Shadow Heir
The shadow dissolved into black mist, but the others pressed closer.
Their whispers filled the air now—fragments of sentences, voices he recognized and didn’t. Some sounded like his own.
You will fail.
You are only here because others died before you.
Your bloodline is cursed.
Each word hit harder than the strikes, shaking his focus. He stumbled as one of the shadows landed a blow across his ribs, the pain sharp and real.
Something inside him—something he had felt in the sanctum—stirred. Heat pooled low in his chest, curling up his spine. Without thinking, he let it rise.