The first to move was Adrian's shadow. Axe lifted, swing dropping fast.
Merlin raised his blade to meet it.
Steel met steel, no, mock-steel. Still the impact jarred him back. His knees buckled, arms shaking. The strength that once made such clashes effortless now felt brittle.
He staggered back two steps.
Adrian's hollow voice scraped air. "Missed me?"
The others joined in, discordant echoes of voices he knew. Liliana's laugh on repeat, Ethan muttering the same line: "I'm bored, I'm bored, I'm bored." Seraphina reciting rules in clipped fragments, Dorian's silence louder than sound.
They came at him together.
Merlin's body refused to answer at the speed he wanted. His parry missed by a fraction, axe clipping his shoulder. Pain flared. Real pain. Warm blood down his arm.
He hissed. Slashed at Liliana's shadow. Steel cut, but not clean, like hacking fog. The wound sealed instantly, her head twitching side to side in endless loop.
[The Audience leans forward.]
