CHAPTER 30: GOLDEN SHADOWS**
*(Or How Nolan Learned to Stop Worrying and Punch a Demigod)*
---
### **Scene 1: The Sparring Grounds of the Damned**
The training arena shouldn't have existed.
Carved into the floating ribcage of a dead sky-whale, its "floor" was made of solidified lightning, crackling underfoot with every step. Nolan gripped his stolen training spear (courtesy of Ryulga "borrowing" it from a parallel dimension) and tried not to puke.
His right eye still burned from the awakening.
Across from him, Shen cracked his neck, shadows already coiling around his arms in **Dark Mage Form 2** - the jagged armor humming with barely restrained power.
**Nolan:** "Let me get this straight. You want me, who learned magic *yesterday*, to fight *you*."
**Shen grinned.** "First lesson: Mediators don't get fair fights."
Ryulga, lounging on a floating chunk of whale vertebrae, threw an apple at Nolan's head. **"Stop whining. Hit him."**
The apple exploded mid-air as Nolan's **golden eye flared**, showing him three possible futures:
1. **Dodging left** - Shen's shadow-tendril breaks his ribs.
2. **Charging straight** - He gets clotheslined.
3. **Doing nothing** - Somehow worst of all.
Nolan chose **option four**.
He **kicked the lightning-floor**.
---
### **The Fight: Golden vs. Dark**
The arena **erupted** as the stored energy discharged. Shen's shadows instinctively formed a shield - just as Nolan **vanished**.
Not teleportation.
**Precognition-fueled movement.**
He reappeared *inside Shen's guard*, spear jabbing for the gap in the shadow-armor at the ribs.
**Shen's eyes widened.**
The strike connected - and **shattered the spear** as Dark Mage Form 2 *rippled*, absorbing the kinetic energy.
**Shen:** "Not bad, Princeling."
Nolan panted, golden light dripping from his eye like molten wax. **"That was my only weapon."**
Shen's armor retracted to just his right arm. **"Then it's my turn."**
He **flickered**.
Nolan's eye screamed warnings - **too fast** -
A shadow-clad fist stopped a hair's breadth from his nose.
The wind pressure **blew Nolan's hair back**.
**Shen lowered his fist.** "Second lesson: Seeing the future doesn't matter if your body can't keep up."
Nolan collapsed to his knees, nose bleeding gold. **"I hate you both."**
Ryulga tossed another apple. **"Good. Use that."**
---
### **Scene 2: The Cost of Foresight**
Later, in the makeshift camp (a hollowed-out whale vertebra):
Nolan's eye wouldn't stop weeping liquid sunlight. The visions came faster now - flashes of a **burning throne room**, a **shattered obelisk**, a **version of Shen with no shadows left**.
**Shen tossed him a rag.** "You're pushing it too hard."
**Nolan:** "Says the guy who *eats* dark matter for breakfast."
Ryulga, sharpening a bone into a knife, chuckled. **"He's got you there."**
A pause. Then:
**Nolan:** "This General Veyl... he's really me from some screwed-up future?"
**Shen's shadows twitched.** "Yeah. One where the Mediator cycle failed."
Nolan stared at his hands - already seeing phantom scars that hadn't formed yet. **"How do we stop it?"**
Shen flexed his armored hand. **"We get stronger. Fast."**
Outside, the floating islands trembled - as if something **ancient** had just stirred in its sleep.
---
### **Scene 3: The Third Player**
Ryulga waited until Nolan passed out (exhaustion finally overriding the eye's burning) before speaking.
**"He's adapting too quickly."**
Shen watched golden motes rise from Nolan's sleeping form. **"His bloodline?"**
**"Worse."** Ryulga's grin didn't reach his eyes. **"He's *learning* from Veyl across timelines. Every time he uses that eye..."**
The implication hung in the air.
Somewhere in the dark between dimensions, **Veyl's version of the eye was watching back.**
---
### **TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 32: *THE EYE AND THE ABYSS***