The air in the training room shimmered with residual heat from their last session. Kael stood at the center of the floor, his shadow slowly slithering outward like smoke reaching for prey. This time, his breathing was even. Controlled.
Voidflare hovered silently across from him, arms folded behind his back, his cape of cosmic dust rippling gently in the artificial air currents. "You're learning to make Darkbind listen to you. Good. Now it's time to see if it'll obey under pressure."
Kael blinked sweat from his eyes, nodding. "What kind of pressure?"
Voidflare raised one hand—and suddenly the gravity in the room tripled.
Kael dropped to one knee with a grunt, the weight pressing against his shoulders like an invisible avalanche. The shadows around him buckled, flailing erratically before retracting entirely.
"You don't get to command power unless you earn its respect," Voidflare said calmly, stepping closer without effort. "Darkbind isn't just a tool. It's alive in its own way. You've been trying to tame it through force. Try listening to it instead."
Kael grit his teeth, eyes closed, forcing his breath into slow, deliberate rhythms. For a moment, there was only silence—then, deep beneath his awareness, something stirred.
A whisper. A pulse.
Not fear… not control. Trust.
His arms trembled as the shadows returned—not as an explosion of power, but as a slow unfurling. Like roots grounding into the floor. They wrapped around him protectively, shielding him from the crushing gravity.
Voidflare smiled faintly. "Now we're getting somewhere."
Meanwhile: Yumi's Training
On the other side of the room, Yumi floated just above the training platform, starlight glowing at her fingertips. She formed a sphere of energy in one palm, carefully layering strands of cosmic radiation, mimicking the way her father taught her.
"Focus," Voidflare called from across the chamber, not even turning. "You're compressing too fast. Let the energy resonate before you lock it."
Yumi grunted. "It's like trying to hold a star together with a rubber band!"
"You're a star's daughter," he said. "Act like it."
Yumi scowled, but her concentration returned. She slowed her breath and let the energy hover between her palms. The orb pulsed in sync with her heartbeat—brighter, steadier.
Kael, now on his feet again, watched her. "That's new."
Yumi caught his gaze and grinned, sweat dotting her brow. "Dad's been making me train solo for a while. Says I rely on instinct too much."
Kael tilted his head. "You mean you don't?"
She tossed the orb into the air and caught it like a basketball. "Shut up."
Voidflare chuckled faintly. "She's talented, but she lacks structure. You're the opposite. Too rigid. Together, maybe you'll both learn."
Yumi threw a small burst of energy into the air, letting it explode into a constellation-shaped flare. "Dad's version of a compliment."
…
Aunt Nari had insisted they take a proper break after nearly collapsing in the gravity field.
Upstairs, they huddled around a small table near the window. The scent of cinnamon rolls and fresh-baked bread curled around them like comfort incarnate.
Aunt Nari served them bowls of steaming noodle soup and bread rolls while checking her datapad. "You both improved today. Kael, your body synced with Darkbind more efficiently. Yumi, you maintained a singularity without collapse. Progress."
Kael took a bite of bread. "You ever gonna tell us who exactly you get all that gear from downstairs? Gravity panels? Plasma condensers? That room's better equipped than some hero agencies."
Yumi perked up. "Yeah! I always assumed you were just secretly loaded."
Aunt Nari smiled thinly. "Let's just say I helped a lot of people during the war. Some of them owed me favors."
Kael narrowed his eyes. "…like tech developers?"
"Like people who know how to get me what I need without asking questions," she said, sipping her tea.
Yumi leaned closer, whispering dramatically, "She's totally got black market connections."
Kael grinned. "Explains a lot."
Aunt Nari rolled her eyes. "Finish your soup before I revoke your shadow privileges."
…
Back in the basement, Voidflare had constructed a simulated asteroid field using floating debris and energy walls. The challenge: navigate it, using only Darkbind.
Kael clung to a piece of suspended rubble, tendrils wrapped tightly around his arms and torso as he launched himself toward the next floating platform. The key, he realized, wasn't to control the shadows like limbs—it was to move with them.
Each jump became smoother, more fluid. He began to understand the rhythm of Darkbind—the way it anticipated danger, how it sought motion and leverage. It was instinct, but it could be guided.
Below, Yumi watched with a mix of awe and focus. "He's starting to flow with it. Like he's surfing on his own Quirk."
Voidflare nodded. "Darkbind is reactive. It's not meant for brute force. It's meant to adapt—to shape itself around intent."
When Kael finally landed on the far side of the chamber, panting and dizzy, Yumi gave him a small applause. "Not bad, Shadow King."
He groaned. "That name is never catching on."
…
Voidflare dimmed the lights and asked Yumi to form a constellation array—linking multiple energy points across the chamber without letting any of them destabilize.
The orbs danced around her, tethered by faint trails of cosmic energy. She moved her hands carefully, guiding the pattern through sheer focus. Kael watched from below, arms crossed.
"She's faster than last week," he noted.
"Faster, yes," Voidflare said. "But still emotional. If one link breaks, she'll overcorrect."
And as if on cue, one orb flickered, and Yumi winced, her concentration slipping. Three links collapsed in a flash.
"Argh!" she growled, clenching her fists. "I had it!"
Kael climbed onto the platform beside her. "You're thinking too hard."
"I have to think hard. Dad's been on my case about control all month."
Kael extended a shadow tendril to catch a falling orb of light. "You're not your dad."
Yumi blinked at him.
"You don't have to be perfect at cosmic origami," he said gently. "Just… feel it."
She took a deep breath, eyes closing. One by one, the orbs reappeared. Smaller. Simpler. But stable.
Voidflare said nothing. Just nodded.
…
As training wrapped, the three of them gathered near the platform edge, exhaustion settling in like a warm blanket.
Kael leaned back, watching faint trails of shadow coil and uncoil around his fingers. He could still feel where Darkbind had resisted him—where it had bucked like a wild animal—and where, just briefly, it had moved as an extension of himself.
Yumi stood beside him, her hands glowing faintly as residual cosmic energy flowed around her like drifting sparks. "You think we're getting stronger?"
Kael nodded. "Definitely. Not just in power. In how we use it."
Voidflare turned to them both. "Growth isn't always about learning new techniques. Sometimes it's about unlearning bad habits. You both did that today."
Kael glanced at Yumi, then back at the training chamber. "So what now?"
Voidflare's smile was faint but genuine. "Now? We start again tomorrow. But maybe this time, we raise the stakes."