Of Shadows and Darkness

Chapter 25

I woke up the next morning having slept for over twelve hours. My body felt stiff. I had slept without bathing or changing clothes, the hard fabric of my jeans felt constricting. I showered half in daze. The warm water washed away the numbness from my limbs. I changed into a new set of clothes but my hair was still dripping wet when there was a knock on the door. Before I could reply Cin entered followed closely by Earl Alfred.

"Morning," I mumbled. I wasn't awake enough to wonder or care why they were in my room.

The earl cleared his throat. "We can talk while you eat your breakfast."

I looked past them at the side table with a tray of tea and toast on it. It may have been brought while I was in the shower or I might have not noticed it before.

"What do we need to talk about?" I asked walking to them.

"I was talking to Boss earlier about how you need to rest more since your magic is wearing you out but he insists on giving your next test now," said Cin giving the earl a sideways glare.

"The sooner we finish the test the sooner you can go home Tristan," said the earl taking the cup and tea from the tray and passing it to me. It was still warm.

"What's the test?" I asked going back to the tray and spooning sugar into my cup.

"Cin was saying you were having trouble grasping the concept of soul weapons so I thought it might be better to get some practical experience," said the earl rolling up the sleeves of his cable knit sweater.

I sipped the tea. "What do-"

The earl snapped his fingers and in a puff of dark vapour a black trident appeared in his hand. He tapped the bottom of the trident on the ground and the blackness shook of like water droplets. The prongs of the trident were twisted metal with a hooked points. Wave like spirals were carved into the dark wood handle.

"This is my soul weapon," said the earl with pride. I put down the tea as he passed the trident to me. I gripped the handle tight, it felt solid like real wood.

"It doesn't feel like it's made of magic," I said looking at the grain of the wood an sheen of the metal.

"But it is. Try to evaporate it," instructed the earl.

I nodded and pulled apart the trident which quickly feel part into vapour. I tried to reform the darkness but the vapour returned to earl and reformed into a trident in his hand.

"Did you do that? Take the magic back?" I asked looking at my palms. The magic slipped through my fingers like water. Unlike the eternal darkness or the shadows this wasn't under my control.

"No, soul weapons are a type of defined magic which will always return to its owner. If this was any other magic weapon like what Gregor uses the magic would dissipate but a soul weapon always returns to its owner. Now try and steal my shadow," said the earl.

I bent down and touched the earl's shadow which slipped into my hand. I stood up and the shadow started to drip out of my hand like Gregor's did at first. I evaporated it and reformed it into a sphere. This time it remained solid.

"And why didn't my shadow act like my weapon?" asked Earl Alfred. He sounded like my physics teacher who always answered questions with another question which I hated.

I glanced at Cin who was staring at me intensely, probably trying to telepathically send me the answer. But I couldn't hear her. "Because...it's not a soul weapon and not tied to you as strongly?" I said softly.

"Close, but not quite," said the earl pressing his lips together. "My weapon is an extension of my own magic while my shadow is an extension of the eternal darkness in me. But my soul weapons binds me to the eternal darkness darkness." Earl Alfred tapped the bottom of the trident on the ground and his shadow returned. He held out his hand. "My shadow."