The glowing letters hovered in the air, cold and silent.
NEXT TRIAL BEGINS IN: 00:59:47
The numbers ticked down mercilessly.
Uziel wiped the dust from his face and forced himself to breathe. His hands were still shaking—whether from fear or the strange power that had erupted from him, he wasn't sure.
Shadow Echo.
What was that supposed to mean?
He looked down at his shadow.
It looked normal now. Still. Quiet. Innocent.
But he had seen it move.
He had seen it fight for him like a living creature.
He crouched and touched the mark on his ankle. It pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat.
"Why me…?" he muttered.
The cavern didn't answer.
Exploration
He knew one thing: sitting still would get him killed.
Uziel pushed himself upright and scanned the vast stone platform. Now that he wasn't dying, he could see more clearly.
The arena wasn't empty.
Massive stone structures rose around the perimeter—broken columns, shattered walls, half-collapsed archways. They looked ancient, older than anything he had ever seen in Blackwater City.
At the center of the arena stood a monolith: a towering slab of black stone with glowing cracks that pulsed like veins.
Something about it pulled at him.
He approached cautiously.
As he got closer, faint whispers slipped through the air, like distant voices under water. He couldn't understand the words, but they felt familiar… almost comforting.
His fingertips brushed the stone.
A jolt of cold shot up his arm.
A vision flashed before his eyes—too fast to grasp:
A dark figure standing over a battlefield.
Shadows swirling like armor around a faceless form.
A crown of smoke.
A whisper: "Become more."
Uziel stumbled back, gasping.
"What… was that?"
The monolith remained silent and still.
But now new text appeared across its surface:
TUTORIAL NODE: SHADOW ECHO (LV. 1)
DESCRIPTION: YOUR SHADOW CAN REACT TO KILLING INTENT.
LIMITS: CANNOT BE CONTROLLED. CANNOT BE SUMMONED AT WILL.
REQUIREMENT TO LEVEL UP: SURVIVE TWO MORE TRIALS.
Uziel stared.
So the shadow protected him only when something tried to kill him…
"…Great," he whispered.
"Basically, I only get powers when I'm about to die."
Typical.
The timer continued counting down.
00:47:13
A Door of Darkness
As he turned away from the monolith, something shifted at the far end of the arena. A structure he hadn't noticed before—a massive black door—slowly formed out of swirling mist.
It wasn't there before.
Uziel felt a chill run down his spine.
The door was tall enough to swallow a house, covered in carved symbols that seemed to move when he wasn't looking directly at them. Two giant chains held it shut, glowing faintly with a red seal.
Above it, words appeared:
TRIAL II — THE HUNTED
GATE WILL OPEN SOON
"Hunted…" Uziel repeated.
"So somebody—or something—will be hunting me?"
He swallowed.
"Of course."
Searching for anything useful
He began to explore the ruins around the arena, hoping to find even a stick, a stone—anything. The floating lanterns gave just enough light to make exploring possible.
Most of the ruins held nothing.
Broken walls.
Dust.
Long-dead carvings of strange humanoid figures.
But behind a half-collapsed pillar, he found something new:
A skeleton.
Not human.
The bones were long, thin, and slightly curved, as if the creature had been stretched. The skull had four eye sockets.
The same creature he had fought.
Something glimmered beneath the ribcage.
Uziel crouched and pulled out a small dagger—black metal, faintly cold, etched with symbols that looked like shadows frozen mid-movement.
He held it up.
It felt… right.
Not heavy. Not light. Perfect balance.
For the first time since entering this place, Uziel felt a spark of hope.
Maybe he wasn't completely helpless.
The Countdown Ends
A loud crack split the air.
Uziel turned toward the giant sealed door.
The chains glowed red-hot.
The symbols writhed.
The stone around it vibrated like a heart about to explode.
The timer appeared in front of him again:
00:00:05
00:00:04
00:00:03
00:00:02
00:00:01
When it hit zero, the chains shattered.
The door split open.
From the pitch-black darkness inside…
Several pairs of eyes opened—glowing faintly, one pair at a time.
Not one enemy.
Not two.
Dozens.
Uziel tightened the grip on his new dagger as cold instinct washed over him.
Trial Two had arrived.
And this time, he wasn't facing just one monster.