moved under Kalen's skin, pulsing along his spine, stretching along his ribs, as if it wanted to break free. Especially now that he had a name: Tirk.
Kalen stood on the edge of an icy cliff. Below was an abyss filled with spiraling spider holes. His breath was a cloud of steam. But the cold no longer bothered him.
Behind them are seventeen ice spiders. Completely black, their eyes glowed red. Some of them had broken legs and broken carapaces. But they were standing. They were his.
And in front of them, he was huge, slightly shorter than Wardes, but more massive in breadth. Obsidian-like paws. Eight eyes. Shadow threads extended from its belly. Each one trembled as if it were alive.
Shooting gallery.
The spider king.
The first beast that recognized Kalen not as a master, but as a ruler.
"Tyrk," Kalen said, looking into his deep eyes. "Are you ready?"
The spiders froze.
Thirk raised himself and retracted his front claws, extending one paw in a gesture of submission.
"I am... a shadow, like you. Master, I am willing to eat them for you."
"A monster. A monster has been recognized."
Ward stood a little distance away, naked from the darkness, a knight from nothingness. The red patterns on his armor pulsed in unison with Kallen's heart.
He looked at his hands—claws. Black, with cracks in which the blood of darkness glowed. Flames ran across his body. From his lips, there was a barely visible trace, as if a mouth had been sewn into the shadows. Inside, there was something more than a voice.
He exhaled.
"This isn't a training session anymore," he muttered. "This is the path to who I need to become."
"You are their voice. Their fang. Their punishment." Vard whispered.
The shadows deepened behind her.
The forest is dead.
Every tree is black, twisted, and covered with frost, as if the ice has seeped into the wood. There is no snow or rain falling from the sky. Everything is frozen.
But Kalen was coming.
Behind him came his retinue, Tyrk and seventeen spiders. In the distance came Ward, from whom the shadows seemed to creep away. They were approaching.
"She's here," said Thirsk. His voice was like the crack of sinking ice.
Kalen nodded silently. He could feel it. His chest was constricting, as if under the weight of someone else's will.
And then…
She appeared.
A woman's figure emerged from the haze of frost, tall and almost transparent. Her skin was like ice, blue, shiny, and covered in cracks. Her hair flowed like snow in the wind. But her eyes... her eyes were black. Without pupils.
She was floating above the ground.
"Who calls me in this oblivion?" The voice came from within my head.
Kalen looked up.
"Kalen. Greymont Academy. I've come..." He stopped. Because he could feel her gaze on him.
My brain seemed to crack.
Do you want to kill me?
"Yes," he hissed. "I need to pass."
She didn't move. A rod of ice appeared in her hand, curved like a spike. Hundreds of ice snakes slithered out from under her robe, crawling into the snow.
"Then suffer, child of the shadows," Beste whispered.
The world collapsed.
The cold cut through his lungs like shards. The space distorted, and Kalen found himself in a whirlwind of ice and pain. Beste was gone. Only magic remained.
He grabbed his temples. His whole body was burning. Mirrors began to fall from the sky, each one showing him dead.
One of them had his stomach ripped open.
The other one has ice spikes in its eyes.
The third one is torn to shreds by a shadow.
"It's an illusion," he breathed.
But you're suffering as if it were real," someone inside whispered.
And then-a flash.
Kallen's shadows lunged forward. Ward thrust his black blade into one of the mirror shards. Thirk and the spiders began to tear the snakes apart, and they squealed like living creatures.
The illusion began to crumble.
Beste hissed.
She appeared again, this time closer. Swing.
Kalen raised his hand and, for the first time, allowed his tattoo to grow.
A blade grew out of his hand. Black, with red veins. A shadow sword, drawn from his power. He didn't know how he did it - he just wanted to. The sword of Darkness responded.
Beste rushed forward. Their blades clashed. Ice and Darkness collided in a dull sound, and the ground beneath them cracked.
Kalen hissed:
"You're going to die. And it's going to be quiet."
He activated the silent zone.
The world became silent.
Beste screamed, but no one heard her.
Ward struck from the flank. The spiders attacked simultaneously. Thirk tore her left shoulder.
She turned into ice, into fog, and disappeared and reappeared again and again and again.
But Kalen was inside her.
The sword sank into her chest.
The light was gone.
A second later, he was standing alone.
Beste crumbled into ice. A silver tear remained in her place. He picked it up.
"The key. One of three. It's going to get worse."
He turned around.
— Spiders. Ward. Follow me. We're going back.
Only something was throbbing in his back.
The tattoo was getting bigger.