Adrian woke before dawn.
He hadn't really slept. Just drifted in and out of consciousness. His wasn't as sore as the previous day but every time he closed his eyes, he saw Elena. The claw. The blood.
Stop. Focus on what's next. Not what happened.
He sat up. His ribs protested. His face was swollen. His arms felt like dead weight.
Marcus said dawn. I need to move.
Adrian dressed slowly. Each movement deliberate. His body wanted to stay in bed. Wanted to rest.
No time for that. Get up. Move.
He left his room. The corridors were dark. Empty. Most of the headquarters still asleep.
Down stairs. Through passages. To the training room.
Marcus was already there. Standing in the centre. Arms crossed. Waiting.
Of course he's already here.
"You're late," Marcus said.
Adrian glanced at the small window near the ceiling. Still dark outside. "The sun isn't even up yet."
"I said dawn. Not after dawn. Dawn." Marcus gestured to the centre of the room. "Get over here."
Adrian walked forward. His legs stiff. His entire body was protesting.
"Today we're working defensive combinations under pressure." Marcus removed his coat. Hung it on the peg. "You're going to react. Not think. React."
React. Like I should have in the warehouse.
"When a creature comes at you, you won't have time to remember what I taught you. Your body needs to know. Instinct." Marcus rolled his shoulders. "Guard up."
Adrian raised his hands.
Marcus attacked.
Fast. Brutal. Relentless.
A jab aimed at Adrian's face. He blocked. Barely. Marcus's follow-up caught him in the ribs.
Too slow.
Another combination. Jab, cross, hook. Adrian blocked the first two. The hook slipped through and hammered into his jaw.
Focus. Watch the shoulders. Read the telegraph.
Marcus didn't stop. Didn't pause. Just kept coming. Wave after wave of attacks. Each one faster than the last.
Adrian's body moved on instinct. His guard coming up. His feet shifting. His arms blocking positions he didn't consciously choose.
The body remembers. That's what he said.
He got hit. A lot. But slightly less than yesterday. His blocks were cleaner. His reactions faster.
Marcus swept his leg. Adrian stumbled but stayed upright.
Better.
"Better," Marcus said, echoing Adrian's thought. "Not good. Better."
They continued. Combination after combination. Adrian's arms burned. His legs trembled. But his body kept responding.
This is what training means. Not thinking. Just reacting.
Finally, Marcus stepped back. "Enough. Physical conditioning. Push-ups. Go."
Adrian dropped to the floor. Started pushing. His arms screamed. His ribs protested with each movement.
Marcus counted. "One. Two. Three."
Adrian's form started breaking down around fifteen. His arms shaking.
"Keep going. Don't stop until I say."
Can't. Arms won't hold.
Twenty. His arms gave out. He collapsed face-first onto the stone.
"Get up. Squats. Now."
Adrian stood. Started squatting. His legs were already dead from the sparring. Now they were being pushed past failure.
Down. Up. Down. Up.
Marcus counted. Watched. Pushed.
"Faster. You think creatures wait for you to catch your breath?"
Adrian's legs gave out at thirty. He collapsed.
"Core work. On your back."
I'm going to die here.
Adrian rolled onto his back. Started doing leg raises. His core burned. His entire body screamed.
Around fifty, he felt it coming. The nausea. The vomit rising.
He turned his head and vomited onto the stone floor.
Marcus didn't react. "Clean that up later. Keep going."
He's serious. Keep going after vomiting.
Adrian kept going. His body moving on pure will. No strength left. Just determination.
Finally, Marcus called time. "Enough. You're done."
Adrian lay on the floor. Gasping. Covered in sweat. Every muscle trembling.
Can't move. Can't think. Just pain.
"Your body fails before your mind. Fix that." Marcus walked to the water skin. Brought it over. Dropped it beside Adrian's head. "Drink. Then get out."
Adrian grabbed the skin. Drank. The water tasted like salvation.
I should feel worse. Should be completely destroyed.
But underneath the pain was something else. Energy. Raw and restless. His body was already starting to recover.
Marcus noticed something. His eyes narrowed. "Your bruises. From yesterday. Show me."
Adrian lifted his shirt. The deep purple from yesterday had faded to yellow-green. Almost gone.
"Enhanced healing." Marcus crouched down. Pressed against Adrian's ribs. "These should take another three days minimum. You're healing in hours."
Is that bad? Is that my Dao showing?
"Standard for practitioners," Marcus said, as if reading Adrian's thought. "All of us heal faster than normal humans. But you're on the faster end of Stage 1."
He stood. Walked back to his coat.
"Don't rely on it. It won't save you from everything. A creature rips your throat out, you're still dead." Marcus put on his coat. "Get cleaned up. Rest. Eat. Tonight you study."
"Study what?"
"Everything. Library. Seven PM. Don't be late."
Marcus left without another word.
Adrian lay on the stone floor. Alone. Exhausted. But alive.
My body's changing. Healing faster. Getting stronger. Is this my Dao? Or just Stage 1?
I need to understand it.
He eventually stood. His legs held. Barely. He walked to his cell through empty corridors.
Inside his room, he collapsed onto the bed. Too tired to even remove his boots.
Just rest. Just for a moment.
He closed his eyes. The darkness behind his eyelids was absolute.
When he opened them again, the room was still dark. He hadn't lit the lamp.
But he could see.
Wait. The lamp isn't lit. There's no light. How am I seeing the walls?
Adrian sat up slowly. Looked around. The desk. The wardrobe. The window. All visible. Clear. Detailed.
Not perfectly bright. But far better than he should be able to see in near-total darkness.
He stood. Walked to the window. Looked out at the grey morning light filtering through fog.
In the warehouse, the shadows didn't hide anything from me. I thought it was stress. Fear. But maybe it wasn't.
Shadow Sight.
That's what this is. I can see in darkness.
Adrian closed his eyes. Counted to three. Opened them.
Still clear. Still visible. The darkness wasn't hiding anything.
This is my ability. This is my Dao manifesting.
Excitement mixed with fear coursed through him. An ability. A real, tangible sign that he was something more than human now.
But what does it mean? How far does it go?
He spent the next hour experimenting. Closing curtains to make the room darker. Opening them to let light in.
In total darkness, his vision was sharp. Clear. Every detail visible.
But bright light killed the effect. With the lamp lit, his vision was normal. Nothing special.
Only works in darkness or low light. There's a threshold.
He tested limits. How dark did it need to be? How much detail could he see?
The answer: very dark, and a lot of detail. He could count threads in the blanket from across the room in near-total darkness.
This is incredible. This is power.
A knock on the door startled him. He'd lost track of time completely.
"You coming to lunch?"
Thomas's voice. Concerned.
Lunch? What time is it?
Adrian opened the door. Thomas stood in the corridor. His expression worried.
"Yeah. Sorry. Lost track of time."
Thomas noticed the dark room. The closed curtains. "You sitting in the dark?"
Shit. That looks strange.
Adrian walked back to the desk. Lit the lamp quickly. "Just resting my eyes. Training was rough."
Thomas didn't push. But his concern was obvious. "You sure you're okay? You look like hell."
"I'm fine. Just tired."
Stop asking. I can't explain this.
They walked to the mess hall together. Adrian quiet. Distracted. His mind full of Shadow Sight and what it meant.
Thomas tried to make conversation. Adrian responded with single words. His attention elsewhere.
How do I test this properly? How do I understand what it can do?
Lunch passed in a blur. Adrian ate without tasting. His mind racing through possibilities.
…
Evening came slowly. Adrian spent the afternoon in his room. Experimenting more. Testing his vision in different levels of light.
By seven PM, he had a basic understanding. Darkness enhanced his sight. Light diminished it. There was a gradient. A spectrum.
But I need to know more. Need to understand what this means.
He walked to the library. Arrived exactly at seven.
Marcus was already there. Sitting at a table near the window. Books stacked in neat piles around him.
"Sit."
Adrian sat. Looked at the books. Thick volumes. Old leather bindings. Titles embossed in gold.
That's a lot of reading.
"You want to survive? You need knowledge." Marcus pushed a book forward. "Fighting isn't just physical. It's mental. Knowing what you're facing before you face it."
Knowledge is power.
Marcus opened the first book. The pages were yellowed. Brittle. Covered in dense text.
"The Four Daos We Know. Start here."
Adrian looked at the page. Detailed descriptions. Diagrams. Historical accounts.
"The Crucible. Fire, transformation, purification. Practitioners who bind to it can generate flame. Resist heat. Some can even become living infernos at higher stages."
Mara. That's her Dao.
"The Hunt. Tracking, pursuit, enhanced senses. Pack tactics. Practitioners become apex predators. Perfect for finding creatures that hide."
Kane. The grizzled Hunter with missing fingers.
"The Armament. Weapon mastery. Combat enhancement. Practitioners bond with weapons. Become extensions of the blade or gun. Julian's Dao."
Of course it is. Perfect for someone who loves violence.
"The Cipher. Information processing. Pattern recognition. Analysis of complex systems. Elena's Dao."
Adrian's chest tightened. Elena's name felt like a blow.
Marcus noticed. His expression didn't change. "These are what we understand. What we can teach. What we can identify."
He pulled out another book. Thinner. Less detailed.
"There are eight others. We know they exist. We know almost nothing else. Practitioners who follow those paths don't cooperate with the Vigil. Some are dead. Some are hiding. Some we've never encountered."
Eight unknown Daos. And mine is probably one of them. Or something worse.
Marcus leaned back. His eyes sharp. Evaluating.
"You felt something in that warehouse. When you froze. Tell me about it."
He knows. He always knows.
Adrian hesitated. "The darkness. I could see things moving in it. Like the shadows were alive. Like they were showing me details they shouldn't."
Marcus nodded slowly. "Enhanced vision. Possibly shadow affinity. Could be several Daos. Could be something else entirely."
He's not surprised. He expected this.
"We'll figure it out as your abilities manifest more clearly." Marcus pushed the books forward. "Read. All of them. By next week. Then tell me what you learned."
Adrian looked at the stack. Five books. Hundreds of pages each.
"That's... five books. Hundreds of pages."
"Then you better start now."
Marcus stood. Walked to the door. Paused.
"The creatures don't care if you're tired. Or unprepared. Or young. They just kill you. Remember that."
He left.
Adrian sat alone at the table. Surrounded by books and silence.
Five books. One week. I need to understand this world if I'm going to survive it.
He opened the first book. Fundamentals of Dao Theory.
The text was dense. Academic. But clear.
Adrian started reading.
Hours passed. He didn't notice.
The library emptied around him. Other practitioners leaving. The librarian moving between shelves. Lighting lamps as darkness fell outside.
Adrian kept reading. Absorbing. Understanding.
Daos weren't just abilities. They were fundamental changes to a practitioner's spirit core. Binding rewrote what a person was. Made them something more. Something other.
I'm not human anymore. Not really. I'm something else. Something in between.
He finished the first book. Started the second. Creature Classifications: A Hunter's Guide.
Revenants. Wraiths. Damned Souls. Each entry detailed. Threat levels. Weaknesses. Kill methods.
This is what killed Elena. What almost killed all of us.
Adrian kept reading. His mind cataloguing. Memorising.
A bell chimed somewhere. Ten PM. Closing time.
The librarian appeared at his table. An older woman with kind eyes.
"Library's closing, dear. You'll have to come back tomorrow."
Adrian looked up. Surprised. "It's ten already?"
"You've been here three hours. Didn't even notice me lighting the lamps, did you?"
Three hours. I missed dinner.
"Sorry. I'll leave."
He gathered the books. The librarian stopped him.
"You can check those out. Take them to your quarters. Just return them when you're done."
"Thank you."
Adrian left the library. Books under his arm. Walking through dark corridors back to his room.
The passages were dim. Most lamps extinguished for the night. Only a few still burning.
And Adrian could see perfectly.
Every detail. Every door number. Every crack in the stone walls.
Shadow Sight is getting stronger. More reliable.
He reached his room. Unlocked the door. Stepped inside.
Set the books on his desk. Lit the lamp out of habit, then immediately extinguished it.
Don't need it. Not anymore.
In the darkness, Adrian sat at his desk. Opened the second book. And continued reading.
He had knowledge to gain. Power to understand. And only six days left to finish all five books.