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Chapter 3 - When Shadows Bleed Light

Ashes of the Forgotten Realm

The tavern creaked in the dark.

Not from wood or wind, but from something else—something wrong.

Riven stood near the fireplace, blade in hand, as shadows twisted on the walls in ways they shouldn't. Kaela, crouched beside the table, her eyes glowing faintly red-orange, whispered the same word again.

"Beasts."

He didn't understand what they were. The air was heavy, like the moment before lightning strikes. Heat pulsed faintly beneath his crest.

"They don't belong in this domain," Kaela muttered, stepping forward. Her bare feet made no sound on the wooden floor. "They only follow the lost… or the Ashen."

Riven swallowed. "Which one are you saying I am?"

"Both."

A soft snap cracked the silence.

The candlelight near the far wall flickered. Then died.

The next one followed.

The tavern was now half-swallowed in gloom. Shapes began to move at the edge of sight. Not walking. Crawling. Like liquid shadow.

Kaela raised her hand, summoning a thread of flame. "Don't use your blade unless they touch you. Steel won't help you. Not yet."

Riven didn't argue. He stepped beside her. The flame in her palm reflected on her collarbone and shoulder, her breath steady despite the fear she didn't show.

Then the shadows struck.

Something lunged from the corner—black mist given claws. Kaela spun, launching a narrow arc of fire across the tavern. It hissed against the beast's form, burning away part of it.

But it didn't die.

Riven ducked as another shape shot toward him, claws swiping wide. He rolled under a broken bench, coming up with his sword.

Instinct took over.

Slash.

The blade passed through the beast. No blood. No cry. The thing just… rippled and reformed.

"They're not real!" he shouted. "Or not solid!"

"They're echoes of something worse," Kaela replied, sweat on her brow.

Two more burst from the dark. She turned, one hand erupting in flame, the other forming a molten whip. She moved like liquid fire, dancing between the creatures, striking, retreating, burning.

But more kept coming.

Riven backed toward her. "We'll be surrounded!"

"We are," she said calmly.

Then one shadow latched onto his arm.

Pain exploded through his shoulder—cold, like frostbite crawling down his nerves. He screamed, dropping the sword. The crest on his chest pulsed violently.

Kaela whirled.

"Riven!"

The thing was eating into him—its claws merging with his skin, his thoughts dimming.

Kaela sprinted toward him. "Let it trigger your blood! Call it up—whatever's inside you, bring it out!"

"I—can't—!"

The shadow pulsed, and his vision blurred. He saw flames. Bodies. Screaming.

Then a voice inside him. Deep. Calm.

> "Absorb it. You are not its prey. You are its end."

He didn't understand. But the pain was too much to think.

So he stopped thinking.

And felt.

His hand closed around the beast's wrist. Black light surged from his fingers, not pushing the shadow away—but pulling it in.

The beast writhed, screeched—then imploded.

Kaela stopped cold, watching as the darkness flowed into his skin, leaving trails like burned veins along his arm.

Riven fell to his knees, gasping.

"…What… was that?"

She stared at him like he was a stranger. Her fire flickered.

"Only Ashen Lords could do that," she whispered. "And they've been dead for centuries."

He didn't know what to say. His heartbeat was thunder.

Another beast lunged. Kaela turned—too slow.

Riven moved.

His sword sliced through the air—and this time, it worked.

The shadow shuddered, then dissolved. Not into air, but into black embers that spiraled into Riven's chest.

Kaela looked at him with something between awe and fear.

"You're awakening."

He wiped blood from his mouth. "Great. What does that mean?"

"It means…" She swallowed. "You're going to change. You are changing."

Another rumble echoed through the tavern. The last of the beasts pulled back, retreating into the corners of the space.

The light returned.

And for a moment, silence.

---

They collapsed into a booth, breathless, staring at each other through the quiet.

Kaela's shoulder was scraped. Riven had a burn down his forearm where the beast latched.

She leaned forward, placing her hand on his.

He didn't pull away.

"…You didn't run," she said.

"I couldn't. You'd have died."

"Maybe."

"I don't know why I care."

She tilted her head. "Maybe you did once."

Something passed between them. The distance narrowed. Her hand stayed on his. Her fingers brushed the inside of his wrist gently, trailing the ash mark left by the shadow.

Her voice dropped.

"You don't remember anything. But that doesn't mean the world forgot."

He swallowed. Her warmth pressed closer. Her fire was no longer violent—just steady. Familiar.

"I don't even know you," he said, almost a whisper.

"You will," she replied.

Then she stood, pulling away from the moment like it never happened.

"Get up. We're not safe yet."

---

As they walked to the upper level of the tavern, Riven kept glancing at her—not just because of what she said, or the way she moved, or how she'd risked her life to shield him—but because of something else.

Something he didn't have words for.

Before they reached the stairs, Kaela froze.

At the window, in the fog outside—

—a figure stood.

A girl.

White cloak. Silver eyes. Watching.

She didn't move.

Then she vanished.

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