Det här låter definitivt som en kort historia av Timothy Zahn som heter "The Shadows of Evening". Den publicerades i boken Cascade Point 1987.
Historien (och den är lika med "Inte alltid den starka", även i Cascade Point) handlar om en skuggkrigare som heter Turek. Den ligger på en mänsklig koloni som är fast vid en förindustriell teknik, eftersom skuggorna lockas till någon form av teknik.
Människor kan inte riktigt se skuggorna (även om krigarena har tricks för att få en snabb efterbild av dem), men att ange ett område med skuggor beskrivs som
... it started as a vaguely uncomfortable feeling, a sort of exaggerated nervousness. But as..it increased, and Turek could feel sweat popping out as his skin began to creep uncontrollably. A feeling of nausea get steadily in the pit of his stomach; his heart was already pounding loudly. His eyes felt like they were being squeezed into his skull.
För att bekämpa skuggorna, Turek:
... set his teeth and focused his mind just so... For a moment he felt nothing but the sickness in his body. Then, abruptly, something seemed to click. And he was in union with the Shadow. The darkness came like a wave, threatening to overwhelm him, to drag him into some nameless place where light never pierced. With practiced ease he deflected the assault and launched his counterattack. Be destroyed! Scatter to the winds! It resisted his blow, and for an instant Turek seemed to hear something: like voices, but faint and wordless and inhuman. And then he felt the resistance break, and he was back in the jewelry shop. Clearly the Shadow still existed; he hadn't expected to destroy it completely with a single assault. But his body told him it had reached its limit, and he knew better than to push Shadow-contact past that point.
Turek möter en man som heter Javan och hans anhängare när han hör att de har gått till det gamla skeppet (som förde kolonisterna till denna planet) som omges av skuggan med 8 mil diameter. Turek tycker att de måste vara charlataner. Han utmanar en utmaning, och de går tillbaka till affären som Turek visste skulle ta dagar att rensa av skuggan. Och Javans teknik fungerar.
Javan walked forward, slowly, stoping at the end of the Shadow. For a moment he stood quietly, and Turek saw use what seemed to be a slight modification of the Shadow Warrior afterimage technique. He raised his right hand, open palm just touching the Shadow, and the faint murmuring of the crowd cut off into an expectant silence. Turek watched his closely, ever sense alert for whatever trickery he was about to use. -- And suddenly Javan blazed with light!
Det enda mötet förstörde skuggan (och slog ut Turek).
Javan bad med Turek att inse att den nya metoden var bättre, skulle vara bra för alla. Turek vet det här, men historien slutar med honom gå ut på egen hand.
He'd given his entire life to battle...but now Javan had proved that the sacrifice hadn't been necessary, that an easier way was possible. And Turek had wasted his life for nothing.