NimaiElijah
When Gravelyn confronts Xezu over a debt of one million gold, the conflict quickly turns violent. Already exhausted from a mission and pushed past his limit, Xezu snaps when she attacks him. But what answers from inside him is far worse than anger.
A monstrous shadow avatar rises behind him and seizes Gravelyn in its clawed hand, squeezing her as she screams, and breaks under the terror of death closing around her.
Artix arrives just in time to stop the killing blow, but he is too late to stop what has already happened.
Gravelyn survives, but the memory destroys her from the inside.
Xezu's cold eyes, and the feeling of being crushed haunt her long after her body heals.
Meanwhile, Xezu is forced to face the truth that his shadow is not just power. It is rage, cruelty, and something inside him he does not fully control.
As guilt, trauma, hatred, and broken forgiveness drag them back into each other's lives, both Xezu and Gravelyn are forced to confront what they became that night.
The Shadow That Answered: The Breaking of Mercy is a dark fantasy fan made tale about violence, remorse, trauma, and the terrifying question of whether a hero who becomes a monster can still choose to become something else.