Chapter Text
The air on Master Chen’s island was always thick with the heavy, sweet scent of crushed lemongrass and the sharp, metallic tang of sulfur from the nearby volcano. To five-year-old Skylor, the island was a kingdom of giant ferns, hidden stone passageways, and the endless, booming laughter of her father.
She was a curious child, always wandering where she shouldn’t. That afternoon, the palace courtyard was bathed in golden sunlight. The courtyard was surrounded by towering walls of black volcanic rock, carved with the leering faces of ancient Anacondrai serpents. In the center, a shallow stone fountain gurgled with cool mountain water.
Skylor giggled, her bright amber eyes reflecting the sparkling water. She was chasing a small, iridescent blue eel that darted across the fountain. It scrambled trying to be left alone.
"Wait, don't run!" Skylor laughed, scrambling after it.
Her tiny hand darted out, her fingers brushing the sleek, shimmering skin of the eel.
Instantly, a strange, electric warmth surged up her arm. Skylor gasped, pulling her hand back and looked down at it. To her amazement, a faint, electric blue hue rippled across her arm, shifting like oil on water. Her pupils widened for a brief second, and she felt a sudden, bizarre urge to make the lightning again. She let out a delighted squeal, completely unaware of the two figures watching her from the shaded balcony above.
Master Chen’s eyes went wide. His jaw dropped, the heavy jade beads around his neck clattering together as he leaned dangerously over the railing.
"Did you see that?" Chen gasped, his voice dropping its theatrical cadence and turning sharp, intense, and manic. "Adeline, look at the girl! The Amber power... it didn't skip a generation. It’s in her! An empty vessel, waiting to be filled!"
Beside him, Skylor’s mother, Adeline, went entirely pale. Her breath hitched in her throat, and she clutched the silk of her robes over her heart. While Chen’s face twisted into an expression of raw, greedy excitement, Adeline’s face crumbled into quiet horror. She looked down at her little girl, who was now giggling and trying to make the electricity again.
No, Adeline thought, a cold dread wrapping around her spine. Not her. Please, not my baby.
She knew exactly what Chen was. She knew his bottomless greed, his obsession with the ancient elementals, and his hatred for the mainland. If Skylor had been born without power, she might have been safe. She might have lived a normal life. But now? Chen wouldn't see a daughter anymore. He would see a weapon.
"Oh, the possibilities!" Chen cackled, clapping his hands together with a sound like a whip cracking. "We must begin at once. The training, the conditioning—she will be magnificent!"
Adeline didn't say a word. She couldn't. The heartbreak choked her, tears blurring her vision as she watched her innocent daughter play in the courtyard, completely oblivious to the fact that her childhood had just ended.
The next day, Skylor woke up in her room as usual.
The morning sun was just beginning to peek through the bamboo blinds of her bedroom, casting long, barred shadows across the floor. Skylor rubbed her eyes and sat up, her stomach rumbling. Usually, her mother would be there, brushing out Skylor's unruly red hair and singing quiet lullabies.
But the room was completely silent.
"Mommy?" Skylor called out, her voice small and echoing in the cold room.
She got out of bed, her bare feet pattering against the stone. She checked the wardrobe, the balcony, and the small garden where her mother liked to tend to the orchids. Nothing. The silence in the palace felt heavy, almost suffocating.
Panic, sharp and cold, began to settle in her chest. She ran down the long, winding corridors, her breath coming in short gasps, until she burst into the throne room.
Master Chen sat on his high, ornate throne, slurping a bowl of steaming noodles. Clouse stood beside him like a dark shadow, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Daddy!" Skylor cried, running toward the dais, her eyes brimming with tears. "Where’s Mommy? I can't find her anywhere!"
Chen stopped chewing. He lowered his chopsticks, looking down at his weeping daughter. There was no pity in his eyes, only a calculated, clinical coldness. He sighed theatrically, dabbing his mouth with a silk napkin.
"Ah, my poor, sweet Skylor," Chen said, his voice dripping with a false, exaggerated sadness. He stepped down from the throne and knelt before her, placing a heavy hand on her small shoulder. "I’m afraid I have some very bad news. Your mother... she left."
Skylor blinked through her tears. "Left? To get groceries? To the mainland?"
"No, my dear. She left us," Chen murmured, shaking his head. "She looked at you, she saw the power inside you, and she was afraid. She didn't want a daughter like you. She thinks you are a monster."
"No! That's not true!" Skylor sobbed, pulling away. "Mommy loves me!"
"If she loved you, would she have packed her bags and rowed away in the dead of night without even saying goodbye?" Chen’s voice turned sharp, cutting through her defenses. He grabbed her chin, forcing her to look into his eyes. "She saw you as a burden, Skylor. A weak, fragile little girl. She chose a life of comfort over you. Empathy, love... it makes people weak. She was weak."
Skylor felt her heart shatter into a thousand pieces. The image of her mother’s warm smile suddenly felt twisted, tainted by her father’s words. She left me. Because of my power. Because I’m a monster.
"But don't you worry," Chen whispered, his lips curling into a sickening, wide grin as he wiped a tear from her cheek. "You don't need her. You have me. And I am going to make sure you are never weak enough to be abandoned again."
"You promise?" Skylor asked.
Chen smiled and nodded.
Two years later...
The comfort of her childhood was stripped away within a week since Adeline left. The soft silk robes were replaced by a stiff, heavy orange uniform. Her toys were burned. Her life became a relentless cycle of fear and survival.
The heavy iron door slammed shut behind Skylor, the booming thud echoing through her chest like a heartbeat. Then, the lights cut out.
Total, suffocating darkness.
Seven-year-old Skylor stood frozen in the center of the labyrinth. The air here was entirely different from the tropical warmth of the courtyard; it was freezing, smelling of stagnant water and damp stone. She squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again, but it made no difference. The blackness was absolute.
"Daddy?" she whispered, her voice cracking.
Only the hollow echo of her own breathing answered. She clutched the stiff fabric of her oversized orange uniform, her small fingers trembling. She wanted to curl into a ball. She wanted her mother to lift her up and carry her away from this place. But she remembered her father’s sharp words: She left because you were weak.
I have to be strong, Skylor thought, a tear slipping down her cheek. I just have to.
Suddenly, the silence fractured. A low, rhythmic scraping sound began to drift through the stone corridors. It sounded like fingers scratching against rough stone.
"The Gauntlet of Shadows!" her father’s voice suddenly boomed over the hidden loudspeakers, loud and distorted. "A test of adaptability, my precious child! Clouse has prepared some playmates for you. Don't let them catch you!"
The scratching grew louder, accompanied by a horrible, wet shifting sound. Skylor backed away, her hands pressed flat against the freezing, slimy wall of the maze.
Step. Step. Drag.
From the darkness of a junction just ten feet away, two purple, burning pinpricks of light ignited. Then two more. And two more.
The shadow warriors emerged. They had no true faces—just swirling, shifting mass made of Clouse’s dark magic, held together by sheer malice. Their long, razor-sharp claws dragged along the stone floor, leaving trails of frost.
Skylor’s breath hitched. Panic, cold and sharp, flooded her veins. One of the shadows lunged.
She shrieked, diving to the side. Her hands scraped against the rough floor, drawing blood, but she didn't feel it. She scrambled to her feet and ran blindly down the left corridor. Her small boots pounded against the stone, her chest heaving as she swallowed mouthfuls of freezing air.
The labyrinth was a nightmare of dead ends. She turned a corner only to face a solid wall of black rock. She spun around, but the purple eyes were already there, blocking her escape. Three of the dark constructs advanced, their shadowy bodies expanding to fill the narrow hallway, blocking out what little space she had left.
"Use your power, girl!" Clouse’s cold voice hissed through the speaker. "Absorb their essence, or they will tear the life from you!"
The lead shadow lunged forward with impossible speed. Its icy claw swiped across Skylor’s shoulder. The fabric of her uniform tore, and a sensation of pure, numbing cold shot through her arm. It felt like her very soul was being drained. She collapsed to her knees, gasping, her limbs turning heavy as lead.
The shadow raised both claws to strike again, towering over her like a grim reaper.
No! her mind screamed. I want to live!
Driven by raw, primal terror, Skylor didn't cower. As the shadow brought its claws down, she threw her hands upward, planting her palms firmly against the creature's shifting, smoke-like chest.
"Please!" she sobbed.
The moment her skin made contact, the Amber power inside her awakened with a violent, desperate fury. It didn't just copy; it yanked.
Skylor’s eyes flashed a brilliant, blinding amber in the dark. A sharp gasp tore from her throat as a massive jolt of dark energy surged through her arms and into her chest. The sensation was terrifying—it felt like swallowing liquid nitrogen. Her vision twisted, and suddenly, the pitch-black labyrinth wasn't black anymore. She could see the outlines of the walls, illuminated in a eerie, negative-spectrum violet light.
The shadow warrior she was touching withered, its essence drained, and collapsed into nothingness.
But there were still two left. And they were angry.
"Yes! Look at that!" Chen’s manic laughter cackled over the speaker, completely unbothered by his daughter's agony. "More! Take the rest of them!"
Before Skylor could process the dark magic flooding her veins, the second shadow struck, knocking her hard against the wall. The back of her head hit the stone, making her vision swim. She felt her body beginning to turn semi-translucent, her physical form giving way to the shadow energy she had just stolen. She was slipping, losing her grip on her own body.
The final two shadows converged on her, their claws raised.
Fighting through the dizziness and the terrifying sensation of fading away, Skylor channeled the stolen power. She melted downward, her body turning entirely into smoke just as the claws slashed through the air where her head had been. She Reformulated a few feet behind them, coughing violently, her small hands shaking.
The shadows spun around, but Skylor was already moving with the unnatural, silent grace of a ghost. She darted forward, her small hands striking out, touching both constructs simultaneously.
The Amber power flared one last time, draining the remaining magic in a harsh, crackling burst. The shadows dissolved into harmless mist, leaving Skylor alone in the quiet darkness.
She fell to her hands and knees, the stolen magic rapidly evaporating from her system, leaving her body bruised, freezing, and utterly exhausted. She wept silently into the dark, her small shoulders shaking.
High above in the observation booth, Master Chen didn't rush down to comfort his traumatized child. He simply smiled, checking a box on his clipboard. "Fascinating. The absorption rate is highly efficient. Clouse, prepare the serpent pit. Let's see how she handles reflexes."
Chen took her to a narrow wooden plank suspended over a deep, dark trench. The stench of musk and rot drifted up from the darkness.
"Daddy, please," Skylor begged, looking up at the observation glass where Chen sat comfortably. "I'm exhausted."
"A true master of Amber doesn't get tired, Skylor! She fears nothing!" Chen barked, then turned to Clouse. "Drop her!"
Clouse pulled a lever. The plank flipped, and Skylor plummeted into the pit. She hit the sandy floor with a painful thud, knocking the wind out of her lungs. As she scrambled to her feet, a terrifying, rhythmic hissing began to fill the chamber.
From the shadows, dozens of giant, mutated island vipers slithered forward. Their scales clattered against the stone, and their yellow eyes locked onto the small child.
Skylor backed away until her spine hit the cold stone wall. A massive viper, easily three times her size, reared up in front of her, its fangs dripping with a sizzling green venom.
Mommy, help me, her mind screamed, but she knew no one was coming.
The viper lunged.
Driven by raw terror, Skylor jumped out of the way. She threw her hands forward, planting her palms directly onto the snake's body. The Amber power surged violently. Skylor gasped as her senses were suddenly overwhelmed. Her vision shifted, detecting heat signatures in the dark pit. Her muscles tightened, flooded with a terrifying, venomous reflex.
As the other snakes closed in, Skylor moved with unnatural, serpentine speed, dodging their strikes with impossible flexibility, her small hands striking out with the blinding force of a viper.
Up in the booth, Chen watched her fight for her life, a look of profound satisfaction on his face. He didn't care about the bruises forming on her skin, or the silent tears streaming down her face as she mimicked the monsters around her just to stay alive.
He had lost a wife, but he had gained his perfect, compliant weapon.