The deeper down they went, the colder the dungeon. Walls were iced over, glinting faintly in the crystal light. Iron hung in the air, a bitter bite.
Mira's breath fogged in the light. "Why is it so cold here? This isn't normal."
Lucian's eyes narrowed. She was right. The first-year exam was a training dungeon, its risks modest. But the cold, the silence, the mana density—it was all off.
The dungeon's changed. because of me.
He walked soundlessly, his footfalls resolute, though his mind wrestled out of control. All alteration of fate reminded him that his return was not a blessing. It was a curse that twisted the world around him.
Seraphine's voice interrupted the tension. "There's something ahead."
Her sword emitted a soft glow with light as she moved forward, her gaze sharp.
Darius jeered. "Finally. I was getting bored." He raised his shield and advanced boldly into the next cavern.
The room opened up abruptly, its ceiling merging into darkness. In the center of it there was an icy pool, cracks radiating weblike across its face.
Then the pool exploded.
A disgusting thing erupted upwards—an armored horror triple their size, its shape encased in barbed ice. Its roar rattled the cavern, frost spewing like glass shards.
Mira screamed. Roland cursed. Darius laughed maniacally.
"Now, a battle fit for the gods!"
He charged headfirst, his sword clashing with the beast's icy armor. The strike echoed off harmlessly, the jolt sending him reeling back.
Roland sent arrow after arrow, but they shattered harmlessly against the monster's hide.
Mira wrestled with her incantations, desperately casting shields to keep them from death.
And Seraphine—her golden sword flashed as she struck, her blows sinking deeper than the others', but still barely making a dent in the creature. Her will burned strong, but Lucian could already tell the outcome.
They'll die here.
The beast raised its massive claw, ice building up like knives at its edges. It swept Darius across the room with a swipe, slamming him into the ice. He grunted, blood coloring the ice.
"Mira!" Roland screamed. "Heal him!"
She rushed to Darius, hands radiating wildly.
The beast spun, its eyes on Seraphine. Her sword flashed and flashed, but every strike hit only splinters of ice. Her forehead was wet with sweat. Her breathing was harsh.
It was something he could feel in his very bones. One slip, one fraction of an instant too slow, and she would die.
And this time he would not sit back and watch her die.
The shadows shifted, chattering in agitated excitement, curling about his legs like hounds.
Lucian stepped forward.
"Fall back," he whispered.
Roland glared. "What—are you mad?!"
But Seraphine did as the tone bade. For a moment, she stood still, amber eyes racing to his. She saw something there—something timeless, monstrous, and inviolate.
She retreated.
Lucian's eyes darkened.
The darkness erupted outward, daggers of black piercing the beast's leg, pinning it to the cold ground. The creature bellowed, bucking, but the shadows gripped, pinning it down.
Lucian moved unseen, each step a ring of unnaturally quiet echoes. He raised his hand, shadows forming into a blade of pure absence.
He struck once and cut through the chest of the creature. The ice shattered. The beast's roar finished in a whisper as it broke and dispersed into black mist.
Silence.
The team stared at him, frozen.
Roland's bow clattered to the ground. "That… that was not possible."
Mira's lips trembled. "What… what are you?
Darius clenched, still half-against the wall. His eyes were blazing with fury.
But Seraphine—her gaze never wavered from Lucian. She had felt it. The power in his voice. The darkness of his presence. He wasn't simply powerful. He was intimidating.
Lucian let the shadows draw back, his expression unreadable, as if nothing had happened. "The path is clear. Move."
Nobody moved.
Finally, Seraphine moved forward, sword lowered, eyes watchful.
"Vale," she breathed, so that he alone could hear. "That power… it was not academy training. It wasn't regular mana. I need to know…"
Her voice trembled, though her eyes did not. "Who are you, really?"
The words hung in the shut-out air.
Lucian's mouth curled in the barest hint of a smile. "You'll find out soon enough."
He turned, proceeding out into the darkness of the next corridor.
Seraphine's grip on her sword tightened. Her chest pounded with her heart, not in fear, but with burning insight that the boy who went ahead of her was no common student.
And she would uncover his truth—no matter what it cost.