Chapter 6 – Unleashed Shadows
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– The Limit
The forest trembled with every step of the trackers. Kael, panting, could barely stay on his feet. His daggers glimmered faintly with a shadowy glow, a power that seemed not to belong to this world.
The mercenaries surrounded him with cold smiles.
"You have no escape, boy," one said, drawing his bowstring tight.
Kael clenched his teeth. He couldn't run anymore. He couldn't keep fleeing.
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– The Inner Roar
A strange heat began coursing through his body, like embers burning beneath his skin. The shadow beneath his feet expanded, forming a dark circle that devoured the grass.
"That power!" one tracker exclaimed, stepping back in fear.
"Don't let him use it! Kill him now!"
The arrows flew. Kael raised his daggers by instinct, and the shadows rose like black wings, deflecting them in every direction.
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– Outburst
The air filled with shadowy blades. A dark blast tore through trees and earth, toppling the men who attacked him.
The trackers screamed, unable to understand how a boy could unleash such power.
Kael, however, did not smile. His eyes were glazed, as if another force moved his body.
"More… more…"
A voice whispered in his mind, urging him to surrender to the power.
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– Uncontrollable Fury
A tracker lunged at him, and Kael struck him down with his daggers without hesitation. The man fell, and the shadows devoured him until nothing remained.
Kael felt something strange: a twisted pleasure in the fight. His breathing grew ragged, his movements more savage.
"This isn't me…" he murmured, trembling.
But the shadows did not listen.
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– Elyndra Intervenes
Suddenly, a gust of wind tore open the field. Elyndra appeared among the trees, staff raised, her body covered in wounds but her gaze resolute.
"Kael, enough!"
Her voice cut through like thunder in the storm. Kael turned toward her, but his eyes were still drowned in black.
"Out of my way!" he roared, brandishing the daggers wreathed in shadow.
Elyndra did not step back.
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– The Clash
The daggers descended upon Elyndra, but she invoked a wall of fire and wind that clashed against the shadows in a deafening explosion.
Kael fell to his knees, battling himself.
"Master… I… can't stop it…!"
Elyndra approached and wrapped her arms around him, even as the shadows burned her skin.
"Listen to me, Kael. You are not a monster. You are not that darkness. You are my disciple!"
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– The Sacrifice
Elyndra's voice pierced through the fog in Kael's mind. Slowly, the shadows faded, dissipating like smoke.
The boy collapsed, exhausted, into her lap, sobbing.
"Master… I didn't want to… I didn't mean to…"
Elyndra smiled, caressing his hair, even as blood trickled from her mouth.
"I know. What matters is that you can still choose… and as long as I live, you will never be alone."
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– Cliffhanger
The surviving trackers watched from a distance, terrified, but with eyes gleaming with greed.
"So it's true… that boy is the key."
"We must capture him."
Elyndra, weakened, raised her staff once more.
"You'll have to get through me first."
Kael, still unconscious, gripped his daggers tightly. The battle was not over.
To be continued…