Kalen stood there. His arms hung limp, his eyes glassy. After 1,283 attempts, his body was electrified. The shadows of Ward, Tirk, and Beste surrounded him like sheathed blades. But now, everything inside him was trembling. Not from fear, but from overload.
"Your body is cracking," Beste whispered from behind. "You can't hold three of them for long."
"I'll hold on," he hissed, "or I'll die."
And at that moment, he collapsed.
The body was overheated. The veins began to glow crimson, then turned black. The shadow on the back seemed to expand, crawling over the shoulders, ribs, and neck.
Bang.
He fell face-first into the snow. His consciousness flared and went out.
...When he woke up, the air was different.
Noise. Movement. Voices.
He was among the other students.
"He's awake! Hey, Lionheart!"
Someone sat down next to him. It was the same dwarf, Garren, a member of the mountain clan. He was always chewing, and his voice was like that of an old blacksmith.
"You passed out about a day ago. We found you at the edge of the gorge. Are you okay?"
Kalen sat up. His spine cracked. His eyes were gray.
"It's okay," he croaked, "I'm just damn tired."
An elf with blue flames on her palms walked by. Her name was Ileia. She glanced at him, then looked away.
No one knew. Nobody.
That he just summoned Beste. That he now has three shadows.
That there's something not of this world about him.
"How the hell did you get in there?" one of the people asked.
Kalen gave out what he had prepared beforehand:
"I was chasing an icy creature. Then I think it jumped at me, and I just flew down. I don't remember what happened next."
Everyone nodded. They believe it. Of course they do.
He grimaced. He even smiled, almost genuinely. A slight crackling under the skin on his left hand reminded him that the shadow was still alive. And hiding.
"Where are we now?" he asked.
"Near Camp 3," the dwarf grumbled, "two days before the Victoriad. All the teams are gathering. The final phase of preparation is essentially beginning."
Kalen stood up.
— So, everything's fine? No one got kicked out?
"Yeah, except for that group from Alvarein... they were unlucky. Monsters. Five corpses. But they say they attacked first," Garren spat.
Sure.
Especially when you were in the woods.
Kalen wiped the snow from his face. Something rustled in his shadow. Perhaps it was Beste. She was laughing. Quietly, coldly.
"Let's get moving," he said. "We don't have much time."
They started for the camp. Behind Kallen, the trail in the snow was instantly covered with ice.
The camp stood like a wound on the body of an icy forest, made of broken trees, warmed by magic, and surrounded by the nightly glow of foreign creatures. The translucent walls, enchanted in the field, shimmered with icy light. In the distance, beyond the snowy haze, a wolf howled, but no one paid attention.
Kalen walked to the camp in silence.
His steps were slow, as if every muscle was protesting against movement. Magic still simmered within him. The shadow tattoo pulsed softly on his back. Ward, Tirk, and Besta had to retreat inside, sensing the approach of others.
"He's alive," someone said.
— It can't be…
"I told you he was dead."
He emerged from the trees.
The snow crunched under his feet. He was wearing a torn robe, a burned sleeve, and had abrasions on his face. His eyes... his eyes were different. Too quiet. Too calm.
The crowd of students standing around them backed away, not out of fear, but because they didn't know how to react.
Then she stepped out of the crowd.
The Rhine.
Wearing a red jacket.
She walked towards him as if in a dream. There was no usual cold detachment in her eyes.
"You..." she began quietly, but didn't finish.
Kallen stopped. The smile on his lips was dead.
"Alive," he said simply. "Well, almost."
"You fell, Kalen. I... I saw you fall. We were looking. Everyone. There was only blood."
He remained silent. What was the point of explaining that he had summoned an ice witch as his shadow, passed out, spent several hours in another dimension, and then been pushed back to the border by Beste herself?
"I just didn't die," he replied.
"That's... not an answer," Reina whispered.
Kalen looked into her eyes.
"And you won't get another one," he said calmly.
Silence.
Everyone around her fell silent. Even the chilling wind stopped. The magic in the air seemed to freeze, waiting for Reina to speak. But she only narrowed her eyes, much like she had on her first day at the Academy.
"All right," she whispered. "Do what you want, Kalen. But I can see everything. Even what you're hiding."
She turned around and walked back to the group.
He stayed standing. Alone. With his shadows inside.
They were still breathing.
"You're holding up well," Beste said in his head, "even though you're rotting on the inside. But okay. We love suffering, don't we?"
"Speak for yourself," he thought hoarsely.