Shadow's master

“You cannot fight the Shadow.”

The black eyes of the thing that inhabited Lord Malphas bore down on Caim. “We are everywhere. We see everything. We know your deepest fears. Submit or we will destroy you.”

Caim bent down to the floor, weighed down by the black tendrils and the awful truth of those words. He wasn't strong enough to win against this enemy. His knives were useless, and the shadows wouldn't hurt one of their own.

He has been corrupted by the Shadow.

Caim lifted his head as the words formed in his mind. The voice was soft and feminine, and after a moment he recognized its source. Mother?

Malphas has succumbed to the power of the Shadow, but he is not invulnerable, my son. You must seek the strength that dwells within.

Caim closed his eyes and shut out the pain. How could he kill the majordomo without his powers or his weapons? Then something glimmered in the darkness behind his eyelids. It glowed like a spark in his mind, growing brighter as he concentrated on it. He remembered the surge of energy Kit had given him with her kiss, and a soothing warmth suffused his chest, flowing outward to his limbs.

Caim shifted his arms under the coils. His first step was getting free. Focusing on the spark, he climbed to one knee, and then the other. The shadow tentacles constricted around his thighs and calves, making movement difficult, but he gathered his legs under him.

“You must submit,” Malphas hissed.

Caim strained with his arms, forcing them upward. The black tendrils squeezed tighter, digging deeper into his skin, but he didn't stop. He pushed back with his mind, and the coils stretched inch by painful inch. Malphas growled as the tentacles snapped apart. Caim gathered his strength and leapt, not for his weapons on the floor, but toward Malphas with his hands extended. He unleashed every iota of power he had left. The spark blazed like a tiny sun in his imagination. Caim squinted as shards of white light appeared in his hands. About the length of his forearm, they looked like nothing so much as knives carved from pure starlight. He plunged them both into the nobleman's chest.

Malphas's lips parted in a silent howl as oily smoke issued from the wounds. His hands clawed at Caim's back and shoulders. Caim held on and pushed to drive the blades of light deeper. The black of Malphas's eyes lightened to milky white as his throes lessened in their violence. Finally, without an utterance, Lord Malphas toppled over.

Caim let out a long breath. His hands shook as the shards of light vanished, leaving behind ghostly afterimages. He looked around for his grandfather's body, but all he found was an inky blot on the floor. The shadows had already covered Malphas's corpse, devouring it in the same fashion.

Caim bent down to pick up his weapons, and gasped as something lifted him off his feet and hurled him back.

He landed on his hands and knees, hunched over as every muscle in his body twitched, contracting and releasing too fast to control. His vision dimmed as a dark pulse sucked most of the light from the cavern and a grinding agony sliced through his chest.

Caim!

His mother's voice cut through the pain. Caim looked up, fearing Malphas had arisen anew to rejoin the fight, but the assault had come from the other side of the cavern. The gateway was twisting, its surface lapping at his mother as if it meant to consume the rest of her.

He stood up and took a wobbly step. The pain in his chest soared higher, but he kept advancing toward the gateway, step by step. The portal loomed incredibly huge before him, drawing his gaze into its impenetrable depths. There were shapes in the darkness, a row of tall spindly things that might have been leafless trees. They lined a pathway into a dim landscape. The longer he stared, the clearer the picture became. He saw wide plains dotted with black seas, and a distant horizon hedged with soaring mountains. Silver lightning flashed on their peaks. Caim shifted as whispers crooned in his ears.

The Lord of Shadow is dead. Take up his mantle and all will bow before you.

Caim put his hands to his temples, wanting to block out the voice. It wasn't his mother now. The Shadow could fulfill all his dreams. His mother? Returned to him with a word. The power to control nations? In the palm of his hand. Infinity lapped before him, greater than anything he could imagine if he would just embrace…

Caim halted his hand inches from the gate's surface. Was this what it meant to be a son of the Shadow? The longing. The corruption. Blood for power and to hell with anyone else? He forced his hand back down to his side. He'd tasted that dish, and he had no appetite for it.

Caim stumbled back as another pulse exploded from the gateway. It hammered at him in a series of waves, each stronger than the last. He forced his eyes open. A pair of black eyes stared back at him. His mother had sunk deeper into the void. Only her face and one hand were visible. Caim fought through the pain to reach for her. A heavy rock fell from the ceiling and shattered less than ten paces from him. With a yell, Caim jumped across the final distance. His fingers closed around her wrist. Her skin was as cool as stone, but still pliable. He pulled, gently at first, but then with both hands when she didn't move. The muscles in his arms and shoulders bulged under his shredded jacket; his legs strained. Then he heard her.

Caim, you must help me. As long as the gateway stands open, this world is in danger from the Shadow.

He leaned back, still holding onto her. “How can I free you?”

You cannot, my son. I am too far gone.

Caim's chest ached like he'd been run through with a spear as he flailed through the vicious tide of his emotions.

You must let me go and seal the way behind me. Nothing else will stop the powers of the Other Side from entering.

“But I-Mother, I can't leave you. I refuse. There has to be another way!”

Caim, I chose my path a long time ago. For a while I was your mother, and those days were the happiest of my life. But I had a duty to this world.

Caim struggled with her words. The anger that had lain dormant inside him for so long flared up. “So you left me? I was just a child. Why didn't you bring me with you?”

You've seen Erebus, Caim. I knew what it would have made of you. By leaving you, I had a small hope that you would enjoy a life of freedom, the kind of freedom I never had. I'm so sorry. Even though I had to leave, I never stopped loving you.

Caim felt the rage drain out of him. All this time he'd been holding onto the belief that his mother had been forced to leave him. The truth was crueler, and yet it was the decision he would have made. “What must I do?”

An impulse flashed through his head, and he saw how the gateway was tearing her apart, piece by piece, down to her very essence. She was almost gone, and when she eventually succumbed the Shadow would flood through unfettered. Everything in this world would die.

Caim, if you love me and honor the sacrifice your father made, you will do this.

He closed his eyes and sought the spark inside him again. It was there, blazing bright. He reached for it…

And stumbled as a powerful force shoved him back, breaking his grip on his mother's arm. Even as he lunged for her hand, she sank beneath the rippling surface. The last thing he saw were her fingertips disappearing into the blackness.

Tears stung his eyes. Part of him wanted to dive in after her, but he had a task-a task no one else could do. Caim held out his hands and unleashed his powers. Crisscrossing lines of bright energy appeared across the face of the gateway. As he bent them to the pattern his mother had shown him, the darkness reached out and snarled around his arms and neck with a freezing touch. Caim leaned away as he strove to finish his labor. His injured toes pinched inside his boots as they dug for traction. Cold sweat formed on his face and under his shirt. He tried not to think about his mother, but memories from his childhood flashed through his mind. He saw her standing in the fields surrounding their home, her simple, homespun dress blowing in the breeze, long hair rustling. She was looking at the setting sun with one hand shading her eyes. She looked so peaceful.