Their walk through the dungeon's dark corridors led them to a larger chamber. The air was heavy, saturated with the smell of sulfur and dried blood. The torch's flame flickered, casting formless shadows on the walls, like specters frozen in an eternal scream.
The cracked, blackened floor bore the marks of enormous claws, as if some creature had tried to claw its way up from the very depths of the earth. In places, thin wisps of smoke escaped from the fissures, carrying a suffocating heat.
Evelyra stopped at the center of the room, her blue eyes scanning the darkness beyond the fragile light. Her breathing remained calm, almost measured, but her gaze was sharp, like a predator sensing the presence of a rival.
Katarina instinctively moved closer, her cautious steps echoing faintly. Shadows flickered around her ankles, stirred by the oppressive atmosphere, as if the dungeon itself sought to infiltrate her power. She clenched her fists, gripping her apron tightly, trying to steady them.
A deep, guttural thud sounded, like the heartbeat of some monstrous being buried beneath the stone. The torch trembled in Evelyra's hands, its flame dancing wildly, casting shards of gold and black across the youthful faces.
"This place…" Evelyra whispered, her tone grave despite her youth, "…has been marked by something that should not exist."
The silence returned immediately, so heavy it seemed to smother even the dripping of water.
Then, from the dark ceiling, a crystalline shard fell and shattered on the floor. The echo rang out like a death knell, triggering a gust of icy wind that made the light waver.
Katarina stiffened, her silver eyes widening in the shifting darkness. Her shadows stirred, restless, forming ephemeral shapes on the floor—like inked arms reaching toward the black fissures.
"Evelyra…" she whispered, fear betraying her despite herself.
But Evelyra didn't answer immediately. She held the torch higher, fixating on a point in the darkness. Her blue eyes shone with a cold, commanding light. Then she slightly turned her head toward Katarina, her profile glowing with a faint ember-like radiance.
"Stay close to me," she said simply.
And then, in the corners of the room, two red glimmers appeared… like ancient eyes that had just opened.
Each step echoed like a war drum in the oppressive silence of the dungeon. The walls wept with moisture, and the scent of scorched stone and dust mingled with the lingering blood of the Manticores. Katarina moved forward, her legs still trembling, clenching her fists to control the shadows that writhed around her like silent serpents.
Evelyra led the way, the floating torch illuminating her focused features. Her blue eyes swept the darkness at every turn, already anticipating the slightest danger. Even in the narrow corridor, every movement she made seemed precise, measured, as if the dungeon itself bowed to her mastery.
Evelyra came to an abrupt stop. Her blue eyes—still youthful but already marked with icy clarity—scanned the darkness with near-supernatural precision.
A guttural growl rose from the depths, resonating like thunder trapped within the narrow walls of the corridor. Then, slowly, massive silhouettes emerged from the shadows.
It was a group of Abyssal Manticores, formidable and monstrous beasts. Their tattered wings snapped through the humid air, stirring up clouds of dust and acrid smells. Their tails, tipped with stingers dripping luminescent violet poison, swayed with deadly menace, capable of reducing a man to dust from the inside. Their sharp fangs clashed in a sinister clicking, like a macabre symphony heralding the end.
Katarina tensed, her shadows instinctively spreading around her as if to shield her. Yet her legs shook, and she stepped back until pressed against the cold wall.
"Evelyra… these are… high-level monsters…" she whispered, her voice nearly strangled by fear.
Evelyra didn't answer. She simply raised her hand, and in a silver flash, her katana appeared from her interdimensional storage. The blade glimmered faintly, reflecting the flickering torchlight and casting fleeting reflections on the damp walls.
A light, almost childlike smile touched her lips.
"Then… let's see how far I can go today."
Each of Evelyra's steps was measured, fluid, yet carried an otherworldly grace. Her blonde hair danced in the flickering light, and her blue eyes, cold and serene, scanned the Manticores as if they were mere insects.
One of the beasts roared and leapt. Evelyra pivoted effortlessly, her katana tracing an arc of silver light. The creature's head rolled across the floor with a dull thud, its body collapsing without another cry.
Katarina's eyes widened, unable to look away.
"She… she cuts them down as if it's nothing…" she thought, a mixture of terror and fascination.
A second Manticore lashed its poisonous tail. Evelyra, with a swift motion, sliced the stinger before it could reach her.
"Too slow," she murmured, her soft voice echoing strangely in the chamber, almost a whisper of ice.
Then she closed her eyes for a moment, murmuring an incantation.
→ [Inferno – activated]
Around her, a circle of flames erupted, turning the floor into a blazing inferno. The Manticores screamed as their wings and bodies ignited, projecting suffocating heat that made the torch flicker and burned their nostrils. The air vibrated as if under the influence of a hellish forge, and even Katarina's shadows seemed to recoil from the intensity of the fire.
Katarina, pressed against the wall, raised her arms to shield herself, her silver hair illuminated by the flames, her eyes reflecting fear.
"I… I'm just a burden… I can do nothing…" she thought, her shadows retreating despite themselves.
When the blaze subsided, only smoking ashes remained. Evelyra lowered her katana, her breathing calm and steady, almost unnervingly normal for a child. She wiped the blade with a simple gesture, as if nothing had happened.
"There. Done." she said simply, her cold tone contrasting with the destruction she had just wrought.
She stored her katana into the void and let the torch float before them, held by a minor telekinetic spell. Her eyes then turned to Katarina, still motionless against the wall.
"You didn't move," Evelyra said, her tone neutral yet as piercing as a blade.
Katarina lowered her head, ashamed, her lips trembling, unable to respond.
Evelyra sighed after a moment, stepped closer, and placed her cold hand on Katarina's cheek.
"It's okay. You'll learn. I don't need you to be strong now."
Then her eyes shone faintly, revealing an inhuman intensity.
"But remember… you are not allowed to leave me. Ever."
Katarina felt her chest tighten. The words caught in her throat. She could only nod, tears brimming in her eyes, while her shadows trembled on the floor, as if swearing loyalty despite their fear.
Their steps echoed next in the spiral staircase, a chill rising from the depths with each step. Evelyra's floating torch cast shifting shadows across the narrow walls, which seemed intent on swallowing them into the dungeon's darkness.
Katarina followed closely, each step a struggle against the weight of her fear. Her hands clenched tightly on her apron, she felt her shadows quiver around her, ready to leap, to spread out and protect Evelyra. Her silver eyes scanned every crack, every stone relief, every corner where the darkness seemed to breathe.
Evelyra, on the other hand, descended without the slightest hesitation. Each step seemed swallowed with certainty, as if the dungeon itself were inviting her ever deeper. Her torch floated ahead of them, casting a flickering halo that animated the walls with shifting, unsettling shapes. Katarina, slightly behind, seemed almost transparent, her shadow stretching and twisting like a silent prayer.
Then, suddenly, the corridor widened. A massive arch rose before them, carved from black stone streaked with silver. The engraved runes pulsed faintly, like a heart breathing beneath the surface, filled with an ancient, living energy. Evelyra's torch revealed cracks and fissures, each carving seeming to tell centuries of vigilance and threat.
Evelyra placed her hand on the cold stone.
"Another… drop gate," she murmured, her voice low but firm, threaded with icy curiosity.
Katarina swallowed, her heart pounding wildly.
"…Mistress… what if behind it…" her voice broke, swallowed by the oppressive silence.
But Evelyra did not hesitate. Her fingers pressed against the stone, and the door vibrated gently, as if recognizing this particular aura. Then, with a prolonged, rumbling growl, it opened, revealing a vast space filled with stifling heat and palpable tension.
At the center of the chamber lay a colossal mass, larger than anything Katarina had ever imagined: a sleeping dragon. Its gigantic silhouette dominated the space like a living mountain. With its wings folded, each membrane seemed ready to stretch and cover the entire vault. The ground vibrated under the weight of its breath, heavy and deep, each inhalation resonating like an ancestral drum. The creature's aura was overwhelming, saturated with a force that transcended time and space, almost divine in its presence.
Katarina froze, pale, her fingers trembling as she instinctively sank into the shadows.
"This… it's the Dragon-God…" she murmured, short of breath, her heart tight.
Evelyra remained motionless, upright like a marble statue. Her blue eyes, luminous and unyielding, fixed on the dragon with an almost supernatural serenity. In this colossal hall, only their breaths and the quiver of the stone beneath the weight of shadow dared to be heard.
Then the silence shattered abruptly. The dragon's eyes opened—two incandescent blue abysses, tearing through the darkness with an almost painful brilliance. Its breath became a roar, a shockwave that shook the walls, lifted dust, and cracked the surrounding stone.
"…Wretched intruders." Its voice was a grave, vibrating thunder, laden with millennia of hatred. "You dare disturb my slumber?!"
With a slow but terrifying motion, it raised its massive head. Its horns nearly brushed the vault, and its fangs, sharp as blades, glimmered in the shadow. Between them, a sphere of burning light began to form, the air vibrating with destructive force.
Katarina staggered, her knees nearly buckling under the creature's overwhelming aura. Her throat tightened, making it hard to breathe. "This… is the end…" she thought, tears threatening to fall.
But Evelyra did not move. Her blue gaze, icy and sovereign, locked onto the dragon, unyielding. She drew a soft breath and released her aura.
Not a mere spiritual pressure. Not even a divine or demonic force that mortals could not withstand. No. An absolute presence, born from something that transcended worlds. A breath of raw existence, imperious, that suffered no opposition.
The ground trembled, the walls vibrated. The flames of the dragon's blue sphere extinguished instantly, as if swallowed by this superior force. The air itself seemed to bend, reacting to Evelyra's will. In the ensuing silence, the young girl's power resonated louder than any creature, more imposing than this millennia-old Dragon-God.
Katarina felt her shadows shiver and instinctively draw close to her, seeking refuge. The world seemed suspended, frozen between the dragon's breath and the sovereign aura of the one it had never seen like this.
The dragon's pupils constricted abruptly. A shiver ran through its scales, vibrating to the depths of its massive muscles. Its roar of anger died in suffocating silence, as if even the air held its breath.
"…Impossible…" it murmured, its grave voice trembling, revealing the quiver of its pride. "This aura… beyond gods… beyond demons…"
Gasping, Katarina looked up at her mistress. Only one thought echoed in her mind, reverent and terrified:
"She… she really is… above everything."
Evelyra, surrounded by an invisible but crushing light, advanced a measured step. Her blonde hair floated slightly under the pressure of her power, as if caressed by a wind born from her aura. The ground seemed to vibrate beneath each delicate step.
The dragon remained still, its deep, steady breath quivering. Its claws, planted in the ancient stone, slowed their grip as if the very instinct for destruction had been torn from its limbs.
Evelyra lifted her hand, fingers brushing the air with disconcerting lightness, shaping reality around the colossus. The aura obeyed instantly, tightening around the Dragon-God, forcing its titanic muscles to bend despite themselves. Its clawed knees sank into the stone, further cracking the millennia-old slab beneath the invisible power.
Her blue eyes, glacial and sovereign, fixed on the creature. Every word she spoke fell like a sentence:
"I have no intention of annihilating you."
She stepped forward. Her fragile silhouette contrasted with the dragon's monstrous size, but the authority she exuded crushed every breath, every vibration of air around them.
Her hand brushed her katana, still in its interdimensional storage, before falling gracefully, palm open like an offering—or a warning.
"But a future approaches… where even gods and demons will not suffice."
She tilted her head slightly, letting her golden hair cascade like liquid light, and continued, soft but relentless:
"I will need powerful allies. Beings capable of bearing my shadow. You, Dragon-God… will you be among those who walk by my side?"
A thick silence fell. The entire hall seemed suspended, every stone held by the gravity of that choice.
The dragon, kneeling under the aura's grip, stared at her with blazing eyes. A deep hesitation shimmered in the flickering light of its gaze.
Katarina held her breath, her heart tight. Mistress… or goddess? she thought, unable to look away.
The silence finally broke. The dragon's throat vibrated with a hoarse rumble, between restrained rage and resignation. Its fangs glimmered in the shadow, but its voice, grave as a landslide, rang out:
"Insolent creature… never have I bowed before a being of flesh and blood. But you… you, your aura belongs neither to gods, nor demons, nor men."
It turned its head briefly, humiliated by its own words, then its burning eyes returned to her.
"If this world is doomed to break, then I would rather bind my breath to yours… than die alone in these ruins."
A scorching breath escaped its nostrils, slicing the air, but Evelyra's invisible aura did not waver.
Evelyra watched, motionless, her eyelids half-closed. Then she gently released her aura. Like a retreating tide, the pressure vanished, but the echo of her dominion remained imprinted in every stone of the hall.
She made a slow gesture with her wrist, her slender fingers closing as if sealing an invisible door. Her eyes gleamed with a mysterious light.
"Very well. Then wait."
Then, with an almost caressing slowness:
"My true power is still sealed… locked by chains only I can break."
She stepped forward, brushing her fingers over the cracked stone floor, as if already tracing the future.
"When the time comes… you will see a force that surpasses everything you think you know. But until that day… stay alive. Stay in the shadows. And prepare."
Her gaze plunged into the dragon's, unwavering and relentless.
"For this world will need us."
The Dragon-God inclined its head slightly, wings folded, and finally spoke in a low voice:
"…So be it."
Evelyra stepped back, katana in hand, then lowered the blade in a slow, solemn motion. The steel disappeared into black mist, reabsorbed into her storage.
"Katarina," she said calmly, almost gently.
The young servant jumped, fingers trembling on her dress.
"…Yes, Mistress?"
Evelyra extended her shadow, which poured out like a shoreless sea. It licked the walls before gradually enveloping the dragon's immense form, intertwining with her own shadow. The darkness coiled around the massive wings, weaving like a living web.
The Dragon-God remained motionless, observing.
"You bind my essence to that of your shadow…" it murmured gravely.
Evelyra tilted her head, a slight smile on her lips.
"It is a mark of trust. From now on, Katarina can travel through your shadow as she does through mine. You are bound to us."
Katarina stepped back, eyes wide silver. The colossal power surrounding her sent a shiver down her spine.
"This… is terrifying," she murmured.
Evelyra placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Then turn that fear into strength."
The shadows closed, leaving a living seal on the ground: a gateway to the dragon. Evelyra turned, her footsteps echoing on the stone, and Katarina followed, casting one last glance backward.
The dragon, folded in its lair, lowered its heavy eyelids. Its voice rose in a breath meant only for them:
"Do not disappoint me, child of shadows…"
Evelyra extended her shadow, and Katarina felt her own essence merge with it, as if Evelyra's darkness engulfed her to absorb her. The young servant's shadow rippled and stretched, blending with her mistress's until they became a single, living black flow.
A shiver ran through the dragon as it watched the two silhouettes dissolve into the shifting darkness. Their footsteps made no sound; only the stones seemed to hold their presence for a moment, as if contemplating their disappearance.
Before vanishing completely, Evelyra glanced slightly at the Dragon-God. Her calm, sovereign blue eyes met its gaze in a final silent exchange. Her voice, soft but firm, rose, carried by the aura still vibrating in the hall:
"I count on you."
Then, like a black tide swallowing everything in its path, they were engulfed by the shadow, their forms erased, leaving only a slight quiver in the air and the sense of intact power resonating around the colossus.
The dragon, motionless, drew a deep breath, its nostrils steaming slightly in the stagnant air of the hall. It understood, in the solemn silence that followed, that this bond—fragile yet absolute—had just been sealed.