Kaelen lay on the floor for an hour. When he opened his eyes, the world looked different. Shadows weren't flat anymore. They had depth. They looked like doorways.
[System Rebooting...][Connection Re-established (Local).][Major Victory!]
[You have consumed a Monarch (Fragment).][Level Up!][Level Up!][Level Up!][Current Level: 20]
[New Aspect Acquired: Living Shadow.][Skills Unlocked:]
Shadow Jump: Teleport between shadows.
Umbral Clone: Create one solid copy of yourself.
Nightmare Cloak: Become intangible for 3 seconds.
Kaelen sat up. He felt... cold. Emotionally cold. He looked at Rix. She was groaning, trying to stand up.
Usually, Kaelen would rush to help. Now, he just watched. He calculated her survival odds. Survival: 80%. Injuries: broken ribs.
"Stop," Kaelen slapped his own face. "Stay human."
He walked over and helped Rix up. "You... you ate him," Rix whispered, looking at Kaelen with horror. "I saw it. You turned into a mouth."
"I did what I had to do," Kaelen said. His voice echoed slightly, as if two people were speaking at once.
He walked to the pedestal where the map was. He also found a Key—a heavy iron key that radiated cold. [Item: Key to the Deep Seal.]
"We have the map," Kaelen said. "And the key to Ren's cage."
"We should go back," Rix said, clutching her side. "We're not ready for what's downstairs."
"Agreed," Kaelen said. "We need to go back to the City. We need to level up. And..."
He looked at his Shadow Hand. "...I need to figure out how to hide this before the System deletes me."
Kaelen used his new Shadow Jump skill. He grabbed Rix. They sank into the floor, bypassing the 50 floors of enemies, and appeared outside the tower on the bone-plains.
They had survived the Surface. But Kaelen had brought a piece of the darkness back with him.
[End of Volume 2]