Chapter 58: Into the Maw of Night
The battlefield was chaos.
Ash swirled in the torchlight, smothering cries of terror as shadows surged into the camp like a living tide. They were not flesh, not spirit, but something between—smoke given hunger, void given form.
Le Wai's blade blazed gold, carving arcs of fire that lit the night. Wherever his sword passed, shadows shrieked, writhing as the ember's fire burned through them. Yet for every creature slain, two more rose from the dark, silent but unrelenting.
"Hold the line!" Seris's voice rang across the din, sharp as steel. She fought with brutal efficiency, her spear humming as she struck, but even her weapon faltered, passing through creatures that simply reformed around the blow.
"It's no use!" a soldier screamed. His sword clattered to the ground as he stumbled back. "They don't die—they don't die!"
The shadows swallowed him whole, his form vanishing into the writhing dark without a trace. No scream. No blood. Nothing left.
Le Wai's grip tightened, the ember roaring in his veins. Mine, the voice whispered. Feed me, and they will burn.
He swung again, golden arcs of fire erupting outward, incinerating swaths of creatures in a single blaze. The soldiers behind him gasped, rallying for a heartbeat. Hope flickered.
But the fire inside him surged hotter, hungrier, searing his veins until he felt his skin splitting with light. His breath caught in a ragged growl as pain lanced through his chest.
"Le Wai!" Ryn's voice cracked from behind him. The boy clutched a broken shield, trembling. His eyes were wide, filled with awe and terror. "You're glowing—"
"I know," Le Wai hissed, his vision blurring.
The ember wanted more. With each shadow he cut down, it exulted, pushing deeper into his bones, filling every hollow within him. His heart thundered not with blood, but with fire.
He staggered forward, slashing another beast apart, its shriek echoing into the night. Then, suddenly, the shadows stilled.
A silence fell, suffocating.
From the river's edge, something vast began to rise.
The water boiled black, rippling outward as though the current itself recoiled. Darkness lifted from the surface, coiling skyward into a form neither man nor beast. A towering shape, its limbs like jagged rivers, its eyes hollow voids that swallowed the firelight whole.
The soldiers froze. No one spoke. No one breathed.
Even the ember inside Le Wai pulsed uneasily, its voice lowering into a growl. Old… older even than I.
The colossal shadow bent, its head tilting toward the camp. Its voice rolled like thunder, yet carried no sound—only the suffocating weight of thought pressing into their minds.
Flesh. Flame. Ash. All return to the river.
Le Wai staggered back a step, every instinct screaming to flee. But the ember surged defiantly, fire bursting from his skin in golden cracks. He clenched his blade, forcing the words through clenched teeth.
"You won't have them."
The shadow's hollow eyes fixed on him. For the first time, its form wavered—slightly recoiling from the ember's glow.
Le Wai raised his sword high. Fire ignited along the steel, a roaring blaze that lit the sky. The soldiers gasped, the golden light casting away the dark, if only for a breath.
Then the tide broke.
Shadows surged again, faster, fiercer, screaming without mouths as they threw themselves toward him.
Le Wai charged to meet them.
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Time lost meaning.
The night became a storm of fire and void, Le Wai the eye of its fury. He moved as if possessed, each strike wreathed in golden fire that incinerated every shadow in reach. His body no longer his own, guided by the ember's will, every heartbeat burning like a forge.
He felt invincible. Terrible. A god wrapped in flame.
The shadows that once devoured men recoiled now, shrieking as they fell to ash beneath his blade. Soldiers rallied behind him, emboldened by the light. Cries rose—hopeful, desperate.
But the ember laughed.
Yes. More. Give me all. Burn until nothing remains.
Le Wai's vision swam. For a heartbeat, he saw not soldiers, not comrades, but torches—fuel waiting to be claimed. His hand twitched, blade angling toward them—
"No!" He staggered, forcing himself to turn back toward the shadows. His body trembled, sweat and fire mingling as cracks of golden light tore across his arms.
The ember pressed harder. You are nothing without me. Let me feed. Let me consume.
"I am not your prey!" Le Wai roared, slamming his sword into the ground. Fire erupted outward in a wave, a golden sunburst that lit the battlefield. Shadows screamed as they were torn apart, the earth itself scorched.
For a moment, the tide broke. Silence fell.
The soldiers stood gasping, blinking against the searing light. Some wept openly.
But across the river, the colossal shadow still waited, untouched. Watching. Patient.
Le Wai fell to one knee, chest heaving, smoke rising from his skin. The ember flickered violently inside him, equal parts furious and starving. He could feel it clawing at the edges of his mind, demanding surrender.
"Le Wai…" Seris knelt beside him, her face pale in the glow. Her hand reached for his shoulder but stopped just short, as though afraid the fire might burn her. "If not for you, we'd all be gone. But—" Her eyes hardened. "—this power will eat you alive."
He met her gaze, golden light flickering in his eyes. His voice was hoarse, strained.
"I know."
The river boiled again, the colossal shadow shifting, its hollow voice pressing into their skulls.
This is not done. Flame or flesh, all rivers return to me.
Then it sank back into the dark, the tide of lesser shadows dissolving with it.
The night grew still.
But the camp was broken—tents in tatters, men missing, the air heavy with dread. Soldiers whispered, their eyes flicking not to the river, but to Le Wai.
To the fire burning within him.
He rose slowly, blade dragging against the ash. His body trembled, every muscle screaming, yet the ember still pulsed strong, patient, waiting.
Ryn's voice broke the silence, small and uncertain. "Did… did we win?"
Le Wai looked out at the blackened river, where the last ripples faded into shadow.
"No," he whispered. His hand clenched the hilt until it cracked. "This was only the beginning."
The ember pulsed once more, as if agreeing.
And far beyond the river, deep in the dark, something vast stirred—hungering.