Episode 3: Fides

“Welcome back kurai.”

I forced myself backwards and kicked her foot away from me. She took another sip from her glass while watching me closely. Amusement spread across her face. Her words still pierced through my head, forcing me to my knees. “We got cut off last time. I didn't get to have my fun.” the glass in her hand disappeared and so did she. My head spun around, met with a fierce kick to the face from one of the women's heels. I was knocked backwards however I felt no pain whatsoever, but even so, the words she spoke would initiate sharp pains throughout my head. She spun around, walking off in the direction I was facing. In Front of her the void moved like a glitch in a computer screen, then moments later it transformed into a beach, a familiar one. I got to my feet, the deranged woman was now walking across a pier that looked as if abandoned long ago, the boards beneath the woman's feet were littered with holes and looked incredibly aged. The pillars holding the pier up were slanted at different angles, some missing or broken. I followed her down to the pier, watching my step as I walked across it. “Looks familiar right? I remember it very well, what used to be my favourite place turned into a hellish battleground. Do you remember why?”

A faint shadow- no it wasn't a simple shadow. An aura of darkness I couldn't comprehend ignited, concealing the woman and affecting the beach surrounding it. The pier set on fire. Burning away beneath us, disappearing along with the water. The darkness wrapping around her stared at me, malice in its endless void coloured eyes. I stumbled backwards, falling onto my ass. The pain going through my head increased, my ears rang, my eyes going blurry. Before long the sand had been submitted in the flame as well and the lonely void from before replaced it. “You're so weak that it's frustrating, you can't even squeeze out all of your mana. How pathetic.” the woman turned towards me with an unreadable expression on her face. “I can't affect your main body yet but let me tell you something. Watch your back. If you ever lose control of your power I'll be there, controlling your body and destroying everything you love. I will not let you have happiness.”

Her form changed, she became a young man with black hair and peculiar purple eyes, wearing a worn leather tunic. The young man's skin was rough, with a single scar on his right shoulder, similar- no it was the same scar. I was looking at myself. “I'll start with that big guy, what was his name? Ben was it? He is first. I'll tear his-” her words were interrupted by a soft voice. One that cleared out the pain in my head almost like an angel.

[Your faith has been accepted, the god of shadows looks down upon you.]

The young man In Front of me looked panicked. “What did you do!” He lunged for me but before he could reach me a shadow hand came out from the void and grabbed his shoulder, forcing him into the void.

[Obstacles removed. The god of shadows will now bestow an echo upon you.]

I felt a tingle through my upper back as if something was being written into it. 

[The echo of pure darkness has been fused with your soul, becoming part of your power.]

‘fused with my soul?’

[Bestowal complete. Good luck, kurai.]

I was thrown back into the real world, Ben standing In Front of me with worry in his eyes. It seems like I didn't completely lose control this time. However I could still feel something on my back. I looked towards Ben to ask him for a favour but I stopped myself. Bens name was written above his head in runic letters, I could understand them despite never seeing them before. Ben gave me a confused look. “What's wrong kurai?” His confusion turned back into worry. “Wait, are you hurt? Maybe you pushed yourself too far.” 

“I'm fine Ben, don't worry about me.” I dismissed the favour I was going to ask him as I got the answer myself. In Front of me a set of runes appeared.

[Kurai Kioku]

[Echo of pure darkness: 0/100]

‘What the hell is this?’ I stared at the runes trying to figure out what it meant. Only to be completely bewildered and let the runes disappear into my mind.

“Sorry about that Ben, I spaced out for a second. What were we doing?”

“ You were fueling the fire but went a little too far and lost all your mana, I'm surprised you still feel fine after that.”

“Seriously? What usually happens when someone loses their mana?”

“It depends on how strained your body was before running out but the normal is for someone to fall into a coma, most people wake up within a day or two but some never wake up. You only fell unconscious for a few minutes.” 

‘Is it something to do with that soothing voice?’ 

“Ben, have you ever heard of people seeing runes?” Ben looked at me with an incredibly puzzled look on his face. “Runes? No, why?”

“Oh don't worry about it, I'm probably still half asleep.” if it was unheard of by even ben then i assumed this was not something exclusive to this new world and decided to figure it out for myself. “By the way, you mentioned going hunting today, right?” Ben nodded and let the fire extinguish. “Yeah. We are going to move towards one of the nearby towns today, they are a great place to settle.” Ben began to gather all of our things into a small bag, placing what little bits of meat we had left into a pouch before starting to walk. As we heard towards our destination Ben explained that it was always good to keep leftover meat on a journey. People are often blinded by how many monsters there are, thinking that they will just have an endless supply of them to hunt for food. But apparently it wasn't as simple, monsters had their own nests and places where they preferred to reside. Due to this entire towns could go weeks or even months without seeing a single monster.

***

The day passed by incredibly fast and Ben's statement held true, we didn't see a single monster overnight and had to resort to our rations instead. However it made me feel lucky that Ben had been the one to find me. Who knows what would have happened if it hadn't been him. We ate silently, Ben’s mana fueling the flame since mine had still been regenerating at a slow rate. Before long we were ready to fall asleep, drowsy from our meal. I closed my eyes, submitting to my tiredness. My dreams and nightmares that night were empty. I simply stood within a large void, staring into the darkness that stared back without emotion. It felt as if the darkness itself was an entity. I was reminded of my previous findings and wanted to see the runes again, I thought about them and they simply appeared. Reading the same as they did before. I focused on the runes that translated to echo of pure darkness. The runes emitted a faint glow before expanding.

[echo of true darkness: 0/100]

[description: one of the echoes bestowed each millenia, forgotten through time. The god of shadows has bestowed power upon you. You now have an affinity to darkness and can harness its power.]

‘Huh.’

There were a set of more runes underneath the description but unlike the previous runes they could not be translated. I dismissed it and got back to staring back into the shadows. Morning broke and I was pulled from my dreamless state, my eyes opening and letting the colours of the world flood in. Ben was already awake, his hands over a fire he had made. “Oh good morning kurai!” He seemed in good spirits. “Ben you don't need to shout, i'm right next to you.” he ignored me and kept shouting words in my direction. “Kurai, why don't you take over for a second, let's check if your mana is back!” I moved towards the fire with my fingers in my ear, sitting down next to it. I moved my hands towards the flame and performed the same imagery I followed the previous two times. My mana enveloped the fire as usual, strengthening it slightly better than I had yesterday. That had not been a surprise to me. What had bothered me was the mana itself. The mana now had a deep shadowy glow to it and almost looked alive, I felt as if something had buried itself deep within my mana. It was obviously something to do with the echo, the echo has changed the way my mana works.