When first gaining their abilities and beginning their life as Ascended, many of them would spend weeks, sometimes even months, practicing and learning the true capabilities of their powers.
Artorias was one of the unlucky few who never got that luxury.
With his ascension being forced by his father and the immediate collapse of Japan that followed. He had all but one day to get familiarized with his abilities, before being shipped off with only the clothes on his back.
It had left him at a clear disadvantage when he had gotten to The Garrison. With many of the newer Ascended being seen as disposable, he had been one of the first to be organized into a Fireteam, with the sole mission of scouting the ruins of this city.
A team of five Ascended had entered but only he had survived thus far.
Anyways, what he was trying to get at was that he was still learning how to wield his powers.
The shroud had been simple enough to understand and had been more of an accidental find than an intentional exploration of what he could do. It happened during the first days of their scouting mission, when one night nobody could find where he had gone.
Makarov had explained to him that it was called an Innate Ability. A sort of mutation from an Ascended' first ability which was inherently tied together.
They were rare, but not unheard of. It was something every Ascended should know but there was a gap in his knowledge through his somewhat sheltered upbringing.
Solthia, for example, also had an Innate Ability. Though hers was far minor than his own.
Whenever something came into direct contact with her, they'd receive a powerful shock which could at times paralyze and lock muscles in places.
He had always thought it went well with her ability to imbue electricity into her muscles and nerves, increasing her reaction time and the speed at which she moved.
But back to his issue. The shadow shroud had been easy enough to understand, it had a single function and clear limitations he had learned early. But his shadow step?
Whilst he knew some aspects of what it could do, he could feel that there was still more for him to learn. The ability to step through the shadows was a powerful one, but he knew he could push it even further.
Sighing as the two abominations met in another clash of horns and feathers, he readied himself.
Already he knew that he could travel through the shadows with inanimate objects. Otherwise, his clothes, weapons and backpack wouldn't still be on his body.
But he was still unsure whether living things could also pass through the barrier of life and nothing. He simply lacked the experience.
But…his understanding of what a Fallen Spawn was had fundamentally changed. Where he once saw them as living beings, he now only saw corrupted marionettes trying feebly to mimic the beauty of life.
They weren't truly living.
It was time to test how far he could push his shadow step.
Stepping through the shadows beneath him, he only let a singular thought consume his mind.
'They're not living, they're not living, they're not living, they're not living.'
Pulling on all his experience of becoming unseen and being unnoticed, he finally appeared behind the injuried Elaphus Spawn.
He didn't breathe, he didn't blink, he didn't twitch. His body burned with pain, but he didn't flinch. Artorias cleared his mind of everything but the single mantra.
'They're not living.'
His shroud came to life within an instant.
The sound of battle, a once distant noise, now felt far too close. The chaos generated by their mad clash grated on his mind, clouding his mind with a singular urge to run.
'They're not living.'
He kept himself still, locked his body so firmly that he felt like a statue. Through the ground beneath them cracking, through the gusts of wind generated by their clashing, he kept standing, waiting.
He didn't blink when his eyes grew misty, he didn't move when his body grew itchy. He didn't even flinch when one of the abominations guarding the injuried Elaphus Spawn looked directly at him.
His body screamed at him to run.
His mind buckled through the oppressive aura of death saturating the air.
He kept himself still. He repeated the same words that he had been thinking for the last few minutes.
'They're not living.'
Finally, his chance appeared.
The male Elaphus Spawn was facing away from his pack; his attention entirely focused on the Corvus Spawn which had dragged it to the ground. The two guarding females tensed at the change, their legs shaking, shaking, shaking…
'Finally!'
They charged forward, their heads tilted down, and their terrible horns aimed directly for the deformed Corvus Spawn.
He moved faster than any of them at that moment.
Before the injuried Elaphus Spawn could even react, he had lunged forward, grabbed its inky black fur, and twisted in place, wrenching the gates of the shadow realm open beneath them.
'They're not living.'
The world turned black.
But something felt different.
Where once the domain of shadows had felt empty, now it no longer did. Because in the weightless grip of his hand, he felt something.
The abomination.
His theory had worked. His understanding of both the world and his ability changing again.
His mind burned with the knowledge. It felt as if he had been missing a puzzle piece for so long and had finally found it. It slotted into his soul like a jigsaw.
They appeared out of the shadows a moment later.
Not far enough away from the battle, but enough for him to work with.
The injuried spawn shook in his hand, its body reacting faster than its mind could comprehend what had just happened. He pulled on the shadows once again.
The name of the game was overstimulation.
The weightless world of the shadows and the heavy reality of the real world become a slip stream for him, merging and mixing so quickly he himself didn't know in which they stood in anymore.
They moved quicker than he had ever tried before. Beckoned by his own success and the fullness of his soul which seemed to sing in his ears.
After a certain number of jumps, they finally came to a stop inside of another ruined building. He didn't know how he had been able to find any shadows during that entire trip, but he didn't let himself get lost in the question.
Now was not the time. He'd think about it once he was safe and hopefully healed.
Using the weightlessness granted to him by the shadows, he used all his remaining strength to heave the abomination out of their domain and directly into the floor of the building.
He had done it to injure the monster a little more, but as it turned out, it hadn't been necessary.
If even Artorias—someone who was accustomed to travelling through the shadows had struggled to comprehend what was happening. Then the abomination didn't stand a chance.
With its meagre spark of intelligence and already injuried body, it had all but skipped through the overstimulation phase and had instead fallen unconcious from the sensory overload.
In any other situation he would have pitied the monster.
But he was desperate, hungry and exhausted in mind, body and soul.
Pity no longer existed.
Only his own victory and pride.
The throwing knife in his sleeve flashed, falling into his hand and before the Elaphus spawn could comprehend what was happening, he had driven the blade through its skull.
It was the best he could offer the injured abomination in his current state. Rather a death when it was unaware, than it knowing it was about to die.
Knowing he would have to be quick about this, he rolled up his sleeve using his teeth and began. Skinning and cutting through its muscled flesh to get as much meat as he possibly could.
His empty backpack—he had left everything inside of it back at the apartment complex—was quickly filled with various sized strips of meat.
He wasn't a professional at doing this, but he had been taught enough from an early age where he could do it quickly and efficiently.
Satisfied with how much he had gotten; he quickly zipped his bag and cleaned both his hand and knife on the Elaphus Spawn's remaining fur.
Looking down, he was happy that he'd kept his overcoat closed tonight. With how much blood now covered it, he'd have to throw it away.
He decided it was a good thing. If the pack of Elaphus Spawn survived tonight and decided to try and track him down, he could leave the overcoat somewhere far enough away to trick them.
By then, he'd hopefully be feeling better and be long gone from the apartment complex.
Standing up and carefully putting the noticeably heaver backpack on, he began to limp over to the windows of this building. They'd gotten quite far from the battle, maybe a few blocks, but even now, he could hear their deadly clash from here.
He'd have to move quickly.
Checking his soul before he began his journey back, he couldn't help but frown.
Its unique energy had dwindled far more than he had realised, not to an amount which would hamper him, but enough for him to notice it.
'Not now. You can focus on this later.'
Right.
He still had quiet the journey ahead of him and having his mind distracted on other things would only cause him to make mistakes.
Releasing a small sigh, his shoulders felt that little bit less tense as he finally stepped into the shadows.