Invisible. Even if he had begun to believe his own guess, the simple confirmation made Toivo jerk to his paws. This was already too much to take in. He needed to move his paws to keep his brain's cogs turning. Otherwise, they would stiffen up, and the thought of being invisible would make the world spin.

"How?" he asked after a moment. His head pointed downward now, following the cave's floor as he paced. That was another benefit of the constant movement - he could avoid meeting Montasir's cold gaze.

His question was only answered by another. "You managed to become invisible by accident, yes?" Claws scraped as Montasir rose. "That takes a lot of power - although I would expect no less from a wolf as special as you." Paws touched stone softly, drawing closer. "What were you thinking about when you did it, Toivo?"

"I was asleep," he said, with a small chuckle. It faded as he remembered. "I was dreaming."

"About?"

"About darkness." He changed course, swerving to patrol the circle's perimeter. "I've dreamed it before. I'm in this dark forest, but... but the darkness is alive. It fights me, hurts me." All at once, he froze, eyes snapping up to meet Montasir's. "Except this time I didn't fight, and it helped me."

"Then you have your answer." Montasir was motionless, only his eyes flicking to follow Toivo as he set off again. "What you experienced in your dream is how you became invisible. Not that it is invisible as such," he added, a flashing glance making Toivo stop again. "Deimos was more accurate. We are all attuned to the shadow, and if we let it, it can hide us from view."

"Like the shadow inside blending with those around us," Toivo breathed.

A nod verified his words, along with an unspoken request. Try it.

Toivo took a deep breath. Surely now he'd done this once, he could do it again. Letting his eyes slide closed, he seached for the darkness of his dreams, seeking to hide away inside it.

The memories leered out at him from the depths of his mind, bringing fragmented flashes of a nightmare he'd tried so desperately to escape. Now, instead of pushing it away, he pulled it closer, luring the darkness to overtake him once more. The claws of his mind reached out, curling around the most recent memory.

But it slipped from his grasp, leaving him with only blurred flashes of dark trails.

Squeezing his eyes more tightly closed, he tried again, fighting away the frustration that came with it. But the dream floated just out of his reach. With his brain awake and heart beating fiercly, he couldn't seem to immerse himself in the land of darkness.

A low growl rumbled in his throat, and he snapped his eyes open, disappointed by his failure. Montasir's eyes locked onto his immediately, chasing away the annoyance with chilling comfort.

"You were trying to reach for your dream?" he said.

Toivo nodded, suddenly doubtful. "Was that wrong?"

"Not necessarily." Montasir lowered himself to the ground. "But it's much less likely to work. When you're dreaming, your mind cannot comprehend that the world you are in is a dream, and so you see the shadows around you as real. Now you are conscious, you know it to be false." His gaze darkened, dimmed with concentration. "Focus instead on the real shadows, the ones right beside you."

In that moment, Montasir faded away, the dark folding around him and enclosing him in a place of blindness. Unlike with Deimos, Toivo had been more ready for this disappearance, but it didn't make it any less strange. He shuddered.

Grey eyes were lit again first, followed by the rest of Montasir. He still sat there, as motionless as always. A nod was his only indication. Try again.

Toivo scanned the room. Though his eyes didn't allow it, he could feel the way shadows swamped it. Lexi would argue that they weren't shadows at all - only a sheet of unbroken blackness, rather than dark that hid from light. Still, as he let it brush by him, he felt the Shadow inside stir, reminding him that this was his domain.

He imagined that darkness covering him, as it had Montasir. Engulfing him like a cloak.

Hide me.

Something passed over him, a shiver he realised was akin to his feeling when he awoke. The Shadow within spiralled freely, the cage that held it melted away. Not daring to breathe, Toivo took a step sideways, lifting his claws so that they wouldn't clatter against rock.

Montasir's eyes didn't flick to follow him. He'd done it.

He crept further, crossing to the other side of the room, his paws feeling as if they weren't quite touching solid ground. He couldn't have stepped heavily, not even if he'd wanted to. There was an ethereal quality to it, as if he wasn't quite there, like his body was slightly lighter than it had been a few moments before.

Montasir remained still and silent, merely waiting. After barely a minute had passed, the force of his silence wavered Toivo's willpower, and he allowed the shadow to shrink away. The training circle blinked in fresh silver, his night vision brightening to its usual level.

"Well done," Montasir said, eyes flicking to the side to rest on Toivo. The tone hadn't changed one bit, and yet somehow Toivo detected the appraisal within the words. It warmed his heart.

"Thank you," he said.

The pause that followed seemed rather light. Toivo returned to Montasir's side in a couple of bounds and sat, debating what to ask next.

The Shadow squirmed around his heart, already begging for another release. The invisibility had allowed it a taste of freedom, though a far less destructive one. The thought comforted Toivo somewhat. His training had only just begun, and he could already control an aspect of his power.

That was his mission here. Bit by bit, in small steps of easing practice, he would learn control. Just like in his dreams - if he could bend it to his will, rather than battling it into submission, perhaps he wouldn't be so dangerous anymore. Perhaps being a Shadewylf wouldn't define him quite so much.

Before sleeping the previous night, he'd dwelled on his conversation with Montasir, questioning in circles whether he'd made the right choice. But the more time he spent in the general's presence, the more he justified his decision.

"You're not evil," he had told Montasir. "You just wanted to be free."

If the same was true of his Shadow power, then all he needed was a safe way to let it roam free.

But invisibility was only the first step, and he had far to go before he could fully claim control. "What next?"

Montasir inclined his head, the sharp flash of his eyes requesting he find the answer himself.

"So, Shadow can do invisibility," Toivo said, deciding to straighten his thoughts. "And... and radiate fear, right?" Just like that, he stumbled across his question. "How does that work, exactly?"

"It isn't exactly something that can be explained," Montasir mused. He pulled his paws in, back straightening, and Toivo did his best to mirror the position. His shoulders felt yanked taut, and he was forced to relax after a second.

"It is important you know, however," the general continued, "that Shadow is not capable of only fear. Its full ability can manipulate emotions in all sorts of ways, if used correctly. Fear is used most commonly only because it is the simplest to exploit."

"Because fear is so wild?" Toivo tried. "Wolves fear all sorts of things, sometimes even trivial things. And... and when you're scared of something, it's really hard to fight, because it sort of grips you."

His mind drifted to his many trips to the hill, back home. Every time, he'd shied against the treeline. He could recall every occasion he had ventured further than that, and each time it had filled him with terror. A stupid thing, nothing to be scared of, yet it had driven him all the same.

Lexi always teased me about it. She said if I ever became an Airewylf, I'd be too scared to even use my power.

No, don't think about her, not now.

A deep nod confirmed the truth in his words. The action flitted Toivo's attention back to Montasir, and he met his grey eyes, focusing hard to chase away the shining memories of that hill.

"Exactly," Montasir said. "That is why many Shadewylves only ever learn to invoke fear. But it can be stretched further than that, and I'm sure a wolf like you will soon manage to do so. But first, focus only on fear."

"Okay," Toivo said quietly, already directing his attention inward. It felt second nature now to grasp for the Shadow and feel it shifting within, but he realised he had no idea how to manipulate it. It seemed to have a mind of its own. He imagined releasing it from its cage and letting it work in its own way, but quickly yanked away the idea, flashes of a screaming Deimos preventing him from letting it free.

The next question fell from his tongue before he'd even considered it. "Then what did I do last night, then? Was... was that fear?"

Montasir's eyes narrowed. "Yes and no." His tail slithered across the floor, his first movement in several minutes. Toivo waited for him to go on, but only silence followed the words. He tried to grasp onto Montasir's gaze, searching for an unspoken answer, and much to his relief more words filled the stiff air.

"I meant it when I said that it is difficult to explain," the general said, the faintest traces of a laugh lingering amongst the words. It was gone when he spoke again. "All you know is that your power caused Deimos excrutiating pain, and if you don't control your power's strength, you will do so again."

Toivo shivered. The more he thought, the less he wanted to even try using his power. But he'd promised himself that he would, and so he would try.

If this goes badly wrong, he whispered, to reassure himself, you can give up now. He remembered his first plan, the one that involved running away. If I really am too dangerous, it's the only safe option. For me, and for everyone.

"Can you... show me first?" he asked, after another moment of clogged silence. His gaze flicked to Montasir and away again. "Use fear, or something, on me, and I'll study how it works."

A small smile tugged at Montasir's snout, and when he turned to look at Toivo, his eyes weren't quite so cold. "I was thinking just the same thing."

Nodding, Toivo returned the smile. Each tiny emotion the general released, though small, made his heart warmer than anyone had before.

Apart from Lexi.

No, a different kind of warmth to her. Will you stop thinking about Lexi?

Thankfully, a spear of Shadow collided with his heart, chasing away all following thoughts. Taking a shaky breath, Toivo reminded himself again and again that it was only Montasir. This was a test. There was no need to be scared.

The more the power twisted, wrapping around his own, he realised that he would be scared regardless.

It took all of his effort not to freeze, and to shrink away, and to doubt why he'd even come here. Voices whispered in his mind, hissing of how he was no soldier. His efforts here would fail, and they would kill him, because even with power he was still as useless as ever.

They would kill him.

But not if he fought back.

His fangs jammed together as he concentrated, feeling for where the foreign power touched his heart. Montasir was right. It was a sensation that couldn't be explained, not fully, in logical words. All he could think to describe it as was deeply chilling - so icy cold that every strand of fur stood erect in response.

Slowly, carefully, he coiled his own power, prising away every sharp slice of Shadow that did not belong. With Deimos, he had pushed away in one swoop, and that had been his dangerous mistake. Now he worked with precision and utmost care.

As the seconds ticked by, he could feel the fear sliding away. There was no chance of him dying, not anymore. Not with Montasir protecting him.

He could do this. He could control.

The Shadow left him, returning to its owner. But Toivo wasn't stopping now. For the first time since his Pelt had cloaked him, he felt complete control. Darkness was in his grasp, and it would do anything he desired.

It leapt from his heart's cage, but it wasn't free. He still shackled it, sharpened it, so that it was like a single dart to pierce Montasir's own heart.

Flashes flickered through his mind, growing in intensity as the Shadow manouvered its way further in. Hissing wolves. Pooled blood, claws digging into fur. The looming, dark shape of a blurred wolf, only their glaring eyes bright and clear. The body of one female Shadewylf, crimson bathing her chest, silvery eyes staring blankly--

All at once, the power jerked backwards, and Toivo stumbled as it was tossed back into its cage. He grasped it again, feeling it coil into place. Gasping, he snapped his head up, meeting Montasir's eyes. They glowed briefly with a darkened glare, then the faraway look he'd worn last night, before settling to their usual unreadable nature.

For a moment, they both regarded each other, each still recovering from the power's shock. Montasir succeeded first. "Well done, Toivo. You controlled your Shadow well."

A smile rose to Toivo's snout. He'd done it. He could control it. He wasn't dangerous, not entirely.

It fell again as he remembered what he'd seen with his power. Were those Montasir's fears? Did this mighty general truly fear things from a war long ago?

He examined the wolf before him. He still didn't even know how Montasir was still alive. So much about him was a mystery, and Toivo doubted that even the majority of this cave's residents knew much about him. Yet he had now seen glimpses of that past, and a deep curiosity begged him to ask just one question.

But he kept his snout firmly sealed. Part of it was fear - faint but real, a part of him that knew one wrong step would not be forgiven by those cold grey eyes. And another part of it, a larger part, was simple respect. In even those flashes, the horror of what Montasir had seen was clear. He deserved his secrets.

Besides, he had undoubtably felt for Toivo's past, too. If they both kept their silence, neither would have to dwell on what had been.

"You now know all you need to know," Montasir said. For once, instead of following Toivo's progress, his gaze had drifted to the far wall. "The rest of the day is for practice. Unless you have any more questions."

With a final shake of his fur, Toivo discarded all thoughts of either past. Questions. Did he have any?

Yes, I've got dozens, but which do I want answering?

After a moment, he took a step forward. "What makes me so special?"

Montasir barked a laugh, and the tension of earlier was gone. Toivo's shoulders fell as he relaxed, though he stayed standing. "Such a simple answer. You're a Sylfen."

Toivo frowned. "But the moon-signs are just myth."

Another laugh, one that lasted longer. "Myths are often based on truth."

Toivo nodded. Lexi had often said something similar, when she used to tell him the myths of the stars. Each of them were based on a true story.

But this wasn't Lexi. This was Montasir, and he really needed to stop thinking about her.

"Okay," he said, sensing that was all he would get. Perhaps the Sylfen power was true, and he did have a call to heroics, after all. Or perhaps not, and Montasir was hiding the real reason. But he had another question now, one that immediately leapt to the front in importance.

"What did you do to the Twilytra and the Wylfrost?"

Montasir's gaze snapped towards him. But no surprise flickered in his eyes. "I expected you might ask that."

The dark in his eyes sent a shiver down Toivo's spine. He suddenly regretted asking the question. But he kept his head held high, and twisted the Shadow, forever keeping a hold on it. Though he had left them behind now, he needed to know.

If they were dead, he could move on, and find some way to ignore the heavy guilt.

But if they were alive... that showed some promise that perhaps Shadewylves were no longer the heartless killers from the stories. They could show mercy.

A single flick of Montasir's tail indicated he leave the training circle. "I'll show you."