Chapter 3 THE TWIN IN THE SHADOWS

The basement was falling apart. Dust rained down as the Thresher swung his black blade. Kaelen didn’t duck this time. He didn’t run. The memory of his mother’s screams in that burning house was fuel hotter than any divine spark.

"You killed her!" Kaelen roared.

He punched the air. A beam of solid gold light shot from his fist. The Thresher spun, his blade cutting through the light like a hot knife through butter. The black metal hummed with a sick, hungry sound.

"She was just a scav," the Thresher spat. "She was in the way of a job. Just like you are now."

Kaelen lunged forward. He was fast, too fast for a human, but the Thresher was a professional. The hunter stepped to the side and slammed the hilt of his sword into Kaelen’s ribs. Kaelen hit the dirt, the wind knocked out of him. The Spark in his chest flickered, sending a jolt of pure agony through his spine.

167 hours and 42 minutes. Every hit made the clock tick faster.

"Kaelen, get up!" Elara screamed. She threw a handful of metallic dust into the air. It ignited, forming a wall of blue flame between Kaelen and the hunter. "We have to go! Now!"

But Kaelen’s eyes were fixed on the hole in the ceiling. The shadow man was still there. He looked exactly like Kaelen, the same messy dark hair, the same sharp jaw, but his eyes were void of black ink. He was watching the fight with a calm, terrifying smile.

"Who are you?" Kaelen gasped, blood copper-sharp in his mouth.

The shadow-man didn’t answer with words. Instead, Kaelen felt a cold pressure inside his brain. "I am what happens when you stop being afraid," the voice whispered. I am the part of you that survives.

"Kaelen, who are you talking to?" Elara grabbed his arm, her silver hair whipping around her face. She looked at the ceiling, but her eyes slid right past the shadow.

She couldn't see him.

"The man up there!" Kaelen pointed, his finger shaking.

The Thresher laughed, stepping through the blue flames. His coat was singed, and his skin was blistering, but he didn't seem to feel the pain. "The boy is losing his mind. That’s what the Spark does. It rots your brain before it burns your heart."

The Thresher raised his hook blade for a final strike. "Goodbye, little god."

Suddenly, the shadow man in the ceiling moved. He didn't jump down; he simply dissolved into a cloud of black smoke and surged into Kaelen’s back.

Kaelen’s scream tore his throat. It wasn't gold light anymore. It was something darker. Something heavy. His veins turned from radiant gold to a bruised, pulsing purple. The air in the basement froze. Frost crept across the barrels.

The Thresher froze, his blade inches from Kaelen’s neck. "What... what are you?"

Kaelen didn't answer. He didn't feel like Kaelen anymore. He felt like a storm. He reached up and grabbed the Thresher’s black blade with his bare hand. The metal groaned. Under Kaelen’s grip, the legendary sword began to crack.

"My turn," Kaelen whispered.

He threw a punch that moved faster than the eye could follow. It caught the Thresher in the chest, sending him flying through three brick walls. The sound of breaking bones echoed through the ruins.

Kaelen stood in the center of the destruction, his chest heaving. The black smoke began to pour out of his skin, pooling on the floor like oil. The red-hot rage in his heart was gone, replaced by a terrifying, hollow silence.

Elara backed away, her face pale. "Kaelen? Your eyes... they aren't gold anymore."

Kaelen looked into a shard of broken glass. His eyes were pitch black. No whites, no pupils. Just two holes into a dark universe.

"I remember," Kaelen said, his voice sounding like two people speaking at once. "The All-Father didn't just have light. He had a twin. A shadow that did the killing so the god could stay holy."

"The Void-Spark," Elara whispered, her voice trembling. "It was a myth. A story told to scare Tenders. It’s not supposed to exist."

"It exists," Kaelen said. "And it wants the Thresher dead as much as I do."

He turned to follow the path of the Thresher’s body, but his legs gave out. The black light vanished, replaced by the stinging gold veins. The pain returned ten times stronger. Kaelen collapsed, coughing up dark, shimmering blood.

167 hours and 30 minutes.

"We have to move," Elara said, throwing his arm over her shoulder. She was shaking, but she didn't leave him. "The Thresher isn't dead. Men like him don't die from one hit. And now every Hunter in Oros will have seen that black light. They’ll be coming with everything they have."

They stumbled out of the basement into the dying light of the afternoon. Kaelen could barely see. His vision was tunneling, the edges of the world turning into static.

"The Forge," Kaelen wheezed. "You said it could fix this."

"It has to," Elara said, though she didn't sound sure anymore.

As they reached the edge of the Sun City, Kaelen looked back. The Thresher was standing on a pile of rubble a half-mile away. He was holding his broken blade, watching them. But he wasn't alone.

Five figures stood behind him. They wore white robes stained with blood. Each of them carried a staff that glowed with the same gold light as Kaelen’s Spark.

"The High-Guard," Elara choked out. "The King’s personal executioners."

But that wasn't the worst part.

Kaelen looked at the leader of the High-Guard. The man pulled back his hood, revealing a face that made Kaelen’s heart stop.

The man had the same sharp jaw. The same dark hair.

The leader of the men sent to kill Kaelen had the same face as his father, the man who was supposed to have died in the fire ten years ago.

The man raised his staff and pointed it at Kaelen.

"Secure the Spark," his father’s voice boomed across the ruins. "Kill the boy. He is an imperfection. I will not let a Scavenger ruin my kingdom."