Without the pillar, the bridge went down. Silas jumped to the nearest wall and turned his back to it.

The saw on his back kept spinning, and he pushed into the wall. Sparks flew as the blade clashed against the rock, trying to stop his fall. He was sliding down at great speed. The force of the fall was chipping away at the saw, and blood came out. It felt like a burn from friction.

"Agh!" He wasn’t going to use this saw-limb after losing the stolen power, but it still hurt like hell.

The cockroaches fell without resistance, and the giant lizard tried to grab the walls, but he was too heavy. The wall broke under the force and weight of the beast.

Finally, he stopped and looked around. The lizard was far below, but it was still roaring and making noise, trying to stop its fall. The passage above was too high to reach, and there was nothing on the sides. The saw on his back was too damaged by the fall; some of the bones on his back were exposed, and the fresh blood made it look grim.

He had to take a healing potion, but his hands and arms were busy carrying Silvano. Despite all that happened, he tried to come up with another plan.

What do I do? My options are limited. I can’t climb or even move. The best play is to return to the base and heal our wounds. But the army of cockroaches is going to attack, and I still don’t have a clue about how the shadow mind-control powers work. If we return when Nathan is tired, it could lead to the doom of the capital.

Time was cut short as his back started to slide down the wall. The saw couldn’t longer hold the weight of two adults. The darkness below was still vast, and the bottom was nowhere in sight. The chances that the lizard would survive the fall were high, so dropping all the way down would lead to the same result. A losing battle that ends with his death.

"Agh! Stop!" He pushed his back against the wall, but it was in vain. The saw was losing its grip, and he was about to fall freely to the bottom. Forget the lizard; he was not going to survive the tremendous fall.

Just as all hope was escaping his arms, he saw another bridge below. It was half destroyed after the lizard tried to grab onto it. Not all the bridge was destroyed; a small portion was still standing thanks to a pillar attached to the wall. They could jump over there, but he had no strength left.

It was taking all he had to keep his back embedded in the wall; he couldn’t jump far enough to reach it, and he was descending too fast. He looked down at Silvano. Without hesitation, he threw him over his head to the other side of the bridge. He made sure he landed safely on the other side.

Sorry, Silvano, you still have a healing potion on you. If you can still control your body, use it to escape and warn Nathan.

A part of him knew this was the wrong choice; if Silvano was in complete control of the shadow, then saving him was a terrible mistake, but he couldn’t force himself to throw him into the abyss and see his body explode like an egg hitting the floor. He passed over the bridge, and his back finally gave up.

The air lifted his tired limbs, and he closed his eyes, accepting his pathetic end.

The worst part is that bastard Grimdow was correct…

Silas crashed onto the roof of a building and then to the floor below. His fall was painfully halted by the rubble. He vomited blood and tried to stand up, but his legs were broken.

"Uf, uf, agh, I’m alive?" He spat more blood and looked around at the old room. His vision was blurry, and the pain was like an alarm inside his head going crazy.

He couldn’t tell how severe the damage was, but his legs were busted and his right arm was bent in the wrong direction. He saw the white bone coming out of his left shoulder, and he was bleeding around the stomach. It was a miracle he survived such a brutal fall, but he was going to die in a more painful way in a couple of minutes.

Come on, at least let me die easy... my ribs hurt too much, I think I got a lung pierced.

Stolen novel; please report.

The pool of blood began to slowly grow under him and fill the floor. The warm blood turned cold, and his eyes could no longer see anything. He used all his strength to move his left hand into his pocket and grab the healing potion.

His hand searched the darkness, trying to get close to his pocket. He touched and touched everything until he touched the cold glass bottle. The long neck that Nadine made. How amazing to have a guildmate who learned to make these potions in case of emergencies when they were far away from their healer.

He moved his hand close to his mouth and put the cold glass opening on the tip of his lips. He poured down the liquid; time slowed down, but no matter how long he waited, nothing touched his lips. He moved his hand lower to the bottom of the glass and touched the sharp edges. The bottle was broken in the fall.

"What a joke…"

Darkness surrounded him, and a voice spoke.

"Captain! Someone is under this pile of rubble. He fell from the tunnels above."

"Is he still alive?"

"Barely, he’s bleeding, and his limbs are broken. He looks like a human."

"If he’s a System user, no wonder he survived the fall. Treat him!"

"Yes Captain!"

***

Silas's mind wandered in an empty void. He was floating in space without sense or purpose, a small human in the vast empty space. Suddenly, gravity came back and pulled him to the ground with violence.

The splash of blood and organs was fatal; it was the most painful thing he ever felt in his life. His insides were boiling with pain, and blood decorated his body like a steak in a restaurant. All he could feel was pain; his mind was bombarded with pain. He only wanted the sweet final release.

"Silas, hold on; I came to heal you!" It was Rebecca; her face was full of worry after seeing the terrible state he was in. She was the only one who could heal him.

He only had to extend his hand and let Rebecca use her power on him; he only had to let the shadow take over and heal him back to full health.

He stopped and looked at Rebecca’s shadow. It was not the image of a person but of a monster looking to take over his mind and body like a parasite. Another trick of his enemy. He couldn’t do anything, not even laugh at the desperate attempt.

"You’re going to die. This is your last chance. Are you really going to die? You may try to hide it, but no creature wishes for death. Living is an act of defiance against death; you don’t want to die, much less in such a painful way like a worm." Rebecca stretched her hand.

"I can save you. Live along with everyone else in paradise."

He put his hand away and gave him the finger before dropping to the ground and drowning in his own blood. He swallowed the blood and bile along with the pain. Better dead than to let his body be a puppet forever.

"Aaaahhhh!" He gasped for air and got up. He was back in reality. He thought he had died, but now he was back in the land of the living.

He was in some type of bed. His body was covered in bandages with strange sigils engraved on them. He was inside a tent surrounded by tall white creatures wearing futuristic armor.

"Please stay still. Your wounds haven’t fully healed yet." One of the creatures stopped him, and he looked into the purple eyes. It was a Valein.

"You, where am I?"

"You’re safe; after you fell from the caves above, you crashed on top of one of the buildings of the abandoned city. We found you and saved your life. The bandages in your body were made with our technology; please don’t remove them or move too much."

"What are you doing here, you guys are valein right?"

The tent opened and everyone made a bow for another valein, but he was wearing a white cape on his shoulders and an elegant sword was resting on his hip.

"It appears you've heard about our race. Most likely from someone else, but that can wait; since I'm already familiar with your species, let me formally introduce myself, human. I’m one of the captains of the second division of the fourth squadron of the Valein army. Captain Sesius."

Silas couldn’t say anything; he was taken aback for several reasons. Number one, this was his first contact with a Valein, and a captain of the Valein Empire, no less. He knew a little about the valein army hierarchy thanks to Cink. Number two, he could see caution in the purple eyes of Sesius; this guy was aware of his position as a human and a System user. Number three was the most important thing.

This guy is strong, too strong. I don’t know if he’s a System user as well, but I can’t see me beating this guy.

It wasn’t like watching Emily’s pet, who was a monster by simple looks, or even Grimdow who kept his power and blood lust hidden. Sesius wasn’t trying to hide his power, but unlike a beast, he wasn’t using it to intimidate.

It was like a warm light that was pleasant to be around, but you'd get burned if you got too close. The aura of a warrior. Silas had learned a lot about all kinds of opponents, but this was the first time he met a true warrior.

"My name is Silas, a member of Dawn. I should also inform you that I’m infected with some type of shadow that can control my body to do his bidding." Lying was going to get him nowhere, so he chose to come out clean.

"Yes, my men look at you thoroughly during the treatment. We know about the shadow; we thought about putting you in stasis along with some of my soldiers who got infected, but you recovered on your own before I could decide."

"Your subordinates got infected too?"

"Indeed, Silas of Dawn. I don’t know if is because your power or maybe some natural resistance for being a System user, but I wish to know anything that could help us."

"Sure, but I've got one condition."

"Which is?"

"We’re killing the original shadow."