The door slammed open, making everyone jump.

James lost his concentration and missed a skeleton's feeble swing, allowing it to slash his sword arm, but Samantha was quick to heal him back to full health. The skeleton perished under an onslaught of heal bombs.

No figure emerged from behind the door this time, and the inside was completely dark, except for a small flickering flame at the far end. Eli frowned, thinking something was wrong about this picture, other than the room being an obvious boss room.

"It's bigger," Zack said.

"What do you mean?" Cruella came jogging up the stairs, followed by James, Irene, Dana, and Samantha.

"It's a lot bigger on the inside, isn't it?"

"You're right," Eli said. "It is bigger. A lot bigger."

The church wasn’t all that big. Just a small, old stone church you’d see somewhere far out in the country, predating the more common wooden structures of worship. But the inside was the size of a cathedral, though they couldn’t see much in the darkness. The dusk light streaming in from behind them showed two rows of pillars going down the middle of the room, disappearing into the dark. Other than that, they didn't see a thing.

"This is the most obvious boss room I’ve seen in my life," James said.

"Everyone ready?" Eli asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Amy said.

Princess came lumbering up to them and disappeared into Amy’s stable.

"Do you want to talk strategy?" Eli asked.

"Let's just wing it," Dana said.

Irene spoke, her voice soft. "I'm going to stealth. The healers should stand back and let others fight. If there are additional mobs, Amy’s bear should deal with them, if possible."

A light shone across Zack for a moment and when Eli inspected him, he saw the Rogue class added. He pulled out two vials filled with a sickly green, swirling liquid and handed one to Irene. "I just made these for us."

Both of them blended into the background, their outlines barely visible.

"Guess I’m going first, then," James said, hefting his shield.

Eli cast Aegis on him, but the spell was applied to himself instead. The spell was self-cast only, apparently, which the description failed to mention.

"Stupid system," Eli grumbled.

"Irene’s plan sounds good," Cruella said.

Eli nodded. "If possible, we’ll help with heal-bombing the boss. Just make sure it's undead first, Samantha."

Samantha’s face darkened. "I’m not a child, you know."

"That’s not what I meant," Eli protested. But then they had to hurry to catch up to James, who, apparently tired of waiting, stepped past the heavy wooden doors.

After a few steps inside, the door slammed shut behind them. Amy put her shoulder against it and pushed, then made a face. "Locked."

Eli attempted to Warp but found it restricted, just like he'd figured. There would be no escaping this boss fight. Thankfully, Heal worked just fine, as did Sigil of Light, which provided some light in the otherwise oppressively dark space.

James, Eli, Samantha, Amy, and Cruella walked slowly forward, with Dana bringing up the rear. She had her bow out again, while Amy carried her violin in her hand. They walked in a tight clump behind James, the tension so thick, and their muscles so on edge, it felt like walking through syrup.

Zack and Irene were impossible to spot, so Eli sent a party message.

Eli: Are you with us, Zack and Irene?

Zack: Stealth is really awesome. We’re walking on the other side of the pillars. Don’t worry, we’re following.

Nothing changed until they reached the middle of the vast chamber. The flickering light up front turned from yellow and orange to a more reddish glow, and two more lights came to life on either side. Then two more further to the sides, and two more by the far wall. Flickering flames continued to activate in a long line along each wall, making the pillars throw strange shadows in all directions.

The light revealed what had been hidden in the darkness. Paintings, or, well, imagery, all along the walls. Brush strokes adding color right onto the stone walls, rather than hanging picture frames. Details were difficult to make out in the dark, but Eli saw blood, scenes of death, and mayhem. Villages were burning. Dark shapes closed in on human-shaped beings of light that stood against them. Fields of battle, with men being overrun by beasts made out of pure darkness.

"I don’t like this," James said.

"The dying light," Eli whispered. "We’re in the Church of the Dying Light."

The Sigil of Light timed out, and they saw what it had hidden. A bright yellow symbol, painted to look like a tree with the sun as its crown. Darkness pressed in against it from all directions, and even its roots were being gnawed on by the black tendrils.

"I’m sensing a theme," Cruella scoffed, her voice too loud, echoing against the bare stone.

"Welcome to the Church of the Dying Light," a deep, loud voice rang out through the church, coming from all directions and none. "I see that you have brought friends, Priest. To think I would see another of your kind before the end."

"Who are you?" Eli asked, raising his voice to try to chase away the goosebumps crawling along his arms.

"How rude of me," the voice boomed. "You are right, of course. This is no way to greet a fellow man of the cloth."

Darkness dripped from the ceiling, like a far too thick oil that'd needed replacing for years. A pool of the stuff spread right before them, and the shape surged up, pulling the inky blackness into a human-shaped, robed figure. Once it had taken shape, the darkness disappeared, revealing a tall, emaciated man with large wet eyes and a wide mouth, made to look wider by a small nose. His irises were a pale red, adding to the figure's distinctly evil look.

Eli immediately inspected the figure. It was the same one he’d seen before through the open door of the church.

???. Corrupted Priest. Level 28.

"This was bad," Eli muttered under his breath.

"My name is Ephraim," the man said, his voice conversational, warm, even. "And I am the Priest responsible for this little church."

The priest’s red eyes shone, with the light from the flickering flames seeming to draw into them. The Priest smiled big and wide, showing a line of perfectly white teeth as he spread his arms. "I bid you welcome."

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James: Do we attack?

The Ephraim frowned. "You would do me harm inside these sacred walls?"

Eli drew in a sharp breath. The boss could read their party messages. He messaged James rather than using the party chat.

Eli: Let’s talk first. Perhaps we don’t need to fight.

The Priest’s eyes swivelled to meet Eli’s. "There is no need for violence. You can tell your skulking friends to come out of the shadows. In my domain, darkness and shadow belong to me. The Dying Light still sings my name while Darkness whispers in my heart. If you so wish, Priest of The Dying Light, you may join those who have come before you, join the Darkness and ascend to real priesthood."

"No thank you," Eli said. "I don’t think so."

The Corrupted Priest brought his hands together. "As you wish."

The tension was growing with every breath, despite the person in front of them being all smiles and gentle words. The red eyes, pale skin, and perfectly white teeth made Eli uncomfortable. This person—or monster—before them was obviously not a friend, but at the same time, it felt wrong to attack someone who gave no indication of wanting to hurt them.

He decided to extract all the information he could. "What is the Dying Light?"

Ephraim chuckled. "So, you have come for a philosophical discussion. I’m afraid I’m all out of wine."

"What do you mean?" Eli asked.

"Priests such as yourself surely know," the Corrupted Priest began, "Light is a mirage, a falsehood meant to keep our hearts from seeking the power found in Darkness."

His words were spoken with clear enunciation and utmost conviction, like he was standing on a stage and introducing his stance in a debate, and he was not finished.

"Why do you think so few of your kind remain? Dying Light, indeed. The last few priests who entered my domain are within its bowels, turning from the Light at this very moment. Their devotion makes the dead walk again, darkness breathing life into their souls."

"Are you talking about the zombies?" James asked.

"The ones we killed really were coming back to life?" Amy breathed, holding a hand over her mouth.

Eli narrowed his eyes. "Don’t listen to this creature. You’re not a man at all, are you?"

Ephraim's red eyes shone even brighter, and his smile turned into a grin. "What is a man if not a vessel for ambition, a way for darkness to take hold in this world? Let me share my ambition with you, Priest of The Dying Light."

As he spoke, his form began to emit a diffuse darkness, almost like a mist.

"It’s starting!" Cruella shouted, her two weapons coming alive with fire. She stepped in, spun, and slammed both blades into Ephraim's back.

Eli didn't even have time to yell. The Priest's health barely dropped.

Ephraim turned and Cruella lost the grip of her daggers. Pulsing darkness in the palm of their opponent's hand drove into Cruella's arm and she screamed as the force threw her back through the air to slam against one of the stone pillars. The upper arm, where the Priest had touched her arm, was blackened. She slumped to the floor, unconscious.

The daggers fell out of the Priest's back, clanging to the floor as Eli healed Cruella back from the brink of death. Still, her health steadily dropped. The darkness on her arm was spreading.

James slammed his shield forward into Ephraim's chest with enough force to reduce one of the skeletons to dust. The boss didn't make a sound, but moved back half a step, bringing his hands forward.

An arrow lodged itself into the Priest's shoulder, signaling that Dana had entered the fight. Still, the opponent didn't lose his pious smile as more and more darkness billowed around him.

Princess came charging out of thin air, slamming into the Priest. Strangely enough, the bear's sharp claws didn't even pierce his clothing. Two sets of dual daggers struck their opponent's neck on either side, green liquid dripping from the blades. Just as quickly as Zack and Irene appeared, they were gone again, their weapons following back into the shadows. The Corrupted Priest's health bar turned a sickly green, showing he was poisoned. His health was down to about half by this point, but whatever attack he was preparing would soon be released upon them.

Eli threw down a Sigil of Light and began heal-bombing the Priest, taking chunks of health out of him. Was he imagining things, or did the Corrupted Priest flinch when the first Heal touched him? He was not undead, but still took damage from the heals without the Harming Healer talent being toggled.

James kept thrusting forward and slashing with his sword again and again, cutting through Ephraim's robe and stabbing into his flesh, but doing little damage and drawing no blood. Amy stepped back and started playing her violin, the haunting tones amplified by the bare stone all around them. Eli healed and healed, spamming to get the enemy's health down to zero before whatever he was charging was unleashed.

Samantha was on her knees next to Cruella, who was slowly coming to, though her health was still draining. The dark area around Cruella's upper left arm had spread, now almost reaching down to her hand.

No matter how much they hurt him—and hurt him they did—his smile never left. Just as Ephraim was about to die, their attacks suddenly went straight through his form. The darkness coalesced and turned back to that inky goop. Then, with everyone panting, it separated into four mounds, reforming into four separate versions of the Corrupted Priest of the dying light. Each of them was as tall and menacing as the one had been.

"Which one is the real one?" Dana shouted, her bow pointing from one to another, her voice shrill with panic.

"Kill them all!" James bellowed. He spun to slam his shield into the one closest to him.

It lost a small amount of health. Then, for the first time since attacking Cruella, the priest retaliated. A spell that looked very much like healing, only with darkness instead of light, enveloped James and ate almost two-thirds of his health at once. James screamed and fell to his knees, as if in tremendous pain.

"Samantha!" Eli shouted. "We need you here!"

He healed James, then threw down a Sigil of Light.

Something came soaring through the air, and Eli caught a flash of pink before turning his back and pulling Amy with him, making her lose her tune. Explosion potions rocked the air as they landed, enveloping the copies in flames. All of them were damaged, but not by much.

Irene appeared with her knives once again, striking one of the copies in the back several times, taking a huge chunk of its HP. Before she had the chance to pull back and disappear, that copy lost all its features, returning to the goop form before washing over her, covering her entire body. It solidified then, looking like rubber, or perhaps latex.

Eli saw Irene clawing at her face as the Corrupted Priest blocked her airways, forcing her body to the floor.

"Irene!" Eli screamed, getting to her side while James occupied one of the other three clones, Princess, a second.

Zack was fighting the third, trying to get out of the way of remarkably fast attacks wrapped in darkness while looking over his shoulder at Irene. Not reacting quickly enough, an attack landed in Zack's side and threw him away, toward the far side of the vast chamber.

Eli healed Zack before he even landed, then turned his attention to the downed and slowly asphyxiating Rogue. Irene kicked her heels against the stone floor, desperately trying to grab the material covering her face. Even her fingers were covered with the stuff, making it impossible for her to even bend her fingers.

She had yet to lose much HP, but Eli healed her anyway, not sure what else to do. Miraculously, it seemed like the darkness did not like being touched by the light. It receded a little from her hands, and a knife popped out of her inventory. She plunged it into her forced open mouth, puncturing through the thick mask of darkness.

"Irene!" Eli screamed again as she got up on her hands and feet, coughing and breathing through the hole she'd cut for herself before pulling it off her head.

Eli healed her again and again, forcing the darkness back. Downing one of Zack's improved mana potions, he saw it turn back to goop, freeing Irene to instead slowly make its way toward Cruella and Samantha.

A bottle of liquid fire crashed against the floor, turning the goop into a bonfire. It screeched as Zack came running, hunched over like it was in pain.

"It's too high level!" James shouted. "We should retreat!"

"The door is locked, remember?" Dana shouted, unequipping her bow with a grunt of frustration, bringing out the lute and joining in Amy's melody.

"Amy! What are you playing?" Eli shouted.

Amy didn't answer. Princess had been occupying one of the priests of corruption, not doing much in the way of damage, but at least she kept the clone's attention. Eli was forced to spend most of his mana on the bear. Princess whimpered, and Eli heard something crunch in her as the priest of corruption turned to a mist of darkness, enveloping the bear. Bones began to crunch and snap, and the bear grew desperate, swiping at the air until all it could do was whimper.

Eli healed it again and again. "Amy, put Princess back into her stable!"

Princes disappeared, leaving a lingering mist of darkness in the air. Zack, thinking quickly, threw another bottle of liquid fire at the floor below the mist. It went up in flames in an instant, burned out of existence.

Samantha was pulling Cruella back and away from the inky darkness still trying to reach her, despite being on fire. "There's something wrong with Cruella!"

Eli looked over and saw her entire arm had turned black, all the way down to her fingers. It'd almost reached her shoulder.

"That's not good!" Eli said. "What do we do?"

"I don't know!" Samantha grunted, slipping and falling in a heap with Cruella, who was moving her lips, as if trying to talk.

One of the remaining clones of darkness rushed toward Amy, apparently not liking her tunes. Eli pushed her out of the way at the last moment and she fell back with a yelp, thudding to the floor. Her violin crashed and skidded away without breaking.

Eli braced for an attack, but it did not come. Rather than attacking Eli instead, the corrupted priest shied away from his proximity, almost as if afraid. Was it the Aegis spell? No, Eli did not think so. In that brief moment, real fear had shone in Ephraim's eyes.

He was afraid of the Light.