The Shadowglade Forest rose before them like an open wound in the earth. Trees with twisted trunks and dark leaves intertwined, forming a natural roof that barely let any light through. Even for EMI, whose light magic usually reacted instinctively to darkness, this place seemed to absorb brightness, as if the forest breathed shadows.
Aria walked in silence, her gaze attentive, while small black silhouettes slithered at her feet—living shadows that responded to her will. Alex walked a few steps behind, observing everything.
"I don't like this," he murmured. "Too quiet… and too controlled."
After several days of travel toward the eastern mountains, following fragmented clues about Zarek and his group led by the dark mage, the trio arrived at a small town on the edge of the forest. Aged wooden houses lined both sides of a cracked stone road. No smoke rose from the chimneys. No voices could be heard. No animals. A deserted town.
Or so it seemed.
EMI was the first to notice.
"Alex…" she whispered. "We're being watched."
Alex followed her gaze. Behind tattered curtains, barely visible through poorly sealed cracks, there were eyes. Many eyes. Watching them with terror, as if the mere act of being seen was a condemnation.
"It's not abandoned," said Aria with a frown. "They're hiding."
Alex clenched his teeth.
"Then something is keeping them this way."
They advanced cautiously to the center of the town. There, a circular plaza opened among the houses, dominated by an altar of black stone covered in crudely carved symbols. The air smelled of iron. There were remains. Broken bones. Claw marks. Dried blood encrusted in the altar's grooves.
"A sacrifice…" murmured EMI, her voice tense. "But not to a god."
"To a beast," Alex completed. "Or something pretending to be one."
Aria extended her hand, and one of her shadows slid over the altar, trembling.
"This isn't recent… but it's not ancient either."
Then, the earth vibrated.
It wasn't a strong tremor, but something unnatural, as if the ground lost coherence for an instant. Alex felt a shiver run down his spine.
"Fall back," he ordered. "Formation."
The earth split open.
From the center of the plaza emerged a humanoid figure, tall, too tall to be human. It wore what looked like an impeccable black suit, as if from another era, fitted to an unnaturally thin body. Where a face should have been… there was none. In its place, a screen. A distorted, flickering image, covered in static, like the old no-signal televisions Alex and EMI vaguely remembered from their world. Four tentacles emerged from its back, moving slowly, as if exploring the air.
It made no sound at all. The silence was absolute.
"…That was definitely not in the monster manual," whispered EMI.
The creature disappeared.
"Watch out!" shouted Alex.
It appeared behind them, with no transition, as if space had been rewritten. One of the tentacles descended violently.
EMI reacted instantly.
"Lux Lance!"
A burst of compressed light shot from her hand, impacting the tentacle directly. The light exploded into a shower of bright particles, forcing the creature to retreat… or at least, to vanish again.
"It doesn't walk," said Aria, summoning shadows that rose around her like living blades. "It teleports."
Alex closed his eyes for a second. Think.
"It makes no noise," he said quickly. "It doesn't attack on instinct. It's hunting us."
The creature reappeared in front of EMI. The screen on its face flickered violently, the static forming erratic patterns. Two tentacles lunged at once.
Aria stomped the ground.
"Shadows, containment!"
Figures emerged from the ground—incomplete, dark, humanoid shapes that clung to the tentacles, slowing their movement. The creature froze for an instant… and that instant was enough.
"Now!" yelled Alex. "EMI, maximum power. Aria, keep pressing."
Alex's rune glowed faintly as it activated. An invisible pulse swept through his companions. EMI felt her magic flow with greater stability. Aria noticed her shadows responding with even more lethal precision.
"Pillar of Dawn!"
A pillar of light descended from the sky, piercing through the tree canopy and striking the creature head-on. The plaza lit up as if it were daytime. The stone of the altar cracked under the pressure. The creature was slammed into the ground… but not destroyed. The screen on its face distorted further. The static became aggressive, almost painful to look at. The tentacles thrashed, breaking free from the shadows holding them.
Then, something changed.
The creature began to appear and disappear at an impossible speed, surrounding them. Each teleportation left a momentary trail of distortion in the air.
"It's measuring us!" shouted Alex. "It wants to exhaust you!"
A tentacle grazed EMI's shoulder. The light around her scattered for a second.
"It drains energy!" she said, retreating. "Not directly… but it interferes."
Aria clicked her tongue.
"Then we tie it down."
The shadows of the entire town rose up. From the houses, from the posts, from the cracks in the ground. They formed a gigantic cage around the plaza.
"Shadows of Mourning," Aria whispered. "You can't escape what has no form."
The creature reappeared inside the cage. For the first time, it seemed… to hesitate.
Alex smiled tensely.
"That's it. EMI, don't destroy it. Just saturate it."
EMI raised both hands. Her body shone with intensity.
"Understood."
The light didn't explode. It expanded. Waves of luminous energy filled the space, bouncing within the cage of shadows. The creature began to falter. Each teleportation grew slower. The static on its face fragmented, showing chaotic images, broken memories, senseless noise.
One of the tentacles fell to the ground, inert.
"Now, Aria!" shouted Alex.
The shadows closed like jaws. A dry crack echoed through the plaza. The creature collapsed in on itself, its body losing coherence until it became a dark mass that was absorbed into the earth.
Silence returned.
For a few seconds, no one spoke.
Then, a door opened. An elderly woman emerged trembling from one of the houses, followed by other inhabitants. Their gazes were full of fear… and hope.
Alex exhaled slowly.
"Whatever Zarek is doing," he said quietly, "he's not just creating monsters."
EMI looked at the destroyed altar.
"He's teaching them to worship fear."
Aria clenched her fist.
"Then let's take it away from him."