83.- Shadows

The garden on the fourth floor of the dungeon awoke beneath a crimson glow filtering from the red orb suspended high above, an artificial sun that eclipsed the faint shimmer of bioluminescent mushrooms clinging to the vines like weary stars. Shadows from the previous night still lingered over the tangled blankets where the group had slept, their bodies wrapped in the pajamas woven by Sebastián: Kaili's iridescent feathers, Aurora's stardust, Aevia's black flowers. The air carried the scent of damp moss and extinguished embers, an echo of the campfire that had burned into the early hours, and a serene silence enveloped the space, shattered abruptly by the sharp thud of a boot against the ground.

"Get up, slackers!" Kaili's voice sliced through the air like a whip, reverberating off the black stone walls. She stood at the garden's center, her iridescent wings unfurled in an arc of feathers that caught the red light in flashes of purple and blue, her fiery runes pulsing like living embers beneath her violet skin. Her dark eyes gleamed with a mix of challenge and urgency as she kicked the blankets, sending a jolt through the group. "I'm not hauling around a useless gardener anymore, and I won't let My Queen get rusty. First you, weakling, then her."

Sebastián emerged from the blankets with a groan, his tousled brown hair falling over his eyes as he rubbed his face with a calloused hand. "Kaili, no breakfast? Last night was exhausting," he protested, his voice hoarse with sleep as he sat up, his rumpled green tunic clinging to his body from the lingering warmth of the night.

Aurora rose with a grace that seemed to defy gravity, her translucent wings trembling slightly as they caught the orb's light in soft glimmers. Her green hair stirred as if alive, and her amber eyes shone with a deep calm. "It's a good idea, Sebastián," she said, her melodic voice resonating like a stellar echo. "It'll make us better."

Aevia, in her youthful form, stretched with a feline motion, her corset of solidified shadows creaking as she raised her arms with a mischievous laugh. Her feline eyes, swirling with red sand, flashed toward Sebastián. "I don't need swords," she said, her tone playful yet warm. "But I'll be with my little gardener to watch Mother shine."

Kaili crossed her arms under her chest, lifting them with natural arrogance as she snorted. "No time for food, gardener. If you want to survive with us, you'll learn something useful today. And you," she turned to Aurora, "need more than brute strength to impress me. Let's go." Without waiting for a reply, she spun on her heels and marched toward the garden's exit, her wings stirring the air with a hum that made the vines tremble.

Sebastián sighed, standing with visible effort as Aevia gave him a playful pat on the back. "Cheer up, little gardener! Mother will be proud," she said, winking at him before following Kaili with a light step. Aurora offered him a serene smile, falling into place beside him as they trailed after Kaili's imposing figure toward an adjacent chamber.

The chamber next to the garden was a stark contrast to the green oasis they'd left behind. The black stone floor was crisscrossed with twisted roots forming a natural circle, as if the dungeon itself had carved a battlefield for them. The air was colder here, heavy with the echo of water dripping from unseen cracks in the walls, and the red orb's glow seeped through fissures in the ceiling, casting a bloody light that danced across the surfaces. Kaili stopped at the circle's center, turning to face them with a dark wooden sword in hand, its edge etched with faintly glowing runes.

"I'm not training near your precious plants, gardener," she growled, tossing the sword with a swift motion he barely caught, his clumsy fingers closing around the hilt. "First you. If I don't kill you with exhaustion, maybe you'll learn something."

Sebastián swallowed hard, adjusting his grip as Aevia leaned against a nearby root, crossing her arms with an amused smile. "Don't break him too fast, Kaili!" she called, her voice echoing through the chamber. Aurora stood aside, watching silently, her amber eyes tracking every movement with a calm that seemed to hold entire galaxies.

Kaili didn't wait. With a step that shook the ground, she lunged at Sebastián, her sword tracing a swift arc that whistled through the air. He raised his just in time, the impact reverberating through his arms like a hammer striking stone. "Block, don't just stand there like a plant!" Kaili roared, pulling back only to strike again, a sideways blow that forced him to twist awkwardly, his feet stumbling over the roots.

"I'm trying!" he gasped, his breath already ragged as he dodged a third strike by instinct, the wood grazing his shoulder and leaving a red mark on his skin through the tunic. Kaili gave him no respite, her movements a relentless dance of precision and restrained power, each strike designed to push him to his limit without breaking him entirely. He blocked blow after blow, his sword trembling in his hands, sweat streaming down his forehead and dripping onto the floor in dark puddles.

The training stretched on, a whirlwind of strikes driving him to the edge of collapse. Kaili attacked from impossible angles, her sword whistling like a furious wind as he struggled to keep up, his body protesting with every block. A low strike sent him stumbling, his knees hitting the ground with a dull thud, but he rose, panting, his face flushed with effort. "Don't give up now, gardener!" Kaili growled, unleashing a diagonal slash he barely deflected, the wood clashing with a crack that echoed through the chamber.

Aevia clapped from her perch, her laughter ringing out like distant bells. "That's it, little gardener! Mother will be proud, keep going!" she called as Sebastián fell to his knees after a failed block, Kaili's sword halting inches from his neck. He looked up, gasping, his arms shaking as he tried to stand again, but his body refused, collapsing against a root with an exhausted groan.

Kaili stared down at him, her breathing barely altered as her runes pulsed with a golden glow that betrayed the minimal effort she'd exerted. "You're a mess, gardener," she said, lowering her weapon with a snort. "A hundred years, and you're still pathetic, but…" She paused, watching as he clung to the root, sweat matting his hair to his face and his chest heaving with desperate effort. "You're stubborn… I like that." Her voice carried a hint of respect, masked by her usual sarcasm, as she turned to Aurora, her wings unfurling in an arc that cast dancing shadows across the walls.

"Your turn, My Queen," she said, her tone sharp but tinged with anticipation that charged the air. "Let's see if you can surprise me." With a flick of her hand, she summoned a dome of dark energy that rose from the ground like a liquid veil, encasing the circle in a pulsating barrier that isolated Sebastián and Aevia outside. The dome shimmered with living shadows, its edges crackling with a low hum that vibrated the air, yet it stood utterly still, a testament to Kaili's omnipotence, capable of containing world-shattering forces without strain. "You're staying out, gardener," she growled without looking at him. "This isn't for mortals."

Aurora nodded calmly, catching a wooden sword Kaili tossed her way, though in her hands it seemed more an artifact of power than a mere object. Shadows bled from her fingers like living veins, wrapping the wood in a blade of pure darkness that devoured light, a mirror of the shadowy sword that had crushed Kraal in the crypt. "I trust you, Kaili," she said, her voice cold yet warm, an echo of the lethal indifference that had razed everything in its path. "Let's begin."

Inside the dome, the air grew thick, laden with a tension that seemed to warp reality itself. Kaili raised a hand, her fiery runes flaring with a red so intense it lit the chamber like a dying sun, casting long shadows that danced like specters on the walls. "I'll drop my strength to half of yours, My Queen," she said, her voice resonating with an echo that shook the twisted roots beneath her feet. "In the crypt, you smashed everything, told me all about it… but that was just brute force. Today, I want technique, because with my power, that's nothing."

Aurora tilted her head, a slight gesture dripping with silent arrogance, and raised her shadowy sword. The ground beneath her feet cracked, roots writhing as if fleeing her presence, and an unseen wind stirred her green hair, lifting it like a living whirlwind that cast shadows eager to consume the orb's light. "Then teach me," she murmured, and the air around her thickened, as if the dungeon itself held its breath for what was to come.

Sebastián tried to follow the fight with his eyes from outside, but they blurred before the speed and chaos erupting within the dome. Aevia stepped closer, resting a hand on his shoulder as her feline eyes gleamed with reverent awe. "Get ready, little gardener," she whispered, her voice trembling with excitement. "Mother and Kaili are forces beyond imagining, but Kaili… she's an entire universe."

Kaili struck first, her iridescent wings unfurling in a whirlwind of feathers that sliced the air like blades. With a mere thought, hundreds of feathers detached from her wings, each morphing into a dagger sharp as steel, glowing with a purple edge that flashed under the orb's light. The daggers hovered around her, suspended by an unseen will, and with a flick of her fingers, they surged toward Aurora from every angle, a swarm of death tearing through the air with a deafening screech. Her technique was fluid, precise as a lethal dance, the daggers weaving impossible patterns that caged Aurora in a storm of cutting edges, each moving with a speed that defied perception—a glimpse of a power that could shred galaxies if Kaili unleashed it fully.

Aurora barely reacted in time, her body slipping between the daggers with a supernatural grace that seemed to bend time itself. Her shadowy sword carved black arcs that shattered several feathers in bursts of purple and black light, glowing fragments falling to the ground like burning ash, but the onslaught was relentless. The daggers struck from impossible angles, grazing her shadow armor with slashes that left smoking trails in the air, some embedding in the ground with blasts that would've pierced entire armies. "Come on, My Queen!" Kaili roared, her voice cutting through the chaos like thunder echoing within the dome. "Show me something worth my time!"

Aurora answered with a flare in her amber eyes, and the air inside the dome grew so heavy it felt solid, a pressure that could've crushed mountains if uncontained. With a sweep of her free hand, she summoned three black suns, spheres of absolute darkness pulsing with an energy so extreme it warped the space around them, emitting a low hum that thundered like a dying god's heartbeat. The suns floated before her, each the size of a man, their surfaces rippling with living shadows that devoured light, sound, and air alike. With a gesture, she hurled them at Kaili, their speed shattering the air in a sonic boom that could've leveled a vast nation if not confined by the dome.

Kaili didn't flinch. Her wings curved, and with a cry that echoed like a galaxy's collapse, she unleashed a vortex of black ice that froze the air into a storm of jagged spikes, each glowing with a blue so fierce it seemed to burn. Moving her hands like a conductor of a cosmic symphony, the feather-daggers joined the vortex, forming a spinning barrier that met the black suns. The collision was cataclysmic: a blinding flare of blue and black light filled the dome, the daggers slicing through the suns with casual ease, reducing them to glowing ash that drifted down like dead stars. The dome stood unmoved, its shadows swallowing the energy without a quiver, a testament to Kaili's absolute dominion that made Aurora's attack seem trivial.

Aurora raised her sword, and shadows erupted from the ground in a tide of thick tendrils, each crowned with green spines pulsing with venom, weaving into a living web that struck at Kaili from all sides. The spines sliced the air with a deadly hiss, some embedding in the ground with blasts that left steaming craters, but Kaili vanished in a flash, her speed beyond human sight. She reappeared before Aurora in an instant, her wooden sword now a blade of black ice shimmering with fiery runes, and swung with a force that could've split a continent if not restrained.

Aurora blocked with her shadowy sword, the clash unleashing an energy wave that could've shattered mountains, but the dome absorbed it without a flicker, Kaili's shadows consuming the impact as if it were nothing. Her runes flared, and a colossal dragon of black ice surged from her blade, roaring with a fury that shook the air, its claws tearing deep craters into the ground that could've swallowed armies. Its jaws opened, releasing a frigid breath that crystallized the air into a whirlwind of spikes flying like shrapnel, each glowing with a blue so intense it seemed to cleave reality itself.

Aurora countered, her green hair whipping like a living tempest casting ravenous shadows. With a flurry of shadowy slashes, each faster than the last, she shattered the dragon in an explosion of ice fragments that rained down like a storm of broken glass, the pieces striking the dome without budging it an inch. Kaili answered with a spin of her wings, the feathers forming a tornado of daggers that engulfed Aurora, slicing her tendrils into black ash that fell in a dark cascade, the air filling with a deafening roar as shadows and ice clashed in a dance of pure destruction.

The fight escalated to a realm beyond comprehension. Kaili raised both hands, and the air inside the dome froze instantly, sprouting a forest of ice spears from the ground, each pulsing with runes that shone like frozen suns. With a thought, the spears surged toward Aurora in a wave that could've razed cities, their speed fracturing the air with sonic booms that echoed like broken thunder. Aurora answered with a silent cry, shadows beneath her feet rising in a tide of wraiths—tall, thin figures with dagger-like claws and red eyes blazing with voracious hunger. The wraiths collided with the spears, shattering them into a shower of ice shards and black ash that filled the air with blinding light.

Kaili vanished again, her form dissolving in a purple flash, and reappeared behind Aurora, her ice blade descending in an arc that tore the air with a roar like an era's end. Aurora spun, her shadowy sword meeting the blow in a black light explosion that lit the dome like an inverse sun, the shockwave capable of leveling continents swallowed effortlessly by the dome's shadows. The ground's shadows surged in a final tide, wraiths and tendrils striking at Kaili in a wave that could've devoured armies, their spines slashing the air with an ear-piercing screech.

Kaili replied with a roar that shook the dungeon's soul, her wings unfurling in a whirlwind of feathers that morphed into a vaster swarm of daggers, thousands of purple blades spinning around her like a living hurricane. With a gesture, she unleashed a vortex of ice and feathers that met Aurora's shadows, shredding them in a blast that left a steaming crater at the circle's center, the ground cracked as if struck by a god's wrath. The daggers tore through the wraiths, shadows dissolving into ash falling like dark rain, while the ice rose in a storm that could've frozen entire oceans.

Aurora raised her sword once more, a final black sun emerging above her head, larger than the others, its surface pulsing with energy that warped the space around it, a low hum resonating like a cosmic lament. She launched it at Kaili with a motion that shattered the air in a sonic boom, the sphere trailing darkness that devoured light itself. Kaili answered with a cry that echoed like a universe's collapse, her runes blazing with an intensity that turned the dome into a frozen inferno. With a single swing of her blade, she cleaved the black sun in two with dismissive ease, the resulting explosion flooding the air with blinding light that could've razed a nation, yet the dome stood still, its shadows absorbing the energy without a shudder, as if Aurora's might were a mere whisper before Kaili's power.

The fight ended as suddenly as it began. Kaili and Aurora halted, Aurora breathing heavily as her sword trembled in her hands, the effort evident in the slight quiver of her translucent wings. Kaili, however, lowered her weapon calmly, her wings relaxing without a trace of fatigue, her runes glowing with a serene intensity that bathed the chamber in red light. "Not bad, My Queen," she said, her voice rough but laced with satisfied sarcasm. "When you don't just smash, you start to look dangerous… but don't get any ideas. This was a game to me."

Aurora tilted her head, her sword dissolving into shadows that faded like a sigh. "Thank you, Kaili," she replied, her tone calm but rich with depth that echoed through the chamber, her amber eyes glinting with a mix of respect and resolve.

The dome dissolved with a low hum, its shadows retracting like a sea returning to calm, leaving the chamber intact but marked by the battle's echo. The ground within the circle was cracked, strewn with black ash and glowing ice fragments under the orb's light, yet the walls and ceiling remained untouched, the dome having absorbed every energy wave without a quiver. Kaili stepped to the circle's edge, her stride steady and unshaken, while Aurora followed, her presence commanding yet visibly drained compared to Kaili's untouchable serenity.

Sebastián remained slumped against the root, his body still trembling from his earlier training, his breath ragged as he struggled to process what he'd seen. His eyes were wide, unable to look away from the two figures approaching, his mind reeling from the battle's sheer scale. Aevia knelt beside him, stroking his hair with tenderness, her feline eyes shimmering with pride and awe. "Mother gave everything she had, little gardener," she whispered, her voice warm and maternal. "But Kaili… she's an entire universe, and she didn't even try."

"Still alive, gardener?" Kaili grunted, crossing her arms as she looked down at him with a raised brow, her tone sharp but tinged with amusement. "Don't get used to this, but it wasn't a total disaster."

Sebastián let out a weak laugh, a broken sound escaping his lips as he looked up at her. "Thanks for not giving up on me," he said, his voice earnest despite the exhaustion pinning him to the root. "I never thought I'd survive that… or see this." His gaze shifted to Aurora and Kaili, still stunned by the scale of the fight, images of black suns, purple daggers, and devastating ice etched into his mind like a fever dream.

Aevia hugged him tighter, her warmth pressing against him as her sweet voice murmured in his ear. "My little gardener can do anything with Mother and Kaili," she whispered, her feline eyes gleaming with pride as she looked at him. "And what you saw… it's just a glimpse of what Kaili can do."

Aurora approached, sitting beside him with a calm that belied the effort she'd shown in the dome. Her translucent wings caught the orb's light in soft glimmers, and her hand brushed his with a gentleness that steadied his racing heart. "We'll always be here, Sebastián," she said, her melodic voice wrapping around him like a blanket of peace. "We'll keep going together."

Kaili snorted, but a crooked smile tugged at her lips as she dropped against a nearby root, her wings resting against the black stone. "Yeah, sure, sappy stuff," she grumbled, though her dark eyes shone with a flicker of camaraderie she couldn't fully hide. "Rest up, because tomorrow's gonna be worse. And you, My Queen, keep practicing—that was just a warm-up for me."

The group fell silent, the battle's echo still thrumming in their minds as the red orb cast its glow over them, bathing them in a crimson light that seemed to seal the moment. The dungeon breathed around them, eternal and watchful, its black stone walls soaking up the last traces of the power that had filled the chamber. But in that corner, amid the shadows and the warmth of their bond, they found a respite no force, however vast, could break. The intensity of what they'd lived through bound them tighter than ever, a connection forged in the fire of battle and the tenderness of their makeshift family.

Sebastián closed his eyes, his head resting against the root as exhaustion finally claimed him, the fight's images dancing behind his eyelids like an impossible dream. Kaili, a force that could shatter universes with a thought, had dominated the battle without effort, while Aurora, with her devastating power, had given her all. Aevia hummed a low melody beside him, her hand still in his hair, while Aurora stayed at his side, a silent yet unbreakable presence. Kaili, from her perch, let out a tired sigh, but her gaze softened as it settled on them, a spark of something beyond sarcasm glinting in her eyes.

Peace settled over them, a fragile yet beautiful contrast to the storm that had raged within the dome moments before. In that silence, under the red orb's light, the fourth floor of the dungeon became more than a refuge: it was a home, a place where even the most devastating forces could find balance, held together by the man who, with his simple stubbornness, kept them grounded.