The world was falling apart.
Kai's body twisted as the stone beneath him gave way, crumbling like brittle sand. The tower, once a symbol of strength, was collapsing beneath the force of the shadow creature's attack. His hands clawed at the air, searching for something—anything—to hold onto, but his fingers only grasped empty space. Time seemed to slow as the ground rushed up to meet him.
Above, the creature's shadowy tendrils lashed out like serpents, whipping the tower's remains into oblivion. Kai's heart raced. He felt weightless, helpless, as if he were spiraling into a pit of nothingness. The taste of defeat filled his mouth. There was nothing left in him. His powers, the shadows he had once commanded with confidence, were gone.
Suddenly, Lysandra's hand snatched his arm with an iron grip. The shock jerked him back to reality as she swung him toward the remains of a crumbling ledge. Her face was flushed with effort, her eyes wide with desperation.
"*Hold on!*" she shouted, her voice barely audible over the deafening destruction surrounding them.
Kai's feet scrambled against the wall, his fingers digging into the ledge she had pushed him toward. A jagged piece of stone cut into his palm, but the pain barely registered. He was alive. Barely.
Professor Albright wasn't so lucky.
With a sickening thud, the old man's body hit the rubble below, lost beneath the clouds of dust and debris. His scream had been swallowed by the chaos, leaving behind only a horrible silence in its wake.
Kai's stomach twisted as he looked down, his grip tightening as his mind reeled from the sudden loss. But there was no time to mourn, no time to think. The creature wasn't done.
"*Kai, we have to move!*" Lysandra's voice cut through his thoughts, urgency lacing her every word.
With effort, he dragged himself up, stumbling to his feet on the small platform that had survived the tower's collapse. Lysandra stood beside him, her face streaked with dirt and sweat, her eyes determined despite the fear that lingered in them. The tower's remnants groaned beneath their weight, unstable and ready to fall at any moment.
Below, the academy grounds had become a warzone. Shadow creatures, born from the massive entity in the courtyard, swarmed across the area like a black tide, overwhelming everything in their path. The few students and staff that remained were fighting a losing battle.
The massive shadow entity was still expanding, its body a shifting, monstrous amalgamation of darkness, consuming everything in its path. Its tendrils writhed, snapping at anything that moved, its roar filling the sky like thunder.
Lysandra turned to Kai, her voice shaky but resolute. "*We need to find a way to stop it. If that thing reaches the sanctum, it's over. Everything.*"
Kai nodded, though he had no idea how they could stop something so powerful, especially with his shadow powers severed. His body still ached from the ritual, the weight of the shadows he had lost lingering like a phantom limb. He could feel the emptiness inside him, the void where his powers used to be. The realization hit him harder now that he wasn't just weak—he was powerless.
"*But how?*" he asked, frustration creeping into his voice. "*I can't control the shadows anymore. I can't fight that thing!*"
Lysandra's gaze flickered toward the creature, her brow furrowing in thought. "*We don't need to fight it directly. There has to be a way to disrupt whatever connection it's drawing from. Professor Albright said it was drawing power from the courtyard. Maybe—*"
Before she could finish, another tendril lashed out from the creature below, its speed impossible to predict. It slammed into the remaining ledge they were standing on, cracking it like glass.
Kai barely had time to react. His body lurched forward, thrown off balance by the force of the impact. His hand shot out, instinctively grabbing for anything to hold on to. For a moment, everything went silent. He felt weightless again, as if the world had slowed to a crawl.
Then, a searing pain shot through his arm. He looked down to see a tendril of shadow wrapped around his wrist, its cold, writhing form tightening like a vice. It was pulling him, dragging him toward the creature below.
"Kai!" Lysandra screamed, her eyes wide with terror as she lunged toward him, her hand outstretched. But she was too far away, too slow.
The shadows tightened, yanking Kai down with incredible force. He felt the wind rush past him as he was pulled off the ledge, the ground rushing up to meet him once more. But this time, there was no ledge to save him.
His body slammed into the rubble below, the impact knocking the air from his lungs. Stars exploded in his vision, and for a moment, everything went dark.
When he opened his eyes, the world was spinning. Pain radiated from every part of his body, his limbs heavy and unresponsive. The tendril was still wrapped around his wrist, but it was looser now, as if the creature was toying with him, savoring his helplessness.
Kai struggled to move, but his body refused to obey. The shadows were pulling him closer to the entity, toward the heart of the darkness. He could feel its presence now, a cold, malevolent force that seemed to press down on his very soul. It was ancient, older than anything he had ever felt before, and it was hungry.
Through the haze of pain and fear, he heard Lysandra's voice, distant but frantic. She was shouting his name, but he couldn't make out the words. His vision blurred again, the world fading in and out of focus.
And then, as if in response to his desperation, something stirred deep within him.
It was faint, barely noticeable at first. A flicker of something familiar—a whisper of shadows, curling at the edge of his consciousness. It was weak, so weak that he almost didn't recognize it.
But it was there.
The shadows.
The connection wasn't completely gone.
Kai's heart pounded in his chest as he focused on that flicker, reaching out with his mind, willing the shadows to respond. They were sluggish, resistant, but they were there, buried deep beneath the surface. He could feel them, a distant part of him still tethered to the darkness.
With a grunt of effort, Kai pulled at that connection, forcing the shadows to obey. Slowly, painfully, the tendril wrapped around his wrist began to loosen. The creature let out a low growl, its form shifting as if it could sense what was happening.
Kai clenched his teeth, pouring every ounce of willpower into the shadows. The tendril snapped free, and Kai fell to the ground, gasping for breath. But there was no time to rest.
The creature roared, its massive form twisting toward him, its eyes—those deep, hollow voids—locking onto him once more.
"Kai!" Lysandra's voice cut through the chaos, and he looked up to see her sliding down the rubble toward him. "*You're alive!*"
But before she could reach him, the creature surged forward, its body a swirling mass of darkness, its tendrils whipping out in every direction.
The ground trembled as it moved, the shadows closing in on all sides.
And then, without warning, the creature lunged straight for them.