Shadow Master (1st Book)

Chapter 21: Powers

Althalos woke up the next morning, and he found himself in his bed. "What? What am I doing here?" He tried to sit up, but the moment he tried to do just that, a searing pain assaulted his back, and he fell back down on the cot as he bellowed in pain.

It was absolutely the most painful sensation he felt, it felt as if he was being mauled to death by a lion or a dragon, and he wanted nothing more than to pass out from the pain, but he couldn't, and he cursed his fate.

Fendrel burst into the room, followed by Ayleth, who looked extremely scared and worried. "Are you alright!?" Ayleth frantically asked him, immediately checking him for injuries. He waved her away.

"I'm fine," The Silencer grumbled, but the pain in his back said otherwise.

Fendrel looked at him sadly then turned to Ayleth. "Ayleth could you check on Yeerlina and Alianor?"

Ayleth seemed hesitant to leave, but nevertheless, she nodded her head, and left the room. 

Althalos turned his attention to the man who maimed him, Fendrel. "Get out," He said in a whisper.

Fendrel sighed, then sat down on his bed. He ran a hand through his obsidian hair. "Are you feeling better?"

"Better?" He scoffed. "How am I going to be an assassin when my back is practically destroyed?!"

"You're a master of dark spells, right?" Fendrel snapped.

The Shadow Champion raised an eyebrow. "Yes, but what does that have to do with my back?"

"You're a champion of Merec?" Fendrel inquired, still looking serious.

"What kind of question is that? Of course I am!" Althalos was slowly becoming irritated by the questions Fendrel gave him.

I'll say this to you now. Be careful what you pride yourself on, especially when it can be taken away with a snap of my fingers.

Althalos stifled a shiver of his own as the cold voice of Merec echoed in his thoughts, promising the elimination of his gifts should he try to boast about them like that again.

"What in Merec's Shadow is the connection between those inquiries and my predicament?" Althalos asked, looking both pained and peeved.

"Shut up." This earned a surprised expression from Althalos. "Now, I read some books about dark spells, and it shows that you can heal yourself, and the fact that you're Merec's champion makes this even more easy for you." Fendrel replied back.

"Really?" Althalos looked hopeful, and rightly so. The pain was still evident, but he tried his best to conceal it.

"Yes, but, casting dark spells like that is costly."

Confusion wormed its way to the Silencer's face. "What do you mean?"

Fendrel gave him a sad smile. "Darkness is an element that is mainly used for destruction, and using it for rejuvenation is not natural. As a sort of compensation, part of your life force is used to fuel the spell. And not only does it use part of your life force, but tremendous amounts of energy is needed, fortunately you have a limitless storage of that. To make it short, it's more trouble than it's worth."

"So you're saying that I can heal myself, but the process is not only very painful, but it can kill me?" The Silencer asked.

"Yes. So you need to be resilient and tough. Even the slightest sliver of your life that is lost can kill you." Fendrel clarified. He sighed. "Not only that, but because it is a destruction spell, healing using darkness has only a limited effect. It can heal the wound but it can't take away the pain, so be strong."