Stabby watches his new shadow closely, his eyes narrowing to the point they're barely open.

"Do something."

He crawls closer. It moves away.

"I don't think intimidating the shadow is going to work," Grisha says, resting an eye as he relaxes against the wall.

"Never know until you try."

Stabby had been working on his abilities for a full day. His brother gave him the rest of yesterday to recover. After a while, his brother led him into an empty room that was supposedly created for practicing powers. The small size of the room, about 10x10, makes him doubt that, but he goes along with it. His training progressed little in terms of using his abilities, but his understanding of what they are has grown.

Despite the vague explanation given by the fear shard, Stabby has slowly pieced together what he could do. Shape-shifting was the easiest one to discover. The shard had transformed itself into a multitude of different creatures, so it's safe to assume Stabby could do the same, though he still has to find out how. The other abilities are trickier to discover. They have to do with fear somehow, but the shard said they can be used differently. He figures having a second shadow meant something, so he's been observing it more in-depth. A shadow has to follow a source. Maybe it moves separately from him. And if it moves separately from him, maybe it can separate from him. He must be able to make a clone... probably. It's only a hypothesis, but one he's hoping for.

Examining every inch of the shadow, Stabby scuttles across the floor.

It yawns.

"Well, if you're so bored, tell me how to use you already!" Stabby throws his arms up falling onto his back, the amusement on Grisha's face growing by the second.

Grisha pushes himself off the wall. "New plan. Let's spar."

Turning to meet his sibling, Stabby asks, "how would that help?"

"When do you normally learn your abilities?"

He learned how to move through objects by watching his mom and learned how to summon weapons by copying his brother.

"When I copy what other people do?"

"True, but that only shows you what the abilities are. Copying isn't always going to work, especially when you're learning something only you can do."

What else could it be?

He used his first ability when he grabbed Grisha. He learned how to move through the ground while being chased. And he learned how to weapon summon when the shard halves were attacking him.

"When I have someone to use them against?"

"Uh-huh. From what you've told me, I think you learn things quicker when you have someone to aim at or run away from. And as a bonus, sparring will help me get some practice in. Fighting the demons in sunlight showed me how rusty I am."

If Grisha was correct, sparring would be helpful. It would also show how useful he can be.

"Yeah! Let's spar!" Stabby jumps to his feet. He walks away, but pauses and turns back. "Where are we going to spar?"

"Here's fine."

Stabby looks around at the small, empty room. "Well... We don't have to worry about having too much space."

Grisha laughs. "We can change that." He knocks on the wall.

Five shades burst through the door, rushing to the walls, they mark each corner. They lay their hands on the surface, the fifth reaching for the ceiling. Their arms sink inside.

The ground rumbles, growing more intense by the second.

"I would grab onto something if I were you," Grisha warns.

The room wobbles around, distorting and stretching. Grisha summons a blade and stabs into the wall. Stabby, not expecting an earthquake, plummets to the ground. He tries to get up, but the constant shaking prevents it.

Minutes pass and the shaking stops. His head rings as he gets to his feet. His vision still blurry, he focuses on keeping balance. "What was that?"

Dislodging his blade from the wall, Grisha thanks the shades. He turns to his brother. "Look up and you'll find out."

Looking up, Stabby sees the room grew, now reaching a vast space of over a hundred feet. "How did they do that?"

Grisha recalls the blade. "Honestly, I'm not sure. That would be a question for mom, she knows a lot more about shade magic than I do. Anyway, you ready to spar?"

"Yeah!"

As they do pre-fight stretches, Stabby asks, "So, how do we spar?"

"Oh right, You've never sparred before, have you? It's like a normal fight, but instead of trying to kill the other person, you're just trying to restrain them. Well, unless you're sparring with Adrik... then you're just trying to not die."

The last sentence worried Stabby a bit. "Did he try to kill you?"

Grisha scratches the back of his head. "No... I think. He just gets way too invested in his fights."

"Oh. I get the same vibe from Kazmir."

"Heh, it's the opposite with him, actually. He's the strongest out of us, but when he spars, he holds himself back to where he's kinda gentle." Grisha stands to his feet. "Alright, you told me you can summon weapons, right?"

Stabby follows suit. "Yep. The sturdiest dagger you've ever seen."

"That should work. A dagger is probably the best option for you, because of your smaller size."

"Because of my tactically advantageous size, you mean." Stabby corrects.

"Oh yeah, that's what I meant," Grisha chuckles. "Can you summon your dagger again?"

"I've done it before, so it should be fairly easy." Stabby focuses on his palm, slowing his breathing as he feels the blood flow through his body. The skin bulges, a dagger pierces from it, landing in his palm. He shows off the blade, a look of confidence on his face.

"That's a decent dagger, but that took too long." Grisha approaches him.

Stabby's voice raises. "What do you mean? It only took like 3 seconds."

"3 seconds is too slow." Grisha's approach morphs into a dash, hooked blades appearing from nowhere in his hands. His blades slash towards Stabby. The first swing hits the dagger, sending it flying across the hall. The second swing flies at Stabby's neck, stopping right before it hits. "Your weapon summon has to be near-instantaneous. Even a half a second extra can get you killed."

He's supposed to discover his other abilities, but fine. He'll work on this one.

Stabby melts through the floor, reappearing above Grisha. Summoning a dagger, he plunges towards his brother.

Grisha quickly switches to a quarterstaff and knocks him out of the air. "2 seconds, getting better."

As he lands, Stabby plunges his hand into the ground. Grisha jumps out of the way. Flipping towards him, Grisha slams the staff upon him.

Stabby blocks, but barely holds back the force of the blow. Grisha swings again, with more force. Stabby creates a second dagger, the two blades holding back the attack.

"One and a half, almost there." Grisha plunges his hand into his rib-cage, grabbing a handle from inside. He pulls on the handle, revealing an enormous battleaxe.

His arms burst with muscle as he swings the massive weapon at Stabby.

He's going to kill me.

Eyes widened, Stabby calls for a larger weapon. Anything larger. Short swords emerge, meeting the swing of the axe. But the force of the axe is too much, and they break immediately. The axe continues its fall, cutting through Stabby's small body.

His eyes blackout.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

His vision clears as he regains awareness.

Wait, he still alive. He's to the left of the battleaxe. Could Grisha have missed?

No, he was sure Grisha aimed perfectly. He must have dodged.

"I thought we weren't trying to kill each other!" Stabby yells.

Grisha nonchalantly pulls the axe out of the ground and leans against it. "I wasn't going to."

"You just about cut right through me! I barely dodged in time!"

"You didn't dodge." Grisha points to the other side of the gash in the floor.

Stabby stares in awe. The form has his yellow eyes. His pointy ears. His crystals, height, teeth. It looks exactly like him. It's like he was looking in the mirror.

He did it!

Stabby hops excitedly, "I cloned myself!"

The second Stabby follows his lead.

"We did it!" Stabby runs over, hugging the clone.

Grisha stuffs the battleaxe back into his chest. "Good job, Pasha. You got your weapon summoning down to a second, too. Told you sparring would work."

Stabby glares at him.

"What?"

Nothing but silence came in response.

"Oh..." Rolling his eyes, Grisha corrects, "good job, Stabby."

Stabby's smile returns. "Thanks! I try."

Grisha examines the double. "Try to see what you can do with your clone."

"Oh, right."

It repeated his actions, so his movements must control it.

Stabby lifts his arm. The clone tilts its head, staring blankly at him.

So, it's not movement... then maybe.

Stabby points at Grisha. "Get him."

"Wait, what?"

The clone leaps at Grisha, spreading its arms out for attack. The older brother braces himself. The clone latches on to him, locking him into a hug.

"Punch him in the stomach."

It balls its fist, thrusting it into his stomach.

"Ow."

"That seems to work, but you have to be specific. Is there any quicker way?" Stabby ponders. Looking at the clone latched onto his brother, he realizes something. He wants to hug his brother too.

He pounces on his brother, knocking him over with their combined weights.

"This was a mistake," Grisha coughs as they press into his chest.

"But I can summon my shadow now."

Letting out a pained laugh, Grisha says, "at least something good came from this."

"This is not what I expected when you said you were training." Their mother enters the door.

Raising his head to the two forms of Stabby laying on top of him, Grisha responds, "me neither."

Stabby keeps quiet, giving a slight wave of greeting to avoid suspicion.

This is the first time he's seen his mother since his return. A wave of emotions washes over him. Joy, relief, anxiety, fear. They all melt together, creating a concoction of confused feelings.

Grisha stands to greet his mother., breaking free from the group hug. "Despite the unorthodox approach... he improved his skills a good amount, and now he can make a clone."

"Oh?" She crouches to Stabby's height, her gentle smile spreading across her face. "Can you show me what it can do?"

Stabby stands close to his brother, allowing the comfort of Grisha's presence to push past his own jumbled feelings. His presence helps, but he isn't ready to show his ability to his mother. With forced confidence, he says, "I'm still working on how to control it. I want to make it perfect before you see it."

"That's thoughtful of you, I look forward to seeing your perfected abilities." The patience in her voice calms his anxiety slightly. "On a different note, I'm glad to see you returned safely. I can tell you matured much through your trial, and I hope we can find time to relax and talk sometime."

He agrees with a nod.

He wants that too... but first; he has to get stronger.

"Did you come by to check in on Pasha?" Grisha asks.

The mistress responds, "that was my first reason. My second has to do with you."

"What do you need?"

She stands straight, her voice becoming serious. "I planned to send you after the meeting, but you mentioned wanting to stay for Pasha. I felt that it would be good for him if you greeted him when he returned, and I wasn't sure if I could greet him myself, so I postponed my plans. Now, Pasha's back and at a suitable spot to finish his training with one of our trainers. So, it's about time that I send you."

"Where would you like me to go?"

"To meet the god of madness."