The silence shattered.

  From the forest darkness onto the clearing crawled a creature, as if separating from the night itself. I froze, not believing my eyes. This wasn't just a beast—this was a nightmare made flesh.

  A writhing mass of dark matter without clear form, with countless limbs twisting in all directions. A demon. But not like those we studied at the academy. This one was... wrong. As if slapped together from raw fear.

  In my head flashed a word for a moment: malformed. As soon as I saw it, I gave Tara an order.

  "Wake everyone."

  It noticed us. Multiple eyes of different sizes, scattered across its entire body, stared in our direction. The creature made a low guttural sound and moved forward.

  The camp came alive in seconds. Val appeared beside me, already with weapon in hand. His palm was cut. He prepared to use blood magic. Kyle took position on the left, Mira on the right. Aris dissolved into shadows, but I felt his presence.

  Val asked.

  "Plan?"

  In that moment the demon attacked. One of its limbs stretched impossibly fast, aiming for my chest. I barely dodged.

  "Surround it! Kyle, left! Val, right! Mira, distract! Tara, prepare potions!"

  The team reacted better than in training. Kyle rushed left, Val—right. Mira created several light flashes before the demon, disorienting it.

  I attacked head-on, drawing the creature's attention. Its limbs lashed the air, one caught my shoulder, burning with pain. But I didn't retreat.

  Kyle reached the demon's side and struck with his sword. The blade entered flesh, but the creature seemed not to notice. Instead it turned toward Val, who created a blood spear and hurled it at the demon.

  The spear pierced one of its many eyes. The creature howled, its limbs thrashing in convulsions. One of them threw Kyle, slamming him into a tree trunk.

  "Kyle!"

  I saw Tara rush toward him with a potion in hand.

  The demon turned all its eyes to me. In them I read... recognition? The creature froze for a moment, as if studying me.

  And then from the shadows behind the demon rose a black figure. Aris. His shadow-double wrapped around the demon's neck, tightening like a noose.

  The creature thrashed, trying to shake off the invisible opponent. Aris strained, his face contorting with effort.

  "I can't... hold... long..."

  I lunged forward, aiming my dagger at the demon's center mass. The blade plunged into flesh but immediately stuck, as if in thick tar. Useless.

  Kyle attacked from the left, but the demon threw him back with one limb. Val created a blood spear but missed—the creature moved faster than it seemed.

  "Hold it!"

  I shouted, but the team acted disjointed. Everyone tried attacking on their own.

  Something inside me clicked. Rage, caustic and hot, rose up my throat. I released the dagger handle sticking from the demon's flesh and threw myself forward with a snarl.

  I grabbed the demon by what could be taken for a neck: a thick bridge between the cluster of eyes and the main body mass. My fingers sank into slimy flesh.

  Aris's shadow tried to help, wrapping the creature from behind, but the demon jerked sharply and the shadow dispersed.

  "Get back!"

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  Something inside me guided my movements. I pressed on a specific point, and the demon issued a piercing shriek. Its limbs wildly lashed the space around, one slashed my cheek, another struck my stomach, knocking out my breath. But I didn't let go.

  I clenched my fingers even harder and jerked sharply. A disgusting squelching sound rang out. Something crunched under my fingers, as if cartilage was breaking. Black sludge gushed, flooding my hands and chest.

  I didn't stop. Continuing to squeeze, I pulled and twisted. The demon's upper part separated from the body with a wet tearing sound. A fountain of black slime shot upward, covering me from head to toe. The smell was unbearable: a mix of rot, sulfur, and something metallic.

  The creature's limbs jerked convulsively, spraying vile fluid. I threw aside the torn part and grabbed the main body, driving my fingers deeper, tearing it in half. Strange organs spilled from the ripped guts: beating and glowing with a dull red light.

  The demon still twitched when I finished it, methodically tearing it to pieces until only a pile of spreading flesh remained.

  When it was over, I stood, breathing heavily, covered in black and red slime.

  Silence descended on the clearing. Everyone looked from the demon's remains to me. After the tournament they'd seen brutality, but not like this.

  Behind my back came the sound of retching. Turning, I saw Tara bent over bushes. Kyle turned away, his face acquiring a greenish tint. Even Val, approaching, couldn't hide his shock. His hand gripping the weapon noticeably trembled.

  "Where did you learn to kill demons with bare hands?"

  I lowered my gaze to my hands, smeared with black slime. They looked ordinary—human. But I knew no normal person could tear a demon apart like paper.

  "I don't know."

  Mira remained the only one who seemed to keep composure. She carefully approached the smoking remains and touched them with her fingers.

  Val jerked toward her but stopped.

  "What are you doing?"

  Mira closed her eyes. Her body tensed, face contorting as if in pain. Val wanted to approach her, but Tara stopped him.

  "Psychometry. She's reading the creature's history through touch."

  Several long seconds everyone was silent. Then Mira opened her eyes and slowly stood.

  "It was a loner. Lowest category, without reason. Separated from the pack, possibly was expelled. There are no more like it in the area."

  She wiped her fingers on the grass.

  Val still held his weapon ready.

  "You're sure?"

  Mira nodded.

  "It... remembered nothing except hunger and loneliness. Wandered here for several weeks. We just ended up in the wrong place."

  She turned to me.

  "But it recognized you. Or something in you. Before death."

  Aris materialized nearby. His usually pale face acquired an ashen shade.

  He whispered.

  "You didn't just kill it. You destroyed it without the slightest effort..."

  I decided to change the subject.

  "Let's move this away and return to camp."

  The team silently dispersed, preparing to return to camp. Kyle and Val dragged the remains to a ravine, Mira checked the perimeter, Tara helped the wounded. I walked to a small stream flowing from the slope to wash the black slime off myself.

  Cold water burned my hands. The slime seemed to have burned into the skin—wouldn't wash off completely, leaving dark traces like tattoos. I splashed water on my face, trying to clear my mind as I cleared my body.

  Aris appeared soundlessly, sitting on a rock beside the stream.

  "They fear you now."

  His face was half-hidden in shadow, eyes glinting in moonlight.

  "And you?"

  "No."

  Surprisingly, there was no fear in his voice.

  "I saw your eyes. They were different. Not human. Though they looked normal, a human couldn't look like that."

  I froze, water dripping down my hands.

  "My shadow... it recoiled from you. It never reacted like that. Even to the strongest demons."

  "And now you consider me a monster."

  Aris lowered his gaze to his hands, from which, as I knew, sometimes uncontrolled darkness broke free.

  "I think you, like me, are something more than just human. All my life they called me a monster. An outcast. Demon spawn."

  He raised his eyes, and I saw in them not fear but understanding.

  "But you're the only one who gave me a place. A task. A purpose. You weren't afraid of me."

  I was silent, not knowing what to say.

  "And I'm not afraid of you."

  He extended his hand, and from his fingers slipped a shadow, small and quick. It slid to my hand and lightly wrapped around my wrist—like a bracelet of smoke.

  "Whatever's in you, you're still Luten Caers. As long as you choose to be."

  I watched the shadow pulse on my arm and felt a strange calm. The team was full of mistrust, but I had gained an unexpected ally.

  "Thank you."

  The shadow slipped off and dissolved into the night, and we returned to camp where the others sat in tense silence around the restored fire.

  No one asked about what happened, but I felt their gazes. Wary. Studying. Fearful.

  Something had changed in me. And between us.

  And who knew what awaited us in the depths of this forest. In that cave where we had to go tomorrow. But one thing I knew for certain: inside me had awakened something ancient and hungry.

  And it was only beginning to wake.