Running has always been my escape; my way of tasting freedom. No one can match my speed when I’m in this suit, when I’m the hero Vastria needs me to be. But tonight, I’m not running for the thrill. I’m running because the stealers who attacked might still be out there.

I skid to a stop, every muscle tensing as whispers scrape at my ears—distorted voices filled with hunger and violent impulse. The stealers. Good. They’re still nearby.

Pressing my palms together, I murmur the words that anchor me to my powers: “Dissolve into night, Keeper of none but dark.”

The world folds inward as my body melts into shadow. I slip unseen through the cracks of the buildings, inching closer until the alley opens before me. A cluster of stealers lingers there, unnaturally still, their vacant stares locked forward as if waiting for a command.

Strange. They’re never this…controlled.

I edge forward, hand outstretched, ready to plunge into the nearest one’s core and feel its essence when,

“Keeper! Enemy at your three o’clock!”

A feminine voice cuts through the silence, alarming my movement. I fling myself sideways, tearing free of the shadows just as a snarl rips through the alley.

Towering above me, nearly seven feet tall, is something I’ve never seen before—a stealer shaped almost like a human. Its body pulses with glowing markings identical to those etched into my suit.

It snarls again before its form unravels into darkness. My katana is already in my hand, the blade singing as I cut through the air only to clash against brick. The creature is gone.

“Damn it!” I hiss, slamming my fist into the wall hard enough to leave a dent. The katana slides back into its sheath with a frustrated scrape. If I’d been faster…

“Never dwell on what’s already done, Keeper,” the familiar voice tries to soothe me.

From the darkness at my feet, a lithe shape unfurls. A cat steps forward, her body carved entirely from shadow, her golden eyes glinting like molten light in the gloom. She fixes me with a gaze that demands focus, not regret.

Umbra. My companion. She was born through an old friend, the same moment I was chosen, shaped from my own conscience yet she’s older, wiser, far sharper than her feline form suggests. To the world she may look harmless, but I know better. She’s the reason I can carry this double life without breaking.

“Were you able to snatch the essence of that stealer, Keeper?” Umbra asks as her sleek form winds around my feet.

I crouch, opening my fist to reveal a broken, golden shard resting in my palm. “If I hadn’t been interrupted, we’d have the whole core.”

Her eyes narrow, studying the shard in my hand. “Even fragments serve our research. Don’t waste yourself wishing for what cannot be.”

“You’re right,” I mutter, staring at the jewel’s fractured shape. “I just wish…I could be better. That I wouldn’t keep making mistakes.”

“Mistakes are the forge of strength,” she says, her tone carrying the weight of inevitability. “Each one forms who you are, Keeper. Never forget that.”

A weak chuckle escapes me. “Always the perfect answers. I can never win against you, Umbra.”

She purrs in contentment as I slip the shard into a vial and secure it at my waistband. Rising to my feet, I scan the alley one last time: empty. The night has given all it will.

Umbra leaps with liquid grace, landing on my shoulder and settling there as if it were her rightful throne. I press my palm against the wall and step forward, my body melding with the stone as I ascend, shadows carrying me effortlessly back to the rooftop. 

We settle on the rooftop, the city hushed beneath us. Umbra curls into a neat coil, her tail wrapping close as her eyes drift toward the pale curve of the moon. I pull a worn book from my waist and unfold it across my lap, pen scratching quietly as I record the night from the attack, to the shattered core slipping through my hands.

I pause, the page waiting for more. “Umbra,” I murmur, eyes narrowing at the ink, “that seven-foot stealer…have you ever seen anything like it before?”

Umbra purrs, as though weighing her words. When she finally speaks, her voice is small, almost like she is aware of the city around us, “Keeper…this is only speculation, but that stealer may very well have once been a hero of Vastria.”

Her words strike me like cold water as I speak, “From all the history lessons you’ve given me, only one Keeper ever fell to the darkside. And you told me you couldn’t connect with his companion, which was a…”

“Snake,” Umbra finishes without hesitation.

“Right and you’ve always said a companion is the tether to a Keeper’s sanity. Without it, the mind breaks…but turning into a stealer?” I shake my head. “That’s not supposed to be possible.”

Umbra’s eyes gleam under the moonlight. “What should be impossible doesn’t mean it cannot be true, Keeper.”

Her certainty lingers in the air. I jot down her words and close the book with a snap, my gaze shifting back to her, “Can we drop the ‘Keeper’ title already? I do have an actual name,” I say lightly, knowing full well she’d rather choke on her own tail than use it.

“I would sooner be cursed by the Null than be heard speaking that name,” She speaks with a crisp authority, cushioned by a teasing sparkle in her voice.

I can’t help but chuckle beneath the mask. Keeper of the Shadows; the true heroes of Vastria. I am the fifth to bear the title. I’ve heard the stories of the generations before me from Umbra, who holds them in the highest regard. So do I; their achievements are the very foundation that pushes me to do better.

But there is something Umbra reveres even more—the Null. The source of my power, the very being that gave her form. I’ve never seen it with my own eyes, only heard stories, but I know it exists…hidden somewhere in Vastria, locked away by the government.

“What are you thinking?” Umbra’s voice slices through the stillness.

“I’m wondering…do you trust the government, Umbra?” I ask, meeting her eyes.

She pauses, tilting her head before shaking it ever so slightly. “That’s exactly what we’re trying to find out, aren’t we…Keeper?”

I reach down to stroke her fur, my fingers brushing over the collar around her neck. The ancient relic at its center reacts with life beneath my touch.

“Want to visit Airtsav?” she asks, her voice tinged with understanding.

“I want to check the Lumi of Qiang Lee,” I reply.

“Only for sixty seconds. Then we come straight back. Close your eyes,” she instructs.

I obey. When I open them, the world has shifted. The sky above glows in a surreal cascade of colors, and I find myself in a hospital room. A shadowed, weary figure lies on the bed, yet at his center, his Lumi pulses steadily. The blue enchantment I placed continues to surge with unwavering power.

In the next instant, I’m back on the rooftop. Umbra is stretched out, resting, likely drained from the transit. I scoop her into my arms and resume my path across the buildings to our safe haven; my apartment, determined to close the night’s chapter and return to a semblance of normal life.

“You used the same chant tonight, Keeper. You know the consequences,” Umbra says weakly.

“I used a variation of it. That’s why Qiang’s enchantment hasn’t broken,” I reply.

“Or perhaps…the chant recognized a resemblance between them. After all, the one you rescued tonight is his son,” she muses.

“There’s something else, Umbra,” I continue, my voice low. “The stealers…they weren’t acting like their usual savageness. Tonight, they moved like puppets either under the command of that seven-foot stealer or something even beyond it.”

“The core we recovered…it will help us uncover the truth,” Umbra concludes, her eyes…a mixture of curiosity and concern.

“Don’t talk too much. You need to rest; the transit drains your strength.”

She purrs in agreement, but then, with a teasing lilt, she adds, “You called him…handsome.”

I miss the next landing on the building, barely regaining my balance before continuing across the rooftops. That’s right, how could I ever forget? Umbra sees and hears everything, and there’s no way she’ll let me live this one down.

“Hmm?” she purrs against my chest.

“It was…a slip of the tongue,” I mutter awkwardly. She purrs again, clearly enjoying herself, and I deliberately ignore her.

I just had to let my intrusive thoughts win when I rescued him.