Shadows flooded the field with full force, and there seemed to be no stopping them: the water wielders couldn't freeze them, the shield summoners couldn't crush them with force fields, and hardly anyone else was putting up a fight. Whatever solid weapon they hurled at the beasts phased through their intangible bodies. Only shadow magicians like Fallon seemed to stand a chance, but even they were having a hard time—their shadow creatures were small and scarce compared to the silhouettes they were fighting.

Edin stood paralyzed as his gaze lingered on the darkness. A memory forced itself into his mind; it all flooded back to him: wickedness swirling around him like ink in water, cold air around him sucking out all heat from his body, a sky so dark that it dissolved all moonlight. Past Edin widened his eyes in fear—he could not see anything, let alone his enemies!

So he did the only thing he could think of: set the world alight.

Past Edin spread fire everywhere and tossed lightning bolts left and right. The shadows shrunk into nothingness as he battled them, even if they didn't get hit—a blaze bright enough could burn them to oblivion with its mere rays.

Rays... Light... Light! Of course!

Edin jumped back into the present with a spark in his eyes. Sapphire flames arose from his palms and enwreathed his sword. He charged into the battlefield. A wave of black rolled towards him as he closed in on the sea of silhouettes.

He swung his sword.

Fwoosh!

Whitish-blue fire blazed through the beasts, leaving a valley in the expanse of darkness.

"It's light!" Edin shouted, his eyes searching for the guardians. "Light expels darkness!"

He stared back at the sea of black. Some beasts were already fleeing from him. He wouldn't let them.

Edin sucked in air, then set the world on fire.

The sound of ashes and screeches pierced the scorched air as his flames swallowed up the shadows.

Edin only burned brighter, swaying his sword to spread his flames. Violent azure hounded darkness and devoured it with delight.

The next moments were a passing blur—fire swelling, engulfing swathes of obsidian, seas of searing blue drowning out cold black. The shadows' harsh cries fueled Edin's flames and his desire to purge, purge, purge! His blade and obedient blaze showed no mercy.

When it seemed that all the shadows had vanished, Edin lowered his blade and called the flames back into his body. Darkness enveloped the world once more, except this time, it was a more familiar kind, one that clothed the night with a warm tenderness.

Edin paused to take a long glimpse of the battlefield. The emergency shield was yet to be taken down, and his fellow gifteds were staring at him with mouths agape. He glanced at the ground. All the soil around him had been charred to a coal-like resemblance, and he could not see a single blade of grass left intact even in the distance. How far did his fire reach?

"Edin?"

He cocked his head to the left. Fallon was jogging to his side, her face still half-paralyzed with shock.

"Fallon, are you alright?"

"I'm alright," she said. "It's just that I... I... you took an entire army down singlehandedly."

"I did?"

"Yeah. You got here and started burning everything, and you didn't need our help, so"—her voice lowered at this point—"we just stopped."

Edin fidgeted. "Uh, how's Rowan doing?"

"He's healing the others. I can take you to him."

She turned her back and marched. Edin followed her. The emergency shield faded away while they paced toward the post, and as they neared it, the reality of the damage he caused sunk further into his mind. The only areas spared from his ravenous fire lay near where the shield was. Edin focused his gaze on the post. A handful of guardians lay on makeshift beds, their clothes torn like Rowan's, as healers mended their bodies. The rest were already driving off.

Rowan had just finished healing another person by the time Fallon and Edin arrived. He turned his head and, once he caught sight of the two, asked a superior guardian if he could excuse himself. He was given permission; there were now fewer people to tend to than healers anyway. The three gathered not far from the post.

"I heard what happened," Rowan began, "did you really wipe out the shadows on your own?"

"He did," Fallon said just as Edin opened his mouth. "It was unreal, you didn't tell me he was this powerful!"

"What? I told you he butchered a hanafiend last time."

"This is far more impressive, Ro." She turned her head to face Edin. "Thanks for saving us, by the way."

"You're welcome." Edin touched the back of his head. "Uh, by the way, where are all the other fire wielders? Didn't any of them respond to backup?"

"They did, but for other towns," Rowan sighed. "While you guys were out there I heard shadow beasts were storming the other cities too, so all the fire and light wielders were fighting elsewhere."

"No wonder," Fallon muttered. "I was wondering why Senior Arden or Norman didn't show up."

"Must've been busy," Rowan said, shrugging. "They came out of nowhere. The last time anyone saw them was three years ago, wasn't it?"

Edin turned his head to face the lands beyond Beor. The last attack by a shadow beast was three years ago—roughly the same period during which Arden first found him. If his gut was to be trusted, then his personal battle against those beasts happened at around the same time too. Did his past clash with such creatures have a connection with the recent ambush?

Edin glanced back at Rowan, who was still shaken by the attack. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now. It's just... the fact that we got attacked by shadow beasts. They're not born, like other beasts. They're made."

"Made by a sorcerer," Fallon interjected, a grave tone lacing her voice. She shot a look at her partner. "Does that mean he's..."

Rowan answered with a nervous stare.

Edin fidgeted. He was not sure who this "he" was that the two were referring to, but there was one thing he was sure of: he needed to find out who was behind the swarm of shadows.

"Well, uh, I think I have to go home," Edin said, gesturing to his car. "It's pretty late already."

"But what about Arden's present?" Rowan asked.

"I'll figure it out." He paced a few steps backward. "I can just, uh, order it online. See you next time!" He turned his back and jogged to his car.

Fallon's stare stalked Edin as he headed back to his sedan. Her gaze did not leave him till he drove out of her field of vision, and it did not go unnoticed by Rowan, who then remarked: "You've been looking at him all night."

"He's quite an... intriguing person." She glanced back at him. "Doesn't he remind you of someone?"

"Of?"

"The one behind the shadow beasts."

Rowan paused at first. It took a while for realization to sink into his mind, and when it did, his eyeballs bulged with shock. He shook his head, saying, "He can't be..."

"I'm not saying he is, but the two look so alike."

"Maybe it's just coincidence. He could be a doppelgänger. I-I've been with him for months and he's the most innocent guy I've ever met, there's no way those two—"

"There can be a way. Didn't you say he lost his memories?"

"Yeah, I mean, it's not like erasing memories can change your personality or... I don't know." Rowan touched the side of his head. "I mean, he's living with Arden freaking Mægenstern of all people. The fact that she's still living with him says a lot. If he were evil or something, she'd've gotten rid of him by now."

"True," Fallon agreed, touching her chin. "Maybe it's just his looks throwing me off."

"In a 'he looks exactly like our archenemy' way or a 'he's kinda cute' way too?"

"He's cute but in a 'precious baby that must be protected at all costs' way," Fallon replied with a straight face. "And I can't believe you didn't think of him when you saw Edin for the first time; the two are basically clones!"

"Hey, to be fair, nobody's actually seen him in years. He works in the shadows, get it?"

Fallon rolled her eyes. "Edin's right, it's getting late. I'm heading home."

"Same. Good night!"

"Night, see you at work tomorrow."

The two began walking back to where they parked their cars, which were somewhere near the guard post.

Meanwhile, Edin was still driving, eyes narrowed in steely determination. He told them he should go home, and he would—just not now. Now he had to find the source of the shadow beasts and whoever was behind them. His mind recalled the battle that took place just moments earlier and the direction in which the horde came from. If he drove in that direction, then there was a chance—

A silhouette loomed up ahead, scuttering ahead of him.

Edin lifted his foot off the gas pedal a bit and squinted. The shadow in question had to be a beast of some sort; a shadow beast, perhaps?

An answer came in the form of sudden goosebumps and an unexplainable chill in the air that washed over him.

Edin's hand fingered the lever and switched off the headlamps while his foot lifted off the gas pedal. He then rotated the steering wheel. The car rocked as it crawled off the road and onto a grassy plain.

Several minutes passed, and the shadow was yet to notice Edin stalking it. Though he was tempted to go faster, he maintained a steady speed; he could not afford to be detected now.

A thin woodland appeared in front of him, and before Edin could decelerate, trees enveloped him on all sides. His heart leaped as he heard the snapping of twigs and fallen leaves underneath. To his luck, the shadow paid him no heed.

The thumping in his chest calmed as they approached a clearing, the crunching of dry foliage and dead branches diminishing. A rocky mound rested nearby. A hole had formed where its heart was, and the shadow beast slunk into it like ink slithering into an inkwell.

Edin slowed his car and parked it next to the cave entrance. Of course—it should not surprise him that the shadows made their home where sunlight could never reach them. Edin got out of the car and locked the doors, then lit a small flame in his right hand, brighter than the stars above yet dimmer than a typical flashlight. He marched towards the cave.

He set one foot in. There was a small echo. He set the other foot, more lightly this time, and shivered; the air around him was cold, and unnaturally so. He grew his flame and held it higher. Vines sprawled across the cavern walls and other small forms of vegetation lay on the floor around him. Edin inspected them more closely.

They were all withered and devoid of life.

Edin jerked his head back. From the paleness of their skeletons, there was no doubt that sorcery had stolen their life forces. Edin gulped, then took a deep breath. He faced forward. A long, downward path lay ahead of him.

Edin began his trek. The walls seemed to close in on him the deeper he went, and the atmosphere grew so chilly that he swore that it was nearing freezing point. If there was one thing that he was thankful for, it was the fact that there was only a single path instead of a web of pathways. Tracking a shadow in darkness was difficult enough; navigating a network of tunnels would be problematic.

As if it could not grow any colder, the temperature around him dropped till it pricked his skin, and the hairs on his nape stood at attention. He shuddered. There was dark magic without a doubt, and where there was sorcery, a sorcerer lurked.

Edin drew a larger breath and slowed his steps. He dimmed his flame the further he walked, not only so that he would not be noticed, but also because his eyes had adjusted to the darkness.

Red was glowing from the other side. From the way it swayed and flickered, Edin knew it was firelight.

The sorcerer.

Edin curled his hand into a fist to extinguish his flame. He scanned the area. Rock formations, which were more than large enough to conceal his whole body, jutted from around him.

Edin crept toward one of the rocks and hid behind it. He leaned sideways to take a peek.

Then he saw him.

Reclined on a stone throne was a man with deathly white skin and even whiter hair. Even more striking than his colorlessness was the color of his eyes—they were as red as blood fresh from a wound. Though the man currently had a careless air about him, there was a certain sharpness to his gaze, which was fixated on the shadows rising from his left hand. The shadows were not warm and protective wisps of black like Arden's, but a mist of cold and all-consuming darkness, the same kind that the shadow beasts were made of.

The creature Edin had followed was resting at the sorcerer's foot, its tail a tendril of smoke in the air.

Edin crouched lower against the rock he was hiding behind. His heartbeat spiked like the hairs on his neck. He had felt fear before whenever he faced a beast, but to be in the same chamber as a sorcerer instilled a different level of terror. Unlike a beast, a sorcerer could think—that made him much more deadly.

Edin slowed his breathing to calm himself down. Now that he had gone this far, he ought to go all the way and try to take down the sorcerer. But how? Edin could fire a lightning bolt at him, but his aim was not the best and he could not afford to miss. His gaze wandered to the ceiling. Stalactites hung from above.

Edin inhaled deeply. He sidled to his left, extended two fingers from one hand, and aimed at the ceiling above where the sorcerer sat. He thrust.

Crack!

A cloud of dust and debris billowed from where he struck the ceiling. A rumble echoed as the stalactites fell.

The sorcerer glanced up with alarm. He shot upright and thrust his open palm upward.

The rocks halted in midair.

The man swiped the air sideways, tossing the stalactites away. He cocked his head and immediately caught sight of Edin. The first expression he had was not of anger, nor bloodlust, but shock.

Edin threw a bolt of lightning at him.

Crack!

The man ducked and dodged his attack. He simply flicked his wrist at Edin.

The cave rumbled as the ground rose, and a wave of stone rolled toward him.

Edin drew his sword. Wrapped its blade in lightning. Aimed at the wave and thrust.

BANG!

Chunks of rock flew from where his bolt burst through stone. Edin dodged the debris—

The ground quaked as stalagmites sprouted from below, shooting toward him. Edin stepped backward—

Wham!

A mound of earth shot up from the ground and sent him flying back. Edin's body slammed against the cavern wall. Stray rock fragments struck and bruised his skin.

Edin whimpered in pain as he lay on the ground, his heart pounding in his ears. Fool! What was he thinking when he decided to go after the shadow beasts and their maker? What was he thinking when he decided to attack? Now he was battered, bruised, and at the brink of death by dark magic.

Edin wiggled on the ground, trying his best to get back up, but he had no strength to even move his arms. He could barely turn his head to face his adversary, who was inching toward him with smoke rising from his hands.

SLICE!

Light magic blasted from the other side and knocked back the sorcerer by several meters.

Edin felt slim arms slide under his back before lifting him off the ground. He rolled his head—a woman with a curtain of raven hair looked back at him.

"Arden..."

Her name used up the last of his strength, and he collapsed in her arms.

Arden pushed her legs to run as fast as they could carry her. The spell she cast on the sorcerer should knock him out for a moment—barely any time for escape. He'd be up before she could reach the cave's mouth, and she'd have to deal with him and the unconscious body in her arms.

Her lips whispered a string of spells, commanding shadows to mask her trail and light to morph into illusions. She then sealed her mouth, muting the world along with herself—not even her footsteps echoed through the cave.

Now that magic was covering her back, Arden focused on her escape. Her sedan was parked right outside the mouth of the cave, next to Edin's. She couldn't drive both—she could tow his car behind hers, though. Half of Arden's thoughts tethered his car to hers while the other half opened her car doors and readied the engine. Every second mattered.

Her eye caught an outline of the cavern's mouth. Almost there. Arden hastened. Her soles hardly skimmed the ground as she raced through the final stretch.

After what seemed like forever, they made it out. She tossed Edin's body inside the car.

A rumble sounded from deep within the cave.

She jumped inside her car and flung the doors shut. It launched at once, dragging Edin's car behind it.

Arden slammed her palm on the controls. A beam of light shot from her headlamps and swelled into a portal. Her foot stomped on the gas pedal, and bodies lurched forward with a loud smack as the car advanced through the portal.

Once the portal closed behind them, Arden breathed a deep sigh of relief.