Only I Can Weild A Forgotten Shadow Magic

The sunlight hit me like a slap to the face as we emerged from the subway station. After what felt like hours in the suffocating darkness below, the bright, chaotic life of the city seemed impossibly loud. Cars honked, people shouted, and holographic ads flickered across towering billboards.

Sparky was practically carrying me as we stumbled onto the sidewalk. "You look like hell," he muttered, glancing at my face.

"Feel like it too," I said, leaning on him for support. My legs felt like jelly, and the shadows still whispered at the edges of my mind, quieter now but no less insistent.

We ducked into an alleyway, away from prying eyes. Sparky propped me up against a wall, his expression tense. "Alright, spill. What's your corruption at?"

I hesitated, glancing at the faint HUD in the corner of my vision. The numbers were there, cold and unfeeling: 48%.

"It's… manageable," I said, avoiding his eyes.

"Kai," he said, his tone sharp. "How bad is it?"

"Forty-eight," I admitted.

His face paled. "Forty-eight?! That's not manageable—that's practically flirting with disaster!"

"It's fine," I insisted, even though I could feel the lie in my own words. "The system hasn't given me any critical warnings yet."

"Yet," Sparky shot back. "You're gambling with your life—and mine, by the way. What happens if you lose control? What if the next time you go all shadow monster, you don't come back?"

I didn't have an answer for that. Instead, I pushed myself off the wall, my legs trembling but holding. "We don't have time for this. The system said there are more fractures. We have to keep moving."

"You're kidding, right?" Sparky said, crossing his arms. "You just sealed one fracture, nearly got yourself killed, and now you want to jump straight into the next one? You need rest, Kai. A plan. Something that doesn't involve you turning into a Void puppet."

"We don't have the luxury of rest," I said, my voice rising. "Every second we wait, the Void spreads. People die. You think I like this? You think I want to risk everything? I don't. But we don't have a choice."

Sparky stared at me, his expression unreadable. Finally, he let out a long sigh. "You're impossible, you know that?"

"Yeah," I said, managing a faint smile. "But you're still here."

"Don't remind me," he muttered.

---

The next coordinates the system gave us were on the outskirts of the city, in an industrial district full of abandoned warehouses. The place was eerily quiet, the kind of quiet that made your skin crawl.

"This feels like a trap," Sparky said, glancing around.

"It's always a trap," I said, my eyes scanning the crumbling buildings. The shadows here were heavier, thicker, like a storm waiting to break.

The fracture's energy was easy to track. It pulled at me like a magnet, a dark beacon in the middle of the decay. We followed it to a massive warehouse, its windows shattered and its walls covered in graffiti.

The door creaked ominously as I pushed it open. Inside, the air was heavy with the stench of mildew and rust. The fracture pulsed at the center of the room, its glow casting eerie shadows across the walls.

And standing between us and it was another creature.

This one was smaller than the last, but there was something about it that made my skin crawl. Its body was humanoid, but its limbs were too long, its movements too fluid, like it was more shadow than flesh.

"Oh, great," Sparky muttered. "Another one. This day just keeps getting better."

The creature tilted its head, its glowing eyes locking onto us.

"Stay back," I said, summoning the shadows around me.

The creature hissed, a sound like nails on glass, and lunged.

Sparky fired a bolt of lightning, but the creature dodged with impossible speed. It was on me in an instant, its claws swiping toward my face.

I barely managed to block with a tendril of shadow, the impact sending me staggering back.

"This one's faster!" Sparky shouted, darting to the side to avoid another swipe.

"No kidding!" I snapped, lashing out with my dagger. The blade sliced through the creature's arm, but it didn't seem to care. Its body reformed almost instantly, the shadows around it surging like a tide.

The fight was brutal. The creature was relentless, its attacks coming faster than I could react. The shadows helped, but they were slow, sluggish, like they were resisting me.

"Come on," I muttered, pushing harder. "Work with me here."

Let go, the whispers urged. Stop holding back.

"No," I growled, gritting my teeth.

"Kai!" Sparky's shout snapped me out of it. The creature had pinned him against the wall, its claws inches from his throat.

"Get off him!" I shouted, the shadows lashing out in a wave. They slammed into the creature, driving it back.

Sparky slid to the ground, gasping for air. "Thanks," he said, his voice shaky.

"Don't mention it," I said, helping him to his feet.

The creature was already recovering, its form shifting and twisting.

"This isn't working," Sparky said. "We need a new plan."

"I've got one," I said, my gaze fixed on the fracture.

"Oh no," he said, his eyes widening. "Don't you dare."

"It's the only way," I said, already moving.

The creature roared, lunging at me, but I didn't stop. The shadows surged around me, forming a shield that deflected its attack.

I reached the fracture and plunged my hands into its pulsing light.

The pain was immediate, a searing agony that burned through my entire body. The shadows screamed in my mind, a cacophony of voices that threatened to drown me.

"Kai!" Sparky shouted, but his voice was distant, barely audible over the chaos.

The fracture's energy was wild, uncontrollable. It fought me, pushing back against the shadows I was trying to force into it.

Let us in, the whispers said. We can fix this. We can save you.

For a moment, I hesitated. The pain was too much, the fracture too strong. Maybe they were right. Maybe I couldn't do this alone.

But then I thought of Sparky, of the city, of everyone who was counting on me.

"No," I said, forcing the shadows deeper into the fracture.

The pain intensified, but I didn't let go. Slowly, the fracture began to stabilize, its wild energy calming.

The creature let out a final, piercing shriek before collapsing into a pile of ash.

The fracture flickered and went dark, its light fading.

The shadows were getting stronger, their whispers louder.

And I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep them at bay.

I collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.

Sparky was at my side in an instant, his face pale. "You're insane," he said.

"Probably," I said, managing a weak smile.

[Fracture stabilized. Corruption level: 54%. User health critical.]

"Fifty-four?!" Sparky said, his voice rising. "Kai, you—"

"I'm fine," I said, cutting him off. "Let's just… get out of here."