Chapter 13: When Shadows Bleed
Chapter 13: When Shadows Bleed
The Whisperflame territories stretched across the heart of the Low Realm like a charred scar, vast and flickering with war-forged history. Kael stood at the edge of one of its lesser outposts the forgotten bastion of Ironbarrow Hollow, where rogue cultivators and discarded disciples were often sent to rot or redeem.
He was neither.
He had been sent here to temper his Seal.
The Echo Trace pulsed behind his vision like a second heartbeat, ever present, ever draining. And yet he hadn't unlocked the second seal. Not yet.
Not until he proved himself.
---
Kael's system pinged lightly.
[Location: Ironbarrow Hollow — Designated Rite Field: Class C. Threat Level: Intermediate. Conditions for Advancement: Survive the Shadow Trial.]
[System Note: The Shadow Trial has been adjusted for Sightbearers. Consequences have been enabled.]
Kael's hand clenched.
The system had grown more talkative since he stepped beyond the main territories. Its voice calm, intelligent, almost like a companion had also grown more... aware.
"Raphael," he whispered under his breath, half in mockery.
[Name Registered: System will respond to "Raphael" when directly addressed.]
Kael blinked. "I was joking."
[System was not.]
He huffed and stepped into the Hollow.
---
The terrain twisted like a place trapped between worlds. Broken stone halls spilled into fungal forests, and the air shifted between suffocating warmth and eerie chill. Somewhere deep within, Kael knew, the Shadow Trial waited.
He wasn't alone.
Another presence stalked the outer rings. A familiar echo of flame and steel.
A girl with crimson eyes and moon-drenched hair.
---
Tiraka of the Thornspawn had arrived days earlier. Her Oculith was different laced with illusion and venom. She saw dreams that made men bleed, and lies that turned to poison.
And she hated Kael.
Not for who he was, but for what he represented.
The human Sightbearer.
The one with a pure root.
Tiraka's system fed her visions, same as his. But hers spoke in riddles, in thorns and riddles and honey-dripped threats. She'd already unlocked her second seal.
Kael had seen the afterimage.
Dreamstep: Her first ability.
Thorn Echo: Her second.
Together, they allowed her to create clones made of dream remnants and lash with weaponized illusions. In her presence, even your thoughts might betray you.
And she waited.
---
The Shadow Trial began when both of them crossed the threshold into the Hollow's final chamber.
The system did not warn them.
It simply acted.
[Rite Triggered: Dual Path Trial. Participants: Sightbearer Kael (Human), Sightbearer Tiraka (Thornspawn). Overseer: Hollow Entity — Shard of Vrazzun, the Bleeding Silence. Objective: Survive. Optional: Extract the Echo Core of the Overseer.]
Tiraka spun with a snarl. "They sent you?"
Kael stood calm. "No one sends me anywhere. I walk in."
Her laugh was sharp. "Then die on your feet."
The Overseer descended.
---
It was not a creature but a fracture in reality dripping tar and writhing with severed eyes, each blinking in wrong rhythms. It was a thing from the edge of realms, barely held in form. Its scream did not echo through the chamber, but through their minds.
Kael's Oculith activated reflexively.
[Echo Trace Enabled. Warning: Rapid Echo Decay detected due to dimensional interference.]
His vision fractured into a stuttering trail of the Overseer's previous movements dozens of limbs, many fake, some real.
Tiraka struck first.
Her clones burst forth in spirals of dreamlight and shadow, each one stabbing toward a different flank.
The Overseer responded by unraveling a cone of anti-light that burned through illusions like dry parchment. Two clones disintegrated.
Kael leapt forward.
He did not strike yet. He watched.
[Analyzing Weak Points... Echo Disruption Calculated. Sightbearer Status: Danger Tier High. Probability of Death Without Seal Advancement: 73%.]
Kael cursed. "Then unlock it."
[Request Logged. Trial Conditions Acceptable. Initiating Seal Synchronization...]
[Seal Two — "Whispers of the Echo Soul" Unlocked.]
[Ability 1: Soul-Reverberation Field — Project a field that records one to two actions within it. After a delay, you may replay these actions as echo constructs.]
[Ability 2: Temporal Dissonance Pulse — Emit a temporal echo distortion that causes movements within a small radius to desynchronize for 1–3 seconds.]
He felt it as it activated.
A ripple of light burst from his spine outward.
The Soul-Reverberation Field flared to life a radius of shimmering distortion around him.
The Overseer lashed out one scythe-arm tearing through the mist.
Kael dodged—and a second later, a flickering version of the Overseer's own strike replayed within the Field. It lashed the air as though reenacting memory.
Tiraka blinked. "You're mimicking time?"
Kael didn't answer. He activated his second skill.
Temporal Dissonance Pulse.
The world twisted his form appeared a breath behind where he actually stood. His spear thrust snapped forward, delayed... then accelerated with terrifying speed.
The Overseer took the hit. It screeched in broken sound.
[System Note: Temporal Dissonance causes 17% mental strain per continuous use. Caution advised.]
Kael grimaced. His blood felt molten.
Tiraka's illusions danced again some attacking Kael, some the Overseer. But now, he could see her patterns in real time and in echo.
He intercepted one of her strikes and stored it then flared his Reverberation Field again.
Her own attack mirrored back toward her illusions, disrupting the web.
The Overseer trembled cracks forming across its bleeding core. The chamber began unraveling.
Kael and Tiraka stood opposite each other, their systems both humming with potential.
[Echo Core Available for Extraction. Consequences: Unknown. Reward: Forbidden Bloodline Fragment.]
[WARNING: Fragment may destabilize base racial identity.]
Kael looked at her once.
She did not stop him, she couldn't.
He reached forward and grabbed the core before turning away he stopped and said
" We don't have to be enemies" before departing and returning to he's clan to absorbed the Core.
---
[Bloodline Evolution Initiated. Root: Human. Lineage: Sovereign Echo. Effect: Echo Capacity Increased. Reverberation Range Expanded. Temporal Distortion Tolerance Improved.]
[Future Seals will now adapt dynamically with time-aligned combat traits.]
His scream echoed across Ironbarrow Hollow.
And the other Sightbearers heard it.