Night had drawn its curtain over the Gray Academy, engulfed in a silence broken only by the soft murmur of a breeze passing through the stone colonnades. In the upper students' dormitory, Raine lay in his bed, yet he could not sleep.
His shadow, which accompanied him like a second skin, did not follow the light but breathed with it—expanding when Raine closed his eyes and shrinking when he opened them. And that night... it spoke.
"How many souls have fed me this week, Raine?"
Raine opened his eyes, showing no sign of fear. The voice came from within him, soft as silk but dripping with deadly ice. He sat up slowly, staring at the shadow stretching from his feet to the ceiling.
"I can no longer tell you from me. You speak... as if you are me."
The shadow laughed—or so Raine thought—because the sound did not come from a mouth or lips, but from the caverns of his mind.
"You are only now ready to hear what I have always said. I am not a parasite... I am what I have always been. And what you will become."
Raine suddenly stood, sweat pouring down his forehead—not from fear, but because something inside him had begun to change.
In the morning, Raine was summoned to the administration office for a psychological and magical evaluation. He sat in a white room, with no windows or trace of color, before a panel of three senior professors, including Professor Nira.
One of them said:
"We have monitored your energy interactions recently... the behavior of the shadow within you is not normal. Have you spoken to it?"
Raine did not answer directly. He stared at them for a long moment, then whispered:
"It cannot be classified. It cannot be understood within your standards. It has begun to remember... or perhaps I have begun to remember."
A moment of silence fell, during which the professors exchanged worried glances. Nira wrote something in his file, then said sternly:
"We will enroll you in an elective course on alternative magic. We believe it may help you understand what is happening."
In a dark side hall, the lecture was held. Professor Kairus, tall with a covered eye and snow-white hair, addressed the students:
"Magic as you know it... is but a tiny part of a greater energy web. There is magic born from instincts, from anger, from sorrow, and there is... magic born from the fear of truth."
Raine sat in the back seats, listening intently. The mental images Kairus planted with his words matched Raine's nightly visions—shadows, ash, and the voice that spoke from within him.
After the lecture, Renal approached him, holding a small device pulsing with light. He said:
"I analyzed your energy frequencies... they interact with the dead environment more than with life. Your energy... is like a call directed to the other world."
Raine replied coldly:
"Does that scare you?"
"No. But it confirms my theory. You do not summon the shadow; you respond to its call."
Later that night, Raine silently sneaked with Renal to the forbidden floor of the academy's library. Renal opened a metal door via a light code and said:
"The Black Classification manuscripts are stored here. No one watches this wing at night... the shadows guard themselves."
The smell of old papers mixed with the scent of ash. Raine found a strangely titled manuscript: On One Who Came Without Birth. He opened it, and the first lines struck him:
"In the fifth continent, where shadows once had names, there existed an immortal being... not born from a womb, but forged in the ash of gravity."
His breath quickened. The text spoke about him... or something more like him than like humans.
Renal, now showing concern, said:
"This document is forbidden in all continents... I once read about it; it is said to prepare for the understanding of the 'Predatory Sorcerer,' a being from an era before the academies."
Before Raine could respond, he felt movement behind the shelves.
Director Malik emerged from the shadows, as if stepping out from within them.
"I knew you would come, Raine."
He said quietly, walking steadily, placing his hand on a book titled The Sins of Creation.
"What is inside you... is not just your shadow. It is the inheritance of a power built on blood, souls, a past that must not return. But you are not its slave yet... not yet."
He came closer and placed his hand on Raine's shoulder.
"You are the key, Raine. But the doors you open... may never close. From now on, you will be tasked with a Black Classification mission. There, you may discover who you really are, or collapse under the weight of the question."
Malik paused, then added:
"But remember... the origin is not a curse. Ignorance of it is the true curse."
He left as he came, leaving Raine in a sea of ancient words, shadows, and terrifying possibilities.
And in the heart of the night, Raine stood by a deserted window high in the academy, whispering to himself:
"If I am an echo... then I will create a new echo. Not the echo the creation wanted... but the echo I want."