Stabby floats in an empty void, the nothingness reaching far beyond his view. He drifts through the emptiness as memories flood into his mind, appearing as screens in the void.

He thinks of the village. How the villagers reacted to him. The fear on their faces at his sight… he couldn't understand it. He did nothing to them. Why were they so afraid?

His thoughts turn to the cave. He remembers the shade. The knot in his stomach from even just looking at it. It was familiar but altered just enough to make his skin crawl.

After seeing the deformed shade, he understands their fear. He felt their fear. A creature you don't understand is terrifying. To them, he is just like that deformed shade. A monster. Something they couldn't understand and didn't want to.

"That is why we must do something." An unknown voice echoes throughout the void.

"Who was that?" Stabby shifts around, trying to find the voice's owner. "Where are you?"

The mutated shade pulls itself from the screen of his memories.

Stabby's eyes widen at the creature's return. He tries to escape, but the void forces him still.

The shade doesn't approach him, on the contrary, it stays stills, body relaxed. "Don't worry, Pasha. You have already passed your test. I am only here to help you, now."

Seeing the creature had no sign of aggression, Stabby drops his shoulders. "You can talk?"

"Yes. The form you fought was merely a maddened version of myself." Its deep voice reverberates each word.

"Oh..." Stabby looks down in contemplation. He returns his thoughts to the shade's original statement, lifting his gaze back to the former foe. "What must we do?"

"We must destroy the light."

Stabby remembers his brother's fight with the masked men. The numerous wounds he got from a single battle that only involved two other people. He couldn't imagine the pain brought from a war with thousands. "Must we? Is there no way to stop this war?"

A spark of light and an orb of dark appear in front of the shade. "The light would never work with the dark." The orb moves closer to the spark, fading when it gets too close. "The existence of one side brings pain to the other."

"There has to be some way that allows us to coexist." Stabby tries to grab the spark, but it burns his hand even trying to get close.

"There is none. The light has no desire to understand us. Trying to understand each other is what caused the last war."

He attempts to grab the spark again, grasping at it with both hands. He succeeds, but when he opens his hand to see it, the spark has died. His voice now grim, Stabby asks, "then what must we do?"

"The only way for the dark to survive... the only way for your family to survive... is to exterminate the light."

"My family..." His head lowers.

He thinks about the fight for his life, how his mother sent him to a battle he had little chance of winning. "Why did my family send me here?"

Before the shade could answer, he jolts towards it, grabbing it by the shoulders.

"Why didn't they protect me? There must be some reason." Tears stream from his eyes, floating into the emptiness of the void, as he whimpers, "don't they love me?"

The shade responds, his voice lacking emotion, "they do love you, but they had no other option."

Stabby lashes out in response, "how do you know?" He pushes the shade back.

The shade floats back a few feet, then regains his posture. "I know, for I am the reason they sent you here."

Stabby wipes the tears left on his face. "You are?"

The shade's chest opens, revealing the blue crystal. "I am the fear shard. A core part of your being. The only way for a shade to become whole is to complete the trial of blood and claim their core shard."

Stabby calms down, slowing his breath. "So... you're the blue crystal I ate?"

"Yes. By consuming the shard, you have completed your form."

He raises his hand and twists it, creating a sphere. A small shade appears inside, along with a small crystal.

"When you consume a core shard, it will grant you unique abilities."

The small shade eats the crystal and grows rapidly in size, rows of spikes sprouting from its back. With a twist of the wrist, the image disappears.

"If used correctly, the abilities I give you can induce terror in the hearts of your enemies." The shade changes form, turning into a multitude of different creatures, ending on an exact image of Stabby. "While that is the primary purpose of the abilities, you may use them how you see fit."

"How do I use them?"

"I can no longer answer questions, our time has run out. We must return to the physical world and report to our mother." The shade's body dissolves into mist.

Stabby dashes towards the mist, grabbing at the parts that were still solid. "Wait! How do they work?" Each time he grabs at the shade, it fades. "How am I supposed to use them?"

Seeing his attempts fail, he falls back, surrendering to the void's current. "Well, guess I have something else to figure out."

The mist from the shade circles him. As it rises, it gains speed, becoming a hurricane of mist.

He lifts his torso to see what's happening and sees the swirling darkness. Realizing he's going to teleport, he takes a deep breath and closes his eyes.

Hopefully, this will take him home.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Stabby hears the echo of drops of water splashing on the ground. He inhales, the smell of mold filling his nose, and his tongue gains a slight taste of saltwater.

He knows where he's at, but he desperately hopes to be wrong.

Well, there's only one way to tell for sure. He opens his eyes. A stalagmite sprouts from the ground in front of him.

"Damn it."

The crystals lining his scalp glow once again. Thankfully, they seem to glow much brighter this time, his vision reaching three times further than before.

The more the purple glow shines on the cave, the more gorgeous it looks. Stalagmites and stalactites sparkle likes rare gems. The color creating a beautiful mirage of a variety of blues and purples on the walls. And the lack of monsters attacking him is a major improvement to the atmosphere.

As he examines the walls, he notices something strange about his shadow. Instead of bending with the light, it moves against it.

He focuses on the shadow, inching his head closer to the wall.

It waves.

Stabby falls back, staring at the wall in bewilderment. The shadow breaks out in silent laughter.

The fall brought another shadow into view. He has two! Is this how shadows work? he didn't notice the second one before. Did Slicer have two shadows? Not that he could remember...

Wait. This must have something to do with the abilities that shade mentioned.

Somehow reading his thoughts, the shadow nods his head, then waves for Stabby to get up.

Doing as the shadow asked, he stands. Wiping the dirt off his pants, he notices a large tear has appeared along the side. "Aw, I liked these pants."

The shadow waves him over again, getting impatient.

"Fine, fine."

Stabby travels through the cave for what seems like forever.

This part of the cave still looks the same. He stops. He'd just been walking in a random direction. Is he even making progress?

He searches for a sign of an exit.

How is he supposed to get out of here? It seems endless.

The shadow points above him.

Stabby looks to the ceiling. "Oh." His central crystal had been emitting a focused purple laser that points in the exit's direction.

Now with the laser's guidance, he heads towards the exit, gazing at the mesmerizing color of the walls as he goes.

His mind wanders as he travels the cave, thinking through everything that has occurred in his brief life.

He was attacked as soon as he was born, hated for nothing but the way he looks. But he met his mother and brother, and they made things better.

On the journey home, he and his brother got to talk. That was nice while it lasted.

They were attacked again, this time by some mysterious masked men who wanted him because... he's special, I guess. Thankfully, Slicer was able to fend them off and capture one of them in the process, with a little help from mom, of course.

He got to talk to Slicer again after that. His talks with his brother were a lot of fun.

Going through his thoughts, Stabby realizes that the best parts of his life, however short it's been, has been with Grisha. He misses him.

After the chat with Slicer, he got to talk with his mother. She's so nice. Whenever she's around, he always feels safe... but...

She sent him here.

He knew there was a reason, but that only slightly dulls the aching pain in his heart. Why does it hurt so much? Is there something wrong with him? It's something all shades have to do. Our core crystals are vital parts of us. Why can't he get over being sent here?

He tries to think about all his positive experiences with her, hoping to forget about the single painful one… but the pain won't go away.

Why won't it go away?

He must be the problem. If he was just better with his emotions, he wouldn't be worrying about this. None of his siblings were upset about their trial.

He has to become stronger. If he was stronger, his mother wouldn't leave him...

Grisha wouldn't leave him.

As he searches for resolve, the cave reaches a dead-end. Stabby turns to find another way around, walking a few steps away, but a steady creak that comes from behind him makes him stop. He looks back to find a black door has appeared on the wall, cracked slightly open. He peeks through and sees his brother in a study, deeply focused on the books scattered across his desk.

His journey through the cave has ended. He backs away from the door, letting out a deep sigh. Then, putting on a wide smile, he reaches for the handle.

"It's time to show them how strong I am."