The first thing Voryn noticed was the scent.
Not of blood. Not of smoke. Not even fear.
But jealousy.
It hung in the air like ozone before a storm, sharp and biting.
Lysera had arrived.
Tracking the Shadow
He had anticipated that a Stage 4 or higher predator might trace the escaped creature from the previous chamber. But he had not expected the hunter to be her.
The girl's shadow, alive, sharp, almost predatory, was already dancing along the walls before he even saw her. Stage 3 awareness would've struggled here; hers was precise, honed, obsessive.
Voryn smirked under the hood.
Finally, someone who can actually read my moves… but thinks they're ahead.
He stepped lightly across the rooftop of the ruined district, shadows trailing silently behind, a whisper of darkness lacing every footfall.
A dozen guards patrolled below. Stage 2 awakeners. Too low to matter.
Lysera wouldn't come for him directly. Not yet. She was smarter than that.
She would play the long game.
The Cat-and-Mouse Begins
Voryn paused near the edge of a crumbling tower, shadows coiling around him like living smoke. He let one finger graze the air, manipulating shadows to extend silently across the rooftops.
Observation first.
Lysera appeared, as expected, downwind. Her eyes glinted with calculated fury. Pride burned in every movement; each footstep measured. She wanted to be seen. She wanted to make it personal.
Voryn chuckled.
"You always did like making it about you," he muttered, voice low, almost lost to the wind.
He released a subtle flicker of shadow along the walls. A phantom silhouette of himself appeared where he wasn't.
Lysera halted.
The cat-and-mouse had begun.
Psychological Warfare
"You think you can hide in darkness?" Her voice was soft, dangerously sweet, carrying both threat and admiration. "I'll consume your shadow first, Voryn."
Voryn tilted his head, letting a smile tug at the corner of his lips.
Consume my shadow? How poetic.
"You're going to have to catch me first," he said lightly. Shadows peeled from the ground, crawling along the wall like fingers.
He didn't attack. He didn't need to.
Lysera's pride made her predictable. Her obsession made her reckless.
And he was learning.
Each glance, each subtle shift in stance, each heartbeat of hers was data. He catalogued it all.
She lunged not at him but at the shadow projection along the wall.
Voryn observed, letting the shadows react, adjusting their forms to mislead her.
The girl's frustration became palpable. Her every strike was overcompensation; her every feint telegraphed.
"Predictable," he whispered.
And yet… he felt the tiniest spark of respect.
She's dangerous. Smarter than most awakeners I've faced.
Humanized Rivalry
Lysera paused, breathing hard, eyes narrowed.
"You're infuriating," she hissed. "I can't read you, and yet I can't ignore you."
Voryn, leaning against a broken wall, allowed a small, soft laugh, soft, almost amused.
"I enjoy that about you," he admitted. "Honestly. You keep me sharp. But obsession… obsession is a weakness."
Her shadow flickered, reacting independently, almost as if it understood his words.
Voryn noted this.
She is attuned to her own power. Dangerous. Stage 4 potential? Not yet, but close.
And that meant he could manipulate her not by force, but through subtle cues, pride, and jealousy.
Perfect chess piece.
Traps of the Mind
He began leading her through the ruined district, shadows guiding her movements without touching her. Small collapses, subtle misdirections, whispers of phantom noises.
Each time she misstepped, her frustration deepened. Her pride demanded vengeance. Her obsession demanded proximity.
Voryn kept pace lightly, barely touching the ground.
He could have crushed her in seconds.
But that wasn't the point.
Teaching, testing, and observing are true advantages.
Shadows Speak
His own shadows flickered faintly, whispering insights.
"She anticipates patterns."
"She will strike where you expect her least."
Voryn grinned.
"I know," he said softly. "And I know you'll enjoy it."
He tilted his head, eyes narrowing. One corner of his mouth curved into a subtle smirk.
The moment she thinks she controls the game… is the moment she's already lost.
The Lesson Intensifies
Hours passed, though time felt different in the ruins.
Lysera's attacks became more calculated. Voryn's shadows adapted, learning her patterns, adjusting the battlefield without him making a single overt strike.
It became a war of wits, a mental chess match, each move costing her pride, each counter costing him stamina and Oath energy.
And he noted, clinically:
She is obsessed. Obsession blinds. Obsession manipulates.
Exactly as expected.
Dark Humor
At one point, she leapt from a crumbling balcony, landing twenty feet from him.
Voryn casually flicked his wrist. Shadows trailed behind her like invisible chains. She froze mid-step, realising too late she'd been funnelled into a corner with nowhere to run.
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
"Your… shadows…" she gasped.
Voryn smiled faintly. "They're excellent students. Mostly obedient. Mostly."
She glared. Pride wounded. Obsession inflamed.
Perfect.
The Stage 4 Foreshadow
The fight escalated, neither fully committing to lethal force.
Until a screech echoed from the edge of the district, a guttural, inhuman sound, unnerving enough to freeze both awakeners momentarily.
Voryn's eyes narrowed.
That's new.
Lysera's gaze followed him. Her jaw tightened.
And then, without warning, the shadow of something far larger passed across the ruined walls, slipping silently, impossible to anticipate.
Voryn's stomach clenched.
Stage 4?
Or worse.
Lysera took a slow step forward, voice a whisper, venomous and intimate.
"I will find your shadow… and devour it. And then you."
Voryn's eyes glinted. His shadows coiled tighter, thrumming like the heartbeat of a storm.
From the darkness beyond, movement. Silent. Massive. Calculated. Not a beast he recognised.
And the wind carried a whisper he could almost feel through the Black Oath itself:
"So… you survived Stage 3. Impressive. But Stage 4 doesn't forgive mistakes, Voryn."
The air thickened, shadows writhed in warning, and both Voryn and Lysera froze, aware they had just stepped into something far larger than either had anticipated.