In a hidden cave on the outskirts of Garrand, where the air smelled faintly of iron and moss, Nicholas stood alone at the mouth of the cavern.
The last rays of sunlight spilled across the jagged rocks, painting them in hues of dying gold and deep crimson. Shadows stretched long at his feet, twisting and curling as if alive. The wind outside carried the faint cries of gulls from far beyond the cliffs, but here, the air was thick and silent.
He stood still, his cloak pooling around him like liquid night, his ash gray eyes fixed on the horizon where the sun sank lower and lower. Soon it would be night and he was waiting.
Behind him, two figures lingered in the dimness of the cave. One leaned lazily against the wall, masked and draped in black, an assassin of the Shadow Order whose presence carried the chill of blood already spilled. The other stood closer, arms crossed, his posture loose but his eyes sharp — K, Nicholas's confidant and oldest companion.
"Will it really appear bigger this time?" K asked finally, his voice cutting into the quiet.
Nicholas didn't turn. "No doubt," he said flatly. "It absorbed my shadow yesterday, and a Celestial's arrow. It feeds on strength. On anything it can devour."
K clicked his tongue in annoyance, pushing off the wall and stepping into the fading light. "Why is a Celestial here at all? And not just any soldier – a Legacy, no less. The Celestial Realm never cared about places like this before. Garrand doesn't even exist on most of their maps."
At that, Nicholas finally turned, the faintest edge of a smirk tugging at his lips. His gaze swept over K, cool and calculating. "Did you hear anything from Jo?" he asked, voice low.
K raised his hand, and with a flick of his fingers, a shadow bloomed at his palm, spiraling outward into a shimmering black circle. It expanded silently, distorting the air around it, until at last the circle rippled – and another figure stepped through.
Jo emerged from the shadow, his robes billowing faintly from the residual magic. He held something in his hand, the black feather Nicholas had taken from the phoenix the night before, and his expression was grim as he examined it.
"It's confirmed," Jo said as he came to stand before them. "A curse. Deep, deliberate. Not a wild one either – this is crafted, someone's work." He held out the feather for K to see, then tucked it back into his sleeve.
Nicholas gave him a pointed look. "We could have handled this," Jo said after a moment, narrowing his eyes at Nicholas. "Why did you go yourself?"
K snorted. "That's right. You startled us when you vanished without word, and without backup. Good thing I don't sleep much."
Nicholas tilted his head, the faintest of sighs escaping him. "I can handle it without you," he replied coolly, though his words carried a weight beneath them. His gaze flicked to K, then to Jo, then back to the mouth of the cave. "You only got in the way."
K arched a brow, a wry smile curling his lips. "Is that what you call caring for you?"
Nicholas ignored him.
In truth, he hadn't expected either of them to follow — nor had he asked. The plan had been simple: finish the task and leave before Garrand even realized he'd been there. Yet when he felt K and Jo's presence appear behind him in the square last night, something in his chest had tightened.
He didn't like to name the feeling. Especially when he was with EJ.
He turned back to the dying light outside. "It moves soon," he murmured, more to himself than to them. "When it does, it'll be stronger. And this time…"
His ash gray eyes narrowed, catching the last glint of sun before it sank below the cliffs entirely.
"…we'll see just how much it's willing to take from me."
Behind him, K exchanged a glance with Jo and the silent assassin lurking in the shadows. Neither of them spoke — though their eyes betrayed the questions they didn't dare voice aloud. It was clear Nicholas's fixation on this phoenix went far beyond what was necessary, far beyond what any mission required.
There was something personal in the way he stood there, rigid and waiting, as though the creature had taken something from him no one else could understand.
But though suspicion flickered between them like embers, neither K nor Jo dared to break the silence.
The cave grew darker still, the last threads of daylight unraveling into the yawning night. At the threshold, the wind whistled low and cold, carrying with it the distant cry of some unseen bird.
Nicholas only drew his cloak tighter about his shoulders, his ash gray eyes narrowing against the shadows, his jaw tight and unyielding.
And he waited.
EJ waited for nightfall, his back pressed against the cold stone of a rooftop, amber eyes fixed on the horizon. Tonight, he told himself, there would be no more victims.
But the truth was, it wasn't the phoenix that made his chest feel tight. It wasn't even the curses.
It was the truth he might uncover the truth he'd already begun to suspect that left him unsettled.
Earlier, he had sent his report through the Celestial path. If Captain Will received it in time, it would alert the other Legacies.
He hadn't requested backup. Not because he didn't need it, but because he didn't want it. Not tonight.
He'd written that a Shadower was here, but he hadn't said who. He couldn't. Not yet.
The air thickened as the last of the sun's light bled away.
Then it came.
A scream split the heavens, sharp and primal. The sound made the stones beneath him tremble.
Above, the phoenix rose, no longer the size of a horse, but now towering, monstrous. Its wings spread like a storm, blotting out the stars, flames of shadow curling at the edges of its feathers. Five times bigger than it had been yesterday.
EJ's hand closed around the hilt of Strange, the sword answering with a faint glow as he stood.
He drew a breath, steady and deliberate.
The phoenix screamed again, circling once, its shadow falling over the rooftops and streets below.
EJ leapt.
The air rushed past him as he ascended without wings, nothing but raw Celestial force keeping him aloft. The wind whipped at his cloak, his hair, his face unflinching as he climbed higher, until the glowing streets of Garrand looked like faint veins of light far below.
Above, the phoenix hovered, waiting – daring.
EJ raised Strange, its golden blade catching what little starlight remained.
His amber eyes glinted with cold resolve.
"I'm going to end you," he murmured under his breath, his voice low and steady.
Then louder, to the beast before him:
"I'm going to end you tonight."
And with that, he lunged, sword poised to strike.
The phoenix shrieked , a sound like tearing metal and thunder, and its wings flared, sending a storm of black fire roaring toward him.
EJ countered with a sweep of Strange, golden light clashing with the shadows in a blinding arc. The air hissed and cracked between them, heat and cold colliding in a violent storm.
"You're not just feeding," EJ muttered through gritted teeth. "You're growing… why?"
The phoenix didn't answer but its glowing, flame-ringed eyes narrowed, almost mocking him, before it lunged.
It was fast. Too fast.
One massive claw, wreathed in shadow-flame, slammed into EJ before he could properly parry. The impact knocked him out of the sky, his chest exploding with pain as he was hurled backward.
He crashed onto a rooftop hard enough to splinter the wood beneath him, his breath knocked clean out. He barely had time to register the next shriek before the phoenix was already diving toward him, its entire body igniting into a spiraling spear of black fire.
He raised his sword on instinct, but his body wouldn't move fast enough —
—and then shadows struck the sky.
In a blink, a wall of shadow-flame erupted between him and the phoenix, catching its strike mid-dive. The beast howled in pain and reeled back, its wings beating wildly as it retreated upward, momentarily disoriented.
EJ gasped, his vision clearing just enough to see him.
Nicholas.
Standing on the edge of the rooftop, his hood down, one arm outstretched.
His ash gray eyes gleamed cold and sharp in the golden light of EJ's sword, a storm of shadow and fire coiling around his fingers.
Nicholas didn't look at him at first. His gaze followed the phoenix as it flapped upward, screaming, then wheeled around and fled into the distance, its form dwindling into the night.
Only then did he lower his hand.
EJ staggered upright, his amber eyes blazing.
"Nicholas…" he breathed, his voice raw. "You—"
He stepped forward, clutching Strange, his words spilling out before he could stop them.
Just then, another figure burst onto the scene, moving like a streak of black lightning.
A man in a dark cloak, his blade already drawn, leapt from the shadows and slashed clean through the phoenix's chest in one flawless, devastating motion.
The creature let out a deafening shriek that rattled the stones beneath them. Its flames flickered wildly, then collapsed inward as its massive body dissolved into ribbons of darkness. The air trembled as what remained of it was dragged down into the Abyss until even its echo was swallowed whole.
Silence fell, heavy and cold.
EJ stood frozen, his chest heaving, amber eyes fixed on the fading embers in the sky.
Dead. It was… gone.
The man who struck the final blow landed lightly atop a nearby rooftop, the moon catching on the glint of his blade before he sheathed it. Without so much as a glance in EJ's direction, he disappeared back into the shadows, leaving only the faint ripple of power in his wake.
EJ's knuckles loosened around Strange. He exhaled sharply, shaking off the daze that clung to him and turned his gaze upward.
Because Nicholas was still there.
Silent. Unmoving. Standing atop the roof where the moonlight painted his cloak in silver and his ash gray eyes in something unreadable.
Without thinking, EJ pushed forward. Boots scraping against stone, he climbed the slanted tiles and came to stand level with him, close enough to see the faint rise and fall of Nicholas's chest.
"Y… You…" EJ's voice cracked despite himself, his words catching somewhere between fury and something he refused to name.
Nicholas didn't flinch, but his eyes finally shifted meeting EJ's with quiet, dangerous calm.