Sinewy limbs of void-cryst—that’s what Kar noticed. They propelled a shadowcryst unlike any he had yet seen.

  The speed and fluidity with which it moved forced Kar into a clumsy backpedal. He blinked, and it had crossed both thresholds—from trial chamber to basin, basin to hall.

  It was lithe, like a cat. Kar raised his right arm reflexively, and the shadowcryst latched onto it with its feline jaws, clamping down. His void-cryst arm cracked, shards spinning away.

  Its speed left Kar feeling like he was flailing through water. He fell backward, toward the tiled mosaics beneath him. As he fell, Kar strained, reaching up to slam his left palm against the creature.

  Its faceted eyes flared with inner light as it accepted his challenge. Kar lost the battle to Absorb before he hit the floor.

  Erio’s lance snaked into view. A silvery blur. This panther of a shadowcryst released its hold on Kar and danced away from the Valorcryst’s thrust. It had a tail that lashed side to side in anticipation, as it took the measure of Erio.

  Kar gasped, the breath driven from his lungs by the impact with the ground. Lore was only just now starting to move from where she’d stood when he activated the portal door.

  Why was this thing loose? And how had it torn open the chamber door?

  The shadowcryst dashed towards Erio. The Valorcryst retreated, his footwork impeccable. He thrust, but struck only air. Once, twice. The shadow-cat twisted and writhed aside, always pressing forward. It reached Erio and tackled him by the legs.

  The Valorcryst tucked his body and rolled backward, dropping his lance. He bent his legs smoothly, planting his boots into the shadowcryst’s body, then kicked it into the air.

  It twirled in midair, lashing out with outstretched claws that scoured Erio’s forged-metal breastplate.

  The crystal this shadowcryst was made of was unusually dense and hard. Kar’s eyes flickered toward the empty basin. Had it Absorbed the basin’s Essence? Instead of growing like the Shade-Titan in Darby… had it concentrated the power?

  Kiya let loose a jet of flames that dissipated harmlessly around the creature. The shadowcryst ignored her and the rest of them, circling warily around Erio. He had pulled one of his short-spears from its quiver and crouched with it in a two-handed grip.

  Even Erio seemed to be struggling with the speed of their foe.

  Lore pulled Kar to his feet. She glanced over to her hammer; it leaned against the wall where she and Kiya had been waiting.

  A shadow-forged shield materialized in Kar’s hand. He handed it to her, without taking his eyes off the enemy.

  Lore dashed across the hall, even as Kar crept around to flank the beast.

  It shrieked, then lashed out. Erio scored a hit against it, but his spearhead barely scratched its crystal hide. It grabbed hold of the Valorcryst’s extended arm in its jaws, and crunched down. Erio’s metal arm guard groaned under the force of the bite. The shadow-cat bore down, then thrashed side to side.

  Erio somehow kept his footing, even as his arm was crushed and mangled.

  Kar’s feet slapped against the floor as he ran forward. Erio couldn’t do this on his own. He forged and lashed a chain towards the beast.

  It danced aside, lifting Erio off his feet and hurling him against the far wall.

  A second chain appeared in Kar’s other hand, and he swung it in an overhanded chopping motion. It struck home, and Kar forged a net of interlocking chains around the shadowcryst.

  The chains cinched tight—then shattered as the creature thrashed free.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Rift!” Kar yelled in frustration, Forging and raising a shield just in time to take the weight of the lunging shadowcryst.

  It was strong, and heavy. Kar found himself crashing backwards from the force of the impact.

  A blast echoed through the hall as a bearing from Derek’s cylinder flew wide. The shadow cat paused in its tracks. Then Lore and Aldwin were there, each swinging hammers. Their blows bounced off, barely making any marks. The beast retaliated almost instantly.

  Lore’s shield blocked an attack, but Aldwin was swept away, his blood arcing wildly across the hall.

  A spear from Erio finally struck home, lodging into the shadowcryst’s side. It twisted around on itself, grabbing hold of the shaft in its teeth, and wrenched it free.

  Kar fought down his panic. This thing was on an entirely other level, it would kill them all if he didn’t find a way to end this now.

  He Focused, but not in a way he’d seen before. He created a vibration, a resonant shock that traversed floor and air.

  The entire hall shook, and Kar, along with the other humans present, fell to their knees, hands pressed to ears.

  The shadowcryst stopped in its tracks, then zeroed in on Kar. He lunged away, toward the basin, and the chamber beyond.

  It pursued.

  Kar dove over the basin, shadow forging armor around himself. The beast struck him in the back, driving him into the floor of the trial chamber.

  Even as Kar bounced hard, the shadowcryst was sailing past him into the center of the dark chamber.

  The shards in the pouch at Kar’s waist glowed blue. He pulled on their Energía, Converted it, and forged a wall of void-cryst. It surged across the opening behind him, sealing he and the Shadowcryst inside.

  In the dark.

  Kar focused an orb of fire. His Energía was almost spent. He knew the wall he’d forged wouldn’t hold this beast back for long.

  It circled him languidly, its tail flickering back and forth. The light from Kar’s flare, seemingly sucked in by its void-cryst.

  “Why do you defend the humans?” The words resonated from deep within it—a harsh internal rumble.

  Kar stared at it in shock. It could talk? None of the Shadowcryst Kar had encountered up to this point had seemed particularly intelligent. Savage. Dangerous, yes. But hearing one speaks elicited a different sort of terror.

  “I am human, why wouldn’t I defend them?”

  Hammer blows rang out faintly against the far side of Kar’s make-shift barrier. He licked his lips, and glanced back. There was only one way he knew how to put a finish to this. Kar would have to fully pit his will against this creature.

  “Only part of you is human.” It crooned deeply. “Soon, none of you will be.”

  Kar took a deep breath, and steeled himself.

  “Stand aside.” The shadowcryst continued. “We serve the same Will. Creatures of the Void should not fight over scraps. You look like you could be useful. Serve me. Be my Thrall. And I will give you power.”

  His arm vibrated in tune with the thing’s resonating voice. Hummed in concert. Compelled Kar to defer, to submit. Something else pushed into his mind at the same time, a seeping, oily impression. A whispered thought.

  We need to know what it knows. Learn from it…

  Kar gritted his teeth—struggling to shake the strange thought away—and took a step forward.

  The shadowcryst’s tail twitched agitatedly—then it surged forward. It knocked Kar to the ground with a swipe of its paw, then grabbed hold of his armor in its teeth and ripped it off him.

  Kar reached his left—still human—hand toward it desperately. He had to Absorb.

  With contemptuous ease, the shadowcryst bit down above Kar’s left elbow, and jerked its head.

  Kar screamed.

  A familiar shock washed over him as that left arm was ripped away, and his focused flame flickered out.

  The chamber was plunged into darkness.

  Immediately, Kar’s body started to convulse. The darkness within him thrummed as it rushed towards the stump of his left arm. It sensed opportunity, to replace what was lost, as it had already done once before.

  A guttural moan escaped Kar.

  He refused to give any more of himself to the void. He seized the darkness, and forced it back into whatever corner of him it hid.

  A hard paw pressed into Kar’s chest, crushing him. In the dark, Kar could see nothing. But it didn’t matter. He could sense the hunger of his foe. It's thirst to feed on Energía, power, vitality. To consume and to grow. He knew that impulse all too well, it had become a part of his every waking moment.

  Kar reached out with his void-cryst arm. He couldn’t breathe, but he didn’t need to, not for this. He grabbed hold of his enemy and Absorbed with a manic fury, disregarding that he was using his forbidden right arm to do so.

  All the pain he felt drove him. It wasn’t enough. Despite his best effort, the Shadowcryst matched him easily.

  It was toying with him, Kar realized. He opened his mouth to scream into the dark, overwhelmed by the futility of his struggle. No sound came out.

  He began to choke then wheeze, as that paw pressed into him, harder.

  The pressure built in his head—behind his eyes. Kar thought of the Source then, how it had marked him, then abandoned him in these trials.

  As if in answer, faint lights flickered along the floor. As if, for a moment, the hall had remembered itself.

  It was just for a moment, then they flashed out again.

  The pressure on Kar’s chest eased momentarily, as the shadowcryst twisted around, confused.

  Kar sucked in an excruciating breath, then released his hold on the Shadowcryst. He couldn’t out Absorb it, but he had felt the beast—traced every line of crystal throughout its body. It all converged at a central point in its chest.

  Its shard heart.

  Kar’s void-cryst hand closed on the hilt of a stiletto at his belt. He’d lost one, but retrieved the other at the Causeway the day before. Kar drove it home with brutal force, aided by the strength of his inhuman arm.

  It punched through thick crystal with a crackling pop, and Kar felt the shard within the Elder Shadowcryst fracture and split.

  It glanced down at him—alien and unreadable—then collapsed atop him.