The lights dimmed above the training hall, casting long shadows across the floor. The air felt dense, like something ancient was waiting beneath it — silent, coiled.
Sid stood alone at the center.
His hands were still trembling from the key fragment ( Nightroot)Nox had shown him. A blueprint — a key — to something worse than the demon inside him. He couldn't wrap his head around it, not yet.
He didn't have time to.
A mechanical hiss echoed from the far wall. A door slid open.
A woman entered — tall, sharp-eyed, dressed in a uniform of black and silver. Her jacket bore a strange crest: a circle split in half, light and dark spiraling into one another.
She walked like someone who'd fought wars and didn't regret them.
"This him?" she asked without looking at Nox.
Nox gave a slight nod. "Sid Arkwood."
"He doesn't look like much."
Sid bristled. "I'm right here, you know."
She raised an eyebrow. "Good. I like trainees who talk back. Makes it easier to break them down."
Nox stepped back without a word, his shadow melting into the wall.
"I'm Commander Yara. Head of internal combat training. I've killed things twice your size and half your age."
"Cool story," Sid muttered.
Yara smiled. "First lesson: don't think talking makes you strong."
She struck.
Fast.
Sid barely dodged the sweeping kick. Her foot whistled past his ear.
"What the hell—!?"
Another blow came — a palm strike to his chest. He flew back, tumbling across the floor.
"You're holding back," she said coldly. "Don't. The thing inside you won't."
Sid coughed, dragging himself up. "You want me to let it out?"
"No," she said. "I want you to control it. Show me you can."
He closed his eyes.
Darkness pulsed inside him. Hot. Whispering. Like a second heart beating beneath the first.
He reached inward — just enough.
A flicker.
His right hand ignited — not with fire, but with a crawling, shadowy flame. It writhed like it was alive, coiling around his fingers.
Yara's expression didn't change, but her stance did. More guarded now.
Sid exhaled and lunged.
She parried his first strike, dodged the second — but the third grazed her coat. Her eyes widened.
"Better," she muttered. "Still sloppy."
He pushed forward. Power surged in his chest. Something primal. Terrible. Beautiful.
His vision darkened.
"Stop."
Nox's voice.
It echoed through the room like a blade through glass.
Sid gasped — and the power vanished. The flame on his hand died.
He collapsed to one knee.
"I warned you," Nox said, stepping from the shadows. "Too far, and it takes control."
Yara sighed. "Still. He has potential. I'll give you that."
Sid looked up, chest heaving. "What… was that?"
"The edge," Nox said. "You danced too close to it."
Before Sid could speak, the room's main terminal beeped.
Yara moved to it, tapped a few keys.
Her eyes narrowed.
"A town just went dark," she said. "Thirty kilometers west. No communications. Static across all surveillance."
Nox stepped beside her. His voice dropped. "Another site?"
"Possibly. Or worse. A scouting ritual."
Sid forced himself to his feet. "What does that mean?"
Nox looked at him.
"It means they're looking for the key."
And for the first time, Sid realized — this war wasn't coming.
It had already begun.