Selis strode deeper into the armory, her steps precise, unhurried. Kazimir followed closely, his eyes darting across the vast collection of weapons.
They passed blades of all shapes and sizes, spears with intricate engravings, shields adorned with the insignias of long-forgotten wars. Every weapon held a presence, as if carrying the echoes of those who had wielded them before.
Selis studied them all with a discerning gaze, her gloved fingers occasionally brushing over the handles of swords or the limbs of bows.
Without looking back, she finally asked in her measured voice,
"You are an archer, correct?"
Kazimir blinked. "Yes. How did you know?"
"You carried a bow and quiver when I found you. Your hands and muscles bear the marks of an archer's discipline," she replied, her voice carrying its usual noble certainty.
Kazimir followed as she led him through a section filled with bows of every shape and size. Some were crafted from polished wood, others from bone, metal, or materials he couldn't even name. Each one looked deadly, yet Selis barely spared them a glance as she continued her search.
Then, after examining numerous bows, she stopped.
Before them rested a short, black bow, unlike any Kazimir had ever seen.
It appeared to be crafted from pure, black bone, its surface smooth yet lined with intricate silver engravings. The shadows around it moved strangely, as if drawn toward the bow's presence, clinging to it like whispers of the abyss.
The bowstring was not of sinew or fiber, but of something translucent, something silver, something that shimmered like woven moonlight.
Selis eyed it for a moment before speaking.
"This bow was carved from a bone of the colossal spider I slew in the Shadow Realm," she said, her voice unwavering. "Like your cloak, it holds remnants of its power, but far greater."
Kazimir stared at it.
The bow called to him.
He could feel his shadow being drawn toward it, as if the cloak recognized it as kin.
Selis lifted the bow, running a single finger across the shimmering string.
"The string is woven from moonlight," she said, her tone carrying the weight of something ancient.
"It holds a fragment of the castle's power, bound within it."
After a final inspection, she handed the bow to Kazimir.
The moment his fingers wrapped around it, he felt something awaken.
His connection to shadows surged beyond anything he had imagined.
Before, he had sensed shadows as faint outlines, subtle, distant presences. But now… now, he could feel them, in absolute detail.
Not just within the castle.
But outside it.
Kazimir's breath hitched as his awareness expanded, stretching far beyond the castle walls. He could sense the dark shapes moving outside of the castle living things beyond human comprehension.
And then, he felt it.
A shadow larger than the castle itself.
His heartbeat faltered. His hands trembled.
Driven by a mix of curiosity and dread, he reached out to it.
The moment his mind brushed against the shadow; a wave of unfathomable terror crashed over him.
His chest tightened. His breath stopped. His vision shattered into a storm of impossible images, shapes that should not exist, colors that defied logic, whispers that clawed at the edges of sanity.
His mind went numb.
And then,
Darkness.