"What do we do? We're so fucked!" His voice trembling, Keith had begun to panic as he looked towards his brother who was just as trembling as he was. "Yet there's no one here and Dala... Dala! Dala, please wake up…"
"She's dead." Sol replied impassively and without the slightest emotion on his face.
Sol was once again an emotionless shadow with impassive features. It wasn't the first time, but it was extremely rare. Usually so gentle and smiling, so calm and compassionate, the boy was now a shadow of his former self. Cold and impenetrable.
His composure unchanging, he stepped forward to bend his ear over Dala, who lay mournfully on the ground. He nodded in the negative. Indeed, Dala was no longer theirs and it was time, definitely, to run away.
"Get down!" Galahad shouted across the room, sending up a jet of mist to push the students back across the room. Another shot had just been fired and if he hadn't intervened another student could have died. "Activate your scars, this place is dangerous, we have to run away!"
Each had activated their scars to summon their powers, fear gripping them, but the will to survive was even stronger. Wren sobbed as his brother pulled him forward, one magic shot after another being unleashed. The shock and trauma of Dala's death would surely attack them as they left this room, but for that to happen, they had to get out of this hellish place.
Carla conjured up a wall of ice from the floor and was trying to parry the attacks, timidly aided by Keth, who was doing his best to console her sibling. Galahad and Sol immediately rushed to the door and tried to open it.
But the door wouldn't budge an inch, the attacks intensified and the rest of the group found it harder and harder to fend them off.
"Leave it to me." Sol stepped forward, beckoning Galahad to let him try in turn.
"Okay, go ahead, but be quick." The prince stepped aside to make room for him, watching his every move.
Sol reached into his pocket and pulled out a stone that looked curiously like the one the teachers had given them, but with a dark charcoal color and numerous golden grooves. Galahad stared at it in amazement, not really knowing what this surprising object was.
"We should call the teachers."
"No, if we call them it'll put us in even more danger." Sol replied.
The Kaelian prince resigned himself and left his comrade who with one blow broke the stone which opened a portal to another area of the cave that could be seen through.
"Hurry up!" Galahad shouted, beckoning the rest of the group to rush into the portal.
Once the entire group, with the exception of their initial leader, had passed, the portal closed, taking with it this terrifying room and the memories of their comrade they had only known for a very short time.
"What was that?!" Carla snarled breathlessly, she felt as if she could hear her heart pounding.
"I don't know." Galahad replied, calmer. The portal had taken them to another corner of the cavern, a semblance of normalcy similar to the rest of the cavern and a far cry from this sort of terrifying royal room. "On the other hand, I'd like to know how you did that, Sol."
The prince stared at his comrade, as silent and almost mute as ever. The palm of his hand was dripping with blood, probably from having broken a stone with this bare hands.
Sol stared at the floor without deigning to look up. He was stuck. Should he speak? Should he remain silent? Should he lie to them? Deep down, he knew that a lie would never fly with Galahad. The prince was too clever and would probably guess immediately that he hadn't been telling the truth.
Keth and Wren were in a state of shock, certainly not able to remember what Sol had to say. The two brothers were slumped on the floor: one sobbing the other trying to console his sibling.
"If I tell you everything, you have to promise me two things: to keep what I'm about to tell you to yourself and not to call the teachers." He paused, raising his head decisively. "What I'm about to tell you must remain a secret because it could cause your... death."
"What's going on?" Caspian breathed looking at Devion, who was the same but looked so different at the same time.
Devion didn't reply, still staring proudly in front of him with this new scar shining even more brightly than his original one. Facing him, he held out a hand, black smoke forming around it.
At that very moment, neither fire nor ice, his body seemed possessed only by this dark power. Capian stepped forward to try and speak to him again, but Devion blocked him with his arm.
The third-year resigned himself, scrutinizing his comrade once more. A smile was almost visible on his face as he let his cadet pass in front of him. If he wanted to fight this monster alone, he'd let him do it. The show would probably be as soon as more interesting.
"If you want to be a hero, be one, but I'm not going to let you create chaos all around." Not waiting for an answer Caspian activated his scar even more. A huge wall of rock and sand sprang up from the ground, clearly separating the rest of the team from them.
He then moved away slightly, reducing the activation of his powers and contenting himself with keeping this colossal wall active. With a chuckle on his lips, Caspian smiled before giving way to his comrade.
Let the show begin!
Devion didn't react. A magical aura, as dark as Umbra's coat, floated around him. Perfectly silent, many emotions were nevertheless recognizable on his face: curiosity, pride, bravery and a great deal of audacity.
Umbra at his side had a role that Devion didn't seem to notice. Valiant-looking and with every rune on her body active, her master's powers sailed between her and him.
Not far away, Caspian realized that she was absorbing, no more and no less, the surplus void emanating from Devion. The duo had thus found a temporary way of using this new medium without the dark-haired man succumbing completely to a madness that rendered him incapable of action.
Devion smiled, but kept a neutral expression that gave his face a form of emotion distorted between joy and something else, recklessness perhaps. The smoke swirling around him, forming several shapes of flaming fire, enveloped him in its dark arms, but unlike before, Devion's silhouette remained discernible in the middle like a halo of light.
Devion could feel what was going on around him, without really being able to affect what was taking place around him. Cerberus was wounded, but with its mouth smoking, it was still on its feet and ready to fight. Caspian had his back with an impressive wall of rock that ricocheted with every attack.
His body guided him and moved of its own accord. Devion could feel his face burning on the right side. This surprised him, given that his scar was on his left side. Chasing away any intrusive thoughts, the student told himself to concentrate on slaughtering the beast in front of him.
He'd think about the rest later.
Like a signal, Cerberus attacked him, spitting a jet of fire in his direction. Devion stood still and a black cloud liquefied reduced the creature's attack to nothing.
Then everything became faster. Cerberus began to attack without stopping, whirling around him with each new attack stronger than the last.
Void was slowly spreading around the dark-haired man. It was almost pleasant. The dark color of this new power merged timidly with the shadows of the cavern. Apart from the strange jets of ink that cancelled all attacks directed at the boy, he discovered a new skill.
Devion had become extremely fast, as if these dark halos were replacing his presence, allowing him to accelerate at breakneck speed. Umbra remained at an acceptable distance to continue absorbing the void escaping from his master's body.
She kept her distance, as if frightened by a force she knew to perfection.
Devion was zigzagging all over the place. He moved with frightening dexterity, and in his wake the smoke traced numerous black trails. At the same time as he was dodging attacks that could not be parried by void, he was attacking relentlessly, hurling gleaming black blades as sharp as knives.
"Can't I use frostfire?" Devion thought aloud as he tried to summon his usual powers.
Only void answered his call and not a single ounce of fire or ice came out of his body. Frustrated, he tried again and again, but the attacks he launched were each darker than the last.
"What's going on?" He muttered again.
Unsettled, he narrowly missed a Cerberus attack. Umbra pushed him backwards with a swipe of her paw, sending him flying and falling violently, his back smashing into a rock wall.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Caspian shouted across the room, parrying a jet of fire.
"I can't use frostfire..."
"So what? Do you seriously think your powers are just gone without warning? Get up and fight. As for the rest, we'll see later."
Umbra rubbed her head against Devion's arm, inviting him to stand up. With a hand on either side, the brunet leaned against the rough ground and stood up. This had to be the thousandth time he'd had to get up.
"Umbra. Let me have some more." He scratched the panther's head. She had understood his request very well. "I think frostfire is absorbed by void. If I can't have both at the same time I can deal with it but..." He looked away in front of him. "I need more of this power."
Umbra perfectly understood his master's request, but giving in to it was dangerous. What was in store for this power, still so mysterious and buried deep within a young boy who didn't understand its existence but wanted to use it all the same?
As Caspian parried another attack, but Cerberus didn't weaken enough to announce that the fight was turning in their favor, the panther hesitated. An astonishing thought for an animal that wasn't human after all.
The runes on the mythical creature's body flickered faster and faster before losing a tinge of their emerald green. Darker green, they shone less brightly, as if to let Devion take center stage.
A strange sensation ran through the brunet's body, a mixture of hot and cold like when he activated frostfire. But this time it was different, not the usual effect that magic gave him, but a darker, pricklier, more obscure but above all infinitely more satisfying sensation.
Revelling in this new power, with its savoury taste of the forbidden, Devion, with even greater speed than before, threw himself at the animal and, like a bloodthirsty beast, slit its throat with his bare hands in an explosion of black smoke, attacking it again and again. It was a dreadful sight, and fortunately only Caspian could witness such horror.
In front of the third-year student's eyes, a student two years his junior was fighting with unknown powers, for which Umbra, in the distance, seemed to be giving her all to prevent the dark-haired boy from being swallowed whole by this dark force.
One blow, another and another. Cerberus hardly moved, and the fight showed neither the beauty of magic nor simply the challenges of a tough fight, but the cruelty of a young man who didn't seem to be himself anymore.
"That's enough!" Caspian built a wall of rock that Devion broke with a flick of his hand.
"Uh?" Devion turned to look at who might have had the nerve to stop him in his slaughter of the monster lying shamefully on the ground. "You want to fight too?"
Caspian looked at him.
Devion wasn't really Devion, but he wasn't necessarily someone else. Probably a shadow of his former self mixed with a will to destroy and all intertwined with a soul of chaos. The young man walking towards Caspian had two scars under his eyes, growing larger with every step. He could see a mass of black smoke that faded into a kind of inky stain as he walked.
Caspian remained calm and concentrated. He quickly averted his gaze to Umbra, who was shamefully watching the scene as if nothing was controllable anymore.
"You. You can't do anything to bring him back, I suppose?"
Umbra nodded in refusal, which surprised him for a moment. So she understood perfectly what they'd been saying all along. Surprising, but not that surprising, he thought. He set his scar on fire even more, not knowing what to expect, but in any case, taking a risk was out of the question.
The boy in front of him was a shadow of his former self.
He didn't even seem to notice the blood that wanted to run from his right eye, contrasting a crimson-red scene sorely lacking in color.