"The face of the first man you ever killed..."
Seraphina's words hung in the damp air, suspended between the cold stone walls. Something clawed at the back of my mind—shadows screaming behind a locked door. But the door didn't budge. All that remained was a sharp headache and that familiar, hollow nausea in my stomach.
"I haven't killed anyone," I said again, though my voice lacked conviction this time. The Seal on my chest warmed, vibrating as if to mock my denial.
Valeria swept her gauntleted hand through Seraphina's smoke-form, scattering the mist. "Do not cloud the Master's mind, witch. He has just awakened. His memory is fractured. He needs a shield, not riddles."
Seraphina giggled, floating up toward the ceiling to a safe distance. "Shields only delay the blow, Val. But knowledge... knowledge tells you where the blow will land."
Valeria was about to retort when a sound from outside the ruin silenced them both.
CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.
It wasn't the wet dragging sound of the Corpse Eater. This was dry—the sound of brittle bones striking stone rapidly and rhythmically.
"Night Walkers," Valeria said, her voice dropping to absolute zero. She gripped her greatsword with both hands and stepped toward the shattered doorway. "They found us because they smelled us. The Seal shines like a lighthouse in the dark."
I tried to stand, but my legs felt like jelly. "Can you fight?" I asked.
Valeria looked over her shoulder. There was a strange glint in her dead, icy blue eyes. "As long as you stand, Master. My strength feeds on your soul. If you fall, I fall."
That was not the answer I wanted to hear.
"Great," I muttered. "So, I'm the battery, and you're the gun."
"A crude analogy," Seraphina chimed in, floating down to perch on the sarcophagus next to me. "But not inaccurate."
At that moment, the first creature burst through the door.
It was a spider, but not of flesh and blood. It was a grotesque nightmare constructed from human ribs and femurs, the size of a large dog. Where a head should be, an inverted human skull sat, its jaw snapping open and shut like a mechanical clamp.
"Vermin," Valeria hissed.
The obsidian greatsword carved a perfect semi-circle in the air. The blade was so heavy that the sound of it slicing the wind was like a whip crack.
BOOM.
The bone spider was pulverized into dust in a single strike. Fragments scattered across the floor. Valeria's form was perfect; no sign of effort, no hesitation.
But the moment the creature shattered, a shockwave hit me. It felt as if an invisible fist had punched me from the inside out. My breath hitched, my heart skipped a beat.
"Ah!" My hand flew to my chest.
"What's wrong?" Seraphina called out, looking more curious than concerned.
"Every hit..." I gritted my teeth against the wave of nausea. "Every time Valeria swings that sword, she drains me."
"Of course she does," Seraphina said, as if discussing the weather. "She is a Death Knight, darling. Her mere physical existence consumes massive amounts of energy. Swinging that slab of iron takes a sip of your life force every single time."
Three more bone spiders skittered through the door. Then five more. They were pouring in through the cracks in the walls.
Valeria became a whirlwind. Her sword rose and fell like black lightning, turning bone to dust with every impact. But with every blow, I faded a little more. My vision tunneled. My fingertips went numb.
If this continued, Valeria would suck me dry long before the monsters killed us.
"Valeria, stop!" I shouted, but she couldn't hear me over the cacophony of battle. She was a machine, programmed to destroy anything in front of her.
"You can't stop her," Seraphina whispered, leaning into my ear. "She was designed to protect. She won't stop until the threat is gone. But you... you can manage her."
"How?" I wheezed.
Seraphina's translucent fingers hovered over the Seal on my chest. "The Seal is a valve, Master. Right now, it's wide open. Valeria is using a fire hose to water a flower. Restrict the flow. Give her power only when she needs it."
I didn't know how, but I had no choice. I closed my eyes and focused on the burning river inside me. I felt the thick, crimson tether of energy flowing toward Valeria.
In my mind, I grabbed that tether and squeezed.
Valeria stumbled instantly. The speed of her swing dropped by half. A spider slammed into her armor, pushing her back.
"Master!" she shouted, panic in her voice. "The power... it is fading!"
"It's not fading," I said, cold sweat pouring down my face. I opened my eyes. The world was sharper now. The Seal granted me a strange awareness; I could see the spiritual outlines of Valeria and Seraphina. "We just need to stop wasting it."
I took a deep breath and barked my first real command.
"Valeria! Defensive stance! Do not attack, just block!"
Valeria's body obeyed instantly. Instead of swinging the sword, she pulled it close to her body, turning herself into an immovable wall in the doorway. The spiders leaped at her, but they crashed harmlessly against her obsidian plate. The energy drain plummeted. Air rushed back into my lungs.
"Seraphina!" I shouted, turning to the phantom floating near the ceiling. "You're up. Do you have an area-of-effect spell? Something with a low cost?"
Seraphina's lips curled into a delighted smile. "Ordering me around? I like it."
She raised a hand. "Since Valeria has gathered them all together so nicely... Banshee's Wail."
Seraphina opened her mouth, but the sound that came out wasn't something human ears were meant to hear. I only saw a ripple of violet distortion in the air.
The wave hit the pile of spiders at the door. It wasn't a physical blow; it was a vibration. The magic holding the bones together shattered. The spiders collapsed like puppets with their strings cut. Dozens of creatures turned into a pile of inanimate bones in a split second.
And the best part: The attack hadn't drained even a fraction of what Valeria's sword swings cost.
Silence returned to the ruin. I slid down the side of the sarcophagus, hitting the floor.
Valeria lowered her sword and rushed to my side. Since she had removed her helmet earlier, I could see the genuine worry on her face. She dropped to one knee and took my hand.
"Master... forgive me. I was reckless. I nearly..."
"It's fine," I gasped, trying to steady my breathing. "We're learning."
Seraphina floated down, her feet hovering inches above the dust. "Not bad," she said, her tone appreciative. "Using a paladin as a meat shield and a mage for the cleanup. Basic tactical knowledge. You're smarter than our previous owner."
"Previous owner?" I asked, not letting go of Valeria's cold, armored hand. "What happened to him?"
Seraphina and Valeria exchanged a look. The air in the room grew heavy.
"He," Valeria said, her voice somber, "could not bear the weight of the Seal. His hunger for power exceeded the limits of his body."
Seraphina drifted closer to my face, those violet eyes piercing right through me. "You could end up the same way, Kael. You learned to manage your energy, but your tank is still empty. And there are bigger things outside."
She placed her hand on my cheek again. The touch was more intense this time, sending a warmth through my skin that made me shiver.
"Lucky for you," she whispered, "we Keys don't just consume energy. If we are... played correctly, we can also generate it."
Valeria slapped Seraphina's hand away. "Enough! Do not corrupt him."
"I am just trying to help!" Seraphina said innocently, then turned back to me. "Listen, Master. If you want to leave these ruins, you need to level up. You need to expand your soul. And the fastest way to do that..."
Her eyes flicked between Valeria's armored chest and her own transparent curves.
"...is to deepen your bond with us."
I swallowed hard. "Deepen the bond?"
Valeria lowered her head, a faint, very faint flush appearing on her pale cheeks. "Soul Resonance," she murmured. "Physical and spiritual intimacy feeds the Seal."
Seraphina giggled. "In short, darling, the more you love us—or desire us—the stronger you become."
Just then, a deep rumble echoed from the depths of the ruin, vibrating through the stone floor beneath us. It felt like something massive was waking up from a long slumber.
Seraphina's smile vanished. Valeria surged to her feet.
"The Guardian," Valeria said. "It is awake."
The Seal on my chest began to burn fiercely. This time, the pain wasn't a warning; it was an invitation.
"Let's go," I said, using the wall to pull myself up. "Whatever that thing is, we aren't leaving without facing it."
And a voice inside me whispered that I wasn't ready to see the face of that "first victim" Seraphina had mentioned.