The wind shifted over the Sanctuary of Torvas.
To mortals, it was just a cold breeze drifting from the mountains. But to Kaelar the Blade of Torvas it was a warning.
Power.Foreign.Dark.Wrong.
His hand shot upward."Shut the gates!" he roared.
The High Knights hesitated only a heartbeat.
Then the massive doors groaned and slammed shut, iron rods sliding into place, locking the Sanctuary from the outside world.
"No one enters," Kaelar commanded. "Not priest, not knight, not messenger. No matter the cost."
The High Knights saluted and formed a double wall before the gates.
But Kaelar's jaw clenched.
Because he knew the threat he felt was already inside.
The shadow demon, wearing the face of a young priest, walked deeper into the Sanctuary. Its stolen robes rustled softly. Its steps made no sound at all.
Its eyes behind the illusion burned like white flame.
"Where… where is he?" it muttered."Where is the High Priest?"
It moved swiftly down the hall, passing warriors, priests, and novices, none aware that death walked inches away.
I watched it. I knew what it truly was:
A creature woven from shadow, hunger, and malice.Born of nightmares twisted by the Below.Tall and thin as a dying tree.Skin like dripping darkness.Arms too long.Fingers ending in razors.
But in its borrowed skin, it looked harmless.
Until it turned a corner and collided with Erias.
Erias stumbled backwards, nearly dropping his practice sword.
"Oh sorry, I" he started.
Then he froze.
Because the moment he touched the shapeshifter, the dormant dream-essence inside him shivered.A pulse.A warning.
Erias's heart slammed against his ribs.
He didn't understand whybut he felt the danger.
The demon paused.
Slowly, its false face curved into a smile.
"So," it purred, voice subtly wrong, too smooth, too cold", you felt it."
Erias took a step back. His hand went to the hilt of his sword.
The demon's smile widened, cracks forming in its stolen skin.
"Oh… you're no ordinary boy."
Its voice dripped like poison.
"Let me see your fear."
The illusion peeled away like rotting fabric.
The demon's true form stretched upward taller, longer, darker. A silhouette torn from the deepest nightmare. Eyes burning white, without pupils. Limbs are sharp and unnaturally jointed.
Erias trembled.
"You're a knight in training?" the demon hissed."Let's see how long you last."
It lunged.
Its speed was monstrous.
Erias only had time to gaspand then his training took over.
He raised his sword, hands shaking, arms burning, heart screaming.
The demon's blade-like fingers slammed against the steel
CLANG!
Erias flew back several feet, crashing into a pillar, gasping for breath.
But the demon staggered a half-step as well.
It looked at its hand, surprised.
"You blocked me?"It tilted its head."You're stronger than you look, little spark."
Erias wiped blood from his nose. Kaelar's voice rang in his mind:
Keep your feet steady. Stance first. Always defend before you strike.
Then Seros's voice:
Fear is naturalbut let it sharpen you, not weaken you.
Erias rose, blade trembling but raised.
He charged.
Basic strikes.Simple movements.Not elegant.Not perfect.
But he moved with heart, with desperate, furious resolve.
The demon dodged effortlesslytwisting like smoke, sliding like shadow.
It laughed."Admirable. Pathetic, but admirable."
Erias struck again parry, a thrust, a sideways cut again
The demon bent unnaturally backwards, avoiding everything.
"You are no killer," it hissed."You are a child with a toy."
Then it raised a hand.
Shadow swirled.
Erias's eyes widened
And the demon blasted him with a wave of force.
The boy crossed his arms, braced
CRASH!
He smashed into the far wall, collapsing.
His sword clattered across the floor.
Erias tried to stand but darkness swam in his vision. Blood filled his mouth.
He slumped, unconscious.
The demon approached, studying him briefly.
"…Strange child," it murmured."He shouldn't have sensed me."
It stepped over the boy's body.
There were more important things to hunt.
Far across the Sanctuary, Kaelar jerked his head up.
He felt it. A tremor.A pulse of demonic force mixed with something else, something that reminded him faintly of… a dream.
His heart dropped.
"Erias."
He sprinted inside, moving with impossible speed, boots hammering stone, pushing past priests and knights.
He reached the hall and saw Erias crumpled against the wall.
"Boy!"
He dropped to his knees, lifting Erias gently.
The boy breathed staggered, weak
But alive.
Relief flooded Kaelar's stern features.
"Who did this?" he whispered.
Erias's lips moved faintly.
"D… demon…"
Kaelar's eyes turned cold and deadly.
He laid Erias carefully down and stood.
No hesitation. No fear.
His sword rang as it left its sheath.
And the hunter became the hunted.
Meanwhile, the High Priest held council with four senior priests in their strategy chamber. Maps lay across the table.Notes.Reports.Oil lanterns flickered with unease.
"We cannot stay blind," one priest insisted."We must act!"
"We need reinforcements," another argued.
"The royal family refuses to answer," a third whispered.
The High Priest slammed his fist onto the table.
"They will answer. If they do not then they are not fit to rule."
He exhaled deeply.
"We must"
The door creaked open.
A young priest stepped inside.
"My lord…" he said softly.
The High Priest frowned."I did not summon you."
The priest smiled."Forgive me."
His voice changed. Became deeper.Colder.
"But someone else did."
The High Priest's eyes widened.
"Guards!"
The demon dropped its disguise.
Darkness exploded outward.
The priests didn't even have time to scream.
The shadow demon moved with impossible speed slashing tearing rending
Blood sprayed the walls. Robes split. Bodies fell.
Four priests died before their bodies even hit the ground.
The High Priest stumbled backwards, horrified.
"You monster"
The demon grinned, stepping through the corpses, dragging darkness behind it like oil.
"You mortals cling to your little god," it whispered."But he cannot save you."
The High Priest tried to run
The demon seized the edge of the table and flung it aside like a broken toy.
Wood shattered.
Candles toppled.
Lanterns cracked.
The demon advanced.
"You know something," it said."Something the traitor wants."
The High Priest pressed his back against the wall.
"T Torvas will judge you"
The demon grabbed him by the throat, lifting him into the air.
"Torvas cannot see you now."
The High Priest gasped for breath.
"You're… taking me somewhere…"
"Yes."The demon's smile widened into a nightmare grin."You are coming with me."
The chamber filled with the smell of death.
And I watched
knowing that the Sanctuary of Torvas was no longer a fortress.
It was a battlefield.
And the boy, the blade, the priest, and the disguised god
They were now caught in the centre of a war none of them were ready for.