Auren's footsteps echoed heavily through the endless corridor of the library.
The towering bookshelves lined the walls like silent giants, watching her every move. The dim light from the black torches only deepened the shadows, as if the place itself was built to swallow the courage of anyone who dared to walk too far.
In her hands, the Guidebook lay open to a page displaying a faint line — not a sentence, but a riddle.
> "To see the truth, you must look toward what casts no shadow."
Auren stared at the page for a long moment.
"What does that mean…?" she whispered softly, her voice almost drowned in the silence.
She glanced around, trying to find something unusual — but everything was dark, everything had a shadow.
Fear and curiosity blended within her. She stepped into another chamber — each one carried a different scent, a mixture of dust, ink, and something deeper… like the lingering trace of ancient magic in the air.
Every step drew her further into the library's mystery, and every time she opened a book chosen by the Guidebook, its letters seemed alive — shifting, swirling, forming strange symbols that tested her patience.
Then, in one of the darker rooms,
she heard something.
At first, it was only a faint hiss, like a breath from behind the wall.
But when Auren stopped to listen, the sound changed… into a low growl.
"Who… who's there…?" Auren whispered, trying to convince herself it was just the wind.
But then, a faint tremor rippled beneath her feet.
The wall in front of her began to crack, as if pulled apart by a force from within.
And before she could step back —
BOOOOMMM!
A massive explosion shook the entire room. Dust filled the air. Fragments of stone floated amidst the shockwave. From within the rubble emerged a colossal figure — a creature twelve meters tall, its body gleaming black like liquid metal, with glowing red eyes piercing the dark and twisted horns like those of an ancient demon.
Auren froze. Her breath caught. She couldn't move.
The monster let out a low sound — not merely a roar, but a whisper made of a thousand voices in one body.
"You… were the one who called us…"
Dark energy radiated from it, making the air quiver and pressing against Auren's chest until it was hard to breathe.
She staggered backward, trembling.
Suddenly, the Guidebook lying on the nearby table flipped open on its own, its pages trembling and writing glowing words as if made of smoke:
> "Be calm. The shadow will hear your heart."
Auren stared, bewildered.
"What does it mean, 'the shadow will hear my heart'?!" she cried in panic. But there was no time to think — the monster was already moving, each step shaking the floor violently.
Auren raised her trembling hand, trying to recall fragments of words from the previous book.
A faint spell came to mind — not a complete incantation, but enough to summon a flicker of dark energy in her palm.
Darkness magic.
A power that felt… alive, yet untamed.
When she directed it toward the monster, a burst of black energy shot forward — but it was too weak. The blast merely grazed the air, no more than a flicker of light against the creature's body, leaving it unscathed.
The monster paused for a moment, then lifted its head and roared, the sound reverberating through the entire castle. The walls shook, and dust rained from the ceiling.
Auren fell to the ground, eyes wide, heart pounding.
Terror consumed her whole body.
And amidst the roar, she saw something — a fleeting shadow behind the monster, the silhouette of someone… someone who had been watching her all along.
But before she could be sure, the monster raised its hand high — and the world around her seemed to freeze.
Everything stopped,
right before the darkness swallowed her sight.