The Sorcerer’s Awakening

There is a weight in the air.

A shift, subtle but undeniable, like the first ripple before a storm, disturbs the surface of a still lake.

I do not know what has changed.

Only that something has.

Elias stands before me, silent, his presence no longer just his.

Something lingers at his edges—something felt, not seen.

And then, as if drawn by a force beyond our understanding, he raises his hand.

——

The moment he does, the world responds.

A pulse—deep, resonant—thrums through the air, like an ancient bell tolling in the depths of some unseen abyss.

The wind stills.

The light shifts.

And from the space around him, from the void itself, something begins to form.

I watch, my breath caught in my throat, as shadows coil around his fingers—thin at first, mere wisps of darkness curling like smoke before taking shape, solidifying, becoming real.

His eyes widen, and I can tell—this is not something he expected.

He is not controlling this.

It is responding to him.

——

A single spark ignites in his palm.

Not fire.

Not lightning.

Something darker.

Something ancient, something alive.

It twists and swirls, unstable, shifting between states, never settling on a single form.

And for the first time, I see it—

His power.

The Black Spirit's legacy.

No longer just a whisper at the edges of his mind.

But a force.

A skill.

Something tied to him completely.

Something that has always belonged to him—even if he never knew it before now.

——

He exhales, slowly, carefully, his brows drawing together as he watches the flickering shadows dance across his skin.

"I feel…" His voice is quiet, almost distant. "Strange."

I swallow hard. "Strange how?"

His fingers shift, and the energy responds, rippling outward like ink spilling into water.

"Like I know what this is," he says. "Like I've always known."

He flexes his hand, and the shadows coil tighter, obedient, waiting.

Then, in a voice barely above a whisper—

"Like I was meant to have it."

——

Something cold curls in my chest.

I should be afraid.

This is not natural.

This is not human.

And yet…

The world does not reject him.

The energy does not resist him.

It accepts him.

Balances him.

As if, somehow, his existence here has completed something left unfinished.

As if the darkness he carries is not a corruption, but an equation finally resolved.

——

I exhale, forcing my voice to steady.

"Then control it."

Elias looks at me, surprise flickering in his expression.

I lift my chin. "It's yours now, isn't it?"

A pause.

Then, slowly—almost warily—he nods.

I cross my arms, watching him carefully. "Then learn it."

His lips part, as if about to argue, but then he stops.

Something shifts in his gaze.

A realization.

A quiet, dawning acceptance.

And then—

A small, almost imperceptible smile.

"Alright," he murmurs.

And with that, he lets the power flow.

——

The shadows move.

Not wildly. Not chaotically.

But with intent.

He is level one.

A beginner.

An untrained sorcerer standing at the precipice of something far greater than himself.

But the magic does not hesitate.

And neither does he.

Because this power?

This is his now.

And for the first time—

He owns it.