The creature moved with a fluid, unnatural grace—more like a spreading stain than a living being. Its limbs clicked against the stone floor, each step deliberate, predatory.
Uziel's breath caught in his throat.
He had no weapon.
No plan.
No idea what this place was.
But he knew one thing:
If he didn't move now, he would die.
He sprinted sideways just as the creature lunged. A clawed limb slashed the air where his head had been a heartbeat earlier. The impact cracked the floor, sending shards of stone flying.
"Too close…"
Uziel ducked behind a fallen pillar, heart hammering so hard it hurt. The cavern was vast, lit only by those floating lanterns that flickered like dying stars. Shadows twisted unnaturally across the walls, as if alive and watching.
He peeked around the pillar.
The creature was gone.
No footsteps.
No sound.
Just silence.
"Where—"
A cold breath brushed his neck.
Uziel spun.
The creature was above him, clinging to the ceiling like a monstrous spider. Its four pale eyes glowed, and its grin widened, stretching impossibly long.
It dropped.
Uziel threw himself to the side. Pain shot through his shoulder as he hit the ground, but he didn't stop. He scrambled backward until his spine hit a wall.
The creature stalked toward him, limbs tapping the stone rhythmically.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
A slow, mocking rhythm.
Its shadow stretched under it—longer, darker than anything else in the cavern. That shadow trembled… then reached toward him like black smoke.
The same cold sensation as before wrapped around his leg.
The whisper returned.
"Chosen… awaken."
Uziel gasped as icy darkness crawled up his body, spreading from his ankle to his chest like veins of black ink. His vision blurred. A pressure built inside him—like something ancient was trying to claw its way out of his soul.
The creature lunged again.
But this time, something moved before Uziel did.
His own shadow.
It twisted, rose off the floor, and solidified for a single heartbeat—an echo of a shape he couldn't describe. A phantom silhouette. A guardian made of darkness.
It intercepted the creature mid-air.
The impact blasted both shadows apart in a burst of black smoke.
Uziel stared, speechless.
His shadow… moved by itself?
The creature recovered faster, shaking off the attack. But now a faint hesitation appeared in its pale eyes. It recognized something in him. Something it didn't expect.
The whisper echoed once more:
"You are not prey."
Darkness surged from the mark on his ankle. His shadow stretched outward, thicker, sharper, trembling like a newborn beast ready to bite.
Uziel didn't understand a thing.
But he wasn't going to die without trying.
He took a step forward, more instinct than thought.
The shadow followed.
The creature hissed—the first sound it had made—and lunged again.
Uziel raised his hand.
His shadow exploded upward like a black wave, colliding with the monster in a violent crash. The creature was thrown backward, slamming into the cavern wall hard enough to crack it.
Silence.
Dust settled.
The creature twitched, then dissolved into smoke—vanishing as if it had never existed.
For a long moment, Uziel stood still, breathing heavily, staring at his hands. The darkness around his feet slowly receded, returning to a normal shadow.
Whatever awakened inside him…
It was real.
A faint glow appeared in the air before him.
Letters carved from pale light formed a message:
TRIAL COMPLETED: FIRST CONTACT
ABILITY AWAKENED: SHADOW ECHO (LV. 1)
TRIAL RATING: SURVIVED
Uziel swallowed.
"…I have abilities?"
Another line flashed:
NEXT TRIAL BEGINS IN: 01:00
One hour.
Sixty minutes until another monster came for him.
Uziel clenched his fists, feeling the cold mark on his ankle pulse again.
He wasn't ready.
But he had no choice.
The Unseen Trial had begun.
And the shadows were watching.