The Chains that Bind

Leo glared at Elias, hating that smug grin on his face. The ground shook beneath them, making dust fall from the ceiling.

"What the hell do you mean 'the real test'?" Leo snapped, stepping forward. "Stop with the riddles. Just tell me what you're testing me for!"

Elias moved closer, his eyes bright with excitement. Behind him, the other Watchers stood in their half-circle, their creepy smiles never changing.

"We've waited hundreds of years for someone like you," Elias said, his voice shaking. "From the start, we've guarded this place, kept safe the prison that holds the First Shadow."

Neo stepped up beside Leo, knife ready. Her eyes stayed locked on Elias. "What's this 'First Shadow'?" she asked coldly. "And why is Leo so important to your weird cult?"

"The vessel!" Elias shouted, throwing his arms out wide. His face showed pure desperation. "We need a good vessel to either fix the Warden's chains or..." his smile dropped, showing fear, "or to take its place."

"Take its place?" Kaori's face twisted with disgust as she clenched her fists. "You want to turn him into some kind of prison?"

"The chains are breaking," Elias went on, ignoring her. His eyes never left Leo. "We've tested so many before you, but none got this far. Your link to the shadows is stronger than any we've seen in centuries."

Leo's fear was replaced by rage.. "So I'm just a pawn to you?" His voice got louder with each word. "Leading me here, sending those shadow monsters after me, all just to see if I could be your new jailer?"

"Not a pawn," Elias said, his voice softer. "A savior. The First Shadow can't get out. You've seen what it can do, what it wants to eat."

Leo remembered the visions he'd seen before. The fights, the screams, that hungry shadow destroying everything in sight.

"I don't care about your plans," Leo growled, getting angrier. "I didn't ask for these powers, and I'm not going to be your damn prison guard!"

As his anger peaked, the mark on his arm lit up the chamber. Shadows raced across the floor like snakes, heading for the Watchers. The room seemed to react to his anger. Cracks spread across the floor, getting wider as his power became less controllable.

"Leo, calm down!" Neo warned, sounding scared.

But it was too late. The shadows around them began forming shadow creatures. These creatures looked like the Frozen Ones they had encountered before, except less human-like.

"Control it, Leo!" Kaori yelled, dropping into a fighting stance as the shadow beings circled them.

Elias stepped back, that annoying smile returning. "Now the real test starts," he said quietly. "Will you control the power, or will it control you?"

Without warning, the shadow creatures attacked. One jumped at Kaori, claws slicing through the air. She spun away just in time, punching it hard in the chest. Her fist hit its body, but the creature just stumbled back, unhurt.

"These are different!" she called out, barely dodging another attack. "They're completely solid!"

Neo's knife flashed as she blocked a shadow being's strike. Her blade cut through the creature's arm, but nothing happened. "Hit the core!" she shouted, stabbing her knife straight into the center of the shadow being's chest. The creature screamed and dissolved into nothing.

Leo tried to focus, to get control of the shadows he'd accidentally created. The power felt uncontrollable, like a dog pulling against its leash. Each time he tried to pull the shadows back, the creatures just got angrier and more desperate.

"The vessel must prove worthy," Elias said from a safe distance, watching with interest.

"ENOUGH!" Leo roared, his patience snapping. He thrust his marked arm forward, turning his rage into pure power. A wave of shadow energy burst from his hand, hitting the nearest creature in its core. The being instantly dissolved into the air.

Neo and Kaori fought hard, moving together perfectly. Kaori would push a creature back with her powerful strikes, creating the opening Neo needed to stab its core with her knife.

"We need to get out of here now!" Neo shouted to Leo, blood running down her cheek from a cut. "There's too many!"

Leo looked around frantically, but the Watchers blocked every exit. Elias made a small hand motion, and the floor beneath Neo suddenly tilted. She slid toward a waiting shadow creature with its claws ready to tear her apart.

"Neo!" Leo screamed, terror shooting through him. Without thinking, he reached out, shadows bursting from his fingers to make a wall between her and certain death.

Kaori landed beside Leo after jumping over an attacker, breathing hard. "Whatever you did to control them before," she gasped, "do it again before we all die!"

"I'm trying!" Leo's mark burned like hot metal against his skin, waves of pain shooting up his arm. "Something's different. The shadows aren't listening to me anymore!"

The room shook violently, the tremors getting stronger. A new sound filled the air. It was the loud clanking of huge chains dragging across stone. The noise seemed to come from below them.

"The Warden stirs," Elias announced, his voice shaking with fear and excitement.

The stone tablet in the center of the room began to crack, lines spreading across its surface like a spider web. The symbol that matched Leo's mark pulsed with sick dark light. With each pulse, Leo felt something pulling at his soul.

"It's coming," Neo whispered, her eyes fixed on the tablet. The shadow beings backed away from it, clearly afraid.

The floor around the tablet split open with a loud crack, showing an endless pit of pure darkness. From this pit rose massive chains, each link bigger than a human head.

Then they saw it - the Warden. It slowly rose from the darkness, a huge beast chained to the tablet.

"THE VESSEL MUST CHOOSE," a voice thundered inside Leo's mind, almost knocking him down. "BIND ME OR FREE ME."

The choice hit Leo like a physical blow, making him stagger. Either sacrifice himself to keep the realm safe or risk letting loose something much worse -the First Shadow from his visions.

"Leo?" Neo's voice seemed far away, barely audible through the pain shooting through his head. "What's happening to you?"

He couldn't answer, couldn't even think straight. The Warden filled his mind, showing him visions of what would happen if the First Shadow escaped. Worlds destroyed, reality torn apart, endless darkness flooding across existence.

Neo's eyes widened in horror as she watched Leo's shadow stretch toward the Warden on its own. "It's not just testing you," she shouted, grabbing his arm. "It's trying to take you!"

Elias stepped forward, his smile now looking almost sad. "The cycle continues, as it must," he said softly. "The vessel will serve, one way or another."

The room shook as one of the massive chains binding the Warden snapped with a sound like thunder. The broken end whipped through the air before smashing into the ground near Kaori, who rolled away just in time.

"Leo!" Neo screamed, her voice cracking. She grabbed his face, making him look into her eyes. "Whatever it's telling you, whatever it's showing you—it's lying! Don't listen!"

But the Warden's voice drowned out everything else. "THE VESSEL MUST CHOOSE," it repeated.

Another chain strained by the Warden's pull, the links stretching to their limit. The shadow beings cowered at the edges of the room while the Watchers stood still, watching with their empty smiles.

Leo felt like he was being torn in half. Pulled toward the Warden and its terrible purpose, yet held back by Neo's grip on his arm and Kaori's shouts. They were the only real things in this nightmare.

"I won't be your prisoner," Leo snarled through clenched teeth, blood dripping from his nose as he fought against the Warden's pull. "And I won't be your replacement!"

Shadow whips emanating from the warden reached out to pull Leo. "Then the first shadow will come," it warned, its voice shaking the room, "and all will end."

As Leo struggled against the Warden's pull, his shadow stretched further toward the warden, making a bridge between them. 

Neo's eyes widened in horror. "Leo, your shadow… it's connecting to that thing!"

Through this connection, Leo felt the beast's fear, its determination, and beneath it all, a hunger just like the First Shadow's, a hunger now reaching for him.

With a loud crack that shook the entire room, another chain snapped free. Having one arm freed, the Warden surged forward.

"The vessel has been chosen," Elias said, as darkness swallowed Leo whole.