> "To become what the light fears, one must first learn to love the darkness."
The storm of ashes had long settled, yet the land still trembled beneath unseen weight. Aaryan stood amidst the ruins, feeling the slow rhythm of a heartbeat that no longer belonged solely to him.
Every breath he drew carried a pulse of black light through his veins. The mark over his heart glowed faintly, feeding on something beyond his control. The essence of Sha—it whispered and stirred, always hungry, always awake.
Aaryan closed his eyes. The silence of the dead world pressed against his ears like a scream waiting to happen. Somewhere deep inside, he felt the pull of the shadow essence, urging him to act, to consume, to grow.
He clenched his fists. "No," he whispered. "I command you."
The darkness inside him quivered. For a heartbeat, it obeyed. Then, it laughed—softly, mockingly, like a predator humoring its prey. Aaryan's body shuddered, his pulse spiking as the essence flared to life.
Black tendrils burst from his shadow, slithering over the ground like serpents. The soil beneath him cracked and withered, devoured by the power he could neither contain nor reject.
> Feed… feed…
The whisper returned—gentle yet irresistible. His vision blurred as his instincts twisted into something feral. Hunger wasn't just in his mind anymore; it was in his soul.
A shape emerged from the distance—a beast of ash and bone, its eyes burning with the last remnants of sunlight. It staggered through the desolation, drawn to the pulse of shadow that corrupted the air.
Aaryan watched it, his breath slowing. The essence inside him surged, recognizing prey. His heartbeat merged with the rhythm of the land, and without realizing it, he raised his hand.
The shadow beneath the beast rippled.
A tendril shot upward, piercing its chest. There was no scream—only silence, and then dust.
The energy from the fallen creature flooded toward him, devoured by the sigil on his chest. The mark pulsed brighter, and warmth spread through his body—warmth laced with pain and pleasure alike.
When it ended, the beast was gone, erased from existence. Only a black stain remained where it had stood.
Aaryan's knees buckled. He gasped, clutching his chest, his body trembling from the overwhelming surge. His soul core—what had once been the foundation of his cultivation—felt… different. It no longer spun with light. Instead, it devoured.
He stared at his hands, now faintly transparent under the pulse of the sigil. "So this is power," he murmured, voice hollow. "The price of survival."
The world around him pulsed once, as if agreeing.
He felt it then—the faint presence of other lives far away. Survivors, scattered disciples of the fallen sect, crawling through the ashes like insects. The shadow inside him reacted to their presence, sensing blood, fear, and weakness.
Aaryan turned toward the feeling. His eyes, once silver, now shimmered with threads of deep violet.
> They abandoned you, the whisper said. Now they will feed you.
He hesitated. For a brief, fading moment, he remembered laughter—the faces of those same disciples training beside him under the eighth sun. Then the memory turned gray and died, swallowed by the growing void inside his chest.
His lips curved into something that was not quite a smile. "If this is what I must become… then let the heavens bear witness."
The shadow around him expanded, crawling across the ground like a living tide. The sigil pulsed once more, and the ruins darkened until even the ashes could no longer reflect light.
The essence of Sha purred, satisfied.
In that endless dusk, Aaryan took his first true step as something more—and less—than human.
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