The smiling shadows assailed us on all sides. There were dozens of them, the sole saving grace that they didn’t seem to have much in terms of health. I nailed one between the eyes with

Talia tore pieces of the first few shadows and took several glancing hits from their knives

“Go for vitals!” I shouted back at her. “They’re coordinated. They’ll keep dogpiling if you give them an opening.”

“I resent… that turn of phrase.” Talia's voice was muffled as she ripped a chunk out of a shadow’s torso. But she listened to the core of what I said and came up with her solution. Venom dripped freely off her fangs as she snapped at the small cluster of shadows that surrounded her, aiming for their arms and legs.

I wasn’t certain if poison would work on them, but if it did, they didn’t have much body-weight to speak of, so the effect would be stronger than normal.

A shadow charged at me, its bright knife angled downward towards my chest as it leaped through the air. I grabbed its knife-hand and neck, pivoting and slamming its lower half onto the spotlight illuminated park table. There was a sickening crunch that I belatedly realized was its spine snapping. It went limp, dropping the knife and staring up at me, inverted smile forming an eerie frown.

“Join… us…” the shadow whispered, pointing towards the ground where its knife fell.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another shadow collapsing to its knees, feebly attempting to remove the bolt I’d fired from the

They’re weak to the cold effect, too. The only real advantage they have is numbers.

I tried to reach out towards the mass of them with and got no feedback whatsoever, even as my mana drained.

Of course. They’re not real. More puppets than anything else. I can’t direct them because they’re already being directed.

I fired my crossbow twice more, taking a page from Talia’s book and being less selective about where I hit. Mechanical gears ground as it cocked back, and I nearly loaded another bolt before I saw multiple sets of eyes open around ceiling level.”

“Above—“ My warning yell was cut off as flared. The shadow above me dropped, its knife a descending spike as two others attacked from the sides.

I threw myself back onto the picnic table, using to stabilize the first shot, lodging a bolt into the eye of the shadow that dropped from the ceiling. When the others reacted, I rolled off the table and spun, drawing the bow and firing it instinctively as I retreated backwards. Eventually, I felt my thigh brush against Talia’s fur.

“Is this it? The lithid’s just going to throw numbers at us until we crack?” I sneered, wiping a trickle of blood from my mouth.

“Unlikely. This is just the opening blitz. There’s a twist, somewhere.”

“All I’m seeing is mindless shadows. Basic pack behavior.”

“This is not how a pack hunts. Each is opportunistic, trying to position themselves for the best strike at the expense of the others. More than that, the way they fight feels familiar.” Talia’s voice was wary.

Don’t think about it. Wipe them out.

sounded panicked, as if it was attempting to draw my attention away from something. As it had never intentionally led me astray when the chips were down, I let it refocus my attention purely on the combat itself.

Still, they were multiplying and pressing in tighter. I needed something close range. When I reached for my inventory, dozens of heads snapped around, eyes conveying hungry anticipation. I averted course at the last moment, drawing my saber instead.

Angry cries filled the darkness as they pressed in on me.

”They want something from me.” I realized, conveying the thought to Talia. What was it the lithid had said? That the saber was boring?

”Ignore them.” Talia answered in my head. She bowled over several shadows that abandoned her to attack me, pausing for a half-second each to nick them with poison and move on.

The shadows fell, one after another, faster than they could replenish. We pushed them back together, out of the spotlight and into the darkness. Nick’s saber flashed in my hand in wide, artful flourishes as I used their illuminated eyes and daggers as markers, aiming for necks and arms. It wasn’t as second nature as but what it lacked in familiarity it made up for in range. Talia formed up beside me, snapping at shadows.

For the first time, it felt as if we were winning.

They’re luring us away from the light

warning came too late. As I attempted to relay the warning to Talia and retreat, every marker I used to locate the shadows—eyes, teeth, and daggers—disappeared. Countless invisible hands gripped my sword arm, wrenching at it until the sword fell away.

Simultaneously, the shadows yanked Talia’s feet out from under her. She yelped, sections of her body obscured by darkness.

When I tried to help, I found my legs rooted to the floor.

Why are you so afraid of what you are?

A black rage fueled by helplessness rolled over me. I tore my arm free and yanked out of my inventory. All at once, the human organs of multiple shadows attacking Talia illuminated the darkness.

I moved.

The blade sang as I ripped through the shadows, eviscerating them. First the ones that clung to me, feeling a dark thrill as I felt them fall away, my fear dissipating as their incorporeal bodies collapsed to the ground.

A sense of cold purpose washed over me, even as I heard them chittering in the darkness, laughing. I hauled one of them off Talia and slit its throat. Stabbed another in the eye. Another across the belly. Unsparing Fang guided my movements—helped me know where to place my feet and leverage my weight—but the knife work was entirely mine.

“Let her go.” I shouted. And the shadows trembled. Talia’s eye stared up at me widely.

I fired off I wouldn’t be able to use it again for the rest of the dungeon, but that was fine if it meant finishing this. The threads that connected the shadows to the lithid became visible.

The beauty of the knife was the efficiency. The brevity of the path from point a to point b.

All at once, the gritty desperation of it all fell away. I danced among them, blade stabbing, slashing, twisting, a feeling of unique purpose washed over me. Every neuron and muscle fiber cooperated in perfect union.

As if this were what I was meant for. Raucous laughter reached my ears, barely identifiable as my own.

The threads from harrowing anticipation led me to the final shadow. It was retreating, casting terrified glances over its shoulder, a gloating smile nowhere to be seen.

I flipped the knife into my off-hand and drew the crossbow with my dominant, using to fire a bolt into its thigh. It toppled and fell, dragging itself away. I grabbed its hair and pulled its head back, driving the knife into its back over and over.

Something tugged at my pant leg.

I whirled, prepared to plunge my knife into the next target.

“The prey has fallen, Matthias.” A wolf I had to concentrate to recognize stood at my side. Her thick eyebrows were pulled together in concern as she stared at the knife in my hand. “I am not your enemy.”

“Talia?”

“Are you alright?” Talia cocked her head.

I lowered the knife and ran a hand through my hair, unsettled. “Just… lost myself for a second there. Jesus. My head’s killing me.”

The shadows fell away, a bright light overhead blinding us. Birds sang, and as my eyes adjusted, perfectly manicured lawns came into focus.

A damning feeling washed over me as I realized not only where, but when this was.

“What is this place?” Talia asked.

It was all exactly as I remembered it. The rock yard with weeds that never stopped cropping up, no matter how often it was sprayed. A waist-high iron gate that squealed loudly when it swung open. And a small alcove where I sat to read on weekdays after I’d finished my schoolwork, waiting for dad to return.

“The last home I ever had.” I answered quietly. I turned slowly, towards the end of the road. Identical to the memory I replayed infinitely in my mind, my father’s police cruiser was parked at the end of the road. A few neighbors stood at a safe distance from the house, several on their cellphones, either recording or chattering into them.

And I remembered everything.