The beast’s lowered head facing Eryx.
"Hello, child," it repeated.
Eryx stared up at the towering horror. Its body was a mass of shifting shadows, six long arms hanging at its sides while six glowing eyes locked onto him. The monster was the same creature they had fought in the village, yet here in the endless void, it loomed far larger, its presence suffocating. Yet, despite its terrifying size, it made no move to strike.
"You’re the Warden," Eryx said, his voice tight.
"I was."
Before Eryx could question the answer, the beast spoke again. "There is something I owe you."
"What?"
"My gratitude. You ended my existence, and with it, the centuries of suffering I endured."
Eryx stared, his brow furrowed in disbelief. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"No. It is simply the truth."
The beast lowered its head further, the darkness wrapping its body rippling like water.
"I also owe an apology to the people of that village. The adults, the children, every life stolen by my hands. I lost my mind long before you faced me. My memories had fractured into dust, and whatever remained of my sanity was devoured by madness."
"That doesn’t bring any of them back," Eryx replied.
"It does not."
"Then what good is an apology?"
"None to the dead."
The answer silenced Eryx for a moment.
"I cannot undo what happened," the beast continued. "Nor can I offer an excuse that would make their deaths acceptable. I can only acknowledge what I did and regret it."
Eryx looked away, his jaw clenched. He wasn’t about to forgive the creature, but at least it wasn’t trying to hide behind its madness
The monster slowly drew itself up.
"Now, allow me to make this easier for both of us."
The towering shadow melted. Dark mist rushed inward, wrapping around its six limbs until the creature dissolved entirely. Its glowing eyes hung suspended in the dark for a heartbeat before vanishing.
When the darkness parted, a man stood in its place.
He was tall and lean, with pale, almost colorless skin and long black hair cascading past his shoulders. Sharp violet eyes held the faint remnant of the monster’s glow, and his robes drifted like ink in the void.
"This shape is less troublesome," he said. "I am Umbra."
Eryx watched him carefully. "Eryx."
"I am aware."
Umbra rested his hands behind his back. "Do you hate me?"
"Yes," Eryx said without hesitation.
Umbra regarded him in quiet stillness.
"Understandable. I cannot quench your hatred, nor would I ask it of you. You have every right to feel as you do."
"Good. Then we understand each other."
Silence stretched between them. Eryx felt the strain of the void weighing on him, and a lingering question demanded an answer before he was dragged back to reality.
"I don’t get it...why choose me?"
Umbra tilted his head slightly. "Explain"
"Why not Aric? You saw his core," Eryx said. "You practically drooled over him during the fight, so why pass your authority to me instead of him?"
"Your friend’s mana core was dazzling," Umbra said, an unsettling smile spreading across his face "Under any other circumstances, I would have consumed it without a second thought. It would have been an exquisite feast."
Eryx’s expression tightened in disgust.
"Alright, that’s enough about eating my friend."
"Very well."
Umbra’s expression grew serious.
"The reason is simple, it is because there is another within him."
Eryx went still.
"What?"
Umbra’s smile never reached his eyes.
"He carries the authority of another beast," he said. "One ancient enough to have existed long before me."
Eryx stared at him, his thoughts grinding to a halt.
"What?"
"Does that surprise you?"
"Of course it does!" Eryx snapped. "There’s a monster inside Aric! I have to tell him."
"You will do no such thing," Umbra said, his voice suddenly sharp with authority.
"You don’t get to decide that!" Eryx clenched his fists. "If there’s a beast inside my friend, he has a right to know."
Umbra let out a long sigh that drifted through the void like wind passing through trees.
"Very well. Return to your realm and tell him, if that is what you wish." His expression darkened. "But prepare yourself to watch him perish right before your eyes."
The colour drained from Eryx’s face.
"W... what?"
"Go ahead, tell him," Umbra urged, his violet eyes narrowing. "That is what happens when you try to interfere with a beast’s authority without being ready. If you tell him now, the shock and the panic will wake the beast. And it will tear him apart from the inside out."
"That can’t be true. You’re lying."
Eryx tried to sound certain, but the tremor in his voice betrayed him.
"I have lived far longer than you, child. I know what I am talking about." Umbra stepped closer, his presence pressing against Eryx like an unbearable weight. "Whatever resides within Aric is a beast of the God rank, one whose power surpasses even what I possessed at my peak. Its darkness is deeper than mine, and the death that clings to it exceeds everything I have ever consumed. To call it death itself would not be an exaggeration."
Eryx couldn’t move. His mind kept returning to Aric, searching for some sign he might have missed, some indication that his friend was carrying something so monstrous within him.
"I was a divine beast once," Umbra continued, his voice lowering. "But centuries of darkness and madness eroded my mind and devoured my strength. By the time you encountered me, I was little more than a remnant of what I had been. That is why two Advanced children were able to defeat me."
His gaze hardened.
"But the beast within Aric is different. It, too, has been losing its mind for centuries. If it awakens in its true form, there will be nothing left to restrain it. Not this academy. Not the strongest warriors on this continent. No one."
The void seemed to close around Eryx.
He thought of Aric’s rare smiles, of the boy who had refused to leave him on the streets, who had given him a place beside him when he had nowhere else to go.
And now he was supposed to believe that the same boy could become something no one could stop?
"Why give me your authority?" Eryx asked at last, his voice barely above a whisper. "If you wanted to die, why not let me destroy your core?"
"Because you are a survivor," Umbra replied. "You endure. You refuse to bow, even when the odds are against you." He glanced into the endless darkness above them. "And because I have one selfish request."
Eryx said nothing.
"When that beast awakens, your friend will need someone who can reach him. Someone who can stand beside him when everyone else is forced to stand against him." Umbra’s gaze returned to Eryx. "The power of the shadows may give you that chance."
"I don’t want your power," Eryx spat. "I don’t want anything from a monster like you."
"Then your friend will be consumed and die alone."
The words were quiet, without threat or anger. Somehow, that made them worse.
Umbra’s expression softened, though the sorrow in his eyes remained.
"Take my authority, Eryx. Protect him. It is the only thing I can offer you."
His body began to dissolve, the edges of his form breaking apart into drifting wisps of shadow. Darkness swallowed his robes, then his arms, until only his face remained.
"Remember what I told you."
The void fractured around Eryx. Thin cracks spread through the endless black, revealing glimpses of the world beyond.
Then everything shattered.
Eryx gasped and his eyes flew open.
The dorm room rushed back into view. He was slumped beside the bed, his body slick with cold sweat. The black core was gone, its last traces of dark mist fading into the air.
"Eryx!"
Aric was beside him in an instant, gripping his shoulders as he searched his face.
"Are you alright? What happened?"
Eryx stared at him.
At his red eyes. At the familiar face that had become such a constant presence in his life. At the boy who had saved him when he had been nothing more than a street orphan with nowhere to go.
A boy with something terrible sleeping inside him.
"I’m fine," Eryx said, forcing his voice to steady as he pushed himself upright. "It worked."
Aric’s worried expression eased, and a relieved smile spread across his face.
"Really? What does it feel like?"
Eryx didn’t answer immediately. He looked at the shadow cast by the bedpost.
He reached out with his mind, focusing on the darkness. The shadow twitched, then stretched. It moved across the floor like living ink, wrapping around the leg of the desk before sharpening into a thin, dark spike. Eryx flexed his fingers, and the spike dissolved back into a harmless shadow.
"Shadow manipulation," Aric breathed, his eyes wide. "That’s incredible. So it’s similar to magic, but it doesn’t require a magic circle."
Eryx let out a slow breath, the adrenaline fading. "Yeah... It feels like the dark is just waiting for me to tell it what to do."
"You’re going to be a monster in combat now," Aric said, clapping him on the shoulder with a grin.
Eryx forced a smile. The lie sat heavy in his chest, burning him. He couldn’t look Aric in the eye, so he looked at the floor instead.
"Right," Eryx muttered. "A monster."
Aric didn’t seem to notice his hesitation. He walked over to the window and looked out at the sprawling academy grounds. The sun had fully set, casting long shadows across the courtyards.
"We should get some rest," Aric said. "We have our first classes tomorrow. I need to figure out how to catch up on two weeks of lectures."
Eryx nodded, but he didn’t move. He watched Aric’s back, remembering Umbra’s warning.
It will tear him apart from the inside out.
"I’m going to sleep," Eryx said quietly.
"Me too," Aric replied, turning away from the window.
Aric climbed into his bed and extinguished the lamp. Eryx lay in the darkness, staring at the ceiling as the room fell silent. He listened to Aric shifting beneath his blankets before his breathing gradually settled into a steady rhythm.
Eryx turned his head towards the other bed. Aric looked peaceful, completely unaware of the danger Umbra had revealed. Eryx wanted to tell him everything, but the thought of causing the beast to awaken stopped him. He couldn’t risk losing the first person who had ever given him a place to belong.
For the first time in his life, Eryx prayed. He prayed to whatever gods were listening that Umbra was wrong.
Because if he wasn’t, Eryx didn’t know how he was going to save his first friend.