the side, avoiding a hulking shape¡¯s lightning fast pounce from above. He whirled to face it and blanched, as a second Bel¡¯gor loomed above him. Its spear-like front legs lashed out at him, meeting Casek¡¯s raised blade so heavily he staggered back several steps. A second blow sent him sprawling, draining a frightening amount of his power as it made contact.

    A quick glance at Raelynn drained the hope from him. A mass of Drau surrounded her as she fought her own Bel¡¯gor in a torrent of black mist and shining incorporeal steel.

    He scrambled back as his own opponent rushed at him, legs lancing out as if to skewer him on the ground. Casek found himself in full retreat, desperately doing all he could to avoid it¡¯s too-fast legs. The creature¡¯s size was a cruel trick, an illusion that disguised its unbelievable speed and flexibility.

    Tauph, I can¡¯t beat this thing as I am¡ªwhat the fuck do I do?

    I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t know. I¡ª There was a pause as Casek weaved between a trio of rapid thrusts, avoiding the first two and deflecting the third with a deft twist of his sword, the manoeuvre costing him another portion of strength. Wait. You¡¯re right. You can¡¯t beat it as you are now¡ªbut what if you weren¡¯t?

    Less cryptic, Tauph! Casek hissed in his mind, teeth clenched tight.

    You need to focus on the Drau. Stay out of this thing¡¯s range and mop up as much of the others as you can.

    Casek swore, still not understanding, but Tauph had earned enough trust, and Casek had few enough other ideas, that he didn¡¯t question it again.

    He span away from another vicious stabbing, and made a break for the mass of Drau swarming Raelynn. It shrieked, but Casek didn¡¯t slow, sweeping his blade through the first one he came across. It burst into mist, and Casek felt some of the strength he¡¯d lost flow back into him, brightening the seventh gem on the foci on his wrist.

    Suddenly, he smiled as Tauph¡¯s plan became clear, and set off at a sprint away from the rapidly approaching Bel¡¯gor.

    It was a slim chance, but that was all he needed.

 1.24

    Casek threw himself at the mass of spindly legged arachnids swarming around Raelynn. She was frighteningly fast, moving like the wind between slicing limbs and cutting fangs, eviscerating Drau with her own precise strikes. The Bel¡¯gor waded through it all, lashing out with wild swipes that carved through the weaker demons in its efforts to reach its real target.

    She danced away, nimbly repositioning herself for an attack at the Bel¡¯gor, opening a gaping wound in its thorax before dashing back out of its range.

    Casek enacted his own vicious dance. He had to be careful¡ªhe was not so fast as Raelynn, and a good hit from one of the Drau would do far more harm to him than it would to her. He ran his blade through the first Drau, before whirling around to liberate another of its front legs as it prepared an attack.

    The Bel¡¯gor chasing him arrived just as he tore his blade through the core of the fallen Drau, and Casek leaped away, darting back from flailing legs. His heart raced as yet more energy seeped into him and he used every ounce of the strength gained to avoid the flurry of clawed arms that responded.

    He sidestepped a stabbing limb, and stepped inside the shadowspawn¡¯s guard, using both hands to slash its torso. It grunted, stumbling back and turning away as Casek¡¯s blade bled away a touch of its strength. A back leg flashed, one second propping up the beast¡¯s swollen torso, the next stabbing at Casek¡¯s shoulder.

    White hot pain shot through the wound, and for a moment, Casek¡¯s blade flickered as his concentration wavered. The Bel¡¯gor took full advantage. It ran at him, reining down a storm of vicious attacks that had Casek scrambling away, desperate. He backtracked as quickly as he could manage, barely dodging, and ducked around the blows, until he felt his heels collide with the stone beneath his feet. He careened back, hitting the floor and knocking the breath from him.

    Had Casek been even a second slower in reactivating his blade, he would be dead. The Bel¡¯gor tried to stamp down on his chest with its two front legs, and he managed to get the sword between them and it. This time, his weapon held. Casek propped up the flat edge of the blade with the palm of his off-hand, and the Bel¡¯gor pressed the entirety of its weight down upon him, trying to shatter his blade.

    Casek¡¯s arms burned and shook, the Bel¡¯gor somehow managing to increase the pressure on him. His teeth clenched. He tried to focus all of his attention on the flow of power between him and his sword, the only thing between him and those sinuous legs plunging through his chest.

    The well of his power sat within him, a flowing stream of strength that ran neatly along the path he¡¯d created for it. It was deeper than it had ever been, with new, untapped potential. Something caught his attention. A smaller flow, a creek bleeding away from the lake. He followed it and realised with a growing horror it led to where the blade touched the Bel¡¯gor.

    I thought I was matching its strength and stopping it from stealing mine!

    So did I, Tauph said, anxiety radiating from him as he spoke. It¡¯s of the Other, though. A creature of magic. No matter how powerful we become, we have to assume these things can do things with magic we don¡¯t know about.

    How fair. Casek thought, his arms screaming and slowly giving ground to the Bel¡¯gor, the sword creeping ever closer to his own face. Tauph, what do you suppose happens if I channel strength to somewhere that¡¯s not our blade?

    No idea, but is now the best time to be experimenting?

    Any better ideas? This thing is stronger, Tauph!

    A fair point. Let¡¯s find out.

    Casek tried to think past the slowly lowering blade and the eight, shining black eyes staring hungrily down at him, and concentrated on his reserve of strength. He¡¯d gotten pretty adept at guiding power from his core and through the foci to create his weapon. It was almost an instinctual process at this point.

    But he¡¯d never channelled two flows at once before¡ªand that was without thinking about whether channelling magic into the rest of his body would even work.

    If we¡¯re going to try this, Casek, you haven¡¯t got the space in here for self-doubt. There¡¯s barely enough room in here for a coherent thought as it is. It¡¯s a wonder you¡¯re able to function like a person at all¡­

    Casek had to hold back the snort of laughter that threatened to bubble forth from his mouth, worried the shake would send one of the Bel¡¯gor¡¯s claws sliding free from the blade¡¯s edge and through his chest. Telling Tauph to go fuck himself also had to wait, even if the joke had its intended effect.

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    He reached for his well of power, delicately directing a second flow away from his core. It followed his guidance hesitantly, his grasp on it wavering significantly the longer he held onto it.

    His concentration held.

    The trickle of power spread through him, washing through his chest and arms like cool spring water. Refreshing. Revitalising. The burning in his arms receded, the crushing weight of the Bel¡¯gor lessening considerably. He increased the flow like widening a dam, allowing a rush to follow the path he¡¯d laid out.

    This was different to channelling through the foci. That was steady and controlled. This was a sudden burst, a great wave that flooded through him, disappearing as quickly as it had come. His gut told him this would be the only time he could manage this in this fight¡ªa desperate, last resort to get himself free of this enemy.

    He forced his arms up, head light from the rush of new power, and twisted. The motion threw the Bel¡¯gor off-balance, sending its legs to the side, and the creature staggering away, allowing Casek to roll free. He rose, and with the last of his boosted strength carved a savage wound in the Bel¡¯gor¡¯s torso.

    It writhed and screamed on the floor, but Casek could sense, even as his temporary power faded, it was far from dead. Still not strong enough to kill the bastard thing.

    He dashed back to the now greatly reduced mass of Drau still trying to get at Raelynn, sweat pouring from his face, panting heavily. He glanced at his wrist, and saw two of his gems had been extinguished entirely, leaving him with five¡ªa significant drop in stamina.

    Shit! I¡¯ll have to work fast.

    He threw himself headlong at the Drau, hacking and hewing the sheer black forms apart, absorbing as much of their strength and power as he could, trying desperately to recover what was lost. Between him and the still-fighting Raelynn, the number of Drau were falling away rapidly. And with them, the chaotic storm of noise and movement was subsiding.

    It wouldn¡¯t be enough.

    He forced himself on, cutting down enemy after enemy, but whilst his magical strength grew with each slain, his body weakened. Reaction times had started to slow, and breathing was growing ever more difficult as he pushed himself to keep moving¡ªkeep killing. The Drau were landing blows, however, and for every three killed, one would siphon away some more of his won strength.

    Six gems were lit by the time he heard the Bel¡¯gor approach once more, this time with learned caution. It simply hadn¡¯t been enough.

    There is another option, Tauph said, gravely.

    What?

    Cycle my strength again.

    Tauph, last time you were out of it for an entire day. I¡¯d need to take far more this time! I know it hurt you far more than you were willing to let on¡ªwe can¡¯t do that gain.

    Don¡¯t be such an obtuse moron, Casek. Yes, it will hurt. In case you hadn¡¯t noticed, Raelynn has been having trouble with her enemy¡ªthis Bel¡¯gor is considerably younger and weaker. She can¡¯t spare the time. This¡¯ll hurt a lot less than dying to that thing.

    Casek ground his teeth in impotent frustration. The Bel¡¯gor approached, its multitude of eyes staring at him, watching keenly for what he was going to do next. He had already surprised it once. It clearly wasn¡¯t keen on being surprised again by something so much weaker than it. Casek peered back, stomach twisting at the sight of it.

    Shamefully, the nauseating grip of fear made it difficult to deny that Tauph was right.

    Fine, he said. But in return, you tell me what actually happens to you when I do this. It¡¯s hurting you, Tauph, and I want to know how much before we try this again.

    We don¡¯t have time for this, you stupid, sentimental¡ªYou know what? I¡¯ll tell you. But not before. I¡¯ll tell you after, when you get us out of this place. Deal?

    The Bel¡¯gor was nearly upon them, mandibles twitching eagerly, limbs raising to strike out at its prey. It knew it was stronger, that as long as it was careful, it would get its meal.

    Deal, Casek said. He reached out for Tauph¡¯s power with his own, greedily drawing up as much of the serene pool¡¯s contents as he could manage in one go, and preparing to sever it. He was forced to estimate how much he would need, but judging by how much strength he¡¯d had to steal to fully light the sixth jewel on his foci, he had just enough.

    The spider-like shadowspawn gleefully reared back, just as Casek cut the mass of Tauph¡¯s power free. There was a hauntingly agonised scream. The sound etched a scar into his memory that Casek knew would wake him up cold and sweating years from now, provided he lived long enough. Then, power exploded out of him. Blinding white light filled the cavern, surrounding Casek in a sphere of brilliant light.

    Magic tore through him like ground glass shards, ripping him apart from the inside, rewriting him into something new. Something strong. Casek was loosely aware of the Bel¡¯gor striking out at the sphere around him vainly, unable to penetrate the swirling ball of power before being blown back and tumbling across the cavern floor.

    As suddenly as it had come, the light was gone, depositing Casek upright onto the cavern floor. The raging battle had frozen to watch things unfold, Raelynn staring at him slack-jawed with open eyes. He held up the leather greave created by his foci¡ªonly it wasn¡¯t leather anymore. At least, not entirely. It was now trimmed neatly with gleaming steel. The circle upon the inside of his forearm had grown too, and now a second faintly shining line loosely wrapped its way around the circle¡¯s edge like a rope.

    We did it, he announced gleefully inside his own head, only to be met with deafening silence. He hadn¡¯t been expecting a reply¡ªbut he¡¯d hoped, regardless.

    Still, they had done it. He had advanced to the Second Circle. Now, at least, they had a chance.