Elora' s POV
It turns out sprinting through collapsing tunnels while being chased by cursed shadow limbs is not as fun as it sounds.
Kael yanked me out of the way just before a ceiling beam crashed where my head used to be.
"Left!" he shouted.
"I KNOW WHAT LEFT IS!" I shrieked back, wheezing and nearly tripping over my own cloak. "I've been running from things since I was five!"
A shadowy tendril slithered along the wall, reaching for my ankle like a particularly clingy ex. I stomped on it, hard. It screeched, then exploded into a puff of smoke that smelled suspiciously like old soup.
We burst into a side tunnel, gasping for air.
For a moment, there was silence,if you ignored the crumbling stone and unholy growls echoing from behind us.
I turned to Kael, panting. "You said you were here to stop the Vaults from opening. Guess you're doing a fantastic job."
His jaw clenched, and he didn't rise to the bait. "That Vault was already waking before I got here."
"Waking?" I echoed. "You make it sound like it's a thing."
"It is," he said flatly. "It's alive. Or close enough."
I paused.
"Please tell me you're being metaphorical."
Kael just looked at me.
"Oh god." I rubbed my temples. "So you're saying I just unlocked an ancient murder-vault with feelings?"
"You didn't unlock it," he said, voice low. "It unlocked for you."
Yeah. That didn't make me feel better.
We slowed down as we reached a sealed-off tunnel entrance, one Kael insisted was "safe." I didn't question him, mostly because I was too busy wheezing like a cursed accordion.
He pulled out a small enchanted lantern, and the warm glow softened the hard shadows around us. It made the blood on his cheek glint faintly.
"You're bleeding," I said, before I could stop myself.
He wiped it off with a shrug. "Just a scratch."
I don't know what irritated me more,how casually he brushed it off or how annoyingly well-lit his cheekbones were.
"So," I said, crossing my arms. "Who are you really? You don't look like a curse cleaner Or a librarian Or anything that makes sense."
He hesitated.
"I'm a Warden," he said eventually. "My job is to stop the Vaults from unleashing what's inside."
"Fantastic. So why follow me?"
"Because you're the only person in a hundred years the Vaults have responded to." His eyes fixed on me. "And that means you're dangerous."
I laughed. "I'm a danger to poorly sealed Tupperware and sentient teapots. That's about it."
He didn't smile.
I hated how serious he was. It made me feel… itchy. Exposed.
"So what now?" I asked. "You babysit me until I spontaneously combust?"
"No," Kael said. "We find out what the Vaults want with you before they decide to take you by force."
As if on cue, the lantern dimmed. A chill slithered down my spine.
And that's when I saw it.
My shadow moved.
But I didn't.
It stepped forward out of sync with me,its shape flickering, twitching. A tendril rose like a dagger.
"Kael," I whispered. "My shadow just tried to stab me."
He turned sharply—and the light went
Kael's POV
The lantern died.
I dropped it instantly and reached for my blade just in time to see her shadow twist away from the wall like it had a mind of its own.
"Elora—don't move," I warned.
"Oh, yeah? Planning on offering it tea?" she snapped. "Because it's about to shank me!"
The shadow lunged. I shoved her aside, and my sword met cold resistance like trying to slice fog wrapped around bone. The cursed thing hissed as I cut through it, retreating like smoke poured backward.
"What is that?" she gasped.
"Shadow spawn," I said. "Guardians. They're tied to the Vaults."
"So they're stalking me now?"
"They're testing you," I muttered. "Trying to see if you'll break."
She didn't answer, but I could feel the tension rolling off her. She was scared. Not the obvious kind ,more like the tight, silent panic of someone who's been scared for so long, it's just part of their bloodstream now.
The shadow hovered near the ceiling, twitching unnaturally.
"Elora, listen to me," I said, keeping my blade between her and the thing. "It's not alive. It's a piece of the Vault tied to your blood. If you panic, it feeds off that."
"So I should what, flirt with it?"
"If that works, let me know."
I saw her smirk briefly before it vanished again. She was holding it together, barely.
Then the shadow shifted again no longer shaped like her.
This time, it looked like a man.
A tall man in armor, with a crown of bone.
Her breath hitched. "No," she whispered. "Not him."
I stepped in front of her. "You know that shape?"
She didn't speak, just nodded slowly.
"It's showing you your worst fear," I said. "That's what they do."
"I thought I buried that part of me," she muttered.
The shadow raised its hand and the wall behind us cracked.
"Elora," I said carefully. "You can command it."
"What?!"
"It's bound to you. Try,Tell it to stop."
The tunnel began to shake.
She clenched her fists. "I don't even know what to say—"
"Then feel it."
The floor buckled. Rocks fell from the ceiling. The shadow raised its arm again
"ENOUGH!"
Her voice rang like a strike of lightning.
The shadow froze.
Then shattered like glass.
Everything stilled.
For a moment, all I could hear was our breathing.
I lowered my sword. She looked at her hands, trembling.
"I didn't know I could do that," she whispered.
"That's because you've been running from what you are," I said quietly.
"And what am I, Kael?"
I didn't lie.
"You're the heir to the most dangerous power Grimevale's ever seen."
Her face didn't change but something behind her eyes cracked open, like a door that had been locked for years.
And then
A voice echoed faintly down the tunnel.
"She's awakened. The blood returns."
We both turned.
Something was coming.
Many things.
Their footsteps weren't loud, but they echoed like a warning.
"Elora," I said, drawing my sword again.
"What?"
"We have to go, Now."
She didn't argue this time.
We ran.
And the Vaults watched.