I spun around. Standing at the entrance of the alley was a man—or something that looked like one. He wore heavy, midnight-blue armor that seemed to swallow the dim light of the cavern. A long, curved blade hung at his hip, and his eyes were the color of a dying star.
This was the Captain. And he wasn't looking at me with fear. He was looking at me with disgust.
“A Shadow Ooze that can mimic a limb,” the Captain said, stepping forward. His boots made a heavy, rhythmic *clack* on the stone. “I’ve heard rumors of the old blood waking up, but I didn't think it would start with something as repulsive as you.”
I tried to back away, my new limbs feeling clumsy. “Stay back,” I hissed, the sound vibrating in my chest.
The Captain paused, a cruel smirk touching his lips. “It speaks. How charming. Tell me, little glitch, do you know why your kind was hunted to extinction? Because you’re not evolution. You’re a mistake.”
He moved faster than I could track. One second he was ten feet away; the next, the cold steel of his blade was pressed firmly against the side of my neck. The pressure was so precise I could feel the microscopic edge of the metal cutting into my hide.
“One wrong twitch, and I’ll carve you into a thousand pieces of useless jelly,” he whispered. His breath was cold, smelling of winter and iron.
I didn't panic this time. I felt the hunger stir again, but it was different. This man... his energy was like a mountain. If I could just touch him, if I could just steal a fraction of that power—
I lunged. I didn't go for his throat; I went for the blade.
*Clang.*
My new hand snapped shut, locking the edge of the sword mid-cut. The metal groaned under the pressure. The Captain’s eyes widened, his smirk vanishing as he realized the blade wasn't sliding through me. I had him. For one heartbeat, the power dynamic shifted.
“What the—” he started, his voice losing its composure.
I pulled him closer, my grip tightening on the steel. “My turn,” I hissed.
But as I tried to absorb him, a sudden, blinding shock of white light erupted from the blade. It wasn't physical; it was a psychic scream that tore through my mind, forcing me to release my hold. I was thrown backward, slamming into the obsidian wall with a bone-shaking thud.
I lay there, gasping, my core vibrating with a pain I couldn't describe. The Captain stood over me, his blade humming with a pale, holy light that made my skin sizzle.
“Ambitious,” he sneered, raising the sword high. “But ambition doesn't save you from a god-slayer’s edge.”
He brought the blade down in a vertical arc, aiming straight for my center. I braced myself, waiting for the split, but just as the steel was an inch from my core, a sharp, feminine voice rang through the corridor.
“Stop! Don't kill it yet!”
The blade froze. The Captain paused, his arm still locked in mid-air.
I looked up. A woman stood at the end of the alley. She wore tattered white robes that had seen better days, and her eyes—deep, haunting violet—were locked on me with an intensity that felt like it was peeling back my skin. She didn't look at the Captain. She looked at me like I was the most valuable thing she’d ever seen.
“Who is this, Lyra?” the Captain demanded, not moving the sword.
“A miracle,” she whispered, stepping closer. Her gaze drifted to my hand, then back to my eyes. “Or a curse. Either way, he’s coming with me.”
She looked at me, and for a second, I saw something in her eyes. Not pity. Not kindness. Hunger. A hunger that matched my own.
“Can you understand me, little shadow?” she asked, her voice dropping to a dangerous, intimate low. “Do you want to survive, or do you want to be a stain on this floor?”
I stared at her, then at the blade still hovering over my heart.
“I want,” I rasped, “to eat everything.”
Lyra smiled, and it was the most terrifying thing I’d seen all day. “Perfect. Let's make a deal.”