The Fall
Copyright© 2026 by Luna winters
Chapter 2
Miku stared at the shadowy figure with contempt, her rage simmering beneath the surface. Every manic laugh from the shadow doubled her fury — a fury tangled with cold, creeping fear. Fear that she, too, would be pulled into that painted prison, just like Kai.
But fear wouldn’t win. She planted her feet. Attack — no second chances.
She surged forward, unleashing a roaring stream of water toward the shadow. It shifted warily, revealing more of itself: a humanoid form cloaked in darkness, with only two glowing eyes piercing through.
Miku didn’t let up. She sent waves in every direction, but the shadow blinked in and out — disappearing, reappearing, always just out of reach. Her assault was useless.
Time to switch tactics.
She coated her body in a shimmering veil of water — a moving shield. The shadow could solidify air into objects and hurl them, but against her water wall, they dissolved into nothing. She used her streams as a feint, predicting its next appearance — and lunged.
Her fist connected — but instead of dissolving into paint, the shadow felt solid, hard as stone. A sickening crack echoed as pain shot through her arm. She stumbled back, cradling her broken limb.
“Mudada,” the shadow jeered, drinking in her agony. “I was willing to let you live ... but a crippled hime is useless to me. Your pain pleases me ... so I’ll end it mercifully.”
From its hands, a massive spear materialized, dark and glinting. Miku clutched her arm, despair washing over her. Healing it now felt pointless. She closed her eyes as the spear spiraled toward her skull.
Clang.
Metal rang out. Kai stood before her, the spear shattered in his crystalline grip.
“Mizu hime, daijobu?” he asked, eyes searching hers.
She opened her eyes slowly, meeting his gaze. A faint smile touched her lips. Safe.
“I’m fine,” she breathed. “And stop calling me water princess. Deal with that thing while I heal my hand.”
Kai nodded, already moving. He shot toward the shadow, which was still staggering from his earlier blow. Crystal coated his fist — he struck once, twice — but the shadow only shimmered, unfazed.
“Scared, aren’t you?” it taunted, recomposing itself. “Already tasting despair?”
Kai just smiled. “You should be the scared one.”
“Why? Your punches are nothing to me.”
“Simple. You shift between a solid form and a pictorial form — one for physical attacks, one to counter water. Switching makes you seem invincible ... but it’s just an illusion.”
The shadow’s eyes narrowed. “A fool like you shouldn’t have figured that out ... Not only did you leave an afterimage in my trap, you deduced my ability. But it doesn’t matter. Now ... you see my true form. Now ... you know true despair.”
“Be my guest,” Kai said calmly, stepping back toward Miku.
She had already healed her hand, water glowing faintly around her skin. She watched, impressed — Kai wasn’t just reckless. He was sharp.
The shadow expanded, bursting through the dungeon roof in a shower of stone and dust. Sky poured in above them — real, blue, blinding. Kai pulled Miku aside as rubble crashed down.
The now-giant shadow hurled solidified objects from the air — spears, blades, chunks of rock — all aimed and guided with lethal intent. It charged toward them, faster than sight.
“Cover me, Mizu Hime,” Kai called. “Wash the objects away. I’ve got an idea for the finish.”
Miku didn’t argue. She summoned a torrent, drenching the airborne weapons just as Kai — fists now shimmering with both crystal and a thin film of her water — shattered them mid-air. One by one, they dissolved.
The shadow closed in, throwing a punch that Kai dodged, answering with a crystal-coated kick to its side. But it shifted to nothingness again, slipping through his blow — and materialized behind him, a dark hand clamping around Kai’s throat.
“Know despair ... know pain,” it hissed, lifting him like a doll.
Miku tried to intervene with a whip of water, but the shadow blocked it with a wall of conjured debris.