Who was the Hawk of the Shadows?
Deep beneath the Castles of the Soldiers, where cold corridors stretched through the foundations of the world like veins beneath dead skin, the Hawk moved with perfect calm.
Every step was measured. Every turn deliberate.
He allowed the Soldiers to tighten the circle around him, inch by inch.
And far above, seated within the black halls of the Citadel, the Supreme Leader watched through their eyes.
The Faceless Soldiers stood motionless around the chamber walls, their masks pale beneath the dim silver flames. Streams of information passed endlessly through the network of their shared perception. Hundreds of gazes. Hundreds of movements. Hundreds of minds collapsed into one singular awareness.
At the centre of it all sat the Supreme Leader.
His fingers rested against the arm of his seat.
Who was the Hawk of the Shadows?
The Supreme Leader had pondered this question many times, and still he had not found a satisfactory answer.
From the information gathered by the Soldiers and the Watchers, he knew that the Hawk had been a founding member of the Shadow Clan, at the very least.
But the Shadow Clan itself was nothing extraordinary.
They were no different from the countless organisations that had appeared throughout history, only to eventually be crushed beneath the weight of the Lords.
They always followed the same pattern.
A collection of frustrated intellectuals, powerless against the world around them, who passed their ideas onto warriors and Axiom users desperate to give meaning to their existence.
Secretive.
Rebellious.
Trivial.
They appeared suddenly, and they disappeared just as quickly.
But the Hawk of the Shadows was different.
"What information do you have?" the Supreme Leader asked.
An attendant stepped forward.
"He has slowed down. He has stopped progressing further into the lower regions. The signs suggest that he is resting."
"Resting?"
The Supreme Leader stood and looked upwards.
The answer came immediately.
"Should we capture him, Leader?" the attendant asked.
"No."
The Supreme Leader turned slightly.
"That is his plan."
The attendant hesitated.
"What do you mean? Are you suggesting that—"
"Yes," said the Supreme Leader. "He knows exactly how close we are."
The attendant remained silent.
"Then why does he continue deeper?"
The Supreme Leader looked towards the endless information flowing through the chamber.
Who was the Hawk of the Shadows?
Far below, the Hawk stepped into another passageway.
Torchlight flickered against ancient stone.
The deeper regions beneath the Castles were unfinished places, remnants of civilizations that had existed long before the Lords consolidated their dominion. Entire sections had been abandoned for centuries, forgotten beneath the foundations of the world above.
And yet, the Hawk understood something now.
They were not merely tracking him.
They were studying him.
The Soldiers advancing from the eastern passages moved slower than necessary. The western patrol deliberately exposed openings in their formation. Twice now, exits had been left vulnerable.
They wanted him to see them.
The Supreme Leader was testing his reactions.
The Hawk adjusted his breathing.
At once, three of his Selves shifted positions across the Castles above.
The response was immediate.
Dozens of Soldiers redirected themselves.
Interesting.
The Supreme Leader still could not determine whether he was singular or divided.
The greatest advantage of the Hawk's ability had never been deception itself.
It was uncertainty.
Every opponent eventually collapsed beneath uncertainty.
How many Hawks existed?
Where was the original?
Could he truly divide his consciousness infinitely?
Could every Self think independently?
Could one survive the death of another?
Questions created hesitation.
And hesitation created openings.
But the Supreme Leader was different.
The Hawk descended another stairwell.
Immediately, he sensed them.
Three Soldiers ahead.
Five behind.
Another presence above.
All of them closing carefully.
The Supreme Leader is treating me as if I am a professional, the Hawk thought.
Could this mean that he has stopped seeing me as merely a member of the Shadow Clan?
Which means...
"You investigated the Dark Alchemist."
The Hawk remained still.
"And now," the voice continued, "you are investigating Solomon's Realm."
No answer.
"You have hidden yourself well for many years," said the Supreme Leader. "Better than most."
The Hawk's eyes narrowed slightly.
"You killed the analyst in the Underground Dwellings. You eliminated three observers before that. And before that, you infiltrated the banquet chambers beneath the Eastern District."
The Hawk stirred faintly in the darkness.
So they truly had reconstructed his path.
"You are not a rebel," said the Supreme Leader. "I finally understand that you are part of something on a greater scale."
The voice paused.
"I believe I understand who sent you."
The Hawk remained silent.
"It explains your abilities. It explains why you appeared from nowhere and assisted in creating the Shadow Clan."
At that moment, the Hawk moved.
The Soldiers advancing behind him instantly accelerated.
Then stopped.
The corridor ahead was empty.
Far above, another Hawk stepped calmly through an upper courtyard.
Another entered a records chamber.
Another walked openly through a marketplace beyond the outer walls.
The Supreme Leader watched all of them simultaneously.
And for the first time, silence settled within the throne room.
Because something had become clear.
The Hawk was no longer attempting to hide his multiplicity.
He was weaponising it.
The attendant beside the throne stiffened.
"Leader... if these are all independent—"
"They are not," the Supreme Leader interrupted.
The Hawk continued moving through the lower corridors while fragments of his consciousness shifted elsewhere.
Whichever mind collapsed first beneath the weight of uncertainty would lose.
And now the Hawk understood something terrifying about the Supreme Leader.
Most opponents attempted to solve the Hawk.
The Supreme Leader was doing something else.
He was reducing him.
Every observation.
Every movement.
Every behavioural pattern.
He was constructing limits.
He truly is monstrous, the Hawk admitted silently.
He is exactly the kind of being the Lords would entrust with carrying out their will.
And yet...
He is more than that.
I can feel it.
Then the Supreme Leader spoke again.
"You already know the answer, don't you?"
The Hawk slowed slightly.
"The Dark Alchemist was never working alone."
The corridor seemed colder.
"You discovered Solomon's connection. You discovered the banquets, the gatherings, the movement between realms."
The Hawk said nothing.
"But you still fail to understand the central truth."
The Hawk stopped walking entirely.
Behind him, the Soldiers halted as well.
Neither side moved.
"The Dark Alchemist," said the Supreme Leader softly, "was sent by the same people who sent you."
The Hawk's eyes sharpened.
"The two of you..."
A pause.
"You are agents of the Red Dragon, are you not?"
Silence followed.
"You allowed this investigation to continue," the Hawk said quietly.
Far above, the Supreme Leader watched beneath the veil.
"Yes."
The Hawk felt the walls of the trap finally closing into place.
These were not Soldiers.
Several Faceless Watchers were approaching him.
And for the first time in countless years, beneath the lies, the Selves, and the endless self-mutilation required to maintain his existence, the Hawk felt something familiar.
Something he had almost forgotten.
Fear.