He didn’t know how it had happened.

One moment, he had glimpsed freedom—a sliver of light at the end of the abyss. The next, he was back where it all began.

The cold walls of the prison loomed around him, unchanged and indifferent. He had fought, struggled, survived. And yet, here he was again, shackled not just by metal but by something far worse—despair.

Even though he longed to break free from the darkness that had consumed him for years, the weight of it still clung to him. It wasn’t just a place—it was a state of being. A void carved into his heart, a misery that time refused to erase.

But despair had its limits. No matter how deep the abyss, no matter how long the night, even the bleakest void could not extinguish the memory of light. That alone was enough to keep him from surrendering completely.

This time, something was different.

This time, he knew what lay beyond the darkness. He had seen the light. Felt it. And that changed everything.

A glimpse of hope was a dangerous thing. It whispered of possibilities, of defiance, of second chances. Even if the chains still bound his wrists, his mind refused to remain caged.

The path forward wouldn’t be easy. Light wasn’t salvation—it was a challenge. A demand to move, to fight, to push forward.

And David was ready.

No matter how many times he was dragged back into the abyss, no matter how suffocating the weight of the past, he would not let it consume him.

Not this time.

David sat on the narrow cot in his cell, the dim glow of the overhead lamp casting long, wavering shadows across the cold concrete walls.

Today was different.

Unlike the monotonous days of confinement, today marked his return to Rift collection duty. Though he had long since adapted to the brutal rhythms of prison life, this process remained a relentless reminder of the price he had to pay for his past crimes.

A debt, they called it. But debts could be repaid. This? This was something else—an unending toll, a slow, methodical breaking of everything he once was.

Within the prison’s inner compound, a sterile chamber awaited—its design stripped of comfort, built solely for efficiency.

The walls were bare, the air heavy with the scent of cold metal and faint traces of arcane residue.

At the center stood a reinforced metal chair, its presence commanding, surrounded by an intricate web of monitoring devices and extraction instruments.

This was the extraction chamber—the place where David’s most potent element, his darkness power, would be drained and stored within a Rift Reserve Crystals.

To David it was a ritual now, one he knew too well. Step inside. Sit down. Let them take what they needed. Endure the hollowing. Then leave, less than he was before. Repeat.

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An overseeing guard, Captain Morlan, stepped into the chamber—a man whose sharp gaze sliced through deception like a blade. His very presence made the ordeal feel all the more inevitable.

As he approached, David sat rigid in the reinforced chair, his wrists bound by unyielding metal restraints. Morlan’s voice carried across the sterile room—firm, authoritative, yet laced with a trace of reluctant respect.

"David," Morlan began, his tone firm and devoid of emotion. "You know the procedure. Once your darkness energy has been fully extracted and stored in the Rift Reserve Crystal, you'll be given the recovery elixir."

David nodded silently. He had endured this process countless times—a relentless penance for the Gifted. Yet, it never grew easier.

Each extraction siphoned not only his power but also exacted a toll on his body that would only become evident over time.

It wasn’t just exhaustion. It wasn’t just pain. It was something deeper, more insidious. A slow unraveling of the self, one drop of power at a time.

Morlan's gaze remained fixed on David as he spoke.

"Umbra’s Veil," he said, his tone edged with something between warning and inevitability. "That’s what they call it. A so-called recovery elixir, but its truth is far darker."

He stepped closer, the dim light casting sharp angles across his face. "It’s extracted from the luminescent gland of a Vespera Drake—one of the beasts dragged from the lower Rifts. The alchemists harvest its secretion, purify it, distill it, and bottle it under the guise of restoration."

Morlan let the words settle before continuing, his voice lowering slightly. "At first, it feels like your mana is fully replenished. A miracle, they’d have you believe. But in reality, it doesn’t restore what you've lost. It converts a part of you—your raw, inherent power—into temporary mana.

"A trade-off. One that eats away at you, piece by piece."

David’s eyes narrowed imperceptibly. The knowledge of this dual-edged elixir was a constant weight on his mind.

He had felt it before—that unnatural surge, the fleeting sense of wholeness that always came with a price. It was like drinking warmth in the middle of a blizzard, only to realize it was frostbite creeping through his veins.

Every sip of Umbra’s Veil was both a blessing and a curse—a temporary restoration that would eventually sap him of his natural strength, trading raw potential for fleeting energy.

This was the price David had paid—the slow erosion of what he once was.

In his prime, back in his teenage years, his power had been boundless, raw, and untamed. It surged with overwhelming potential, a force that set him apart.

But with that strength came arrogance. The illusion of invincibility wrapped around him like a second skin, making him believe he was untouchable.

Until the incident.

That single moment had shattered everything, dragging him from the heights of power to the depths of his current existence.

His fall had been swift, merciless. A mistake, a miscalculation—one that had cost him more than just his freedom. It had cost him his identity.

Now, he was a shadow of his former self, his strength drained, his pride long broken.

As Morlan adjusted the dials on the instrument panel, his voice remained firm.

"You understand that this process is not optional, David. It is your duty to contribute your darkness energy to the Reserve Crystal. The RiftWalkers depend on it, and regardless of personal cost, you must fulfill your sentence."

David drew in a slow, measured breath, bracing himself for the inevitable ordeal.

"I understand, Captain," he murmured, his voice carrying the weight of resignation.

Closing his eyes, he reached deep within, summoning the darkness that had long been a part of him—a power shaped by his turbulent past and hardened through years of solitude and struggle.

The darkness obeyed, but reluctantly. It coiled within him, alive, unwilling to be stripped away. It was the last piece of himself that he still owned, and they were taking it, again and again.

As he focused, he felt it awaken, cold and unrelenting, creeping through his being like a tide rising in the depths of his soul.

A low hum resonated through the chamber as the extraction device powered on. The intricate mechanism latched onto his core, slowly siphoning his darkness into the Rift Reserve Crystal.

David shuddered as the familiar yet unsettling process began—a slow, deliberate drain that forced him to endure the weight of his own diminishing existence.

Power bled from him in ribbons of shadow, coalescing into the crystal’s heart. The machine did not care. It did not hesitate. It simply took.

Minutes stretched into what felt like hours as his energy drained away. The steady pull of the extraction device was relentless, siphoning his darkness with an almost surgical precision.

David’s mind drifted, slipping through a maze of memories—the suffocating abyss of his first Rift, the desperate struggle against the shapeshifter, the cold solitude of his prison cell.

Each moment bled into the next, pain and recollection intertwining in a haunting rhythm.

The loss of power was more than physical. It was a reminder. A punishment. He had once wielded this energy recklessly, believing himself untouchable.

Now, he paid the price for that arrogance—piece by piece, drained until nothing remained but regret and the ghost of what he used to be.

Finally, the device emitted a soft chime, signaling the end of the extraction.

A message flickered onto the monitor: "Extraction Complete."

David exhaled slowly, his body heavy, as if something vital had been stripped away.

Morlan nodded, his expression unreadable. Without a word, he moved to prepare for the next phase—one that David dreaded just as much as the draining itself.

"Now, it's time for your recovery," Morlan stated, his voice steady yet carrying an undertone of finality.

He turned toward a reinforced counter, where a small vial rested in an elaborate containment unit. The liquid within shimmered darkly, its surface swirling like ink dispersing in water.

"Administer the Umbra’s Veil."

His words carried no hesitation, no room for argument—only the weight of duty, of an unyielding cycle.

The Veil awaited. And with it, another step toward the inevitable decay.