Darkness favored conquest. It shrouded and hid the glinting blades under its cover, until they could taste blood and tear through flesh. Vin was kneeling on the musky, wet ground, trying to make out the battle taking place beyond the mist. The familiar clash of steel on steel rang endlessly as the main force fought. Yet he knew that it was just an act, a sideshow. The real battle would be won by the thousands of players spread across the misty fields. Whether the mist was a god's favor or a stroke of luck, the Hallowed forces welcomed it.

"It should be soon," Shill whispered in his ear. Even though he hated PvP, he had decided to participate tonight, and a lot of players were of the same mind. The guilds rallied whoever had the means to fight, offering many gold coins or rare items in return.

"We haven't been spotted yet." Vin's hands were tingling with anticipation. His mind kept returning to Sophia, or thinking of all the ways the ambush could go wrong. He had to be liberated of these thoughts, if only for a short while, so he pulled forward the prompt as he always did.

[Do you wish to surrender your soul to the Gods? If you do, for the remainder of the day, you will reap increased rewards, but also suffer additional penalties. Warning: This may lead to permanent debilitating changes to your character.]

He accepted and clenched his fists after he felt the familiar tingle. Now he had no choice but to succeed. Tonight, with the massacre they were about to unleash onto the Darkblessed, he’d gain–

Lightning made of magic brushed the night sky and vanished between the clouds above. It was the signal.

Vin stood in a haze, legs moving on their own. The players descended through the mist, weapons in hands. By the time the clanks of armor alerted the Darkblessed, the first dead had already dropped. The guilds crushed into the enemy force from all sides and the carnage began. There was no need for tactics or formations this time. Not with these numbers.

Vin found himself swinging his warhammer in the chaos of battle, two bright-armored allies by his side. They grouped against a single figure wearing dark and pummeled it to the ground until it stopped writhing.

Dozens of players fought around him, yet he could discern which army they belonged to. White meant friend and black meant enemy; the game had made it simple like that. Group up, strike down, and repeat. Swing the hammer until no Darkblessed was left.

Destroying the main force proved sickeningly easy. A few groups managed to flee back to Darkblessed territory, but the majority breathed their last breath in that clearing. Yet the guilds of light were relentless. After the chaos settled, Asire took the lead. He stood facing the Plains of Lantar, which were now the borders between the two warring Kingdoms.

"Are you watching?" He spoke without turning around. His voice was low, but the army quieted to hear him.

Vin wondered the same. The campaign had not been promoted at all in the media, lest the Darkblessed found out about it. Still, with so many live streams going on at once, they must have gained some traction.

"Tonight, we take back what is ours!" Asire raised his sword, and the players behind him bellowed in unison.

The force was then split into multiple groups, with a ranker leading each one. They'd try to reclaim as much territory as possible from the Darkblessed before the timer reached zero.

[ Barrier Downtime 62:34 ]

Usually the winners of each battle had about twenty minutes to stake claim to an area. An hour was quite generous. Vin led ten or so members of his guild towards some ruins in the distance.

The moon's radiance was dim, but the group moved quickly and with little resistance. Some players were leveling in the contested zones still. They probably hadn't heard of their army's defeat, nor did they expect any Hallowed players to make it this far. Vin's group took advantage and obliterated them. He almost felt pity.

The group carried on, until the ruins of a castle peeked through the foliage. Plant life had reclaimed the land, roots digging inside the building's cracked stone. Only an obelisk had withstood the test of time, its white stone shining under the moonlight.

"Three minutes of rest," Vin called out, "then we carry on."

The soldiers visibly relaxed, but kept their weapons close. They stood guard by the northern passage that led to the ruins while Vin circled the crumbled castle. Carvings of a bygone age were etched on the walls and ceiling, but the decay had rendered them ineligible.

Vin leaned on the arch of the castle's gate, where the wood had rotted away. He traced the smooth stone with his fingers. Sometimes he wished he could go back to his earlier days, when he had so much time and freedom to explore. Back when Vince’s responsibilities didn’t spill over to Twilight for Vin to deal with.

“Vin!” There was a yell, and Shill nearly crushed onto him as he cut through the mist. It was hard for men in plate to slow down, by design.

“Finally.” Shill panted like a dog who hadn’t seen water in days. “I caught up to you.”

“What’s going on? Why aren’t you advancing?”

Shill grabbed him by the arm and started tugging. “Come with me, quick. We may have found an artifact.”

Alarms started going off in Vin’s head one after another. The most precious treasures discovered to date, and the highest rarity of an item in Twilight. To this day, only the top three guilds possessed one. It was Vin’s secret weapon against the upcoming fight with Asire, and locked deep within the guild’s vault. Obtaining a second one… Perhaps it would be enough to push the guild to the first place and achieve one of his dreams.

“Where is it?” Vin could barely contain his excitement. He didn’t believe in god, but this was akin to a gift. Something to cling to in trying times.

“Inside a shrine.” Shill pointed to the east. “I instructed the guild members with me to guard the entrance.”

“Shill, you’re the real treasure!” Vin hugged him. “This could really be our saving grace.”

“Leader, you’re crushing me.”

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“Sorry.” Vin let go and set his gaze to the east. “Lead the way.” They both ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Shill had to stop often, so as not to get lost in the forest. The mist that had helped them win before now turned into an obstacle.

“Are you sure we’re headed in the right direction?” Vin asked. It had been ten minutes of non-stop running, yet they’d only seen the same bamboo-like trees all the while. “There’s nothing here.”

“If the artifact was easy to find, it wouldn’t have gone unclaimed for so long. We were simply lucky enough to chase a Darkblessed here.” Shill said without stopping. “Speak of the devil…”

They stumbled to a stop before a small clearing. There was a square opening on the ground, with stairs barely wide enough to fit two men. The passage extended downward and into the earth.

“I thought you left people to guard the entrance.” Vin gazed into the darkness below, too thick for the moonlight to break.

Shill gave him a look of sheer horror. “I… I did…”

"Fuck!" Vin grabbed a torch from his inventory and rushed down the steps. “We can’t have our chance snatched away!”

His breathing became erratic as he descended into the crypt, and the scent of decay muddled his senses. His torch could only shine up to an arm’s length around him, but the stone below his feet was smooth and even. It had been trod upon often.

Vin reached for the warhammer strapped to his back. If Hallowed players had gotten to the artifact first there wasn't much he could do. Players of the same faction couldn't harm one another outside of duels. But if it were the Darkblessed…

The stairs ended and the ground turned level beneath his feet. A wide space begun where the narrow corridor ended, unlike anything he'd seen before. He approached cautiously, with his hammer held close. Enemies could lurk around every corner, so he strained his eyes against the darkness.

The system message that popped up in red almost scared him witless.

[ You have entered the first king's tomb. Be careful, your god's influence can't reach you here. ]

The first king? His god's influence? He didn't understand any of it, but what bothered him even more was the 'Be careful.' The system had never given a warning that straightforward before. Vin looked back at the entrance to the tomb. Why did Shill have to be so slow? He always lagged behind, and in this case Vin couldn't afford to wait.

Questions kept circling in his mind as he walked deeper. Where had the troops gone? There was no blood or any signs of struggle. Had they defected and looted the area on their own?

His boot knocked on something, and a sharp clink echoed in the chamber. Vin shone the torch down. Golden coins and jewels littered the floor around him. He looked up again. In the darkness, shadowy mounds of treasure hinted to riches beyond imagination.

"What in the world..." He knelt down and held a golden coin in his fingers.

They were different from the ones he knew, roughly cut around the edges and depicting four stars. His head began to spin again. With this much wealth… He could afford the best treatment for Sophia without having to rely on anyone else. But that would mean clearing the crypt of other players. Vin remained vigilant. The jewels shone red, blue, green and purple under the torchlight, revealing a path that led deeper inside the crypt.

Something sharp glittered in the darkness next to him, and Vin retreated several steps in an instant. “Show yourself!” He said and readied his hammer.

The figure in the shadows stood unmoving. Vin inched closer, torch in hand. The light revealed empty sockets instead of eyes and bone instead of skin. Slouched against an ornate throne was the skeleton of the first king, the red velvet of his robe still clinging to his body, regal though tattered. A golden crown rested in his outstretched hand, as if in solemn offering.

"The artifact." He reached out to take the crown, but it burned his hand as soon as he touched it. It clanked to the ground and rolled to a stop beside the throne.

"Ah..." Vin felt the heat climbing up his arm and down his body. It spread like a wave, enveloping his head and burning away at his thoughts. The king’s skeleton rattled as it stirred awake. It took all of Vin’s strength to turn his head and look at its eyes. Its blue, smouldering eyes.

“So much wealth and so much splendor.” He heard the voice that had been seared into his mind. Her voice. The necromancer rounded the throne and sat on its armrest, leaning over to stroke the King’s skull. “All to make you believe the gilded lie.”

Vin caught a glimpse of her face. Beauty he could only find in a dream graced half of it. She turned around and smiled, showing him the other half. The half whose skin had been torn and the wound withered. The half that came from nightmares.

“You.” He coughed out blood. The burning sensation was fading away, being replaced by numbness. “What have you done to me?”

She giggled. “It’s not me you should blame.”

Vin heard the clank of armor on stone and saw the yellow light of a torch drawing closer. He groaned and turned his body, trying to glimpse who it was. A familiar face came into focus.

“Shill!” He screamed. “Be careful!”

“Hello, Vince.” Something was wrong. Shill was just standing there calmly in front of the enemy, weapon still in its sheath. There was no urgency in his voice, just an undertone of anger.

“Shill?” A thought crossed Vin’s mind. A notion he desperately tried to deny, only to be proven a heartbeat later.

“Are you sure he will be gone for good?” Shill walked to the necromancer’s side. “If you’re trying to trick me, you’ll end up like him.”

The necromancer smiled, tugging at the withered skin of her cheek. “Don’t doubt the power of my god’s curse. The crown burned him, so he decided to gamble with his soul tonight, just as you predicted. He’s as good as gone.”

“No…” Vin fought to move his arms, to stand. The torchlight let him see the bones through the gaps of his rotting skin. “Shill! I saved you, you bastard! All I’ve done… All I’ve given for you, and this is how you repay me?”

“I won’t allow you to harm the guild with your obsessions any longer. You went against Gateway for glory and honor? That really was the last drop for Raisin.” Shill’s voice dripped with mockery. “Let’s see what good they’ll do for you now.”

“You stabbed me in the back, just for money?” Vin’s voice strengthened, even as his body crumbled. The anger tore inside him, more than the necromancer’s vile magic ever could.

“No, not just for money. You kept taking risks and failing, every day. Bargaining away your soul with no responsibility. The guild cannot take any more. You kept struggling to return to who you once were, and for what?” Shill knelt next to him. “Cecilia told me. It was to make the vegetable remember you.”

“Liar!” Vin screamed harder than he ever had. He tried to grab forward, but the flesh of his arm cracked to reveal blue fire burning underneath.

Shill kicked him away, and his laugh echoed in the king’s tomb. “Don’t worry. Soon, nobody will remember you. Gateway will make sure of that. After all this time, I am done living in your shadow.”

“Then you’ll live in fear!” Vin called upon every sliver of strength left within him to scream. The clacking of bones reached his ears as he forced his numbed, trembling legs to stand.

“No matter how long it takes.” His bony jaw dropped open and he rasped. He swayed, unable to keep his balance without the weight he used to have, but he stood. Even if only for a brief moment. “I’m gonna make you pay.” Darkness crept up on the edges of his vision as his eyes vanished and his body failed. It was over.

“Shh… You must rest now.” The necromancer knelt next to him, and he felt the warmth of her finger on his bony jaw. “Darkness awaits you.”