Divided by Dawn

The sphere of darkness rested in Henry's palm, a miniature void just drinking the light. He could feel it pulsing, soft and low, like an extension of his own will. For a second, just a split second, he tasted the control he craved. But it was gone as fast as it came.

Suddenly, a pinprick of light flared to life in the sphere's core.

*What?* Henry thought, panic clawing its way up his throat.

The orb of darkness didn't shatter. No, it inverted. That little dot of light expanded like a predator, devouring the shadows from the inside out. Within moments, the thing in his hand wasn't a ball of shadow anymore. It was pure, white light, so intense it looked like a tiny sun.

*What are you doing? Stop it!* he screamed inside his own head.

*It's not me,* a voice echoed back, a distant, garbled thought from his other half. *Your... your light... it's reacting to my darkness.*

The sphere of light began to swell. What started as a marble was now the size of his fist, and it just kept growing, letting out a high-pitched hum. The light became painful, forcing the other students to shield their eyes and look away.

"Henry, contain it!" Master Kael ordered, his usually calm voice now laced with urgency. He stepped forward, his smoke-hands swirling, ready to jump in.

But Henry couldn't. It was like trying to cup water in his hands. This light wasn't his to command. It was the raw power of a part of him he barely knew—his Solari heritage—reacting violently to the Lunari darkness he had willingly called upon. It was a paradox. A civil war playing out in his palm.

"I can't!" he yelled, his eyes watering from the glare. The light hit a blinding crescendo. And then, with a deafening crack like shattering glass, it exploded.

It wasn't an explosion of force, but of pure light and sound. A blinding white flash filled the amphitheater, followed by a piercing whine that overloaded the senses. Everyone in the room stumbled back, temporarily blind and deaf. Groans of pain and confusion filled the ringing silence that followed.

Henry was thrown backward by the backlash, hitting the floor hard. His vision was a mess of bright spots, and his ears were ringing. As his sight cleared, he saw the other students blinking, trying to get their bearings. Master Kael stood untouched, his smoke-hands slowly swirling as he absorbed the leftover energy. He looked down at Henry, not with anger, but with a deep, unsettling curiosity.

"Light and Shadow," he muttered to himself, before speaking up. "A... volatile duality. Far more than I anticipated."

The silence was broken by a wave of murmurs. The other students were staring at Henry now, their curiosity mixed with a new cocktail of fear and awe.

*Fascinating,* Tsukuyomi's voice purred in his mind, laced with wicked delight. *It seems you have more than one trick up your sleeve after all. A little flashbang. How cute.*

Master Kael clapped his hands, the sharp sound making everyone flinch. "Class is dismissed for today. I need to... recalibrate the training room's sensors." As the students scrambled out, still blinking, he walked over to Henry.

"Your condition is... unique, young Henry," the professor said. "An individual's affinity is a reflection of their soul. To have two opposing affinities at war within you is something this academy has never seen." He crossed his arms, his smoke-hands tangling together. "This requires a different approach. We can't just teach you control; we need to understand the nature of your internal conflict."

His smoky eyes seemed to pierce right through Henry. "Tomorrow, we'll conduct a special diagnostic test for you. We want to measure the fluctuation of your power and the transition between your affinities."

A knot of ice formed in Henry's stomach. "A test?"

"Yes," Master Kael continued, oblivious to Henry's rising panic. "It will be in the Twilight Dueling Arena. The ambient energy there is neutral, perfect for precise readings. And the ideal time to measure such a transition would be, naturally, at the threshold between day and night."

The words hit Henry like a punch to the gut. Twilight. The exact moment he lost control. The moment the monster woke up.

"We'll start at sunset," Master Kael said with an encouraging smile. "Don't worry, it's just a diagnostic. What could possibly go wrong?"

As the professor walked away, Henry was left frozen in the middle of the empty classroom. Cold fear gripped him. They wanted to put him in an arena, at his most vulnerable moment, to "measure the transition."

They had no idea what they were asking for. They didn't know it wasn't a transition.

It was a release.