Leo glared at Elias, hating that smug grin on his face. The ground shook beneath them, making dust fall from the ceiling.
"What the hell do you mean 'the real test'?" Leo demanded, taking an aggressive step forward. "Cut the cryptic nonsense and tell me exactly what you're testing me for!"
Elias moved closer, his eyes gleaming with an unsettling excitement. Behind him, the other Watchers maintained their half-circle formation, their eerie smiles never wavering.
"We've waited centuries for someone like you," Elias explained, his voice quivering with anticipation. "From the beginning, we've guarded this place, protected the prison containing the First Shadow."
Neo positioned herself beside Leo, her mechanical knife gripped tightly. Her gaze remained fixed on Elias. "What exactly is this 'First Shadow'?" she questioned coldly. "And why is Leo so crucial to your cult's objectives?"
"The vessel!" Elias exclaimed, extending his arms dramatically. His expression revealed pure desperation. "We require a suitable vessel to either reinforce the Warden's chains or..." his smile faltered, betraying fear, "serve as its replacement."
"Replacement?" Kaori's features contorted with disgust as she clenched her fists. "You intend to transform him into some form of living prison?"
"The chains are failing," Elias continued, ignoring her outburst. His eyes remained locked on Leo. "We've evaluated countless candidates before you, but none progressed this far. Your connection to the shadows exceeds any we've encountered in centuries."
Leo's fear transformed into pure fury. "So I'm merely a pawn in your scheme?" His voice escalated with each word. "Guiding me here, dispatching those shadow entities after me, all to determine if I could function as your replacement jailer?"
"Not a pawn," Elias corrected, his tone softening. "A savior. The First Shadow must remain contained. You've witnessed its capabilities, its insatiable hunger."
Leo recalled the visions he'd experienced previously. The combat, the screams, that ravenous shadow entity consuming everything in its path.
"I don't care about your agenda," Leo growled, anger coursing through his veins. "I never asked for these abilities, and I refuse to serve as your damned prison warden!"
As his rage peaked, the mark on his arm illuminated with blinding intensity. Shadows raced across the floor like serpents, advancing toward the Watchers. The chamber seemed to respond to his emotional state. Fractures spread across the ground, widening as his power grew increasingly unstable.
"Leo, control yourself!" Neo warned, her voice laced with apprehension.
But the situation had escalated beyond control. The surrounding shadows began forming into shadow creatures. These creatures resembled the Frozen Ones they'd encountered previously, though less humanoid in appearance.
"Maintain control, Leo!" Kaori shouted, adopting a defensive stance as the shadow beings encircled them.
Elias retreated, that infuriating smile returning to his face. "Now the true test commences," he stated quietly. "Will you control the power, or will the power control you?"
Without warning, the shadow creatures attacked. One lunged at Kaori, claws slicing through the air. She executed a perfect spin, evading the attack and delivering a powerful punch to its chest. Her fist connected with its body, but the creature merely stumbled backward, unharmed.
"These dumbasses differ from the others!" she called out, narrowly dodging another assault. "They're completely solid!"
Neo's knife flashed brilliantly as she blocked a shadow being's strike. Her blade sliced through the creature's arm without effect. "Target the core!" she instructed, driving her knife directly into the center of the shadow being's chest.
The creature emitted a piercing scream before dissolving into nothingness.
Leo struggled to focus, attempting to regain control of the shadows he'd inadvertently manifested. The power felt untamed now, like a wild beast straining against its restraints. Each attempt to reclaim the shadows only intensified the creatures' aggression and desperation.
"The vessel must demonstrate worthiness," Elias observed from a safe distance, watching with interest.
"Enough!" Leo roared, his patience shattering completely. He thrust his marked arm forward, channeling his rage into pure energy. A wave of shadow power erupted from his hand, striking the nearest creature directly in its core. The being instantly disintegrated.
Neo and Kaori fought with precision and coordination. Kaori would force a creature backward with her powerful strikes, creating the opportunity Neo needed to penetrate its core with her knife.
"We need a quicker method!" Neo shouted to Leo, blood streaming down her cheek from a cut. "They're too many!"
Kaori landed beside Leo after jumping over an attacker, breathing hard. "Whatever you did to control them before," she gasped, "do it again before we all die!"
"I'm trying!" Leo's mark burned like hot metal against his skin, waves of excruciating pain radiating up his arm. "The shadows won't respond to my commands!"
The room shook violently, the tremors getting stronger. A new sound filled the air. It was the loud clanking of huge chains dragging across stone. The noise seemed to come from below them.
"The Warden stirs," Elias announced, his voice trembling with fear and excitement.
The stone tablet in the center of the room began to crack, lines spreading across its surface like a spider web. The symbol that matched Leo's mark pulsed with a sick dark light. With each pulse, Leo felt something pulling at his soul.
"It's coming," Neo whispered, her eyes fixed on the tablet. The shadow beings backed away from it, clearly afraid.
The floor around the tablet split open with a loud crack, showing an endless pit of pure darkness. From this pit rose massive chains, each link bigger than a human head.
Then they saw it - the Warden, a navy blue-skinned humanoid beast. It slowly rose from the darkness, a huge beast chained to the tablet.
"The vessel must choose," a voice thundered inside Leo's mind, almost knocking him down. "Bind me or free me."
The choice hit Leo like a physical blow, making him stagger. Either sacrifice himself to keep the realm safe or risk letting loose something much worse -the First Shadow from his visions.
"Leo?" Neo's voice seemed far away, barely audible through the pain shooting through his head. "What's happening to you?"
He couldn't answer, couldn't even think straight. The Warden filled his mind, showing him visions of what would happen if the First Shadow escaped. Worlds destroyed, reality torn apart, endless darkness flooding across existence.
Elias stepped forward, his smile now looking almost sad. "The cycle continues, as it must," he said softly. "The vessel will serve, one way or another."
The room shook as one of the massive chains binding the Warden snapped with a sound like thunder. The broken end whipped through the air before smashing into the ground near Kaori, who rolled away just in time.
"Leo!" Neo screamed, her voice cracking. She grabbed his face, making him look into her eyes. "Whatever it's telling you, whatever it's showing you—it's lying! Don't listen!"
But the Warden's voice drowned out everything else. "The vessel must choose," it repeated.
Another chain strained by the Warden's pull, the links stretching to their limit. The shadow beings cowered at the edges of the room while the Watchers stood still, watching with their empty smiles.
Leo felt like he was being torn in half. Pulled toward the Warden and its terrible purpose, yet held back by Neo's grip on his arm and Kaori's shouts. They were the only real things in this nightmare.
"I won't be your prisoner," Leo snarled through clenched teeth. "And I won't be your replacement!"
Shadow whips emanating from the warden reached out to pull Leo. "Then he will come," it warned, its voice shaking the room, "and all will end."
As Leo struggled against the Warden's pull, his shadow stretched further toward the warden, making a bridge between them.
Neo's eyes widened in horror. "Leo, your shadow… it's connecting to that thing!"
Through the connection, Leo felt the beast's fear, its determination, and beneath it all, a hunger just like the First Shadow's, a hunger now reaching for him.
With a deafening crack that shook the entire room, another chain snapped free. Having one arm freed, the Warden surged forward.
"The vessel has been chosen," Elias said, as darkness swallowed Leo whole.