I watched keenly as the farmers inspected the newly build greenhouses.

They let out all manner of hums and gasps.

Understandably so.

The greenhouses were about the size of an average school gymnasium.

The farmers had told me that my buildings would weaken over time because the Nyxten would absorb the darkness, but that wasn’t a problem. I could refuel them as many times as they needed.

Even if we ended up not warring with Lanceberg, giving the Expanse a defensive force would be a good thing in the long run.

Thus the builders and I decided to create a base between our settlements.

There, Yna would train the Expanse’s defenders.

Although there was a limit to how much a person could train and that limit wouldn’t take them anywhere near the strength of a Silver Knight, let alone a Golden one.

I’d need to talk to Yna about how her was modified-

Cavumium!

I had to ask Yna for the details on how she was made and perhaps we could create our own, anti knight force.

Also…

I raised my hands and saw that my arms were dyed black by darkness. My nails had turned into daggers and I could hear certain screams.

I could also feel a burning sensation in my chest.

With every beat of my heart, a pulse was sent out into the void above.

It almost as though my heart was crying out in search something.

The same a same way a child would cry for their mother.

I shook those thoughts aside and walked towards Tal and Yog.

“How long do you think it’ll take until this place is filled and ready?”

“A week at most. We’ll need to set up a few light sources in here to reduce the amount of darkness the plants absorb.” Tal said.

“Yeah. Everyone is in high spirits, so work should be as efficient as ever.” Yog said while flexing his arm.

I gently smiled before walking out of the greenhouse.

I had built three and I would build as many as they needed in the future.

I saw Sil talking to some of the space magicians she had brought.

“Alright, is everyone ready?” I asked.

“Yes. We have drafted a few layouts. Show him.” Sil instructed and foreman knelt down and showed me three different papers which all had simply sketches on them.

The nice part about my power is that I could destroy any structures I didn’t like, so if some issues came up in the future, I could swiftly deal with them.

I ended up choosing the second design which showed a cluster of barracks, storage buildings, indoor and outdoor training facilities and all of that wad encased in a walled area that was about the size of eight football stadiums.

Eight… football… stadiums…

Sil led us north of New Eimval and we eventually reached the spot in the exact middle of Coh and Eimval.

The space magicians then began digging up and flattening various pieces of land.

I wanted to know how space magic worked and so I asked.

“So, think of space as a pit of sand. We magicians are shovels that can transfer some of that sand from one place to another. The better the magician, the more sand you’re able to move and the more precise the movement is.” The foreman said.

“Observe.” He said before raising his right arm.

His eyes acquired a pale white glow and a solid sheet of rock and sand rose from the ground.

It looked as though someone had taken a knife and cut the sheet before, but that wasn’t the case.

“Don’t think of it as though I’m physically cutting the rock, I’m merely moving the space around the rock and it comes along as a result.” The foreman explained.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“What happens to the point where the space once was?” I asked.

“It seems as though the world knows that parts of it are bring gouged out and so it fills the back up with the surrounding area. Think back to my sand analogy. If you were to scoop out a kilogram of sand from the pit, the surrounding sand would fall into the hole you’d have made. Observe.” The foreman pointed at the hole about the size of a few floor tiles.

“We cannot create or destroy space, just twist, pinch and move it around and so after moving some space from that spot, space from somewhere took its place. It kinda has a vacuum like effect.”

“I see.” I droned before walking around the hole.

I nodded to myself before returning to Sil’s side.

The magicians eventually finished digging out the foundations that I needed.

“Err… sir. How are you going to build the base without any builders?” The foreman asked, but I raised my single blackened hand and almost immediately, the air was filled with countless blue sparks.

Torrents of black smoke fell from the sky prompting everyone to look up in what I hoped was amazement.

The smoke landed on designated cutouts the magicians had made and from those cutouts, came tall dark buildings made in the vision that I willed.

I didn’t know how the military back on earth reinforced their buildings and so I continued using my method.

Create a basic shape, expand it and pump it full of darkness, reinforcing the dark crystals.

We’d need a name for them.

Especially since I was considering using my darkness to make weapons and crap.

Vantanite had a nice ring to it.

Gasps from the magicians and Sil snapped me out of my thoughts.

“Mmm?” I sounded before noticing that they were all staring me.

I looked down and saw that plumes of black smoke were rising from my body.

Not only that my Dark Marks were burning like crazy.

My breaths quickly grew hot and I felt something wet beneath my nose.

I touched it and saw that it was blood.

My heart began beating faster and with each beat, the dark storm in front of us intensified.

I willed the base into completion and as I did, as I tapped into the darkness, I noticed something.

The fumes were rising from that strange core thing in my chest.

The darkness was seeping out through my body and that’s how I was getting the Dark Marks.

I needed a way to let out that inner darkness without burning my body and so I opened my mouth and vomited it out.

Sil and the magicians all backed away as a torrent of black smoke shot out of my mouth.

It struck the ground with such forces, that it blasted the sand away and began chipping away at the rock beneath.

My throat became extremely dry and hot.

Visions of a certain dark place popped into my mind as I ran out of breath.

I could hear the screams which I so desperately tried silencing and they clawed at my mind far more than before.

I needed to finish the base and so I forced my teary eyes up and finished adding the final touches on the base before sending any residual darkness back into space.

I then fell to my knees and dung my small fingers into the sand as my Dark Marks burnt intensely.

“Sir?” Sil called as I slowly stood up.

She looked both worried and terrified and so, I forcefully smile before raising a thumb.

“I’m all good.” I wheezed before loudly and painfully coughing.

Sil cautiously approached me as my body returned to its normal state.

“Seriously, I’m fine.”

I tried saying, but I had lost my voice.

Well, shit.

Sil, the magicians and I all exchanged perplexed glances.

It’s here that I remembered that even though I was the Host of Darkness, I was still a living being.

That confirmed to me that although hosts lived for an extended time, they weren’t invincible.

I needed to find a life-force that wouldn’t make me feel guilty for absorbing it.

“Let’s go back.”

I tried saying, but my words were like wheezy whispers and my throat was in a lot of pain.

Sil nodded before picking me up.

Her arms were a lot smaller than Yna’s but she got the job done.

“Come.” She said before leading the builders into the base.

Dark roads connected the many building and there was enough open, sandy space for training and whatnot.

My vision blurred and I was overcome by a deep drowsiness.

I tightly clung to Sil who’s heart was beating incredibly fast.

I used it as a lullaby to sooth my aching mind.

“Is he… sleeping?”

Someone asked.

“I think so.” I heard the foreman say.

“What in the world did we just witness?”

“I have no idea, but it reminds me of a story my parents used to tell my siblings and I when we were young.” The foreman said.

The rhythm of Sil’s movements really helped me relax. With each steps, her weight shifted and I relished every breath she took.

“They spoke of an old god that our people once worshiped. The Black Flame. Although now that I think about it, it was less of a god and more of an abstract concept.”

“What was it exactly?”

“My parents described it as the flame that would one day engulf all. You see up there, beyond the night sky, lies an infinite darkness. One that sits in waiting for the day when all returns into its embrace.”

“What does that have to do with a fire?”

“I guess it’s meant to describe the darkness’s ravenous nature.”

“I see. What does this have to do with Lord Katsíki?”

“I think he is the vassal of that flame.”

“By that, aren’t you also saying that Prince Kenos was the flame’s vassal?”

“Perhaps.”

.

..

I awoke in a dimly lit room.

Sleeping next to me was Anda and sleeping between us was a boy.

Anda looked like shit, but I was no different.

My body quaked and quivered.

My head ached, my throat was extremely sore, my vision came and went, my legs were weak and I was unbelievably hungry.

“Are you awake?”

A soft voice asked.

I forced myself up and met Sil’s gaze.

“Y-“

I tried saying, but I winced as my throat was assaulted by excruciating pain.

This led to a surge of anger rising within me.

My mind was the flooded with screams and pain.

Sil quickly walked to my side.

I tried raising my hand to stop her, but she forced it down before picking me up.

“You must me starving.”

Yes, but that wasn’t the main problem.

Sil took me to a small dining table where she plopped me onto an old wooden chair.

A sweet smell filled the air, but the ringing and screaming in my head made it hard to focus.

Sil handed me a bowl of what looked like porridge.

I looked at her with a raised brow, but she simply crossed her arms.

“What? Is my cooking unfit for the Dark Vessel?” She asked.

I lowered my head before taking a spoonful of the pale semisolid and although sweet, it made contact with all of the wounds in my mouth and throat.

I tried my best not to wince, but I was in far too much pain.

I saw the look Sil was shooting me and so I gave her a thumbs up.

She rolled her eyes before sitting on the chair opposite mine.

I looked around at what I assumed was Sil’s home while forcing myself to swallow every spoon of porridge I ate.

It was a nice little place.

Kinda reminded me of my place back on earth.