“Good. Then you two, over there!” Immesh pointed at two huntresses standing behind Rettil. “Make sure Uda gets a room where she can rest. She’ll need every ounce of strength for her journey. Anyone who picks a fight with her will quickly discover she’s superior to all of you. Another reason to trust her; she could wipe you out and travel to the next Shield District without a single one of you stopping her. If you refuse her, you will face an ecclesiastical tribunal next time! That goes especially for those who didn’t come with Rettil and have otherwise been enjoying yourselves, like I have. Those days are over!”

  Uda slowly rose to her feet, barely registering the sounds around her or the lingering doubtful stares. Exhaustion threatened to overwhelm her, just as it had after her fight with the Deep Winder. She hardly noticed as the two huntresses Immesh had addressed guided her toward a building at the edge of the square. Their looks held distrust and uncertainty, even horror, yet Uda did not care. Even if the hunters changed their minds, or if Diga managed to sway some of Immesh’s more fanatical followers and incited an uprising… she could defend herself.

  But can I ensure that no one suffers lasting harm? Uda wondered.

  She stumbled through a half-rotted door, which one of the huntresses held open with glinting eyes, and slipped into the room beyond. Without a doubt, the two women would stand guard outside, not only to protect her but also to protect themselves from her if necessary.

  Unsteadily, Uda moved farther inside, barely able to form a clear thought. Her innermost being threatened to pull her into deep meditation. Exhausted, she looked around. The room was sparsely furnished, though she required little. She knelt onto the cushion and sighed in relief. At last she could relax. At last she could withdraw into herself and savor the darkness. The warm, wonderful darkness… It was so powerful, so deep and protective. It lay over her mind like a blanket and warmed her. Within it rested strength and the promise of miracles. Not terrible miracles, but deeds that would bring good.

  If I can do something to help the people here, to help Nia, then the darkness isn’t bad, is it? Yes. The darkness… is not bad…

  A feeling of numbness overtook her. It was different from before, when she had withdrawn to become one with the darkness. Memories of black, muddy waves in the pitch-dark night surfaced within her. Memories of the things she had seen in the shadow crystal shortly after her arrival… Then Uda sensed that something lay beneath the waves. The images and impressions blurred, and she felt her mind drifting away. At first she was surrounded by an eerie emptiness, a space of nothingness. Then a bright yet steady voice spoke to her.

  “I despise you! This darkness… YOU ARE EVIL!”

  Uda turned around in surprise. Vaguely, she saw a young woman standing some distance behind her, wearing an elegant white dress, her silky golden hair falling over her shoulders as she glared grimly downward. No, not at her. At something beside her, something black and eternally seething there.

  “Shadows are not always evil!” Uda tried to protest, her voice faint, yet the woman did not listen. She began to shine, aiming at something near her, and Uda was pulled back into the darkness she found so protective. For a while she forgot the young woman and surrendered to her own black, feeling it gather new strength within her. Then she was drawn back into the Dream.

  Something was wrong. What had happened? Who was that woman? Where had she been? Had she… had she traveled somewhere else? Uda remembered the vicar and how she had believed she saw a prophetess in another world. Was her vision similar? Had she also seen someone from another world? And more importantly… had that person seen her as well?

  The golden hair, the determined face… The young woman had unsettled her. Something in her eyes had frightened her.

  Uda wanted to think about it further, but then she felt again that something was not right…

  Nia! I can’t feel Nia anymore! SHIT! Uda realized.

  The warmth that had always been there, distant yet reassuring her that Nia was well, had vanished. A painful emptiness flooded her thoughts as she remembered the young woman.

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  Fuck! Am I too late?

  Uda jumped to her feet and rushed to the door. She almost tore it open, then stopped herself at the last second.

  No more trouble. I need to stay calm, she thought.

  Her hand was cold with fear, her fingers trembling, yet she raised her fist and knocked as gently as she could.

  “Yes?”

  “Hello, I… I have to leave now. Something has happened, my friend…”

  The door opened, and two men looked at her suspiciously. Apparently there had been a смена of guards. How long had she been meditating? The sun was setting on the horizon, and night would fall soon. A cold wind was already tugging at her clothes.

  “Where do you want to go?” the hunter on her left asked.

  He did not look at her and tried to stare straight ahead.

  “I… I don’t know. But I think something has happened. Something in Lera’s unit. I have to leave immediately,” Uda insisted.

  “How do you know that?” the other hunter asked, studying her carefully as though afraid she might bewitch him.

  “I… I don’t know. There was always this feeling I had when Nia was nearby. It grew weaker when she left with Lera, but now it’s gone,” Uda explained, attempting to step past them. They lowered their spears crosswise, blocking her path.

  “Let me through, please!” Uda growled, forcing herself to remain calm.

  Every fiber of her body wanted to push past them and run north.

  She restrained herself. She could not rush blindly into something again. Uda closed her eyes and tried to swallow her fear.

  If Nia has truly Awakened, there’s nothing I can do. If she’s still in the Dream, I might need reinforcements, and I don’t have any, she realized.

  “I want to speak with Immesh,” Uda demanded, fixing the two hunters with the most intimidating stare she could manage.

  “Exorcist Immesh is meditating. He sustained serious damage in his fight with the Panic,” the hunter to her left said curtly.

  “How long does he usually meditate?”

  “Days. Maybe two, maybe ten. Who knows? Immesh is highly Lucid, yet that also means he needs more time to replenish his reserves…”

  “No, I don’t have that much time! We don’t have that much time. What if something is already coming for us?”

  “Immesh is meditating. We have our orders. Those orders forbid us from attacking you here and now, so think carefully before asking us to disregard them…”

  Uda cried out in frustration and turned away. She began pacing inside her small room, tugging at her hair. What was she supposed to do? She started to wrap herself in darkness again, thinking of the swelling, dense blackness.

  Something moved at the edge of her vision. She froze, then slowly turned her head. It took a moment to find the source, and she inhaled sharply. There, on the floor, was her shadow cast by the sunlight, yet it was no ordinary shadow. The deepest blackness spread across part of the room, beginning at her feet. She looked down and saw that where her boots touched the ground, a bubbling, viscous black substance was creeping upward toward her. Something was there in the shadow; it had overflowed. The substance reminded her of what she had seen within herself. It was not malicious or eerie. It was familiar.

  Tar… she thought, pausing.

  How did she know that word? She had grown used to sensing the names of things when she saw them for the first time, to understanding what terms meant even if she had never heard them before. This was different. The black substance now fully coating her boots felt different, more personal.

  Tar…

  The word sounded like a truth Uda had forgotten. Then she realized that a part of her was there in the shadow. She felt as though she had somehow expanded, as if something within her had detached and flowed into the world.

  Lucidity! My… Lucidity? she thought, both excited and confused.

  She stared at the shadow that now sent out black waves. No, she herself was the one casting black waves. She looked at her boots, and it felt right. Instinctively she let the darkness crawl up her trousers and finally over her shirt.

  I am the tar and the shadow. I am the darkness. But…

  She thought of the eerie young woman with golden hair, who had glared at something beside her, something dark that had also been there.

  …I am not evil. I can…

  It was difficult to hold her thoughts together. Her body was still there, yet she also felt the ground beneath her feet in a different way. Her mind brushed against a faint barrier, and without thinking, Uda allowed herself to be overtaken by it. She gasped as she saw the tar-like shadow grow and spread across the floor and up the wall. It felt good, liberating, yet draining at the same time.

  A loud bang tore her from her thoughts, and the tar vanished. Only her shadow remained on the floor, now slightly shifted, as dark as her armor. A trace of exhaustion lingered in her bones, though she forced herself upright when another crash echoed from outside. She rushed to the door and pulled it open.

  The guards were still there, their eyes fixed on the main road. In the distance, Uda saw greenish glowing birds taking flight, disturbed by something. Something was coming toward them…

  “What is that?” she asked, receiving no answer.

  Another crash, a cloud of dust, then something flew into the square.

  It carved a furrow of dust behind it, coughing.

  It was Kelwin. His hand a fist, shivering, holding something sparkling.