Two weeks.
That's all it took.
Two weeks of grueling, sweat-soaked training.
Two weeks of mistakes and sparks and slipping on frozen floors.
Two weeks of watching my little group stumble through the early awkwardness of new power—of learning what it meant to control something that could kill.
Now?
They weren't strong.
But they were good.
Good enough to move forward. Good enough to believe they were ready.
(Perfect. Just where I want them.)
I stood atop a cracked concrete ledge overlooking the old factory ruins. Wind tore through the rusted buildings like whispers. Faint. Chilling. Ominous.
Behind me, James, Lily, Sara, and Harry stared down at the lifeless location with wide eyes and clenched fists. The world below was silent, but soaked in something darker than death.
Scorched black marks. Shadow trails stretching along the walls like claw marks. An entire village erased.
All of it... my design.
I created this place.
I created the victims.
I created the fear.
And I created Crow.
(Kekeke... this is what happens when a godlike being gets bored. You build your own world. Your own story. You write the tragedy, the villain, the fall. Then? You sit back and watch them dance to your script.)
"This is the place…" James muttered, stepping beside me. His voice was tight, his eyes scanning the ground.
"It looks… dead." Lily said softly, frost hanging from her breath. Her arms were folded tightly, but I could see the tension in her shoulders.
Sara crouched and touched the ground. Her fingers brushed a withered patch of soil. The plants here had long since died.
"Whatever happened… it happened fast."
"No signs of life," Harry added, sparks flickering between his fingertips. "Not even animals. This place is hollow."
(Exactly. That's the point.)
I kept my expression neutral. Calm. Like a mentor should be. They couldn't know I was smiling inside.
"Crow did this," I said, my voice low and serious. "Or rather… what he's become."
Their gazes turned toward me, heavy with questions and silent fear.
They remembered the story.
Solarius had told them days ago.
The tragic tale of two best friends—Edward Cole and Adam Frost. Light and Shadow. The girl that died. The powers that ruined them.
It was the perfect backstory.
Because it was almost true.
Except Solarius wasn't Edward.
Crow wasn't Adam.
They were both me.
(You don't need truth to build legends. Just good writing.)
"Solarius should've come with us," Lily said, her voice clipped. "He knows Crow better than anyone."
"He's tracking something else," I replied smoothly. "A deeper lead. Something bigger. He said we'd be safe handling this mission."
They nodded slowly.
(Naive. So, so naive. And I love it.)
I started walking forward, boots crunching over gravel and ash. The others followed behind me, each step heavier than the last. Shadows stretched unnaturally long across the walls, twisting at odd angles as if trying to reach out.
Then—
"Wait." Sara's voice cut the silence. She lifted her head. "Did you hear that?"
We froze.
Nothing.
But then… a whisper. Faint. Slithering between the ruins like breath across glass.
"He's here…" Harry whispered, enhancement pulsing in his palms.
A dark wind swept through the factory ruins. Cold. Sharp. And wrong.
The air thickened. The temperature dropped. And shadows began to move.
Not like how light made them shift.
These shadows crawled. Pulled. Twisted.
From the darkest corner of the broken factory, something stepped forward.
A silhouette.
Tall. Cloaked in black.
Eyes glowing like dying embers.
Crow.
(Kekeke… cue the villain entrance.)
The others tensed immediately.
Lily summoned shards of ice into her palms, the jagged tips glistening in the dim light.
James widened his stance, hands crackling with lightning.
Sara's vines sprouted from her wrist, twisting and curling like serpents preparing to strike.
Harry's body enhancement sparked, energy humming nervously beneath his skin. His eyes flickered between Crow and the others, a quiet tension building in the air.
But Crow?
He didn't even flinch.
He took one step, then another, moving toward us as if he had all the time in the world. His presence was almost suffocating. A shadow that stretched across the entire field of battle.
His voice slithered out from beneath the hood, smooth and cold, like silk wrapped around a blade.
"Another Children… Another child of light. Of frost. Of storm and seed."
"How lucky you are… to be chosen."
James shouted first, his voice thick with anger.
"We are here to stop you, Crow! You're a fucking murderer!" He raised his hand, electricity crackling across his fingertips. His face twisted in disgust.
"Do I look cool?" James added, trying to lighten the mood, though his eyes remained fixed on the enemy.
Harry sighed, shaking his head in disbelief. "Focus on the enemy, idiot."
Crow's head tilted slightly, an eerie, almost predatory gesture. His smile, faint but dangerous, spread across his lips.
"And yet… you come to me. Armed. United. Trembling."
"You call me a villain… but who trained you to fear me?"
Sara stepped forward, her voice steady but filled with resolve.
"We know what you did. The lives you took. The darkness you spread."
Crow's response was soft, almost too calm, as if he wasn't fazed by their threats.
"And do you think yourselves any different?" He raised an eyebrow, his voice never
wavering.
"Given the chance… wouldn't you destroy the world to bring someone back?"
He lifted his hand, and the shadows around us seemed to ripple and coil, like snakes preparing to strike.
"Wouldn't you tear open heaven… just to see her smile again?"
The moment cracked.
The tension split the air like an audible snap, like a drumbeat marking the beginning of something much darker.
James was the first to react.
"No more talking!" He yelled, electricity surging from his body, crackling through the air as he launched a bolt of lightning straight at Crow.
Lily followed suit, hurling a sharp, jagged blade of ice toward him, the chill in the air biting at their skin.
Sara, her vines twitching with life, whipped them forward in a wild, coordinated lunge, aiming to trap Crow in a web of nature's fury.
Harry, enhancement energy vibrating in every fiber of his being, sparked and charged, his fists crackling with electric power.
Crow didn't even flinch.
Instead, he raised a single hand, his fingers curling slowly, almost lazily.
And then—
BOOM.
A surge of pure darkness exploded outward in a massive wave, a dome of shadow expanding and swallowing their attacks whole.
Lightning, ice, vines, and energy—all vanished into the blackness, as if they had never existed.
The ground shook violently beneath their feet.
Dust exploded into the air, coating the scene in a thick cloud of ash.
The sound of metal groaning, of earth cracking, filled their ears.
The others staggered back, their faces wide with shock and disbelief. Their attacks hadn't
even scratched the surface.
But me?
I stood still. Silent. Unmoving. Watching the scene unfold with a twisted sense of satisfaction.
(Kekeke… First move belongs to him. As planned.)
Crow's form seemed to blur in the shifting shadows. Slowly, he lifted his arms, and from the darkened void, shadow creatures began to emerge—grotesque, ethereal, and unholy.
They surrounded us, their dark figures shifting like liquid, eyes glowing with an unnatural hunger.
Crow's voice rang out, sharp and mocking.
"Don't get cocky just because you were trained by Solarius."
His tone was dripping with contempt. "You're still children. Playing at something bigger than you can handle."
Then One by one.
This Twisting, writhing creatures of ink and bone, born from the deepest corners of shadow. Some had claws. Others floated without legs. One dragged a chain of whispering mouths behind it. Another oozed across the ground like a sentient puddle of hate.
Ten.
Fifteen.
Twenty or more.
Eyes glowing crimson. Movements jerky, like puppets with no strings. And they kept coming.
Crow raised his hand like a conductor preparing an orchestra of nightmares. His cloak fluttered behind him, untouched by the wind.
"I said Don't get cocky…" his voice rang out, laced with venom and delight, "…You pest!!"
He chuckled, low and bitter.
(Heh. If only they knew the truth. Solarius trained no one. I did.)
Shadow beasts crept from the corners of the battlefield — slick, snarling things with glowing red eyes and teeth like shards of obsidian.
"Back up!" I shouted, stepping ahead of the group as the creatures closed in.
(Kekeke… How good is my acting? Playing the part of the hero. The 'leader.' But none of them know the truth. None of them know I'm the one who made him. I created Crow. Designed the villain. Everything about this is my script, my plot.)
James gritted his teeth, electricity dancing down his arms like wild snakes.
"You seeing this? We're surrounded!"
"We hold the line!" Lily snapped, her arms forming an icy armor that spiked up like a crest of a frost dragon. "We don't back down!"
Harry's sparks flared wilder, enhancement veins racing along his forearms.
"Alright. Let's burn some monsters."
I clenched my fist, focusing my telekinesis — ripping up stones and hurling them like bullets, flattening two shadow-beasts instantly.
Sara crouched low, hands pressed to the earth.
"I'll handle the ground. Give me five seconds!"
Vines burst forth from the soil, whipping like serpents, waiting to strike.
Crow stood still, watching with a faint, crooked smile.
(Time to let them shine. Let them think they've got a chance.)
Then it began.
The first wave came in fast and savage.
A four-legged beast lunged at Lily — jaws snapping. She ducked low and slammed the ground, a jagged spike of ice launching into its throat.
It burst into black mist.
James blurred forward like a bolt — his body cloaked in lightning.
"One! Two! Three! Damn, I'm awesome!" he shouted, fists striking with thunderous crackles.
"Shut up, James!" Harry yelled, dodging and flipping over a shadow-creature swinging a dark cleaver. "Less flirting with yourself, more frying things!"
"No promises!" James laughed.
Sara clapped her hands — a deep BOOM! erupted as thorned vines shot upward, wrapping and crushing beasts into black sludge.
(Impressive. They're syncing. Not bad for rookies.)
But Crow…
He hadn't moved. Not once.
He just watched.
And smiled.
"You fight well… just like them," he said quietly, his voice carrying more sorrow than sarcasm. "The last ones. The ones I took."
My eyes burned as I shouted, "Shut up, Crow!!"
(What a perfect act.)
Sara froze mid-motion, her vines tightening midair.
Her expression darkened. "What do you mean?"
Crow tilted his head, arms slowly spreading like a preacher at a funeral.
"You're not the first. Just the latest batch. Trained by light. Fueled by hope. Always so eager to be heroes…"
I took a step forward, fury flashing in my gaze.
"I said shut up!!!"
(Sheesh. Angry act 101. Nailed it.)
Harry growled low, fists crackling.
"…And where are they now?"
Crow's smile faded.
His voice, this time, was a whisper. Almost a confession.
"Gone."
To be continue