He emerged from the archive tower as if from an ashen dream.
The world seemed quieter than before. Even the air seemed afraid to touch his skin. He walked down a corridor lined with portraits of his ancestors, the ones who had created the Lionheart family, forged an empire, and built this grandeur out of blood and lies.
Now their descendant was walking past, his eyes filled with that very blood.
He didn't feel afraid anymore.
But I felt that there was more than just a shadow behind me. It was a gaze. Hers.
Reina was standing on the balcony. She didn't flinch when Kalen approached. Instead, she turned around slowly, almost lazily.
— Where were you?"
He looked at her for a long time. It was as if he was trying to see through her skin, flesh, and bones to the very core of her being.
— Why didn't you tell me?"
Reyna didn't blink.
"I don't understand what you're talking about."
He came closer. Half a step. Close enough for her to feel the cold coming from his body—not a physical cold, but the kind that comes before a storm.
— You knew. You've been there for me all this time. Not just by order of the Academy - " his voice was almost a whisper, but there was a power in it that could have brought down a roof. — You were sent by my father. To follow. Follow me. Keep an eye out. Control it. So that you don't grow up to be the wrong person.
Reyna bowed her head slightly.
"I..." and for the first time in a long time, there was uncertainty in her voice. "I really... didn't want to hurt you. I just... I had to be there for you. To make sure you weren't alone. To make sure you didn't withdraw into yourself. To make sure you didn't become a monster."
He nodded slowly.
"You didn't?"
The shadows around his feet moved like tentacles. Vard's silhouette appeared on his left. Tirk crouched on his right. Neither of them spoke. But their presence spoke for them.
Reina didn't respond. And that was the answer.
Kalen turned away.
"I'm not angry. I just realized. Now everything makes sense. Why you always showed up when I was at my lowest. Why you never asked questions when I came back covered in blood. Why you knew more than an ordinary student should have known."
Reina wanted to say something, but he raised his hand.
"Enough." His voice was dry. "I respect that you're not an enemy. But now we're not friends."
Later that night, he was sitting in a dungeon. Among the spiders.
They were silent. He wasn't.
"I don't know what I'm feeling." His voice was lost in the void. "I've been betrayed again. Not like before. Not with a knife. But with silence. And the trust I gave away."
Ward came closer. His voice was low and deep:
"You've grown stronger. But now you're not growing into darkness. You're growing through pain."
Tirk wiggled his claws:
"Lord, you are not alone. Neither then, nor now. We are your shadows. We will follow you even where there is no light."
Kalen closed his eyes.
He knew there was more pain to come. More death. And more lies. He knew that Velmut hadn't acted alone. That someone else was responsible for the deaths of his brothers. Someone he needed to find.
And destroy it.
But now he wasn't alone.
He was with Shadow.
Too human to be a monster.
And too much of a monster to be human.