Chapter Five – The Shadowfather
1035 Words
For a moment, everything fell silent—too silent.
Lucan Thorn stood beneath the broken archway, haloed by the twisted glow of the collapsed wall behind him. The shadows flickered around him, bowing like loyal servants. The ground itself seemed to respond to his presence, humming with power Arielle didn’t understand but instinctively feared.
Kieran’s body was tense, his breath steady, but his eyes burned with fury. “You’re not taking her.”
Lucan raised a brow, amused. “You think I came here for permission?”
Arielle’s voice trembled. “You’re not my father.”
He tilted his head, and for a second, the glow in his eyes dimmed—like a c***k in a porcelain mask. “Oh, my ember. I was once. Before the world betrayed me. Before your mother left me to rot in the void between realms.”
A gust of cold magic blew through the tunnel, and Arielle felt the warmth leave her limbs. Lucan stepped forward. Kieran planted himself firmly between them, raising a glowing rune-blade from his belt.
Lucan’s smile faded.
“So be it.”
Without warning, Lucan vanished. A heartbeat later, he reappeared behind Kieran, his hand glowing with dark energy. Kieran barely dodged the strike, spinning around to counter, their blades clashing with a sound like shattering stars.
Arielle scrambled back, fingers searching for a sigil stone in her coat. Her powers were raw, untrained—but her instincts screamed one thing: if Lucan touched her, it was over.
Kieran and Lucan clashed again, faster this time, flashes of light and shadow colliding. Kieran was strong—focused. But Lucan wasn’t human anymore. He moved like a phantom—one foot in reality, one in something else.
Lucan threw him against the wall with a wave of his hand.
Then he turned to Arielle.
She raised her palm.
The Codex glyph on her skin blazed to life.
Lucan froze. “There it is… your birthright.”
The sigil pulsed, threads of white-hot light dancing along her veins. Arielle felt something inside her awaken—not rage, not fear, but clarity.
“Stay away,” she warned.
Lucan didn’t flinch. “You’re not ready to wield it. But I can help you. I can teach you to command the Codex. To rewrite the very rules of existence. Isn’t that what you want, Arielle? Control. Answers. Power?”
She hesitated.
Then: “I’d rather burn.”
She released the glyph.
The energy surged from her like a nova. Light exploded through the tunnel, searing stone and shadow alike. Lucan howled—not in pain, but in disappointment—as he was hurled back through the portal behind him.
Silence returned.
Smoke curled from Arielle’s fingertips. Her heart thundered.
Kieran groaned, staggering upright. “Okay… remind me never to get on your bad side.”
She managed a weak laugh, but her legs buckled.
Kieran caught her before she hit the ground.
“You okay?” he whispered.
She nodded into his chest. “No. But I will be.”
He looked down at her, eyes softening. “I told you you were dangerous.”
“I didn’t want to believe it.”
“I did.” His fingers brushed her cheek. “And I’m still here.”
Their lips were inches apart.
Then—
A slow clap echoed through the corridor.
They turned.
A woman stood at the edge of the shadows. Tall, dressed in a high-collared synth-leather coat, platinum hair swept back in a braid that shimmered with circuitry. Her boots didn’t make a sound as she stepped forward, but her presence silenced the air.
“Nice show,” she said. “Shame about the collateral damage.”
Kieran’s grip on Arielle tightened. “Who are you?”
The woman held up a sleek identification shard. It projected a glowing emblem—an ouroboros with a flaming eye in the center.
Arielle’s stomach twisted.
The Order of Eclipsion.
“My name is Vexa Raine,” she said smoothly. “Head of the Order’s Shadow Division. I’ve been sent to retrieve the Codex Wielder… and terminate the rogue known as Lucan Thorn.”
Arielle stepped back. “You want to kill him?”
Vexa’s eyes gleamed. “Isn’t that what you want too?”
Kieran frowned. “The Order doesn’t just terminate. They erase. You’d wipe her mind clean to stop the Codex from falling into the wrong hands.”
Vexa shrugged. “Sometimes the price of balance is sacrifice.”
“I’m not a weapon,” Arielle snapped.
“No,” Vexa agreed, taking another step forward. “You’re worse. You’re a choice.”
Arielle’s hands balled into fists. “You’re not taking me anywhere.”
Vexa sighed. “Pity.”
With a flick of her wrist, a dozen cloaked agents shimmered into existence around them—camouflage cloaks deactivating. Guns and magic-tech crossbows aimed.
Arielle and Kieran were surrounded.
And then, above them, a second portal split the ceiling.
A huge mechanical gryphon descended through the light, its talons glowing, its wings whirring with energy. On its back rode a man—scarred, grinning, eyes covered in glowing blue lenses.
“Need a ride, princess?”
Arielle blinked. “Who the hell—?”
Kieran grabbed her hand. “No idea. But we’re taking it.”
The gryphon crashed into the tunnel, scattering agents. Kieran pulled Arielle up as the stranger reached down from the saddle.
She grabbed his arm.
And they were airborne.
Bullets ricocheted. Magic shattered the stone below. Vexa barked commands. But they were gone—vanishing into the night sky.
High above the burning city, the gryphon soared past the neon towers of Sector 8. Arielle clung to the saddle as wind lashed her face. Kieran held onto the back, scanning their escape path.
The rider glanced over his shoulder.
“Name’s Dax,” he shouted. “Freelancer. I collect lost causes and debt I’ll never be paid.”
Arielle blinked. “Why help us?”
Dax smirked. “Because, sweetheart, you just picked a fight with the Order, the Shadowfather, and half the underworld. And anyone that reckless?”
He winked.
“Is my kind of chaos.”
- Writer
