Chapter 21: "Shadows of the Past"

With the strange sound echoing from deep within the ruins, Iris and Selena remained on high alert. Iris quickly moved to the nearest corner, gripping the Dragon Slayer sword carefully, his mind racing with thoughts.

"Who's there?" Iris whispered as his eyes scanned the shadows, but he couldn't pinpoint the source yet. The atmosphere was charged, as if the world itself was about to explode.

Selena, still breathing heavily, looked at Iris with a worried gaze. "We need to leave, Iris. If there's something else, we won't be able to fight it."

But Iris knew that leaving now wouldn't solve anything. The ruins were full of dark secrets, and the longer they stayed, the greater the danger. He felt an eerie connection between the place and the past, as if something was watching them from the shadows.

"We're not leaving yet... there's something important here, something we need to discover," Iris said firmly, his eyes narrowing as they searched the dark corners around them. "We need to know who this creature is. Who is watching us?"

Suddenly, the blue light emitting from the sword vanished, and the shadows overtook the room. The air grew colder, and breathing became difficult. Iris felt something heavy in the air, as if the darkness itself had come alive.

In that moment, a figure emerged from the shadows. Its body was cloaked in black, and its face was surrounded by an aura of darkness, but its eyes glowed with a deep crimson hue.

"You do not belong here..." The deep, terrifying voice came from the shadowed figure, resonating in their ears like thunder.

Iris tightened his grip on the sword while Selena took a cautious step back. "Who are you? What do you want from us?"

The shadows around the mysterious figure swirled, as if embodying some kind of nightmare. The figure smiled eerily, and every word it spoke carried an implicit threat.

"I am... the past," it answered simply, raising its hand into the air. "I am the guardian of this place, and I will not allow anyone to leave unless they pass the test of shadows."

"The test of shadows?" Iris whispered, his heart beginning to race. "What does that mean?"

The figure smiled bitterly and said, "If you wish to live, you must first pass this test. If you fail... your fate will be in the shadows forever."

In that instant, the shadows began to slowly move toward Iris and Selena, as if preparing to pounce on them. The atmosphere was charged with static, and the air grew suffocating.

Iris gripped the Dragon Slayer sword tightly, his eyes locked on the shadows with intense focus. "I won't let you stand in our way. We won't wait for a test, we'll face you now."

But deep down, Iris knew that the coming battle would be unlike any he had faced before. A strange feeling gripped his heart, as if the unknown was looming, ready to strike at any moment.