My eyes snapped open to the rustling sound of thousands of voices, a chorus of whispers scraping at the edges of my mind. The smell hit next—a suffocating stench of cloth soaked in something foul, and the sharp, metallic tang of rotting meat filling my nostrils.
I bolted to my feet, scanning the area for the woman. She wasn't there.
Panic clawed at my chest. Reaching for my core, I felt it flare to life beneath my skin.
A cyclone of wind roared from my outstretched hand, slamming into the Darkling's form. Its body rippled like smoke, the section I struck dispersing for a split second before pulling itself back together.
The Darkling lurched forward with a sluggish grace, but I knew better.
Snarling, I unleashed more cyclones, each larger and more desperate than the last. They tore through the air with a deafening howl. The Darkling's body unraveled and reformed again and again, my attacks little more than whispers against its frame.
What can I do? Is there anything I haven't tried?
My chest tightened.
Nothing's working. Nothing.
I let out a sigh realizing the one thing I hadn't truly given a try, and that thing was: stepping through the Darkling's shadow.
Yet I hadn't been in a rush to feel its icy embrace again, so I continued trying to use both elements at a range while momentarily avoiding it as it inched closer, and to no one's surprise it hadn't done a thing so I stopped.
The only thing I succeeded in was wasting some potentially important mana that I would need to flee from this thing again.
Her voice came back to me, like a whisper buried in my memories.
"It isn't what it seems."
I froze, breath ragged. Could it be… repairing itself? Using its own energy to rebuild every time I hit it? If that was true, I'd have to overpower that regeneration.
I had two options.
One: I'd need to obliterate it with an onslaught of attacks.
Two: I'd need to obliterate it in one devastating blow.
First things first, I had my mana to worry about as option one would weaken me overtime, as option two would weaken me in an instant. I've tried option one in a way already and it seemed to have no impact whatsoever, so I'd try option two and see if it works out well.
If all goes wrong I can run away from this thing and try again.
I stepped back, heart pounding, buying myself space. My core thrummed to life as I gathered every drop of mana I could, the air growing dense and heavy around me. A cyclone began to take shape in front of me, swirling faster and faster until my legs trembled.
The wind screamed in my ears.
Leaves ripped from the trees and spun violently in the vortex. The grass beneath my feet flattened, and my lungs burned from the pressure as I poured everything I had into that storm.
The cyclone swelled until it was half the Darkling's size, a writhing funnel of raw force. My core screamed in protest, a dull ache gnawing at the pit of my stomach, warning me I was at my limit.
I grimaced, shoving the cyclone forward with all the strength I had left.
The wind tore through the clearing like a beast unleashed. For a split second, the Darkling's form twisted violently, its shadow-body shredding apart. I heard a sharp, echoing pop, and then it was gone.
The tree behind it wasn't as lucky. The cyclone smashed through it with a deafening crack, splintering it into jagged shards.
The oppressive sensation that followed the Darkling slowly began to fade and so did its smell.
I fell on my butt taking ragged breaths as I watched the area where the Darkling previously stood.
It was gone.
I felt a smile playing at the edge of my face as I took in the scene.
I laid down stretching out my arms and legs out wide.
The smell of the Darkling slowly faded away from the air until it didn't, there was a certain hint of the smell that clung with an overwhelming sense and before I knew the space around began to shift.
The air warped as ink, as dark as night began to form a figure, and the smell of cloth hung deep in the back of my throat, I felt lost. I doubted the fact that I actually defeated this thing in the first place and so it seems to be. I stood back on my feet feeling utterly exhausted but I knew that there was only one option left, only one thing I didn't truly try: to step. To step through its shadow.
The world lost its color as I took a step towards the Darkling. Its shadow was enormous and it was a simple step yet I felt so declined to take the step, if I were to slip again I could get trapped—but who knows what this Darkling could do to me. It could be even worse.
I stepped.
Disorientation enveloped me. For a moment, I felt as though I was hanging upside down before landing hard on my back.
What happened?
I quickly scanned my surroundings. The Darkling was gone—no trace of it remained. Its smell was gone, its presence, every lingering indication of its presence had simply vanished.
It was like it never existed in the first place.
I rose slowly to my feet, legs aching, and looked around again. The tree I had destroyed was still there. My mana was still drained, my body still heavy with exhaustion… but there was nothing to show that the Darkling had been here at all.
The Darkling moved in a way which hadn't affected a single thing, it had moved not a single piece of grass, it hadn't broken a single branch, it hadn't altered anything in the slightest except for me.
That's when those words echoed throughout my mind like an angry alarm clock.
"Things aren't what they seem."