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A Good Man Awakens
Chapter 42: Shadow Monsters

Chapter 42: Shadow Monsters

The air grew thicker, warmer, as we ventured deeper into the cave. Each step felt like we were descending into a forgotten world—a place where time itself had withered away, and the shadows seemed alive, shifting in the flickering glow of Desa’s lantern. The atmosphere pressed down on us, suffocating, as if the mountain itself was watching.

Trendil led the way, his footsteps echoing in the oppressive stillness. His movements were cautious, his eyes darting from one dark corner to the next, as though expecting something to leap from the shadows. The unsettling feeling grew with every step, a crawling sensation on the back of my neck. Something was wrong—something was here, watching us.

Then we heard it—a soft, rasping voice, trembling and broken, rising from the darkness ahead.

"Leave... leave me alone, I only have a little left," the voice murmured, filled with fear. But another voice, sharp and full of rage, cut through the air immediately after. "No! I’ll fight! I’ll kill you all!"

I squinted, trying to make sense of the shifting shadows. Then I saw him—a Faye, hunched and gaunt, crouching against the far wall. His skin was pale, almost translucent, and his wide eyes flickered with both terror and fury. His body twitched and jerked as if he were being torn apart from the inside, fighting a battle within himself.

Desa lifted her lantern higher, casting its light over him. His features were drawn, hollowed by years of torment. His eyes shifted, flickering between two extremes—desperation and blind rage. It was as if two minds were trapped in one body, waging a war neither could win.

"Who are you?" I asked cautiously, stepping forward.

The Faye flinched at the sound of my voice, his gaze dropping to the floor. "I was... no one now," he muttered, his voice soft, defeated. But then his body tensed, and his head snapped up, his eyes blazing with hatred. "I’m still alive! Still fighting! They didn’t break me!" he shouted, his voice crackling with fury.

"The Ministry...?" Trendil whispered, the name hanging heavily in the stale air.

The Faye hissed in response. "All men are from the Ministry! You’re not taking me back!" His body twitched violently again, and in a softer, almost pleading tone, he whimpered, "I just want to go home."

He shuddered, collapsing in on himself. "They tortured me... for centuries. They took everything. They wanted my power. But I escaped... I got out." His voice trembled with sorrow. "But I can’t leave. I’m stuck here. There’s no way out."

The second voice, colder and filled with vengeful rage, returned. "Fools! They thought they could control me. They’ll pay. They’ll all pay."

I exchanged a glance with Trendil. This wasn’t just a prisoner of the Ministry—this was a Faye, shattered by years of torment, barely clinging to the threads of his own sanity. Whatever the Ministry had done, whatever hell they had put him through, had left him a shell of who he once was. I could feel the weight of his pain in the air, thick and suffocating. The shadows around us seemed to darken, pulsing as if feeding off his agony.

"We’re not here to hurt you," I said, keeping my voice calm and steady, though the tension in the cave was suffocating. "We just want to help. I’m a friend of Elbar and Elbis. I can help."

“Elbar? Elbis?” The Faye shook his head violently, his twitching becoming more erratic. "Help? No... no one helps. They come to take, to break. You can’t help." His body stiffened suddenly, his wide eyes darting past us into the deeper shadows. "It’s coming."

Trendil tensed beside me, eyes narrowing. "What is?"

Before the Faye could respond, a figure detached itself from the darkness—a living shadow, creeping toward us with eerie, slithering movements. It wasn’t human, nor beast, but a mass of flickering, shifting blackness. Tendrils of shadow snaked through the air, sucking in the light and warmth around it. I could feel the temperature drop sharply, the cold leeching the heat from my skin.

"Desa!" I shouted, my voice sharp with alarm. The shadow surged toward her, drawn by the faint light of the lantern she held. Desa stepped back, raising the lantern higher, and the creature recoiled instantly, hissing like steam against red-hot metal.

"It’s afraid of the light!" I called out, urgency in my voice. "Everyone, group up—protect the Faye!"

We quickly gathered around the trembling Faye, forming a loose protective circle. I took the lantern from Desa’s trembling hand and swung it before me, trying to create a barrier of light between us and the shadowy nightmare that hovered just beyond reach.

"Any ideas, old man?" I barked at Trendil, my eyes never leaving the creature. Trendil sent a gust of wind toward it, but the shadow passed through the air undisturbed, as though it weren’t even there.

"Well, that didn’t work," Trendil muttered, his voice far more jovial than the situation called for.

"Dark... weaving... forbidden magic," the Faye began chanting softly behind us, his voice trembling. "No... run, or it’ll consume us all."

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Trendil’s eyes widened, a sharp realization flashing across his face. "Nocturne weaving."

The words hit me like a stone. Nocturne weaving—a dark, destructive magic, so dangerous that it had been banned by an entire race. It all made sense now—the shadow, the monstrous presence... the Ministry’s twisted experiments.

"Lad?" Trendil asked, as if expecting me to know the answer to the nightmare unraveling before us.

"I know as much as you," I replied. But before I could say more, a tendril of shadow lashed out, striking my arm. Pain exploded through me, burning like molten fire. I yanked my arm back, swinging the lantern wildly. The shadow creature recoiled once again, shrinking from the light, but not before it had done its damage.

I glanced at my arm in horror. The skin had aged, withered, like the old life I had once known. The shadow had drained the vitality from my flesh, leaving it brittle, ancient.

“Don’t let it touch you, no matter what,” I warned, my voice edged with urgency.

"It consumes... consumes light, warmth, life..." the Faye whimpered, his back pressed against the cold stone wall. His voice shifted, trembling with fear. "Dark magic... forbidden. I won’t... I can’t do it. No... it’ll kill us. It always comes... always feeds."

But then, the second voice took over—stronger, angrier. "Fight it! Burn it! Don’t let it take us!"

The shadow lunged forward again, its tendrils reaching for us like the claws of a nightmare. I swung the lantern, the light flickering in desperate arcs, pushing it back once more. But I could feel the lantern’s strength waning, the flame weakening, and we couldn’t rely on it for long. The air seemed to thicken, the darkness pressing in on all sides. Time was running out.

"Burn it," the Faye’s second voice snarled. "Burn it, or we die."

I had no other choice. I reached deep inside myself, searching for the Elithria in my blood—the ancient power I had only tapped into a few times, the power that might just save us. Bloodburning. My heart pounded as I closed my eyes, feeling for that familiar warmth coursing through my veins, a fire waiting to be unleashed.

"Ragan!" Trendil’s voice snapped through the haze, but I was already moving, already pulling at the energy thrumming inside me. The power surged into my hands, pooling like molten heat beneath my skin, waiting for release.

A faint red light began to glow from my palms, filling the cave with a muted, eerie glow, like a fire burning through a sandstorm. The shadow recoiled, twisting and writhing as the light touched it. It wasn’t the heat that drove it back—it was the light itself.

The creature hissed, its form rippling as it leaped from wall to wall, moving like a frenzied spider trying to escape. But I pushed harder, feeding more of my power into the light. I could feel it building, growing in intensity. My body trembled under the strain, the energy coursing through me like wildfire. I squeezed down on the power, crushing it tighter and tighter until only a single grain of raw energy remained.

Then, I let it go.

A flash of brilliant white light exploded from my hand, so bright it blinded everyone in the chamber. I squeezed my eyes shut against the blinding flare, hearing the high-pitched screeching of the shadow as it was consumed by the light. The sound was shrill, desperate, as if the darkness itself was being torn apart.

I kept the light flaring until the screeching stopped. Slowly, I opened my eyes, blinking against the spots of light still dancing in my vision. The shadow was gone—nothing more than a fading whisper dissolving into the air.

Trendil stared at me, his mouth hanging open in shock. "Bloodburning," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "You... you used blood to burn it away. But that light, how did you...?"

I nodded, panting heavily from the effort, my body still trembling from the release of power. "We’ll talk later," I managed between breaths. "There may be more of those things, and that lantern won’t last much longer. We need to get that little guy out of here."

The Faye, still trembling, looked up at me, his eyes wide with a mixture of awe and sorrow. "Light... I haven’t seen light like that in... so long. I miss the light. I miss home."

I knelt beside him, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "We’re getting you out of here. No more shadows, no more darkness."

His voice trembled again, softer this time, as if he barely believed my words. "Thank you... but it won’t last. The darkness... it always comes back."

"We’ll find a way to stop it," I said firmly, locking eyes with him. "But first, we need to keep moving."

Trendil stepped forward, gently helping the Faye to his feet. Desa, her lantern flickering with the last remnants of light, took the lead, guiding us deeper through the winding cave system. The cold stone walls echoed with the faint sound of our footsteps, but the oppressive weight of the darkness felt like it had lifted slightly.

As we continued, the Faye whispered again, his voice fractured but laced with a flicker of hope. "Maybe... maybe there’s still a way out... a way back."

“Up ahead, the opening,” Trendil said, his voice a low murmur. We had been walking uphill for what felt like hours, the cave system winding endlessly beneath the mountain. My legs screamed for rest, but we hadn’t dared stop—afraid that more shadow monsters might find us if we lingered too long.

A rush of cold air hit us as we neared the exit, the wind whipping against our faces as we emerged from the oppressive cave into the open air. The sky above was a blanket of stars, the frigid wind biting against my skin, but the relief of escaping the cave far outweighed the discomfort.

I exhaled deeply, feeling the weight of the mountain lift from my chest.

"Trendil," I began, turning to face him. "I have to take this Faye home. He needs to be with his people, maybe there he’ll find some peace."

Trendil nodded thoughtfully. "Aye, I think you’re right, lad. He’s been through enough. You know where to find us. Just don’t go getting yourself killed before we start this rebellion of yours."

I chuckled, feeling a momentary lightness return. "You too, old man." I dipped my head toward Desa, offering her a nod of respect. Her eyes were weary, shadows of exhaustion clinging to her expression. Perhaps she needed Trendil’s promise of rest more than any of us.

With that, I turned and began descending the mountain, the Faye asleep on my shoulder. His small form was light, barely a weight, but the burden of what he had endured felt heavy. He had slept through the entire trek, not making a sound, and even now, the biting cold didn’t seem to stir him. I wondered what they had done to him—what horrors had rendered him so numb, so senseless to pain or discomfort.

As I walked down the mountain, my thoughts raced. The Ministry’s cruelty knew no bounds, and if they could do this to a Faye... what else were they capable of?

I gritted my teeth, determination settling in my bones. There was much to be done, and much to be avenged.

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