The Ones Who Dwell in Shadow

Riven stood his ground as the three masked figures emerged from the darkness. The air around them felt different, heavier—warped by an unseen force. He had encountered powerful enemies before, warriors who could cleave through steel, mages who could reduce entire landscapes to ash, but this was something else. These figures weren't just warriors. They were something beyond the ordinary.

A deep, unsettling silence settled over the battlefield. The ruins of the outpost still smoldered in the distance, but the usual sounds of wind and shifting rubble had vanished. It was as if the world itself had paused, waiting for something to happen.

One of the figures stepped forward. Their voice was calm, almost casual. "You've been making quite the mess."

Riven didn't respond. He had no need for conversation. Instead, he acted. Shadows exploded from beneath him, tendrils of darkness lashing out like serpents, striking with unrelenting force. He had killed men with less, obliterated entire squads in moments.

But the moment his shadows touched theirs, they dissolved.

Riven's breath hitched. His power, which had never met an equal, simply faded the instant it connected with theirs. It wasn't resistance. It wasn't even a counterattack. It was as if the darkness he commanded had never belonged to him at all.

He took a step back, mind racing. No one had ever been able to do that. Not Lucien, not the Organization, not even the highest-ranked warriors of the factions he had crushed. His shadows obeyed him, always. They had been his strength, his army, his very identity.

Yet now, they were failing him.

The leader of the masked figures tilted their head, watching him with an air of curiosity. "Now you see it, don't you?" They took another step forward, their movements soundless, as if they weren't walking at all but merely gliding across the ground. "Your power... it was never yours alone."

Riven clenched his fists. "What are you?"

The second figure chuckled. "You assume we're something different from you. That's your first mistake."

The third remained silent, but Riven felt their gaze piercing through him, as if peeling back layers of his being and studying what lay beneath.

Riven didn't let himself hesitate. He surged forward, closing the distance in a blink. If his shadows wouldn't work, then he'd rely on pure, brutal combat. His fist shot forward, aiming for the leader's throat.

He struck nothing but air.

His instincts screamed. Before he could react, the leader's hand lifted—and his own shadow twisted unnaturally beneath him.

Riven staggered as a foreign force took hold of his darkness. Not just resisting. Not just hesitating. Turning against him.

His own shadow lashed out, tendrils wrapping around his wrists, tightening like living chains. He struggled, pouring his will into them, but they no longer listened. They coiled around his legs, his torso, dragging him down as if they had been waiting for this moment.

The leader leaned down slightly, their mask revealing nothing of their expression. "You command the fallen, but have you ever wondered where they truly go? What happens to the essence you claim?"

Riven gritted his teeth, pulling against the restraints, but they wouldn't break. "They become mine."

"Do they?" the figure mused. "Or have they merely been waiting?"

A low hum pulsed through the air, an eerie vibration that resonated deep in Riven's bones. The shadows around him flickered, shifting as if whispering to each other in a language older than time itself.

A cold realization settled in his gut.

Something inside the abyss had been watching him. And now, it was responding.

The second figure stepped forward, crossing their arms. "We have no interest in killing you, Riven Graves. If we did, you wouldn't be standing."

"Then what do you want?" he demanded, still struggling against the shadows, still refusing to accept that he was losing control.

The leader knelt beside him, their voice dropping lower. "You're not the only one who can hear them. The voices. The whispers. The things clawing at the edges of your mind. You've been collecting shadows without understanding what you're gathering."

Riven's eyes narrowed. "I understand enough."

"Do you?" The leader's tone was almost pitying. "You take from the abyss, but you never wondered if the abyss takes something from you in return. You believe you've mastered your power, yet you have no idea what you've invited into yourself."

Riven forced his body to still, controlling his breathing. He would not let them see doubt. "You're trying to get in my head. It won't work."

The leader tilted their head. "You assume we need to try."

The shadows holding him began to shift. For a brief, horrifying moment, they were no longer just darkness. They were faces. Twisted, distorted faces, flickering in and out of shape, their mouths moving without sound. Some were familiar. Some were strangers.

And one was Selene.

Riven's breath caught in his throat. His sister's face formed for only a second before it melted back into the void, but the image had been clear. Too clear.

The shadows finally released him, and he collapsed forward, bracing himself on the ground. He forced himself to look up, to glare at the masked figures. "If you're trying to scare me, you're wasting your time."

The leader let out a quiet sigh. "We're not here to scare you. We're here because you are like us. And you are dangerously unprepared."

Riven clenched his fists. "I don't need your help."

The second figure chuckled. "You say that now. But soon, you'll hear them too. Not just whispers. Not just echoes. The abyss does not give without taking."

The third figure, who had remained silent, finally spoke, their voice quieter than the others. "You can fight it. You can deny it. But eventually, you will face the truth. When that moment comes, we will be watching."

Then, as suddenly as they had appeared, the three figures melted into the darkness, their forms dissolving into the very abyss they claimed to understand. The oppressive weight in the air lifted, the world shifting back to normal as if they had never been there.

Riven remained where he was, his breathing steady but his mind far from calm.

They were gone.

But their words remained.

And for the first time since gaining his powers, Riven felt something foreign and unwelcome creeping into his thoughts.

Doubt.