It had been a few days since Kalon had been at the academy. The students hadn't chosen their courses yet; after all, they needed time to settle into the dormitories and for the high-class ones to form connections.
Kalon had been through quite a lot; he had his shadow sense somewhat under control now.
Shadow Sense was like a sixth sense, but in some strange way, Kalon felt that it was supposed to be his main sensory receptor. Everything had a shadow, after all, and Kalon — as a Shadow Spawn — had the innate ability to sense all the depth and movement of shadows within a certain radius around him. Though he hadn't been able to report this new ability or measure its range because the overwhelming amount of information made his brain ache like it was about to explode. Hence, Kalon had lain in bed through all his time at the academy, getting used to the disorienting feeling.
After staring at the ceiling of his private quarters for a while, Kalon closed his eyes as his mind began to drift away — back to the past, to how he had gotten here.
On a day no different from the others in the outskirts, Kalon was writhing in pain on the floor after having his ass beaten by the other kids a bit older than him.
He had never gotten along with those kids since he was young, so when they found out Kalon had gotten his hands on a bit of food, they came to extort it from him. Stubbornly, Kalon refused to give them any. Enraged, they ganged up on him and ended up taking everything.
While walking home, barely staying upright, Kalon regretted his decision. He had let his stupid and dumb arrogance cost him his two weeks' worth of food. He wished he had just agreed to give the others a bit; at least if he did, he would have some left for himself.
Getting into his house and without even bothering to clean the blood and dirt off his body, Kalon fell to the floor, his whole body giving out. As darkness pulled his consciousness away, the last thought that flashed through Kalon's mind was:
"I didn't think my death would be so peaceful... What a pleasant surprise."
After what felt like an eternity — and at the same time an instant — Kalon opened his eyes again. However, rather than his room, he found himself in a dark and boundless expanse of land. The sky was filled with gunpowder-grey clouds with some kind of silver specks drifting everywhere around him — or rather, around the entirety of this strange land.
The world was filled only with darkness, the only light coming from the silver specks and a tiny silver glow at the horizon, which could have been the equivalent of a sun in this place. But that wasn't what bothered Kalon — what truly disturbed him was the fact that he felt at home here. Not only that, but even in this vast land of darkness, Kalon could see perfectly fine.
Looking down at his arm and body, Kalon was left speechless as his mind couldn't comprehend what he was seeing. His arm looked like it was carved from a pitch-black stone, even darker than the obsidian-colored sand beneath his feet. But he had no time to think about what had happened to him, as a dark figure appeared from nowhere and lunged at him.
A dark, ball-like creature was the last thing Kalon saw before he was sent tumbling down from where he stood — which happened to be a hill. Landing and rolling on his back, trying to stand up, Kalon saw a dark tentacle fly out from the creature. The tentacle stretched and flew with impossible speed as it plunged into his heart, and the dark creature shot toward him again.
Kalon stood still, letting it approach. There was no need to do anything.
He had nothing.
He had no family.
He had no friends.
Even if he survived or made it back home, surviving to see the next day was not guaranteed.
Thinking of all this, Kalon had resigned himself to fate. But then — he changed his mind. It was not his fault his life was so hard; it wasn't even his parents' fault, or their parents'. The fault lay with those who had the power to help but did nothing.
Kalon knew it was a selfish thought, but he couldn't help it. No doubt, it was a trait shared by any child who grew up in the outskirts — after all, selflessness in the outskirts was what got people exploited and killed.
Raising his voice and screaming, Kalon's hand shot up and ripped the tentacle out of his chest — where his heart should have been. But no blood came pouring out. Not even noticing, Kalon shot forward with a speed that by no means should his frail body have been able to handle.
"I'll kill it! Rip its tentacle off its body and crush it under a rock!"
And true to his words, after a few minutes of fighting with the strange shadow creature — punching and biting — Kalon did everything he could. Eventually, he ripped its tentacle off. But even then, he had no time to enjoy his accomplishment.
The tentacle in his hand dissolved into shadows as his eyes widened, staring at his pitch-black body with a hole in its chest.
In Kalon's brief moment of relief — then shock — the shadow creature shot out two more tentacles: one which wrapped around Kalon's legs, and the other, with a sharp tip, severed his head from his body, sending it flying into the sky.
Kalon watched the creature absorb his body as he finally gave up. He was dying anyway.
In that moment, a voice resounded in Kalon's mind:
[You have shown your will to resist death, yet accept it. The Shadow God is content with your will.]
[Awaken. Your first seal has been released.]
A knock on his door snapped Kalon out of his reminiscing about his enlightenment. Feeling the shadow at his door, he said,
"Come in, Dick."
Kalon had long grown used to Dick's shadow — he could notice it almost instantly, even from a distance away.
While Dick was coming in, Kalon was still lost in thought. He knew everyone attained enlightenment in different ways, but he knew nothing about what really happened in his. He didn't even know why his shadow had disappeared until a few days ago, and he couldn't ask the academy, since shadow users were so rare that no one had ever been able to properly study their abilities.
Pushing these thoughts to the back of his mind, Kalon looked at the door, giving a bright smile to the people who walked in. It was, of course, Dickson and Amelia — the Seer who had been alone on their induction day.
"Dick, Amy — how are you guys?"
He said with a wide and ridiculous smile plastered over his face, completely masking his uneasiness.