CHAPTER 51: THE DOORS OF SHADOWS

A shadow spread across the floor like spilled ink, writhing and stretching upward. From it, two figures rose, dragged out as if the ground itself spat them back into existence.

One of them was Caelen, his eyes squeezed shut, his face twitching as if fighting against the crushing weight of the travel. The other was Seralyth, her calm expression a stark contrast to his strained one.

They landed before a massive door, its surface carved with twisting, chaotic designs. The longer you look, the more the carvings seem to move, faces screaming silently, mouths stretched wide, eyes sunken in torment. The air around it pressed heavily on his chest.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now," Seralyth said casually, watching him with a smirk. She’d noticed how hard he fought not to peek during their transport.

Caelen opened them slowly, blinking as his vision adjusted. His gaze immediately locked onto the door. He glanced around, half expecting more.

But there was nothing. Just cold, jagged walls of stone like the inside of some cavern. The door stood alone, embedded in the rock as if it didn’t belong here.

"This... is where you wanted to bring me?" he asked.

"Yes." She pointed at the door, her sharp eyes glinting. "This is the place."

Caelen studied it again, unease twisting in his gut. "So what is this place? And what exactly am I supposed to do?"

Seralyth smiled with her usual fierce, almost predatory smile. "I want you to go in there."

He stared at her. "...Huh? Why?"

"Trust me," she said, her tone deceptively smooth. "It’ll help you. Maybe even make you stronger. I heard inhaling and living in the demon realm changes demons—empowers them. I want you to test that for me."

Caelen’s brow furrowed. "Are you serious?" He wasn’t about to just trust her words whole.

She saw his doubt. Without warning, she stepped forward. Instinct kicked in, and Caelen backed away, but she didn’t stop. Step by step, she closed the distance until his back hit the wall. Her hand pressed against his chest.

"What the hell are you—"

Before he could finish, her fingers glowed with a blue-purple light. Pain exploded in his chest, sharp and burning. He gasped, clutching at her wrist, but it was too late. Something tugged violently inside him, like chains ripping from his soul.

And then—she pulled it out.

A book.

In her hand, a book shimmered with a dangerous light. For a split second, Caelen saw chains trailing from his chest, connected to the book, before they disappeared from his field of vision. His heart hammered.

"What did you do?!" he shouted, panic rising. He didn’t understand, but he knew this was bad.

"Relax," Seralyth said calmly, inspecting the book. "I’ll put it back. I just want to see something."

She tried to pry it open, her brow furrowing. "It... won’t open?"

Pulling a slip of parchment from her ring, she pressed it against the cover and smeared it across. Strange purple symbols bled onto the paper and stuck to it. Caelen’s eyes widened.

He remembered. The book. Back when he had eaten the seed, when he first became a demon, the shadowy woman had left something behind. He’d tried to touch it then and had been shocked and felt a slight burn from it.

"So... it was inside my body all this time?" he muttered.

"Yes," Seralyth replied absently, still focused on the book. "This is your system, I suppose. I’m shocked at how easy it was to pull out of you. No defenses at all. Whoever made this was careless."

"The... system," Caelen whispered.

From where he sat on the ground, he could only see the faint purple-blue glow coming out from the book, covering over Seralyth’s face. She looked almost otherworldly under its light.

"Wow," she breathed. "I changed my mind. This is too advanced. Even I’m afraid of tampering with it."

She closed it carefully.

"Good," Caelen said quickly, relief and anger tangled in his voice. "Then put it back. I need that."

Seralyth crouched, her expression sharp again. "You know it’s bad to rely on this thing, right?"

"I don’t care. Just put it back."

Instead of answering, she leaned in slightly. "Aren’t you curious why I told you to close your eyes when traveling with me through my shadow?"

Caelen glared with no care but asked anyway, "Why?"

"Because the shadow does what you do. Every move, every glance. When you open your eyes, they open too. And the moment they do... they can find you. No matter where you are, through your shadow."

Her tone shifted. The smirk faded, leaving her voice raw, edged with something darker. "I was the luckiest child alive because of something that happened to me. But luck doesn’t last forever."

Caelen’s chest tightened. He could see it in her eyes. This wasn’t some game anymore.

She lowered her gaze to her shadow stretching across the stone. "One day, luck turns. And when it does, it doesn’t just take—it rips everything you love away."

Her words lingered in the silence, heavy and real.

"All this," Caelen finally said, his voice low, "just so I can walk through that door?"

"Yes." Her eyes met his again, steady and unflinching.

He exhaled hard, glancing back at the grotesque door. His gut screamed not to go near it. "Fine. But put the book back first."

She smiled faintly. "No. You need to handle this without it. Trust the process. You’ll thank me."

"Why should I trust you?" he shot back.

"You don’t have to," Seralyth said plainly. "Even that blue-haired demon of yours could easily qualify for this. But since you’re their leader, I offered this chance to you. You’re a better candidate."

"And the book?" he pressed.

"You’ll get it back afterward. It’s connected to you, so it’s safe." She rose, brushing dust from her hand.

Caelen clenched his teeth. Finally, he muttered, "Fine. I’ll accept. Only because I choose to trust you—for now."

"Good." She pulled a small bag from her side and set it on the ground before him. "Open the door. I want to see something."

Caelen hesitated, then stepped forward. His hand touched the grotesque surface. The instant he pushed, a force yanked at him, stronger than gravity.

"What the hell?!" he shouted as his body was dragged forward. The door burst open, sucking him in like a void. His scream echoed through the cavern as he was hurled inside.

The bag flew into the door, and something happened on Seralyth’s feet. She didn’t move. Her shadow spread outward, claws lashing against the ground as if eager to follow.

And then the door slammed shut.

The door sealed with a deep thud, shadows rippling back into silence. Seralyth’s shadow claws withdrew, sinking into her own shadow until nothing remained but the faint echo of her presence.

A quiet shuffle broke the stillness. Elunara stepped from the cavern’s edge, the pale light tracing the edges of her face as she moved closer to her mother.

"Are you sure he’ll pull it off?" she asked, her voice low, guarded.

Seralyth’s answer came without hesitation. "Yes. I’m sure."

Elunara’s eyes lingered on the grotesque door, her expression tightening. "It’s really here then. The time to finally deal with him."

"Don’t remind me," Seralyth muttered, her tone colder than stone.

For a moment, neither spoke. The heavy air clung to the cavern walls, broken only when Seralyth turned slightly toward her daughter. "Tell his women he’s training. Keep them busy. Perhaps... teach that Emma girl some light magic. I noticed she shares your affinity, except for the third one, earth."

Elunara frowned faintly. "What about Evelyn and the blue-haired demon?"

"I’ll handle Evelyn myself. There’s something I want to show her. As for the demon..."

Seralyth paused, the faintest shadow of a smile ghosting her lips. "She does seem the most experienced. I may attend to her as well."

Her gaze slid back to the door, where the last trace of Caelen had vanished. "Try to survive in there, Caelen," she whispered.

Darkness surged outward as her shadow magic stirred again, filling the cavern like an ocean tide. Elunara closed her eyes, surrendering to its pull. Together, mother and daughter were swallowed whole, leaving the chamber hollow and silent.

{On the other side}

Caelen slammed against the ground with a sharp grunt, pain shuddering through his body. He rolled onto his side, teeth clenched, hissing under his breath. A moment later, something thudded beside him—the small bag Seralyth had dropped before the door consumed him.

He pushed himself up, breath steadying. The air was strange—thick, electric. He brushed dirt from his palms and finally stood.

His eyes widened.

He was on the jagged edge of a mountain, the rock beneath his feet rough and unfamiliar. Below stretched an endless forest, the treetops shifting like an ocean of green shadows. Above, the sky twisted between purple and burning orange, smeared in colors that didn’t belong together, bleeding into one another like a wound.

Confusion pressed against his skull. "...Where the hell am I?"

A sound answered.

Hissssss.

The drawn-out noise slithered across the air, low and vibrating. Caelen’s body stiffened as he turned slowly.

Behind him, coiled tightly around a broken outcrop of the mountain, was the largest snake he had ever seen. Its scales were black as obsidian, glinting faintly in the strange sky. Each coil shifted with the weight of stone, muscles rippling beneath. Its head lifted, eyes like molten embers fixing on him.

The sheer size of it made the air feel smaller, heavier.

"...Why," he muttered, almost to himself.

The snake uncoiled from the rock with a thunderous crack, stone shattering under its weight. Its mouth yawned open, rows of fangs catching the dim light, a clear signal of hostility.

Caelen’s hand clenched. His body shifted into stance, every muscle alert.

The snake struck forward.