The instant Kane realized what was attacking him, he immediately flipped the switch on the nightstand. The entire room was flooded with light.
He'd thought the brightness would drive away the shadows, but reality defied his expectations.
It had no effect whatsoever.
Instead, it let him see clearly the shadows attacking him: twisted, deformed black tentacles reaching out from nooks and crannies, from places where their origins couldn't be traced.
"What the hell is going on?" Kane asked, forcing himself to stay rational. He knew Maxwell must be able to hear him.
With a pop, Maxwell suddenly appeared, landing on the windowsill with a thump.
"When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. If you can use shadows in the real world, then naturally... ahem."
"I know all that. Please get to the point, will you? Why isn't light working?"
Kane controlled his own shadows, carefully maneuvering around the other shadows.
But as his shadow tentacles were broken off one after another and dragged away, he felt himself growing weaker and weaker.
"You're trying to drive shadows out of the Constant using light from the real world.
Acting like you run the place. You need light that comes from the same source as the shadows."
Maxwell got straight to the point.
"Same source as the shadows..." Kane frowned, suddenly thinking of something.
A mass of shadow gathered in his hand, then suddenly burst into dark blue flames.
As this subtle light source appeared in his palm, the tentacles from the other shadows instantly retreated.
"Thank me. I just helped you survive your first day out of the nest." After saying this, Maxwell disappeared once again.
"Yeah, thanks."
Kane leaned against the headboard, cradling the shadow flame in his arms, and slowly drifted off to sleep.
The next day, Kane stood up, aching in every part of his body. He extinguished the shadow flame that had burned all night.
Honestly, it felt like what was burning wasn't the shadow but his own lifeblood.
The price of burning it all night left his skin pale, dark circles under his eyes, and absolutely no energy whatsoever.
"Maxwell, you still there?"
"I'm here." Maxwell was somehow already lying on the bed, hands behind his head, completely at ease.
"How do I recover?" Kane asked directly.
"Eat something. Or wait until tonight, when you can try to tear apart the shadows that chased you here from the Constant.
Whatever you tear off becomes yours. How much you can get depends on your skill." Maxwell answered.
"Thanks. Though I feel like I might as well not have asked." Kane trudged wearily out of the room, locked the door, pocketed the key, and left the motel.
He found a food cart and spent a few coins on two hot dogs, getting the vendor to slather on extra sauce.
Sure, corn syrup was an absolute calorie bomb, but right now, Kane needed exactly that: a calorie bomb.
After wolfing down both hot dogs, Kane felt slightly better. The shadows on the ground became a bit denser again. Though limited, it was enough.
He waved his hand casually. The shadows coalesced into a black top hat. Time for today's magic show.
Meanwhile, at the Ministry of Magic in a massive conference room, two groups from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes had been forcibly dragged in early that morning for a meeting, all because of Kane.
Auror Kingsley strode in briskly.
He'd already gone to the Magical Monitoring Office to get all the data on yesterday's high-energy magical reactions in London.
He waved his wand, and light shot from its tip like a projector, displaying a 3D map of all of London, England, in midair.
Kingsley pointed to Clover Cross Street in Little Whinging.
"Yesterday at six p.m., low-intensity dark magic fluctuations appeared on Clover Cross Street in Little Whinging, lasting for an hour."
Then his finger moved to a small alley near Clover Cross Street.
"At seven-twelve, a brief medium-to-high intensity dark magic fluctuation appeared in this alley."
Finally, he pointed to the poor motel where Kane had stayed.
"Starting at midnight, this motel experienced a burst of high-intensity dark magic fluctuations lasting twelve seconds, followed by low-intensity dark magic fluctuations that continued until sunrise."
"Oh, sounds like some kind of bizarre dark magic experiment," Dawlish said, arms crossed.
"Exactly. That's why we didn't rush out yesterday and are holding this meeting early instead.
Even though these three dark magic fluctuations varied in intensity, they were all incredibly pure—and confirmed to come from a single wizard.
And someone conducting dark magic experiments nonstop since midnight… if we'd stormed over recklessly, we could have been wiped out," Kingsley said, sounding a bit exasperated.
"So what's the point of this meeting, other than telling us that this dark wizard is powerful?" a witch with constantly changing hair asked lazily.
"Of course, there's a point. You didn't think I called this mainly for you, did you? I'm here to request backup, and this meeting is mostly for that," Kingsley replied, shrugging casually as he glanced toward the back of the conference room.
At some point, a white-haired figure had appeared.
Dumbledore was smiling at everyone in the office, after all, everyone here had once been his student.
The moment Dumbledore made his appearance, the previously quiet conference room suddenly erupted in commotion, a testament to Dumbledore's reputation.
Just then, a young clerk from the Magical Monitoring Office burst in recklessly.
"That dark magic fluctuation, it's started again! On Swan Cross Street!" the clerk said frantically.
Kingsley's expression darkened.
Swan Cross Street was the busiest street in all of Little Whinging.
If that mysterious dark wizard showed up there and caused any kind of trouble, casualties aside, just performing memory charms on the scattered crowds would be a nightmare.
Kingsley looked at Dumbledore. "Albus, we need to move fast."
"Indeed, we should. Come here, I'll have Fawkes take us... actually, let's just Apparate."
Dumbledore walked over to Kingsley's side and placed a hand on his shoulder.
Meanwhile, on Swan Cross Street,
Kane was putting on a little hat-and-hairpin trick to entertain two wealthy ladies.
If everything went according to plan, these two, who had just stepped out of a Cadillac Stretch Wide Body Limousine, would casually tip him enough to cover half a month's rent.
But, as everyone knows, plans rarely unfold perfectly.
For example, a nearby alley suddenly gave up two unexpected figures: Dumbledore and Kingsley.
The instant they materialized, they felt that oppressive dark magic aura.
"This is going to be a tough fight." Kingsley rubbed his wand, as if psyching himself up.
Dumbledore did the same, discreetly drawing out his Elder Wand. When the two emerged from the alley and saw the source of the dark magic...
It was a child doing his very best to entertain two wealthy ladies.
???