Shadow Breathing Novels & Stories

The Shadows, ancient and mysterious, answered my summons, their dark energy swirling around me like a shroud. As The Shadows descended upon me, I felt an icy chill spread through my veins, a cold that was both biting and soothing. It was a sensation I had grown accustomed to over the centuries, one that signaled the arrival of these ancient, mystical entities. They seemed to emerge from every direction and none at all, their dark, ethereal forms slithering around my feet like living tendrils of night.

The deep blue bioluminescence pumped through the veins in the ice, casting long, eerie shadows across the cavern. Directly beneath the heart, the circular pool of necrotic black sludge remained perfectly still. And standing guard around it, the four faceless Shadow Wraiths floated inches above the ground, their wicked obsidian scythes gleaming in the blue light. They hadn't looked up. They had no reason to. No one in the history of the Northern Shadows had ever been foolish enough to try and free-climb the True King’s engine room in a torn silk nightgown.

Determined not to let external input distract from the task at hand, I ignore the beeping of the truck backing up as I concentrate on connecting my mind with the shadows all around me. Imagine breathing in the shadows like air, Blaze instructs. Until the shadows are within you and bending them to your will is as simple as turning your neck or bending your fingers and toes. I breathe in, imagining sucking in the shadows cast by the trees and bushes in the forest, pulling them into my lungs, my veins, my cells. I’m starting to get a hang of it, starting to feel the difference between regular Mae and Mae-filled-with-shadows, but the ability to then expel them outside of myself and control what

“Does that mean…” Li Xian took a closer look at the red mark. His observation lasted for about ten minutes before he finally showed a very happy expression mixed with pride. It was a shadow stroke, a move whose complexity often made some warriors give up on learning it. Shadow blow is a move that can injure the bodies of several opponents at once because the move has a fairly long wavelength of damage.

Her maw opened to drag air into her heaving lungs as her canines peeked out from her jaw. She moved like a ghost across the land and yet the world around felt her presence. Creatures shrank away as she passed, the very air falling still. She wasn't alone though. The shadows danced and darted around her as she sped through the night, heart thundering in her rib cage to the point it felt it would burst from her chest like a nuclear bomb detonating. The shadows closed in, but they didn't swallow Chloe up. They moved with her, their fur soft but cold, their feet thundering across the frozen land in unison with her as if it were the beat of some primal war drum.

It popped free of its socket and I dropped it into the open bag at my feet. I squinted, the eye scorching light from the other bulbs making the pools of shadow beside us difficult to see. Host-less Shades stayed hidden during the lighter hours, even beneath their violet sky, but that didn't mean you wouldn't come across the occasional desperado, willing to risk everything for a shot at owning human flesh. I dropped the piece of clothing that protected the new bulb into the bag and paused, frozen by the shiver running down my spine. "What's wrong?" Aaron called from the front.

, I rub my hand against my chest… I was in a rush for an interview so I took a shortcut… I was running and crossing through the basketball court… “Watch out”, Someone shout… I stopped and look up, the ball was falling over me. My eyes remain open and immediately, I closed my eyes crossed my hands against my head to myself… The ball rolled down onto the floor. It sounds like it was bumped into something stronger before falling… “Are you ok?” someone asked with his silvery voice. His voice flows from my ears to my heart. I slowly remove my hands, raise my head and open my eyes…

He disappeared from view, the smoke filling the room like a suffocating fog. Selena's eyes flashed, her fists clenching as she summoned her shadows. The moment Shane disappeared, she shifted her stance. She could feel the smoke—its weight, its oppressive presence—and she was not about to let him win. She reached into the very fabric of the shadows, drawing them closer, tightening them. She formed a sharp spear-like weapon of darkness and lunged forward, slashing it into the thick fog. "Where are you hiding now?" she growled, her breath coming in controlled bursts as she fought the suffocating darkness around her. The shadows surged in a wave, pulling the smoke apart.

I showed him the messy, inefficient, beautiful reality of a life that chooses to be flawed. The Shadow shrieked—a sound of a billion turning gears suddenly grinding to a halt. His geometric armor began to sprout irregular, organic growths. His white-hole light turned the warm, imperfect color of a sunset. "SYSTEM... ERROR..." he gasped, his form beginning to dissolve into a cloud of real, organic ash. "THE... VARIABLE... IS... TOTAL..." The Shadow exploded, but not into fire. He exploded into a Wave of Texture. The wave swept upward through the roots, through the Spire, and out across the Emerald Sea.

“They’re using blood magic to unravel them.” “Can you reinforce them?” Lyra asked. Helene’s eyes flickered, already tired. “Not alone.” Lyra turned toward her warriors. “Then none of us fight alone today.” The battlefield was a storm of sound and fury. The Shadowborn came like a tide — pale, twisted things with hollow eyes and gaping mouths that released no sound. Their movements were jerky, unnatural, as if pulled by invisible strings. Each strike that felled one sent dark mist curling upward, but two more would rise from its ashes.