Shadows of Discovery by Brenda K. Davies
Chapter Thirty-Five
As Cole traveled furtherthrough the darkness, he realized it wasn’t darkness but a hive of shadows that drew apart before coalescing around him again. They slid over him and slipped into the countless wounds tearing apart his flesh.
Though they crept through his body like termites through walls, he didn’t try to stop them. He’d always welcomed the shadows, they’d always been a part of him, and there was no way to avoid their entrance into his body.
He’d have to retreat to the volcanoes, and like with the desert, there was no turning back. This was another test, and he suspected it was one of trust as more of them entered his body and stopped him from walking.
If he resisted them, they would retreat, but if he welcomed them… he had no idea what would happen then, but he expected to find out.
Giving himself over to the shadows, he spread his arms out at his sides with his palms facing forward, tilted back his head, and opened his mouth. The second he did so, a cluster of shadows rose over the top of him. They hovered for a second before pouring into him.
Unlike the desert sand, the shadows didn’t choke him or block his lungs as they spread throughout his body. They clogged his mouth, his chest, and his extremities, but he could still breathe while they worked on healing him from the inside.
It was the oddest sensation but one he welcomed as they dove into his muscles, entered his veins, and slid into his heart to pump through him with every beat. The shadows outside him encompassed his entire body.
He welcomed their embrace as they cooled what little remained of his burnt skin. The chunk of sinew the lava bomb cleaved from him stopped bleeding, and his blisters ceased oozing as new tissue formed over his tendons.
His ears reformed, and hair once again tickled his nape. The shadows rubbed against him, and the cool tendrils caressing his face healed his nose and returned his eyebrows. His unrelenting thirst finally eased as moisture filled his body once more.
They whispered secrets to him as they slid into his ears and wove their way across his brain. From their point of view, he saw the black seeping across his mind, burying itself in his synapses and becoming a part of him.
Their power swelled within him as they told him to keep their secret. What was happening here and what each trial entailed could never be revealed.
He was the sole guardian of the secrets they shared and would remain so until someone else succeeded in the trials, but unless he was already dead, they would still have to get through him.
He would never allow that to happen. These shadows were his, and so was the Gloaming. His enemies would have to tear it from his cold, dead fingers.
The shadows loosened their grip on him enough for him to start walking again. As he descended the hill, they continued to become a part of him.
Though he was always careful to keep most of his ciphers hidden, the shadows set them free. He looked down to discover all his ciphers on display. The black, flame-like markings had always covered him from head to toe, but with the shadows inside him, the ciphers pulsed and shifted with their power.
The swell of strength building inside him almost made him laugh from the rush of it, but there was no laughter to be found here. He’d become the guardian of something powerful and deadly, and he would take care of it.
Gradually, the shadows started pulling back. They retreated from his mind and slid out of his nose and mouth with every exhalation. As they exited the wounds they entered, the injuries closed, and most of his ciphers vanished. All that remained were the ones he always kept on display.
While he walked, the shadows continued to move around and embrace him, but they’d stopped entering him. They didn’t have to. He’d passed the final test, and soon he would be free of this place, but he would never be free of the power that thrived here.
He’d always been a part of the shadows, but now they were also a part of him.