Part One: The Tower of Crystals
The portal swallowed Muken whole.
He fell through a tunnel of screaming colors. Purple, gold, electric blue streaking past like shooting stars. The air was thick and sweet: spun sugar, rain, and something ancient.
His shadow stretched ahead of him, longer than it should have been, reaching toward the light at the tunnel's end.
"Exciting." Kage's voice slithered through his skull.
Muken had no time to answer. The light exploded.
He hit the ground hard. Knees buckled. Palms scraped against something smooth. Cold. Alive.
He looked down.
Crystal. He was kneeling on a platform of solid, shimmering crystal. Clear as glass, but beneath the surface, colors swirled like living things.
The platform hung in empty air.
Below him, a city of impossible spires stretched toward a sky with no sun. Just permanent auroras. Green, purple, crimson, bleeding into each other like wet paint.
The Yume no Sekai. The Dream World.
He had studied pictures. Watched documentaries. Memorized textbooks.
None of it prepared him for this.
The air pressed against his skin, warm and buzzing. Dream Magic. It made his teeth ache. Made his shadow stretch.
"So much food."
Muken forced himself to stand. His legs shook. His stomach clenched like he hadn't eaten in days. His head pounded.
Behind him, the portal snapped shut with a sound like a breaking bone.
Kagura stood a few feet away, arms crossed, violet eyes watching him. Her grin had softened into curiosity.
"First time?" she asked.
"I studied," Muken said. "I read about this place."
"Reading is not standing." She walked past him, boots clicking on crystal. "Welcome to Hikari Tou. The Prism Tower. My home. My chaos. My beautiful, beautiful mess."
She spread her arms wide.
The tower rose above them. Not built. Grown. A colossal, multifaceted crystal spiraling toward the aurora sky like a frozen scream. Bridges of solidified rainbow light connected it to smaller floating platforms.
On those platforms, people. Students. Witches.
Some trained, their magic crackling in bursts of fire, water, wind. Others walked, talked, laughed.
They all stopped when they saw Kagura.
They all stared at Muken.
"They smell the nightmare on you," Kage whispered. "They are afraid."
A boy across the courtyard dropped his training weapon. It clattered against crystal. He didn't pick it up. Just kept staring at Muken's shadow.
Muken pulled his jacket tighter, as if that could hide anything.
He took a step forward.
The boy flinched.
Yes, Muken thought. Be afraid.
Then he hated himself for thinking it.
✦ ✦ ✦
Part Two: The First Whisper
Kagura led him through the tower's lower halls.
The interior was worse than the exterior. Crystal walls curved and twisted in ways that made Muken's eyes hurt. Light came from everywhere and nowhere. His shadow stretched and shrank with each step.
"This place is unstable," Kage said. "The dreams here are loud. Hungry."
Muken ignored it.
They passed a chamber where a boy lifted boulders of solid earth with his mind. Doryoku. Earth Dream Magic. The boy glanced up, saw Muken, and frowned.
They passed a chamber where a girl weaved threads of light into a net. Hikariryoku. Light Dream Magic. The net shimmered, then collapsed. She cursed. Then she saw Muken's shadow and went very still.
"They know," Kage whispered. "They can feel me."
Muken kept walking.
Kagura stopped in front of a door made of black wood. The only non-crystal thing he had seen.
"This is your room," she said. "Sleep. Eat. The food is in the cupboard. It is not poisoned. Probably."
She turned to leave.
"Wait." Muken's voice came out rougher than he intended. "You brought me here. You said you would train me. When do we start?"
Kagura looked over her shoulder. Her grin returned, sharp and dangerous.
"You start when your shadow stops whispering and starts listening. Right now, it is feral. Hungry. You cannot command what you cannot control." She pointed at his feet. "That thing is not your weapon yet. It is your enemy. And you cannot fight an enemy that lives inside you."
She walked away.
Muken stood alone in the hallway.
"She is wrong," Kage said. "I am not your enemy. I am your other half. We are the same."
"Shut up."
"You cannot silence me. I am your nightmare. I am always here."
Muken opened the door and stepped inside.
Small room. Bed. Desk. A window looking out at the aurora sky. A cupboard with bread, fruit, water.
He sat on the bed and stared at his shadow.
It stretched across the floor, darker than it should have been. It didn't move with him. It moved on its own, pulsing slowly, like a sleeping animal.
"Rest," Kage said. "You are weak. When you wake, we will hunt."
Muken lay down. He didn't expect to sleep. He never expected to sleep.
But the Dream Magic in the air was heavy. It pressed down like a blanket. His eyes grew heavy. His breathing slowed.
For the first time in years, Muken Sato closed his eyes and didn't fight the darkness.
He dreamed of nothing.
But his shadow dreamed of claws.
✦ ✦ ✦
Part Three: The Rival
He woke to the sound of water moving with purpose.
Muken sat up. His room was dim. The aurora sky outside had shifted to deep violet. He had slept for hours. His body felt heavier. His shadow felt thicker.
"Someone is outside," Kage said.
Muken stood and opened the door.
A girl stood in the hallway.
Tall. Long dark hair pulled into a tight ponytail. Her uniform was blue and white, crisp and clean, not a single wrinkle. Her eyes were the color of a deep lake, cold, calm, unreadable.
Water swirled around her wrists like living bracelets. Suiryoku. Water Dream Magic. But this wasn't gentle stream water. It moved with pressure. With weight. With the promise of drowning.
She touched her ponytail once, smoothing a stray hair. A small, deliberate motion. Then her hand dropped.
"You are the Mumei sha," she said. Flat voice. "The one Kagura-sama brought from Midgard."
"I am Muken."
"I know your name. I do not care about your name." Her eyes dropped to his shadow. "I care about that."
The shadow pulsed.
"She is strong," Kage whispered. "Her water is deep. Cold. Angry."
"What do you want?" Muken asked.
She stepped closer. The water around her wrists tightened into blades.
"I want to know what kind of monster Kagura-sama invited into our home." She tilted her head. "Are you going to attack me? Is that what nightmares do?"
Muken's hands curled into fists. "I am not a nightmare."
"Your shadow disagrees."
"She is testing you," Kage said. "Do not fail."
Muken forced himself to stay still. His heart hammered against his ribs. "Who are you?"
The girl's lips curved into a smile. No warmth in it.
"Shiori Amano. Jutsushi of Hikari Tou. Ranked first among the apprentices." She let the water blades dissolve. Her hand went to her ponytail again, another smooth, unconscious gesture. "And I will be watching you, Mumei sha. If your shadow hurts anyone here, I will drown it. And you with it."
She walked away.
Muken watched her go. His hands were shaking.
"I like her," Kage said.
"You like everyone who wants to kill us?"
"She is honest. Most people lie."
Muken closed the door and leaned against it. His heart was still pounding.
He had been in the Dream World for less than a day. He had already made an enemy.
He turned to close his door.
Shiori was still there. She hadn't walked away.
"One more thing," she said, her voice low. "The last Mumei sha who came here... he didn't leave. He's still in the tower. In the basement."
She smiled. It was not a nice smile.
"Ask Kagura about him. If you dare."
Then she was gone.
✦ ✦ ✦
Part Four: The First Lesson
Muken did not sleep. He sat on his bed, staring at the floor, thinking about the basement.
Kagura found him an hour later in the tower's central courtyard. A wide, circular platform open to the sky. Other students trained in groups, their magic flashing in bursts of color.
Kagura wasn't wearing her pink jacket. A simple grey training gi. Hair tied back. The mud was gone from her skin. She looked almost normal.
Almost.
"Sit," she said, pointing to the ground in front of her.
Muken sat.
"Your shadow. Call it."
"I don't know how."
"Yes you do." Kagura knelt across from him. "You have been hearing it all day. Whispering. Talking. That is not a one-way connection. It can hear you too. So speak."
Muken looked down at his shadow.
"Kage," he said.
The shadow pulsed.
"Yes."
"Come forward."
The shadow didn't move.
"I am always forward. I am your shadow."
Muken gritted his teeth. "Manifest the claws."
The shadow stretched. For a moment, the edges grew sharp. Then they stopped.
"I am hungry. Feed me first."
Kagura laughed. "It has demands. Good. That means it has will. A will can be broken or bent. Which do you want to do?"
"Bent," Muken said.
"Then you need leverage." Kagura stood and walked to the edge of the courtyard. She pointed to a training dummy made of crystal. "Use the claws. Cut that dummy."
"I can't. It won't listen."
"Then make it listen." Kagura crossed her arms. "You are its master. Act like one."
Muken stared at his shadow. It stared back, if a shadow could stare.
"I am not a dog," Kage said. "I am your nightmare. You do not command me. We negotiate."
"Fine." Muken's jaw tightened. "What do you want?"
"More nightmares. Stronger ones. The Mara was weak. I want to taste something powerful."
"You'll get nothing if you don't help me now."
Silence. Long and heavy.
Then the shadow stretched.
The claws extended from Muken's shadow, black and sharp, reaching across the courtyard. They wrapped around the training dummy and squeezed.
Crystal cracked. Then shattered.
Students nearby stopped training. They stared.
Muken's hands shook. The claws retracted.
"Satisfied?" Kage asked.
"No," Muken said. But his lips twitched. "But it's a start."
Kagura was grinning. "Good. Again."
✦ ✦ ✦
Part Five: The Duel
Three days passed.
Muken trained from dawn until his body gave out. He learned to call the claws on command. Retract them. Extend them to different lengths.
He also learned that the other students hated him.
They whispered behind his back. Nightmare boy. Shadow freak. Mumei sha. Some crossed to the other side of the hallway when he passed. Others just stared.
Shiori was the worst.
She didn't whisper. Didn't avoid him. She stood in his way.
Every morning, she was outside his door. Every meal, she sat across from him in the refectory. Every training session, she watched from the edge of the courtyard. And every time, she touched her ponytail, once, twice, a nervous tell she probably didn't know she had.
She was waiting.
On the fourth day, she stopped waiting.
"You have been here long enough," she said, stepping into the courtyard. "Show me what your shadow can do."
Muken looked at Kagura. Kagura nodded.
"A duel," Kagura announced. "First to yield. No killing. Everything else is allowed."
The other students gathered in a circle. Excited. They wanted to see the freak get crushed.
Shiori raised her hands. Water poured from the air around her, forming spinning rings.
Muken's shadow stretched.
"Finally," Kage whispered. "Food."
Shiori attacked first.
The water rings shot toward Muken like circular saws. He dodged the first two. The third clipped his shoulder, spun him around. The fourth would have taken his head.
His shadow moved.
The claws extended, black and sharp, and sliced the water ring in half. Water splashed to the ground, harmless.
Shiori's eyes narrowed. "Fast."
She summoned more water. A wave this time, crashing toward him like a tsunami.
Muken couldn't dodge. Couldn't block. So he did the only thing he could think of.
He ordered his shadow to consume.
The claws retracted. The shadow opened. A dark maw appeared on the ground between Muken and the wave. Water poured into it. Not splashing. Disappearing.
Shiori's wave vanished.
She stared. "What did you do?"
"Tasted her," Kage said. "She is salt and depth. Angry at the world. Lonely."
Muken didn't answer. He was too busy staying upright. The shadow had taken more than water. It had taken his energy. His vision blurred. His legs went weak.
Shiori saw it. She raised her hand for another attack.
Then Kagura stepped between them.
"Enough."
Shiori lowered her hand. Her face flushed with frustration. Her fingers twitched toward her ponytail, then stopped.
"He absorbed my magic," she said. "That is not a technique. That is theft."
"It is survival," Kagura replied. "And the duel is over. Muken did not yield. You did not defeat him. It is a draw."
The crowd murmured. A draw. The Mumei sha had drawn with the top apprentice.
Shiori's cold mask cracked. For just a moment, Muken saw something underneath.
Fear.
Then she turned and walked away. Her hand finally touched her ponytail, gripping it tight, like a lifeline.
Muken collapsed to his knees. His shadow pulsed weakly.
"Worth it," Kage whispered.
Muken didn't agree. But he didn't disagree either.
✦ ✦ ✦
Part Six: The Night
That night, Muken sat on his bed and stared at his hands.
He had used the shadow. He had fought. He had not lost.
But he had not won either.
"You are thinking too much," Kage said.
"I'm thinking about what I'm becoming."
"You are becoming strong. That is all that matters."
Muken looked out the window. The aurora sky was beautiful. Cold. Distant.
He pulled out his phone. No signal. No bars. Just a small icon indicating he was outside any network. He had sent a message to his parents before stepping through the portal, but there was no way to know if they had received it. No way to know if they had replied.
He was cut off. Completely.
The weight of it settled in his chest. He wasn't in Tokyo anymore. He wasn't anywhere his parents could reach. He was alone in the Dream World, with only a nightmare for company.
He put the phone away.
"They do not matter," Kage said. "Only we matter."
"Shut up."
"You cannot shut me up. I am your nightmare. I am the only one who will never leave."
Muken lay down. He closed his eyes.
"One question," Kage whispered, its voice curling around his thoughts like smoke. "When Shiori looked at you today, did you want to hurt her? Or did you want her to see you?"
Muken's eyes snapped open.
The shadow pulsed once. Twice.
"Sleep well, Muken. Tomorrow, we hunt."
He didn't dream.
But his shadow dreamed of claws and water and a girl who was afraid of the dark.
And somewhere in that darkness, Muken wasn't sure which one he was anymore.