Novels by Bidemi

Darkness. Thick, endless, suffocating darkness. Edgar Holman drifted through it like a falling ember, weightless, lost, half-conscious.His body felt both real and unreal, like he was dissolving and reforming every second. A whisper echoed somewhere in the black: “found you”His eyes snapped open. And he realized he was lying on cold marble. A pale light flickered above him, blue, trembling like fire trapped in glass. The air tasted metallic. Too still. Too quiet.Edgar pushed himself up, grimacing at the ache reverberating through his bones. “Where… am I?”His voice bounced back in eerie, distorted echoes, as if the space around him didn’t understand sound properly.He stood slowly, taking in his surroundings: A massive circular chamber. Marble pillars. Floating shards of glowing crystal spinning lazily overhead.And on every wall, symbols similar to the brand on Lyra’s arm. Only these were etched deeper, carved in jagged spirals that pulsed with faint black light.A chill crawled up

The alley vibrated like a living heartbeat as the rift behind Lyra tore wider, its jagged edges glowing a sick, unnatural white, as though reality itself were being peeled open.Wind whipped violently around them, pulling trash cans, paper scraps, and loose gravel toward the breach. The air screamed.Lyra braced her feet, arm still stretched toward Edgar. “Edgar, NOW! They’re coming through!”Master Shin slid one foot back, grounding himself with impossible calm as his coat snapped in the wind.“Edgar,” he said without turning his head, “do not move an inch.”Edgar’s breath hitched. “Both of you, stop. I don’t, I can’t”“You must choose,” Lyra shouted.“No,” Shin countered sharply. “He must survive.”A shadowy hand slammed against the inside of the rift, fingers long, thin, skeletal-looking. The kind of hand that didn’t belong to anything human. Edgar stumbled backward. “What, what is that?!”“Scouts,” Lyra said. Her voice trembled. “They’re not supposed to cross the threshold yet. If

Lightning split the sky, illuminating the fractured alley where Edgar stood frozen, caught between Master Shin’s rigid posture and the impossible girl who had stepped out of a rift that shouldn’t exist.Her eyes, sharp, storm-gray, unsettlingly familiar, locked onto his. “I told you,” she said softly, “I’m your sister.”Edgar’s throat tightened. “That’s not… I don’t have a sister.”“You do,” she answered. “You always did. They just didn’t tell you.”Master Shin stepped forward. “Enough. State your purpose, girl.”She turned her gaze to him, measured, calculating, unafraid. “Master Shin… the rumors are true. You really did take him.”“Take is a strong word,” Shin replied. “He came bleeding to me. I simply did not let him die.”“You should have,” she whispered.Edgar flinched. “Excuse me?”Her eyes softened at him for the briefest moment. “I didn’t mean it like that.”Shin’s fingers twitched, barely noticeable unless you’d trained under him long enough to sense danger in micro-movements

Darkness swallowed everything. No walls. No floor. No air. Just silence.Then, A voice. Not loud. Not soft. Just everywhere. “You asked for help.”Edgar spun around, though he wasn’t sure he still had a body. “Wh—who’s there?!”“Me.”A figure took shape in the void, slow, smooth, like ink forming into a man. Tall. Cloaked. Eyes burning like silver fire.Edgar stumbled back even though he had nowhere to fall. “You, you’re the entity. The Umbral Guardian.”The figure tilted its head. “Guardian… yes. Entity… no.”“What does that mean?”“I am not inside you. I am what you inherited. A memory. A shadow left behind by my true self.”Edgar swallowed hard. “Why are you talking to me now?”“Because you were about to die.”“Then help me!”The figure stepped closer, its presence heavy enough to crush mountains. “I can lend you strength. But strength without control will devour your mind.”Edgar’s voice cracked. “I don’t want control. I want to live, just let me use you!”The Guardian leaned forw

Edgar hit the ground hard. Cold metal. Sterile air. Harsh, white light. He blinked rapidly, disoriented, panic already rising. “Where, where am I?!”“Calm down,” Aria’s voice said somewhere to his right. “You’re safe.”Edgar turned, she stood beside him, breathing heavily, clutching her dagger like she’d been holding it the entire trip.Shin stood a little further away, arms crossed, face tight with something between relief and worry. Then Edgar realized something.His ankle was bleeding. Deep gouges from the scout’s claws. “Hey—uh—guys?” Edgar stammered. “I think I’m… leaking.”Aria crouched beside him. “Hold still.”She reached for her belt, then froze. “Shin,” she whispered. “Look at the wound.”Shin approached, fast. Edgar forced himself to look, and immediately regretted it. Black smoke curled from the edges of the wounds, not blood, not steam, shadow.“What, what is that?!” Edgar cried.Aria backed up. “The entity reacted. It protected him.”Shin’s jaw clenched. “Or it took over

Rain hammered the pavement as Edgar stared at Master Shin, only this wasn’t the calm, quiet man he knew. This Shin radiated something sharp, something ancient, something dangerous.“Shin,” Aria said cautiously, “the scout is still behind us”“I know.” Shin didn’t look away from Edgar. “But the real threat is standing right in front of me.”Edgar recoiled. “What? Me?! I almost died three times in the last ten minutes!”“Exactly,” Shin murmured. “And you didn’t.”Aria stepped between them. “Explain. Now.”Shin’s eyes flicked to her, then back to Edgar. “He awakened. Violently. Instinctively. Without training. And he used a martial form no untrained civilian should even comprehend.”“I—I don’t know how I did that!” Edgar protested.“You shouldn’t know,” Shin said sharply. “Because that form hasn’t been taught in over a hundred years.”Aria’s breath hitched. “…That’s impossible.”“Yes,” Shin said. “It is.”Behind them, the Syndicate scout shrieked again, closer. Aria grabbed Edgar’s wrist