CHAPTER 2
Shadows at the Docks
The smell of salt and decay hit me the moment I stepped onto the dock. Even in the dead of night, the place was alive with movement. The workers were hauling crates, groaning under the weight of cargo, and the occasional bark of orders in languages I didn’t understand. But it wasn’t the usual hum of port life that set my teeth on edge. It was the shadows.
They were thicker here, darker. Too dark. I didn’t need Kage-no-Oni’s whispers to tell me something was wrong, but it didn’t stay quiet for long.
They’re here, it murmured, the words curling through my mind like smoke. Waiting.
I clenched my fists, feeling the glow of the tattoo beneath my shirt. It pulsed faintly, a steady thrum against my chest as if the entity within me was breathing in time with my own. The docks stretched out before me, an endless maze of containers and shadows that seemed to shift even when I wasn’t looking. Somewhere out there was the cursed artifact I’d come for. Somewhere out there, my enemies were waiting.
“Damon.” Yumi’s voice cut through the fog in my head. I turned to see her standing a few paces behind me, her katana strapped to her back and her hair tied in its usual braid. She looked calm, but I caught the slight tension in her stance. She felt it, too.
“Keep your eyes open,” I said, my voice low. “Something’s off.”
“Something’s always off with cursed artifacts,” she muttered, but her hand dropped to the hilt of her sword all the same. Yumi didn’t need much convincing to be ready for a fight.
Behind her, Kai was fiddling with one of his gadgets. A small, handheld device that looked like a cross between a tablet and an old-school compass. He muttered something under his breath as he tapped at the screen, his glasses slipping down his nose.
“This place is crawling with cursed energy,” he said finally, his tone more serious than usual. “The readings are off the charts. Whatever artifact we’re looking for, it’s powerful. Dangerous.”
Good, Kage-no-Oni purred. The more power, the better.
I ignored it. “Can you track it?”
Kai nodded, holding up the device. “It’s faint, but yeah. I’ve got a general direction. It’s coming from somewhere near the far end of the dock.”
“Great,” Yumi said dryly. “Right where it’s darkest.”
I didn’t bother responding. She wasn’t wrong. Shadows practically swallowed the far end of the dock, the few floodlights barely penetrating the inky black. My tattoo pulsed again, brighter this time, and I felt a shiver run down my spine. Whatever was waiting for us out there, it wasn’t going to give up without a fight.
“Let’s move,” I said, motioning for them to follow. The three of us slipped into the maze of containers, our footsteps muffled by the damp ground. Every sound seemed amplified in the stillness. The creak of metal, the distant crash of waves, even the faint hum of the city far behind us. And always, the shadows shifted just at the edge of my vision.
Yumi walked beside me, her hand never straying far from her katana. Kai stayed a few paces back, his eyes glued to the device in his hand. None of us spoke. There was no need. The air was heavy with tension, the kind that sank into your bones and made your skin crawl. I kept my focus on the path ahead, but my thoughts were anything but calm.
Why this artifact? Why now? The timing couldn’t be a coincidence. The cursed artifact trade had been growing bolder, but this felt different. Deliberate. Like someone was testing me.
Or taunting me.
We turned a corner, and the shadows ahead seemed to ripple, twisting into shapes that didn’t belong. For a moment, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Then, the shapes moved.
“Stop.” My voice was sharp, and Yumi and Kai froze instantly. I pointed ahead, my heart hammering in my chest. “Do you see that?”
Yumi squinted, her grip tightening on her sword. “Yeah. What the hell is that?”
Kai adjusted his glasses, his fingers flying over his device. “Shadows. But… they’re not normal. They’re concentrated cursed energy.”
Very good, Kage-no-Oni whispered, its tone almost amused. But that’s only the beginning.
Before I could respond, the shadows surged forward, twisting and writhing like living creatures. They solidified into humanoid forms, faceless but unmistakably hostile. There were five of them, each one moving with an unnatural, fluid grace that sent a chill down my spine.
“Get ready,” I said, my voice steady despite the adrenaline coursing through me. I tightened my grip on my blade, my heart pounding in my chest. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t going to go quietly.
We carved through the five of them, our blades scattering the shapes into drifting mist, and pushed deeper into the dark. The trail of cursed energy pulled us to a single container at the far end of the dock. Inside, mounted on a low pedestal, a mirror waited—its surface black and rippling, the source of everything Kai’s device had been screaming about. The moment we crossed the threshold, it woke.
The mirror’s surface rippled violently, and a shockwave of cursed energy blasted outward. The force sent me staggering, my feet sliding against the metal floor of the container. Yumi cursed, bracing herself against the frame, while Kai barely managed to hold onto his device.
From the mirror, the darkness spilled out like thick ink, twisting and condensing until shapes began to emerge—shadows with long, clawed limbs, moving unnaturally, like puppets without strings. Their eyes, if they had any, were nothing but voids, swallowing the dim light inside the container.
One of them lunged at me.
I barely had time to raise my sword before the creature’s claws raked down, the impact vibrating through my arms. The cursed being was fast—too fast. It slipped past my guard, its form shifting like smoke one second and solidifying the next. I gritted my teeth, slashing at its torso. My blade sliced through, but instead of falling apart, the shadow reformed instantly.
“They’re regenerating!” Yumi shouted, cutting another creature in half, only for it to reassemble itself within seconds. “This is bad.”
Kai fumbled with his device, his fingers flying over the screen. “The mirror is amplifying the cursed energy. These things won’t stop unless we sever their connection to it!”
Another creature lunged, this time for Kai. He ducked just in time, but his tablet went skidding across the floor. The shadow loomed over him, its amorphous form writhing as it prepared to strike.
“Kai, move!” I shouted.
Before the thing could land its blow, Yumi was already there. Her katana flashed in the dim light, striking through its core. Unlike before, this time she twisted the blade, forcing the cursed energy to disperse into thin wisps.
I turned my attention back to the mirror. If we can’t destroy the creatures, then we shut off their source.
Planting my feet, I lunged forward, raising my sword. As I swung down, the mirror pulsed violently, sending out another burst of energy that knocked me back. My tattoo burned hotter, the entity within me stirring with unsettling excitement.
Use me, Kage-no-Oni whispered. Let me feast.
I ignored it.
The mirror wasn’t done. A pulse of raw energy blasted from its surface, sending a fresh shockwave through the container. The metal walls groaned under the force, the shadows inside twisting violently as if something deeper had been disturbed from a deep slumber. The artifact wasn’t just radiating cursed energy—it was fighting back.
The next attack came fast. A jagged tendril of darkness erupted from the mirror, slashing through the air toward me. I barely dodged in time, feeling the unnatural chill scrape past my cheek like frozen claws. Yumi reacted instantly, her katana flashing in a clean arc as she cut through the tendril, but it reformed instantly, multiplying into several more.
“This thing is alive!” she shouted, backpedaling as more tendrils lashed out, striking the walls and floor with unnatural force.
“It’s resisting containment!” Kai shouted, frantically adjusting his device. “The energy is off the charts—we have to break its control before we can even think about moving it!”
The mirror pulsed again, and suddenly, reflections of ourselves stepped out from its surface—warped, grotesque versions, their eyes black voids, their expressions twisted mockeries. My own doppelgänger grinned at me, its mouth splitting wider than a human’s should. It lunged without hesitation.
I met it head-on, our blades clashing in a shower of sparks. The force of the impact sent vibrations through my arms, and for the first time, I felt an eerie sensation—I wasn’t just fighting a shadowy imitation. It knew my movements. Anticipated them. It was fighting like me.
Yumi was locked in combat with her own reflection, the doppelgänger moving with a fluidity that matched her technique perfectly. Kai cursed under his breath, hurling talismans toward the mirror to weaken its hold. “We have to break the synchronization! If it stays linked to us, these things will keep adapting!”
I grit my teeth, pushing back against my copy. “Then we cut the link!” I twisted my blade and slashed downward, forcing my doppelgänger back toward the mirror. Yumi followed my lead, forcing hers into a retreat as well.
“Kai, NOW!” I shouted.
Kai slammed a reinforced seal onto the mirror’s frame. A high-pitched screech rang out as cracks spread across the surface, and the doppelgängers froze for a moment. That was all the opening we needed.
Yumi and I struck simultaneously, slicing through the remaining shadow figures, their forms dissolving into mist as the mirror’s energy fluctuated wildly. The artifact trembled, its surface distorting as if something inside was screaming in fury.
“Contain it before it resets!” Kai yelled, grabbing the reinforced case we had brought and setting it down just outside the container. “Now! Get it inside!”
Yumi and I exchanged a look before moving in unison. As I reached the mirror, I felt the cursed energy clawing at my skin, trying to root itself in my soul. I gritted my teeth and reached forward, gripping the edge of the pedestal it sat on. My arms trembled under the sheer force resisting me.
“Hurry!” Yumi called, struggling against another oncoming shadow.
With a final surge of strength, I wrenched the mirror from its stand. The cursed energy pulsed angrily, but I didn’t let go. I turned, hauling the artifact toward the case. It fought back, a distorted face emerging on its surface, twisting and screaming.
You cannot contain me! the voice echoed in my skull.
“Watch me,” I growled, shoving the mirror inside the case. I slammed my palm against the artifact’s surface as I did, my tattoo flaring to life, the heat spreading through my veins as I forced the cursed energy to retreat back into its source. The mirror’s thrashing slowed, and with one final pulse, its glow dimmed.
Kai slammed the lid shut, sealing it with a series of precise hand movements. The moment the last barrier activated, the shadows froze. Then, as if a switch had been flipped, they collapsed into black mist, vanishing into nothingness.
The air inside the container grew still. My heartbeat pounded in my ears.
“It’s… done?” Kai asked, panting.
Yumi exhaled sharply, rolling her shoulder. “For now. But that thing isn’t gone—it’s just contained.” She wiped the sweat from her brow. “That was way too much effort just to capture one artifact.”
Kai exhaled, adjusting his glasses. “If this is what we’re up against now, we’re in serious trouble.”
I looked down at the sealed case, my tattoo still pulsing faintly beneath my skin. This wasn’t just another artifact. It was something more.
“Let’s get it back to the mansion before something else decides to come looking for it,” I muttered. “We need answers.”
With one last look at the now-silent container, we secured the reinforced case and made our way out of the docks, the weight of what we had just encountered pressing heavy on my chest. I felt the tattoo on my chest flare to life, its heat spreading through my veins. Not yet, I told it. Not unless I have to.
