And it was wrong.
Twisted limbs. Joints bending in the wrong direction. It moved low, sinewy—part wolf, part man, part nightmare. Its skin was the color of oil, slick and thick like it was stitched from shadows. Eyes like burning coals tracked us hungrily, and claws scraped the stone as it prowled the edge of the ring.
“What are these things?” I whispered to Zander, keeping my gaze on the creature as it circled.
Zander didn’t look away from it either. “The Blood Fae made them from the bodies of the fallen,” he said tightly. “Part animal. Part man. All dark magic.”
The creature hissed, and the skin along its shoulders rippled with movement, spines emerging like jagged wings.
“They have one purpose,” Zander added grimly. “Kill.”
The creature stopped directly in front of us.
Its lips pulled back, revealing jagged, bone-white teeth. It tilted its head to the side like it was smiling.
Then the major’s voice thundered from the platform.
“Begin!”
And the thing lunged.
The shadow creature exploded into motion, claws skittering against stone, its body stooped and feral, like smoke caught in the shape of a beast.
We moved as one. Cade veered left, Zander right, and I charged center, fanning out to strike from three sides.
The creature didn’t hesitate.
It pivoted, avoiding Cade’s incoming slash with inhuman grace and lunged for me. I rolled beneath its jaws and released a burst of storm magic from my palm—lightning crackling across my skin and striking it square in the ribs.
It barely flinched.
My stomach dropped.No?—
Zander threw his hand forward, calling on Hein’s fire, a stream of Dark Fire launching toward the creature’s back. It hit, and fizzled.
The flames sank into the creature like water into sand, disappearing without leaving a mark.
“What in Charrem’s name—” I stumbled back, heart hammering, sweat already beading at my temples. My storm magic sparked weakly around me, but didn’t respond. Not like it should have.
Zander cursed, pulling back as his second blast of flame sputtered midair.
The creature turned toward him, sensing weakness, its snarl deep and feral.
Cade darted between us, blades flashing, driving the beast back a step. “Zander!” he barked, slashing at the creature’s flank. “What’s going on? Why isn’t your magic working?”
Zander’s jaw was clenched, sweat trickling down his neck. “I don’t know,” he growled. “It’s like it’s absorbing it.”
The creature’s red eyes glowed brighter, as if fed by our failure.
And suddenly I understood.
It wasn’t just immune to magic.
It fed on it.
And every strike we threw only made it stronger.
We backed up slowly, boots scraping against the stone ring as the creature circled us—its movements predatory, and far too intelligent. It swayed back and forth, claws flexing against the blood-marked floor as if deciding which of us would fall first.
