=== The next day

 

I stood in the corner of the cage and tried to concentrate.

Come on! I know I can do it! Darkness!

I tried to summon a spear from my shadow for the umpteenth time, but nothing happened. Grandma's trick to use magic didn't produce any result, and I tried it another way, but in vain.

"En, that won't work... You have tried countless times."

Si looked bored when she gave her opinion.

"Please relax on a day off."

She tried to convince me, but I didn't want to stop, or instead, I couldn't. I didn't know what the other me was, and I didn't understand why the other me hadn't tried to be in constant control, but I feared it.

Oh! Damn!

I just couldn't concentrate anymore, and Si wasn't much of help.

“Si, I need to learn it because... because I don't want it that happened in the arena to repeat."

"Was it that bad?"

I stared at her blankly.

"It was. It scares me that a part of me enjoyed it. It had fun to be unnecessarily brutal, and that's why I don't want this part to get the upper hand."

Si approached me and let our heads bump together gently.

"En, no matter how you change, you are and always will be my little sister."

My eyes started to water against my will. My vision became blurry, and I could feel Si snuggled up against me. We lingered like this for quite a while until my vision slowly turned black, and Si’s body heat disappeared.

“There you go again, completely lulled by your sister! I thought you wanted to get stronger."

The other me had the same disdainful tone of voice that it had in the arena yesterday.

You're always in a bad mood.

“When I'm in such a weak state? Naturally!"

The other me mocked me.

Why are you showing up now? Why only now? Why not in any of the other fights? Why not on the day of the orc attack?

“Pah! You bore me!"

Oh! Am I doing that? If you're so powerful, why don't we break out?

No answer came back, and I lingered in silence until the darkness slowly disappeared, and Si’s warmth returned.

"Are you awake?"

Si asked me in a surprised tone.

“Huh? How long did I sleep?"

"Not very long. It was more like a long moment. You didn't answer me, but your breathing was calm, so I didn't have to worry."

"Thanks."

It wasn't a dream, and I didn't dream... That voice... it's full of anger...

Nothing came to my mind and didn't hint at anything. So I had no choice but to think about it.

 

=== In the middle of the night.

 

My eyes widened as the bars began to wobble in the cold wind and knock against the stable wall.

*tock* *tock* *tock*

It was a high-pitched noise that just wouldn't let me go back to sleep. I sat up and looked into the darkness.

I'll try one more time!

I started to concentrate. Unlike before, I tried not to use my own energy and instead capture and control the darkness around me, but above all, I tried to control the darkness within me. My grief and my pain.

Darkness!

A small spear shot out of the ground in front of me. Well, it was more of a needle than a spear.

Done! Right again!?

I repeated the process one more time.

Darkness!

The needle was a little bigger than before but still no danger to opponents.

"A first step."

The voice sounded... happy, which make me shiver.

“But you are nothing yet. A shame. You're still weak. You can only use one of your gifts."

The voice fell silent, but despite what she said, I didn't realize what she wanted? This question was still unknown to me.

There's no point in thinking about it.

I pushed aside the distracting thoughts and concentrated on training Darkness. I started with the exercises and varied in the application.

I don't know how much time had passed, but the first rays of light illuminated the barn. My result was that only one of the needles could be considered a spear out of twenty attempts. My problem was that I didn't know the best way to use Darkness.

Tiredness overwhelmed me, and I lay back next to Si. I fell asleep almost instantly from exhaustion.

 

=== 50 days later

 

Since that one day, I couldn't think of anything other than this darkness that overwhelmed me. I swore I would do anything to prevent this. And so far, it was actually true that I had expanded my control over darkness over the past few days. It wasn't perfect, by no means, but I realized a few things.

Darkness did not get the power from my own magic, and I could call it a magic-like power. With Darkness, I used and formed my own negative feelings. It didn't mean to me that I had to be angry, desperate, or scared to use them, but I had to be able to handle these feelings. Besides, I could not let the darkness appear from everywhere. The only exception was at night since darkness prevails almost everywhere. During the day, I was confined to my own shadow or with an overlapping shadow. What was a bit strange, but also worked, was my black fur.

I felt Si slowly get up next to me, so I slowly opened my eyes.

"Si?"

I looked at her a little dreamily. The arena fights became more and more strange for both of us. Almost every third fight was against an untamed creature that raged instead of fighting us. Also, the creatures were getting more bizarre, and at one point, I heard Velora want extraordinary beings for an ever-approaching big event.

"Everything OK?"

Si had suffered a severe wound a week ago while fighting a species of wolf called the crystal wolf. Crystals that were often used in jewelry grew on the back of these wolves. The rest of the wolf's fur was mostly white to light blue, and it was about the size of an ash wolf.

Si limped a bit, but she didn't complain about it.

So far, Si and I got off lightly. I hope it will continue for a very, very long time.

"Have you ever wondered what would have become of us if we hadn't been captured?"

Si’s words surprised me because it was actually me who always wanted to break out from here.

"I don't know. Maybe we would have died in the next ash wolf attack. It makes no sense to think about what happened."

"Hmm... you might be right."

"Oh, I forgot! Have you seen Grandma?"

I was surprised not to see her in her usual corner.

"She went over to the Fatties earlier. It seems that one of them had eaten up or hide a part of the food supplies."

I added, "Or both."

"Or that."

She answered and laughed.

We approached a large group of rabbits. They were divided into two camps, with Grandma and a fatter rabbit, from our arrival, at the center. We stood in the back row and tried to hear what they were talking about.

“That is intolerable, Bo! I want the guilty party to admit it!"

Grandma raged with her words. Some of the rabbits shivered, but neither side flinched. But I was fascinated by something else about Grandma's statement because it was the first time I heard the fat rabbit's name.

“And I'm telling you, it wasn't us! I'll prove it to you!"

"Well, I can't await it."

Grandma snorted and turned away. The pack split up, and she saw us among the others. She came over to us and looked at us in silence.

"Grandma?"

I put my head to one side, irritated, and spoke to her.

“You remind me of your mother. Your fur looks more like mine and your father's, but... Si, you are just like my son."

She wallowed in nostalgia and laughed. Her eyes looked exhausted, and she didn't seem to be fit anymore. Fortunately for her, there had been no more fights for a few days because they were working towards some event. Therefore, instead of daily feedings, there was always a lot of food for several days.