Leonidas ran quickly, following the servant.

  He finally arrived at the castle courtyard. It was night. Torches were lit.

  Guards looked around nervously as the crowd gathered.

  The Rift wasn't supposed to be black.

  Rifts glowed blue when stable, red when dangerous, purple when about to collapse.

  This one was black. And it was growing.

  He stood still, weak from the transformation.

  His shadow moved wrong. It lagged behind his steps as he walked closer to the Rift.

  The guards noticed and instinctively stepped back.

  They can feel it. What I've become.

  The Rift lashed out with black tendrils. The ground around it withered into ash.

  The air smelled of burnt sugar and rotting flowers.

  Arjuna was there along with 4 Rift Knights. They were trying everything to at least stabilise the barrier.

  He tried lightning barriers, but the Rift, like an all-devouring black hole, absorbed his lightning.

  Arjuna turned around and saw Leonidas. "Oh, thank the gods you're here."

  Arjuna suddenly sensed something dark, something dangerous, as if death itself now possessed Leonidas.

  "... What... what happened to you?"

  "That energy. That's not... Leonidas, what did you do?" Arjuna said with urgency.

  Suddenly, the black tendrils from the Rift reached out like a tiger, especially to Leonidas.

  They wrapped around his ankle like chains.

  Everyone screamed in horror. Arjuna moved to cut them.

  "Wait!" Leonidas screamed.

  Leo touched the tendrils.

  They didn't fight back, didn't lash out. Instead, they calmed down and let go of Leonidas.

  The tendrils retracted into the Rift, which stabilised slightly.

  The crowd stopped speaking, all gasping at the event.

  Arjuna stared at Leonidas suspiciously, hand still on his bow.

  The crowd began to murmur.

  One Rift Knight said, "The prince... he's corrupted the Rift!"

  Another screamed out, "He's been touched by darkness!"

  Arjuna raised his hands for silence, eyes still locked on Leo.

  "Everyone, back to your post at once."

  "Leonidas, come to my chamber, now," Arjuna said in a low, dangerous tone.

  They walked silently as the guard stared maliciously.

  Leo's shadow would sometimes move on its own.

  Arjuna did notice, yet chose to ignore it.

  They finally arrived at Arjuna's study.

  It was a small room with weapons on the walls and a map on the table.

  "Show me," Arjuna said.

  Leonidas hesitated before then revealing his hand.

  On his left hand was the black mark.

  On his right hand, solar marks from Karna—faint golden lines.

  "The right hand is Karna's power. Talent theft through the tournament connection. Rare, but not unheard of," Arjuna said.

  "That. That is something else entirely," he said, pointing to Leonidas's left hand.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  "That is an Underworld script."

  "How long have you known?" Arjuna asked.

  "Known what?" Leonidas asked, confused.

  "Don't try to play dumb. How long have you known you're Underworld-touched?"

  "Since this morning. The system told me."

  "What's a system?"

  Leonidas explained the system and what had happened, though he had conveniently left out his reincarnation.

  He explained the soul strain, the choice he had to make.

  He showed the three flames in his soul chambers through Rift energy.

  "I wasn't trying to corrupt the Rift. I didn't know this would happen," Leonidas said.

  Silence. Arjuna walked to the window, looked out at the kingdom.

  "My father will want you executed. The priests will call you demon-spawn. The people will fear you."

  Arjuna then said, turning around, "But I trained you. And I don't waste time on lost causes."

  "You have three days before the wedding. In three days, you will stand before my father and the court. You will prove you can control this power, or I will put you down myself. Understood?"

  Leonidas nodded quickly, relieved and terrified. "Understood."

  Arjuna pulled out an ancient scroll from a drawer.

  "The Underworld has not touched our realm in three hundred years. When it did, it nearly destroyed us. Learn it. Master it. Or die trying."

  Arjuna suddenly turned towards Leonidas. "Leonidas. My sister trusts you. I am beginning to. Do not make us regret it."

  Leonidas said with confidence, "I won't."

  "That's what they all say," Arjuna answered back dismissively.

  Leo left with the scroll clutched in his hands and the weight of three days pressing on his shoulders.

  It was late at night. Leo was trying to read the scroll by moonlight in the same garden where he had met Bharati.

  Leo couldn't focus.

  The scroll was in ancient script, half-faded.

  His shadow kept moving, distracting him.

  The third flame in his soul was restless.

  Three days. I have three days to master something that took others' lifetimes.

  Footsteps were heard slowly approaching him. He didn't even bother to look up.

  "Arjuna, I'm trying to—"

  "Not Arjuna," Bharati answered.

  Leo looked up and saw her in training clothes, with two practice swords.

  She sat across from him. "I heard what happened at the Rift," Bharati said.

  "And you came to see the monster?" Leo said.

  "I came to train my husband. We had a deal, remember?" she said, chuckling a bit.

  "I don't think training is going to help with this," he said, a bit disappointed.

  He showed her the scroll and explained Arjuna's ultimatum.

  "Your brother gave me three days to control the power that nearly destroyed your kingdom."

  "Then we'd better not waste time."

  She took the scroll and read it.

  "Ah. The Separation Technique. This is what you need."

  "You can read this?"

  "I'm a princess of the Brahman Empire. I can read seven dead languages. Can you?"

  "No," he said, deflated.

  "The Underworld energy consumes. That's its nature. The technique doesn't stop the consumption. It redirects it. You feed it something else. Something renewable."

  "Like what?" he asked.

  "Your other powers."

  Bharati then explained further.

  Create a cycle: Underworld energy feeds on Annihilation Flames.

  Annihilation Flames are replenished by Solar energy.

  Solar energy is naturally regenerated from sunlight.

  It's a closed loop—sustainable but delicate.

  "Think of it like juggling three knives. Drop one, you lose a hand."

  "Why are you helping me? I could be dangerous," he said, doubting himself.

  "Because dangerous men who know they're dangerous are less frightening than dangerous men who think they're heroes," Bharati said, her tone turning serious.

  "You're afraid of what you've become. That means you'll be careful."

  "I can work carefully."

  "Come. We start tonight."

  "Now?"

  "You have three days. I don't sleep much anyway."

  Leo sat in meditation, three flames active.

  Trying to create the cycle Bharati described.

  Underworld → Annihilation → Solar → Underworld.

  He was failing. The Underworld flame kept trying to devour everything.

  In his soul-space, black flames chased red, red consumed gold, and gold flickered and died.

  "Stop forcing it. Let it flow."

  "What do you think I'm doing?" Leo said, frustrated.

  "No. You're strangling it. The Underworld doesn't take orders. It makes deals."

  "Deals?" Leo asked, confused.

  "It's sentient energy. Offer it something."

  He spoke to the Underworld flame: I'll feed you. But slowly. You get a steady meal, not a feast.

  The flame... listened.

  It pulsed once. Agreement? Leo couldn't tell.

  The cycle began: Black → Red → Gold → Black.

  Slow. Stuttering. But working.

  The flames stabilised.

  Leo opened his eyes, grinning at Bharati.

  "I did it! I—"

  CRACK.

  Suddenly, a Rift opened in the garden, ten feet from them.

  Pure black portal.

  Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

  The air temperature dropped to freezing instantly.

  Something came out of the Rift.

  Not a monster.

  A person.

  Tall. Pale skin like a corpse. Black armour that seemed to absorb light.

  Eyes that glowed with the same red-cracked pattern as Leo's left eye.

  The figure looked at Leo.

  It spoke with a booming voice. "Fifth Prince. We have been searching for you."

  Leonidas asked in confusion and in fear, "Who... Who are you?"

  "I am Mordain. First Blade of the Underworld Throne, and I have come to bring you home."

  Bharati drew her sword. It was a talwar, a curved single-edged blade with a moderate forward curve, optimised for powerful slashing cuts.

  It had a short grip and a simple crossguard with quillons that widened or curved slightly at the ends.

  The disc pommel locked the wrist, encouraging strong cutting mechanics rather than free wrist motion.

  "He's not going anywhere," Bharati said.

  He laughed, ignoring her. "Prince. Your siblings have noticed your awakening."

  "The Second Prince is... displeased."

  "Siblings? Second Prince?"

  "Have you forgotten, my Prince?"

  "Five Princes. Five thrones. One realm, and only one may rule."

  Black tendrils shot from Mordain's shadow, reaching for Leo.

  Leonidas, on instinct, blocked it with his flames. He then summoned his tachi and rushed in.

  But Mordain used his black tendrils again to block. Then he used 7 black tendrils like individual bullets, firing them at Leonidas.

  "Leonidas, jump now," Bharati said, using the power of her talent.

  Leonidas jumped up, narrowly avoiding the tendrils.

  Bharati then rushed in to attack Mordain from the ground while Leo coated his tachi in both red and black flames and solar energy, then struck.

  Mordain was forced to dodge both attacks.

  Bharati stopped Leonidas as she realised something.

  He wasn't trying to kill them. Rather, he was testing.

  "Adequate, but you still need some training," Mordain said.

  "In seven days, the Second Prince shall come for you. Prepare yourself," Mordain said before stepping back into the Rift.

  Leonidas and Bharati were left standing there, confused.