Nyxnthix rolled her shoulders as she walked through the portal of blood. It wasn’t the most ideal form. But it had everything they wanted to finish the job. The familiar green field greeted the assassin.
A shower of sparks outlined an individual before revealing Glimmer, the golem greeter for the Soul Nexus. Nyxnthix restrained herself from grumbling as she saw the golem for the fourth time.
“Hello, wanderer. Welcome to the Soul Nexus.” Glimmer held open their arms as they strode towards Nyxnthix. “I’d give you the speech, but you and I both don’t want to go through that again. Although, this is a really new look for you. Kinda young, don’t you think?”
Nyxnthix froze. Each of the other times, Glimmer made no inclination that it knew who she was. Something was very wrong.
“Well, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Nyxnthix turned and looked for the portal, but saw it collapse into nothing. “While my appearance is young, I’m older than I look.”
Glimmer’s painted face didn’t change as she leaned forward. “I’m sure you are, in both cases. And don’t lie to me. The Nexus knows you’re wearing that vampire’s body, and now you’ve earned its attention. Congratulations; only five others have done that.”
“Five?” Nyxnthix was certain only four had climbed to the top. She couldn't help but wonder who the fifth was and what they did.
Nyxnthix quivered. Her body was smaller than she would have liked. Standing at a petite height of about five feet, her slender build presented itself as deceptively unassuming.
The young woman’s skin was fair, contrasted with the darkness of her long, jet-black hair, which she proudly kept tied up in a high ponytail. Her fingers occasionally twirled with the loose strands that flowed down to the small of her back.
Nyxnthix couldn’t help but muse about the vanity of the previous inhabitant. The glossy, obsidian strands, despite being an undeniable liability, the vampire’s superficial fixation on her hair wouldn’t let her cut it.
Her face was home to delicate features. And her eyes, a captivating shade of crimson, were her most striking aspect. Their gaze was the final image many had witnessed before they were feasted upon.
Her fidgeting with the silky strands of hair only got worse as Glimmer crossed her arms and pointed at the ground. Nyxnthix looked down to see the ground vanish. When she tried to use her magic, something blocked her. It left her with only one option.
She screamed and flailed as she fell into the darkness, leaving Glimmer laughing above her.
As Nyxnthix tumbled into the darkness, she felt a disorienting sensation, as if the very fabric of reality shifted around her. The fall seemed endless, and the echoes of Glimmer’s laughter echoed in her ears. Eventually, the abyssal descent came to an abrupt halt, leaving Nyxnthix in an unfamiliar, dimly lit chamber, face down on the floor.
As she silently thanked whatever entity prevented her from feeling the impact of her free fall on the floor, she cautiously pushed herself to her feet. The air was thick with an unsettling energy that sent shivers down her spine. Nyxnthix’s eyes adjusted to the dim light, revealing a twisting, shadowy landscape. The ground beneath her felt solid, yet it looked like she was walking on a writhing platform of energy.
A figure emerged from the darkness, a silhouette with an eerie purple glow outlining its form. The voice that echoed through the chamber was not Glimmer’s playful tone but something deeper, ancient, and annoyed.
“You are either stupid, masochistic, insane, devoted, blind, desperate, or guilty of the worst crime imaginable."
The body seemed to be constructed of wisps of stardust and pulsating energy interweaving with each other. Glittering particles cascade from its form like confetti. Its silhouette exuded a deep, purple glow. The figure’s shape was humanoid, yet it was constantly shifting, as if it couldn’t settle on a single form. The edges of it were being blurred into the surrounding darkness.
The body seemed to be constructed of the very fabric of the universe itself, with wisps of stardust and pulsating energy interweaving to create an otherworldly figure. Wisps of energy coalesced around its ‘head’ with an ever-changing visage that mirrored emotions. Occasionally, fleeting images of galaxies, constellations, and ethereal landscapes manifest within its form.
The weight of countless souls absorbed bore down on Nyxnthix. The Soul Nexus’s form swirled with nebula-like patterns that pulsed with mysterious energy as a stark white lab coat appeared and draped over its shoulders.
“There is an order to the Soul Nexus—to me. You’ve not only ignored the cost of failing, but returned and failed repeatedly.” The strange, overwhelming being drew closer to Nyxnthix. She could feel something tugging at the core of her existence. “Why? What reason could drive you into your own oblivion so recklessly?”
Nyxnthix swallowed hard, attempting to push down the lump swelling in her throat. “Be—because I have to.” The trembling whisper was all she could manage as she wrapped her fingers in her hair. “It’s my—my job”
As the Nyxnthix stood, she began feeling smaller. Either she was getting smaller or the creature representing the Soul Nexus was growing. The latter was more likely, since Nyxnthix knew that whatever was happening was not happening to her new body.
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The being loomed over the tiny vampire with palpable hatred. “Your job? Your job? There is nothing in your brazen disregard for order that supersedes my work. The work of countless eons has been distilled into one singular instance, and your job is ruining it.”
The venom from the Soul Nexus’s words threatened to drown Nyxnthix’s sensibilities. This was supposed to be a simple, easy job. In one moment, she had come to wish she had never taken the assignment. Every fiber of her being—both her new vampire body and the assassin shade she was at her core—screamed at her to run and never come back. This would be the one job she would never finish.
But she couldn’t. The Soul Nexus won’t let her. She knew it. She could feel it. It was pulling her true body out of the vampire’s body. Nyxnthix’s true shadowy body spewed out from the woman’s body and was held suspended in the air as the other collapsed.
The Soul Nexus shrank down and procured a white collar from a pocket on the lab coat. It held it up to Nyxnthix’s shade form. "Normally, I’d collect my fee at this point. But experiments should be replicable. And I have an experiment I need you to take part in.”
The white band floated to and wrapped around Nyxnthix’s incorporeal neck. It had witnessed and elicited fear in so many individuals before, but it never felt fear itself.
Until now.
Nyxnthix didn’t know whether to beg, fight, run, bargain, or whatever else. Its mind ran in every direction all at once, leaving it paralyzed.
With a finger, the being in front of the shade pushed Nyxnthix back into the vampire woman’s body. “There will be no more running away, no more second chances. You either complete the experiment or your existence will be shredded until nothing remains. Now, the experiment is simple: climb the tower, gain levels, and grow stronger. I want to see if your body reacts similarly to how Rina Lone’s has.”
Lying back on the ground in the vampire woman’s body, Nyxnthix could only stare up at the Soul Nexus. “What are you talking about?”
The being turned and moved to leave. “Your existence and her soul are very much alike. I want to see if you can become a complete soul too. She’s so very close now. It shouldn’t be too much longer now. If you’re still so intent on killing her, that’s fine. You’ll just have to make sure you reach the top if you wish to leave.”
“Your experiment,” she hissed. “What purpose does it serve? Why am I subjected to this torment?”
The being’s response echoed with an unsettling calmness. “You are here because you have defiled my order, my structure. The only reason you still exist is because you’re more useful to me as an experiment. I have one directive, and I will see it through in its entirety.”
Nyxnthix ground her teeth. “And what is that?”
The being paused. “To learn the true potential of a soul.”
The darkness gave way to lush grass, and the return of Glimmer’s laughter sent Nyxnthix’s neck twitching. She looked up at the painted golem.
Glimmer clapped its hands. “Since you’ve been here before, there’s no need for the tutorial.” The golem lunged at the vampire, grabbed her hair, and pulled her close. Nyxnthix could smell the paint as her nose pressed into the wooden exterior. “Be glad the circumstances have changed. The last one of your kind who tried to exploit the system didn’t fare so well.”
Nyxnthix raised an eyebrow. The revelation of not being the first soulless assassin to enter the Soul Nexus nearly stole her breath. But if the Soul Nexus had killed important beings, such as its brethren, it needed to be stopped.
She shoved the golem away and smeared at it. “You don’t frighten me.”
Glimmer chuckled, even with her static face. “It’s not me you need to fear. But, the novelty of this is wearing off. I’ve got others waiting.” She waved her hands as if to shoo Nyxnthix away. “So off you go.”
Nyxnthix turned around to see herself standing in a desert with nothing around. “At least it put me on the second floor. No more wasting time on that first floor. But first things first.”
She looked at her status and flinched. It wasn’t the body’s name like before, but a simplification of her real name.
Name: Nyx Vampire Powers: Level: 14 Regeneration Agility: 65 Blood Magic Arcane: 220 Charm Power: 205 Quickness: 50 Resilience: 100 Toughness: 100 Unassigned Points: 0 Shards: 0
“My name is Nyx, not Nyx? No, it’s Nyx.” Nyx’s hand flew to cover her mouth. The only name she could say was the one on her status. She could imagine her true name, but she couldn’t imagine her true form. “What did the Nexus do to me?”
She tried to push herself out of the vampire’s body, but it was like she forgot how to. Then a truly alien feeling washed over her as a mortifying thought bubbled out of her mind. Why would I push my soul out of my body?
There were two things wrong with that one thought. One, she didn’t have a soul. The second was that it wasn’t her body. Yes, she possessed it, and that technically makes it hers, but it shouldn’t feel like hers. And why can’t I not think of myself as anything other than a “she?”
Nyx grabbed at her head as she paced in circles. She felt like she needed to get out of the sun. It wasn’t very good on her skin. She wasn’t going to burst into flames. That’s just an urban myth to give people hope that vampires can be stopped so easily.
Nyx had seen so many misconceptions about some of the more powerful creatures. Vampires don’t spontaneously combust in sunlight. That just doesn’t make any scientific sense. And the whole drinking blood, blown out of proportion.
Nyx rolled her eyes at the thought of people complaining about all the times she got caught drinking blood. It’s not my fault; I need to eat constantly. And people should be thankful I’m only drinking their blood instead of killing and eating them. Why kill a cow when it’s still providing milk?
Just like the other most common misconception of werewolves transforming on full moons. They don’t transform back and forth. They’re filthy mutts all the time.
She immediately stopped and stared blankly ahead. Nyx felt like she was the vampire had become her identity and not the assassin shade. Her new, invasive thoughts were only going to get worse. Everything was wrong, and there was one responsible. She balled her fists as she stormed to the nearest city. She needed to be stronger. Because she had a new mission.
Rina Lone was no longer important. The Soul Nexus needed to be stopped.