The air had changed.
Ashland Vale could feel it—not
with his skin, but with something beneath it. Like a second heartbeat ticking
behind his sternum. Ever since he shattered the obsidian mirror and overcame
the second trial, the oppressive weight of the Shadowlock Realm had lessened.
Just slightly. But enough to
notice.
The terrain around him was no
longer pure obsidian. The black stone had softened into a smoother texture,
dotted with glowing moss and twisted, dark-purple vines. Strange trees now
loomed—thin, tall things like petrified bone wrapped in ghostly silk, each one
pulsing with pale veins of light.
Ash kept walking.
He had no idea how long it had
been. Time didn't move right here. The sky above was still a whirl of colorless
gas and half-born constellations, shimmering like dreams he couldn't hold onto.
[System Progress: 6%]
He clenched his fist.
"Still not enough."
⸻
He didn't know he was being
watched.
A dozen eyes blinked open high in
the trees. Iridescent slits narrowed on his figure as he passed beneath. Wings
of folded darkness trembled. Talons shifted silently.
The creature didn't move yet.
It waited.
⸻
Ash paused near a small ravine,
kneeling beside a shallow stream of flowing silver liquid. It shimmered like
mercury, but radiated a cold so sharp it stung his teeth just being near it.
He dipped a piece of moss into
the stream, let it soak, and pressed it to the worst of his cuts. It burned—but
the pain cleared his mind.
"Still alive," he muttered.
"Still bleeding. Good sign."
His hands were trembling, but
less than yesterday. His body ached, but it moved when he told it to. His
instincts were sharper now. His awareness stretched farther. Something inside
him was awakening—and not just in the way the System described.
"A Binder," he said aloud.
"Primordial Binder."
The word still didn't make sense.
But every time he said it, it
felt… truer.
Then came the voice. Not from the
System. From the air.
"You speak your title aloud as if
you understand it."
Ash leapt to his feet, twisting,
fists raised.
Nothing behind him.
"Over here."
He spun again.
The shadows at the base of a
nearby bone-tree shifted—and a figure stepped out.
⸻
She was unlike anything he had
ever seen.
She looked mostly human—tall,
lithe, with sharp features and midnight-black hair that fell to her waist. Her
skin was pale, almost translucent, but shimmered faintly like oil on water. Her
eyes were glowing rings of violet and silver, with no visible pupils. And her
clothing… if it could be called that… was made of shifting strands of shadow
and dreamstuff that never stayed the same shape for more than a few seconds.
She was barefoot. She walked like
silence made flesh.
Ash stumbled back.
"Who—what—are you?"
The figure tilted her head
slightly.
"You don't remember me. That's
disappointing."
"But not unexpected. You haven't
unlocked your Path yet."
"Still, your scent…" Her eyes
narrowed. "Old. Woven. Chosen."
Ash's heart pounded.
"You're part of the Trial?"
She smiled. No warmth in it.
"In a manner of speaking."
Then she stepped forward and the
shadows behind her pulsed—and took form.
Out of the darkness rose a
creature. Massive. Feline in shape, but clearly not of the mortal world. Its
body was composed of silk-shadow and thorned armor, with glowing runes running
down its sides like tattoos. Its fangs were long enough to pierce steel, and
its tail ended in a scythe-like blade.
The woman placed a hand on its
head. It didn't growl. It purred.
"This is my Summon," she said
softly. "A Shadewarden. I am its Binder."
Ash stared. Blood thundered in
his ears.
"You're like me."
A smile touched her lips again,
this time with the faintest trace of amusement.
"Oh no, little ember. You are
like me."
⸻
[System Alert – Phase One: Final
Trial Initiated]
Trial Objective: Face the Shadow
Binder
Victory Condition: Endure for 5
minutes or Survive First Summon Attempt
Optional Objective: Impress the
Entity
Summon Access: Temporarily
Unsealed
⸻
Ash didn't have time to read the
rest.
The woman raised one hand—and the
world twisted.
The Shadewarden leapt, impossibly
fast.
Ash threw himself sideways just
in time. The ground where he had stood exploded in a flurry of claws and
shadow. The feline beast skidded across the terrain with unnatural grace,
turned, and came again.
"Don't fight it," the woman
called calmly. "You'll die. You're not ready."
She wasn't mocking him.
She was stating a fact.
Ash dodged again, barely. The
creature's claws grazed his shoulder. His shirt shredded. Blood welled.
He landed hard on his back.
"You cannot face shadow with
fists," she said. "You must Bind."
The words echoed inside him like
thunder.
Bind.
A pull opened in his chest.
He felt it now. Something waiting
behind a door he'd never known existed.
Something ancient. Something not
entirely human.
A memory that wasn't his
flickered in his mind—
Chains. Voices. Eyes in the dark.
A cage of stars. A name forgotten.
He screamed.
[System Access: Unlocked]
Initiating First Summon
The ground beneath Ash split in a
perfect circle. Runes erupted—old ones, nothing like the simple glyphs used by
other Classes. These were deep, carved into the very foundation of the Realm.
The Shadewarden froze mid-lunge.
So did its master.
Ash's eyes turned completely
violet.
"I call you forth," he whispered,
voice layered with other voices, ancient and echoing.
"From the Chains Beyond. From the
Vault of Silence. From the Sea of Broken Names—"
"I Bind thee."
⸻
And it answered.
⸻
From the circle, a shape
rose—shimmering, flickering, unstable. Humanoid. Female in shape, but cloaked
in fractured plates of dark armor that rippled like water. Her hair was a
cascade of white fire. Her eyes were like the Gatekeeper's—silver-blue flames
in empty sockets.
She knelt before him.
"My name," she said, "is Iriis."
"Bound. And yours."
⸻
Ash fell to his knees. The
Summoning circle vanished.
The world was silent.
Even the Shadewarden bowed its
head slightly, sensing the presence now radiating from Ash.
The woman across the field smiled
for real this time.
"He did it."
⸻
[System Alert: Trial Complete –
Phase One Passed]
First Summon: [Iriis – Bound
Sentinel of the Forgotten Court]
Summon Rank: ???
Bond Level: Initiated
New Trait Unlocked: [Primordial
Binding – Tier 1]
You may form contracts with sentient creatures from the Primordial Archive. Summons evolve alongside you.
Passive Ability Unlocked: [Memory
Share]
Allows transfer of knowledge, skill, and senses between Binder and Summon.
Progress: 15%
Access to Phase Two: Authorized
Ash breathed.
And for the first time in what felt like forever… he didn't feel alone.