I sank down into the mountain of corpses laid beneath me—trampled over one another, creating a gore and hideous scene—, as I breathed heavily, each breath felt like a strain over my lungs as my chest heaved.

I cleared the sweat from over my forehead as it threatened to drip down my eyes, as I released razor’s edge and thrust it into a corpse as I sat down. I wiped the blood creased across my cheek as I looked around me and saw the carnage dying the land.

A crisp smoke rose in the air filling it with a flesh burning adore which seemed to be carried and spread through distance by the breeze blowing past, as icicle lances were thrust into the half ripped bodies of the beasts, I had just finished slaying.

I caught sight of the land to several hundred meters away, where the tip of two great mountains—which looked like sharp jagged maw of a might beast—clawing away at the sky which was filled with hollow clouds which moved and shrouded the sky, without a trace of sunlight cascading down at the land.

There was an enormous crack in the ground which seemed to stretch to a hundred metres, with countless corpses—having half of their bodies severed and fresh blood still oozing out of their dead bodies—lying lifelessly on the edge of the crack or having fallen into it.

I bobbed my head toward razor’s edge and looked at my visage being reflected in the clear blade, now cleansed of the blood over it. I felt unusual in a sense as I focused on my eyes, my two irises burned with a dark amethyst shade. But turning my gaze away I looked back down at the long crack in the wide grassland.

By now I was sure that I could use the crescent moon style up to the third movement with relative ease, but for the fourth or fifth movement of the sword art, I wasn't as confident, since I might need a little more time to perfect using it in my new body.

But the fourth movement I could perform if I forced my body to match with the robust of power and speed generated by the movement. Because the first to the fourth movements were all in all somehow connected to each other, as they followed the basics. That’s the way how Master had made the sword art, in a way that it increased the power and speed of the slightest of slash released by the sword, even if it was a basic movement, like a horizontal slash, but if performed properly. But that understanding disappears when the question of using the fifth movement arises. Because it required an entirely different level of control, unlike the previous four, where even the slightest bit of mistake can cause severe repercussions.

That’s why I was forced to learn about the human physique and how it worked depending on the muscles and tendons flexed, even if it was for sitting, resting or sleeping, I was mostly taught about what and how the body reacts in response to a certain action or command, even before I started learning to use the crescent moon style.

I remembered those hellish days when Master and that quake-head would force me to read anatomy until I was able to flex the certain type of muscles of desire and be aware of where they were located through my hellish mana training. It was literally like hell which I had to experience on a daily basis until several years.

I looked down at my arms which were tainted with blood, my battle robes were ripped from several places, as I focused on a claw wound left by a mana beast as it undid itself.

I looked down at my clothes with a long tired sigh as I slightly frowned. My attire consisted of a black t-shirt covering up to half of my neck with a light leather vest and a pair of brown pants, which were tight and slightly uncomfortable, but efficient in battle for movement regardless, with a pair of dark brown boots and a dull coloured robe with several runes engraved on the inside which also worked like a protective piece of equipment.

Well, I might just be running low on my stock for change of clothes. I have already lost about seven pair of clothing since I entered the trials. And each battle leaves my clothes in a tattered and ripped state, worse than before.

These battle robes were a piece of equipment that I had bought from the system store, but the robe was something which had been designed by the artificer named ‘Nero’—who sequentially also was Mr. Butler’s daughter, as surprisingly as I had found out—back in my world. And it was a piece of item created under the name of ‘hephaestus’, and it had taken quite the pretty penny to even get a single piece of their highest quality protective equipment.

And the price for a single equipment created by Nero was estimated to be in the six figures and reach the eight figures easily. That’s how much in demand her designed items were. People who desired her crafts were willing to pay any high amount, but even I had to say that the equipment was worth its price.

The thing about this plain looking robe was that it used the runes engraved on its inside as a way to create a layer of mana around the robe which can protect the person wearing it from any physical attacks as well as lessen the force of a spell by nullifying or slightly absorbing or dispersing the mana from it to weaken the impact on the last second.

But that entirely depended on how strong the physical attack was or the mana incorporated into the conjuration of the spell.

I mean out of all the artificers I have seen or met, Nero might just be the most capable of them all. Well, not that I have ever met her.

I felt an uncomfortable nudge stir me from my reverie, as I realized the reason almost immediately and kept my mana in check—my reserve had grow quite a bit since I had broken through and the mana I could manipulate now had grown thrice the amount I had been able to command before, with the speed of my absorption and purification of the atmospheric mana increased several folds, so has my speed of incantation less spellcasting gotten better as well as figuring out just how much mana I needed to incorporate in the conjuration of a specific type of spell. While manipulating deviant type mana arts still required some progress and posed quite the difficulty when using them, I had basically outclassed my past self in just a few weeks of training, in the ability to conjure magic arts—, as I felt for my mana which connected me to my skill. The skill was burning strongly with life as I felt warmth spread across my body and a slight tingle as I dispatched more mana to it.

For a moment I held the impulse and curiosity to dwell deeper and use and push the skill a little further to see just how much better I had gotten at using it since, but stopped as I suddenly remembered about my frenzied outburst back in the first trial. It was something which I still vividly remembered, and the experience was something I would not like to redo again.

With another breath, the mana which had made my connection to my skill, sparked then dimmed, as a flourishing tingle spread through my back as I released hold over Ruler’s Authority and it quietly fell doormat without an ounce of rejection like it did when I had used it in my previous tries or any repudiated action to take control.

“Whew,” I gave out a breath of relief as I felt some burden over my mind had been taken off.

Still keeping the skill active for an active amount of time and in check was proving difficult for me even now, but it was not going into a frenzy unlike the last few times, but after my recollection I felt more deeply connected to Ruler’s Authority and also all my other skills, and I was able to keep a hold over it and manipulate it as easily as my other skills and abilities.

And considering that the seal over Leap had been released after me gaining insight into it, I could say that by now I was able to use the skill twenty times, consequently in a row until my reserves ran dry. With all the possibilities and other skills in my arsenal, Leap was indeed a power which was indispensable for me now.

And also considering Ruler’s Authority’s aptitude, this skill was more of a mental type which made my awareness to the mana and demonic energy around me stronger and also strengthened my visual and mental acuity when used with Mind’s Eye. And I was left to ponder over the fact, that Ruler’s Authority complimented pretty much almost all of my skills.

But it did leave me exhausted, nonetheless, by the level of concentration I needed to put in, in order to manipulate the effects of the skill to not consume my mind, for example it was like trying to hold two sets of thoughts, but like a picture which is two things at once; one which were my usual thoughts telling me the right from wrong, and then the other set of thoughts which made me feel exasperated and an ample flurry of emotions to find a good battle.

It was mostly like two sides of a coin.

In even more of an easier sense it was like trying to conjure a dagger made out of ice but engulfed with a fiery flame shrouding the dagger to melt it, but with me trying to keep the shape of the dagger in place while keeping the flame burning as amply as possible, to maintain the shapes of both ideas and thoughts at once without lowering the output of any other. And I could say by now, that about sixty percent of the skill was successfully under my control, without it going into a frenzy. It was slow but I could tell as I progressed forward that I was getting better at using the skill.

After my mind had completely and perfectly assimilated with the Jiwoo memories, using Ruler’s Authority had became relatively easy for some reason. I guess the reason the skill went out of control was due to some interference caused by the aptitude of my new physique and the changes of witnessing those memories, probably due to some limiter placed upon me until I had not received the past memories of the previous owner.

Like a dormant piece which had finally fallen into place to complete the puzzle for the skill to become subservient to me. To listen and heed my command without any spurn actions.

I guess, it went along those lines. But this certain question always prickled the back of my head even if I tried to push it away: if I had taken control—as my soul had entered Jiwoo’s body and taken dominant control now—then what became of Jiwoo’s soul which still should have been alive and residing in his own body before I took over?

I thought, slightly sombre, as my face creased into a questioning frown of deep contemplation and melancholy. But I had no answer for this question. It could have been that his soul was gone forever or he had turned to oblivion after my regression.

It could be either of them, or...

My frown widened as I thought of a plausible theory as to why this was happening to me, and why I felt connected to him, as well as felt familiar to the people which he used to know.

‘It might be able to answer one of the mysteries behind my regression, but that seems too inhuman and wrong. Even if I had found myself inside his body, I think, the reason to my familiarity to the people that this boy knew might be because, when I had first arrived inside this body...’ A grimace caught up to my face as I held back on saying and acknowledging those words—as if I came past a lump inside my throat—, plus the theory I had formulated inside my head. ‘That my intervention and regression—when taking over this body—had somehow—the stronger and more dominant soul—destroyed or either absorbed his soul in some sense to be able to merge with and take control over my new physique.’

It was an unfortunate situation, and it held a good probability of being true as well, but I felt self-deprecated as I had taken the life of an innocent person without even his knowing. I looked down at my hands as I clenched them into white knuckled fists. The blood staining them was dried up, reminding me of a memory of when I was Shun.

Ever since that day, I have been trying my best to improve myself, I didn’t want to go back to being just a cold-blooded killer as I had been in the past—a wary kind of person who questioned even the passing kindness of others as some scheme against him—, that I promised myself that I would live this second life as fulfilling as possible, for the both of us.

That I would protect our loved ones.

I knew I could only blame myself, but carrying this burden was something that only I could do. The weight of my promises and responsibilities were something which only I could shoulder alone.

I took a breath with a more resolute expression as I released my clenched fists and looked above at the clouded sky through which small rays of light escaped which dyed the land in a cosy and unusual warmth which slowly shrouded me as well, soon after the clouds started to disperse, as the illuminating expansive azure sky came visible to my eyes.

But it was without a doubt that I held a piece inside of me which connected me to the previous owner—to Jiwoo. I held a part of his memories, which made me undoubtedly aware of this boy’s existence, what kind of life he had led and what hardships he had faced in his life. Even if no one knew who this boy was, even if the people he was close to didn’t know of his disappearance, I alone still remembered.

And I would like to think that I understood Jiwoo better now. He was still just a boy with many ambitions and wishes of his own, but I had taken them away from him.

All I could do for him was to take care of the last family he had. His sister, who was herself, fighting for her own life at this very moment.

I felt a discomforting melancholy conjure within me which sat like a stone in my stomach. But with a sigh, I shook my head to clear my head off of the pessimistic thoughts.

In the end, I can’t change the hand that fate had played with Jiwoo or even Jihye or what had happened to me in the past or even now. The intricacies of life are something that as much as a person tries to change them, or fight against them, the cruelty of fate still leaves them vulnerable.

I persisted as much I could, but in the end it was all in vain. No! It wasn’t. I found myself here and now given another chance.

Taking razor’s edge out and storing it back inside the inventory, I lifted off the mountain of corpses, as I kept my mana in check along with the atmospheric mana—the awareness of having to maintain the connection between myself and the atmospheric mana in order to take flight—and manoeuvred through the air in the direction of where the portal was.

After I had exited through the portal from the thalassalithion tribe, I found myself moving through several landscapes and environments and seasonal areas where I had to overcome and fight several monsters and harsh trials in accordance to the respective area and the trial based of the system.

And yet another peculiar thing I found after passing a few trials was that, in some case the portal would appear only after I had cleared a certain trial, or it can appear somewhere the moment I arrived in the trial location. I could subtlety feel the slight and dormant pulses released by the exit portal, plus the subtle distortion in the space which I was able to do so after taking full control back on Leap which also made my awareness to the pathways more elaborate, but despite that, as hard as I tried to find it, I still couldn’t.

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It had felt like the portal was in plain sight and I could find it if I tried, but as if it was hidden by some interference to not show me exactly where it was.

Soon after, the pulses released by the portal were palpably felt as a very subtle and light fluctuation whistled in the air, which seemed to grow more stronger as time past, pointing towards the north-western side, where I was currently headed.

And one more thing I had realized that was, wherever the portal was, the mana and the demonic energy in the area where it was conjured was abundant and naturally heavy, which would stir and spike and cause a heavy distortion in the air.

Which gave me the clue as to where the portal exactly was.

The breeze felt comforting as my hair swayed backward by the air getting pushed back as I flew. The sensation still left me slightly astound, but having the ability to fly was indeed a very useful and versatile skill which I had needed in my arsenal.

My eyes caught onto the ripples forming in the air as soft tendrils shook the area and swayed the blades of grass in the wide and lush land which stretched on for miles until intersecting with the mountain on the southern and western side and a deep forest and rivers which were to the northern and eastern side.

In my time here I had started to realize and deduce how supposedly the way these trials operated.

And I had divided them into three categories for convenience sake: the first category was the ‘Main Trial’; where I needed to perform a certain task or gain some insight into some aspect or solve some puzzle, as to what the trial was indicating toward through which either the information of the trial would be revealed to me or the latter case will happen, when the portal’s location is revealed to me, which allowed me to sense and pinpoint where the distortion was palpable in order to reach the exit or it manifested in front of me.

The second category was the ‘Sub Trial’; which was supposedly just like a system quest where I needed to perform what the trial based quest had given me. Either to fight a beast, or show a certain level of resistance to something or to stay in a certain location for a predetermined time.

And lastly the third category, the ‘Survival Based Trial’ the one which I honestly kind of hated the most out of the three. It was a kind of test where I needed to continue fighting beasts for a certain period of time and try to survive in different locations and environments until the portal conjures automatically after a certain amount of time had passed. Like a survival based quest.

And currently I had been issued the third category based trail, where I had to continue fighting stampedes of mana beast for the past several days with only a few hours of rest in between to replenish my mana and sleep to recover my stamina.

My eyes slowly caught on to the sheen of the portal which stood only a few meters now suspended in air. The space around it cracked viciously as the dark aura of the portal seemed to burn with power and energy.

I felt for the mana and it danced around the portal and stood close to as if to sustain it, moving in a coherent set of motion to provide a strong structure for it remain stable.

I landed a few steps away from the portal as the reward window appeared to my eyes labelling the trial clearance rewards.

I quickly checked through the contents and I still had no luck in finding another one of the ingredients for the elixir of life. After the first trial where I had found the first ingredient, I’d not been able to find or acquire a single other ingredient apart from the first one.

“I hope I am able to find the second ingredient in the next trial,” I said with a breath as I waved the window away and stepped forward toward the portal.

“Ahh...haven’t been having any luck so far. Let’s hope the next one is any better.” I sighed with a suppressed snicker as I walked into the portal.

The locks of my hair which had grow past my shoulders swayed with the wind produced by the distortion caused by the portal’s manifestation as it slightly fluttered my battle robes, the portal which moved me didn’t cause any distortion or made me nauseous, unlike the portal daises I had grow accustomed with when travelling back on earth. In comparison, it created a smooth transition from one location to another without causing any kind of repulsion of sudden effects.

My eyes dilated by the sudden shift as the energy of the portal wrapped around me and ushered me through the opening in the space as I was swayed toward my next destination.

When I came to be, I found myself spat out of the oval portal as it dimmed and surged the area around me in a bright illuminating sparkle.

It took me a second as my eyes adjusted to the location I had just arrived in. And unlike the past landscapes and locations, I looked around in inquiry as I saw that I had appeared inside a plain looking chamber no bigger than a small room.

The portal rippled and blurred out of existence as the light emitted by it dimmed and the entire room vanished into a pit of darkness as not even the rolling of stone or the slightest noise of an insect could reach my ears.

I lifted my hand and brought it upwards in front of me as I sent a pulse of mana and stimulated the fire particles around me, as a flame began to burn over the top of my palm which provided ample visibility for me to observe the small cobblestone chamber.

It was adequate in size, just enough to accommodate a single person’s stay, but plain in texture and interior and nothing out of sorts that I might have expected it to be. Like any uninteresting room, with a study table placed by the left of the room with several books and parchments ruffled over it with mould having taken them and an old wooden chair crashed over the floor.

I spun over my heel and saw a stone cut altar standing in the middle of the room, supposedly made of some mineral which seemed quite prestigious for this ancient rundown room full of dust visible in the air.

I walked closer to it, my feet grinded against the cobblestone which rang and bounced back around as I cautiously brought my free hand forward and touched the altar, but nothing seemed to happen, the surface was cold and sturdy and everything pointing to it seemed ancient, but as I observed the altar with a keen eye, I quickly found something at the edges where there were several intricate runes engraved in its surface. My fingers felt for their shape and size but they looked hollow and lifeless, only some kind of decoration to make the altar look intricate and subtle.

I brought my hand back and thought for a quick second. I pushed my mana and activated Mind’s Eye as I witnessed the individual particles of mana trapped inside this room.

My brows knitted in question as I saw the mana in this room operate in a weird set of movements, which should have looked no different and odd from its usual behaviour, but despite that, I still couldn’t come to accept it, as if something that prickled the back of my head which made me apprehensive and doubt how the mana was moving.

There was this unease that made me unable to accept the fact that the mana was acting in this irregular way. So I focused on the demonic energy, and there was nothing unusual with it, it moved according to it own will heedless of the space and mana around it, but even it was acting strangely in a way I couldn’t perfectly make out.

So instead, I prickled the surface of the altar, sending a tiny pulse of my mana into it. And just as I did, the altar seemed to stir and hum as the entire chamber began to wince and grind under its weight as the floor quaked making dust to fall from the ceiling.

I focused over the altar and saw that the runes over it hummed for a quick second before dying down as the ambient mana stirred and converged toward it.

Could it be...

I placed my palm over the altar and this time sent a stronger pulse of my mana, the same thing happened as before, but this time, I let my mana roll out of me and kept pushing it into the altar more strongly as the runes over it burned with golden light which spread through the room and grew more brilliant.

When the golden light had perfectly enveloped the runes, I stepped back and saw the altar shaking as the residual dust shook off from it and the floor began to pulse with amethyst light.

I steadied my body as I felt ominous for some reason, soon after the room was alit with dim light which escaped through the cracks in the walls, ceiling and floor.

I inclined my head to see any difference, but there didn’t seemed to be any. The room looked and felt the same despite the change the altar had gone through.

“What am I supposed to do now?” I said, but suddenly from behind me I heard the creaking of stone as I hurriedly spun and saw the wall from before, now turned into an arch like entrance with a wooden door.

I looked behind me, at the altar one last time as I reached for the door and took a hold of its metallic handle which felt cold and rusted from age.

This must be a part of the trial, I convinced myself. But no information was yet revealed to me. This also happened in the first one, but that didn’t seem to stop me from going through this door.

I pushed the door open and felt a heavy gust of wind flutter my clothes and hair back as I found myself walking into a crypt dungeon, which looked more like an ancient forgotten library.

All of a sudden I felt some kind of rejection arouse from my body as if this place was repulsing my existence for some reason. Without even my consent, Mind’s Eye fell dormant and even if I tried to nudge the skill with mana it didn’t respond. The sensation was similar to when I was unable to use Leap in the basilisk dungeon.

I searched for my other skills and out of all of them only Ruler’s Authority was active with the others dormant and unresponsive. I felt a tinge of panic stir within me but I calmed myself pretty quickly.

Honestly, panicking in a situation like this won’t be any better.

The door behind me shut closed with a tight resounding thud which reverberated through the confines of this tomb-like chamber, and then it vanished like the turning of a book’s page as a wall of concrete and cobblestone appeared right afterward like some illusionary spell working in order to trap me in this world of books. I touched the wall and it felt...just right, just like a wall should, but at the same time something odd, which left me even more wary of the place, as to what kind of challenge that might await me here.

“I won’t be forcefully made to participate in some reading contest, will I?” I mocked as I peered at the bookshelves aligned in these never ending halls which stretched on for as far as my eyes could follow without an end in sight, with hundreds, no thousands or perhaps maybe even tens of thousands of books available in here. There was no way of knowing just how many books there were available here with a simple look.

One thing was for certain, I was trapped inside this crypt library and I didn’t know shit on what to do. But out of the categories of the trials I had came up with, I couldn’t tell which category to put this one in just yet.

I shrugged as I moved on and began to look around the shelves for some sort of clue or way out. With Mind’s Eye, I might have been able to find out some sort of clue or something, which might not be clearly perceptible by sense.

The air grew dense with the scent of ancient parchment and eerie stillness, with a dim light cascading from the ceiling of the crypt and a few torches hung by the sides of the shelves to illuminate the surroundings.

The crypt seemed to stretch endlessly in every direction, its passage morphing in a disorienting labyrinth that defied any logical navigation.

Not that I can expect any clues to just roll into my lap without doing anything.

I began fumbling through the dusty shelves, their contents reflecting the dim light dancing and flickering in the surrounding. The silence went on for a long time which was only broken by my occasional remarks or the creaking of ancient wood and the soft rustling of the aged pages as I moved through one book to another.

A complicated frown creased my brows as I tried reading through the contents labelled but the language the books were written in were foreign to me, I fumbled and rustled past page after page through one book, then a series of several others, but it was to no avail, the language they were written in was something which I had never seen or read. An ancient tongue which I was unfamiliar with, but there were several symbolic and runic marks labelling the old dusty pages with some kind of description for their usage and conjuration for something, perhaps maybe a ritual, which I wasn’t able to decipher or make the meaning out of.

After what seemed like hours of venturing through the never-ending depths of this crypt, I started to grow agitated and desperate to find what I needed to in order to exit.

“There has to be some kind of meaning for me being here, but what exactly...?” I thought taking a turn and walking down the hall which connected to another wide section of bookshelves, suddenly pondering as I came across several shelves full of books which had pages in the thousands, there denseness held in place by a red wooden cover which had a certain and unknown word written over them.

‘Daemon Exciduim'

That’s a peculiar name, but doesn’t ring any bells. I keenly observed the shelf which stacked these dense books up to twenty feet high. Then turning my head, I saw a few meters away, down another hall an entirely different section of books which were held in green covers and another section with golden covers and so onward. From the name and the way these books were categorised to differentiate from one another, I was guessing that they were some kind of observation journal which the owner of this library had written and stored here.

I reached an arm out and tried to take a book out to see what it actually was and what might be written in there, curiosity and caution shrouding my actions, but the moment my arm reached near the shelf, the entire library began to quake as the books winced to fall from their places. The bookshelves—the books, parchments and manuscripts inside them—began to shake violently as the loud thudding of old wood and rustling of pages echoed through the confines of this labyrinth.

Right next moment, the shelves from in front of me lifted into the air slightly, then morphed and sped away, vanishing into the depths of the crypt, some instantly disappeared from in front of me as if turning into fine powder, some moved away as if some poltergeist had possessed them and others folded in on themselves as if to hide the information they held.

Among all this discord, my gaze fell on a silhouette of bright ethereal light which left tiny sparks and broken particles of light in its wake.

My body slightly lifted off the floor as I followed the silhouette in its wake. Just as I came close enough to catch on to it, a series of shelves stood in front of me like some barricade to obscure my path forward.

I snapped my head backward and this time the silhouette moved from the hall behind me into the one on my left. I followed its tail and quickly entered the hallway as I flew as fast as I could while dodging the incoming shelves hurled my way.

With mana charged through my fist, I struck a shelf in front of me as it crashed into several behind it and the path cleared up. My arm undid the damage as I moved.

The silhouette stopped for the briefest of second, but moved on almost instantly, it took several turns and sometimes moved in a zigzag pattern.

Just what is that thing trying to do?

“Are you the master of this crypt?” I asked, my voice tearing through the loud rustling as the silhouette vanished from in front of me an reappeared several meters away from its original position, as if it had instantly teleported there.

But from in front of me, the door from before stood which had brought me to this arcane location. The door opened and the silhouette rushed through the arch entrance, I followed suit.

I dodged a shelf hurled my way as I sent a shockwave of mana through the air to knock the ones piling in front.

I lunged through the air and soon crossed the arched entrance as the door behind me shut closed, as I reappeared back inside the chamber.

I looked around the dimly lit room to search for the entity, but there was no one except for me in this room.

My attention quickly drew toward the altar where an item was lying as the runes burned and the mana which held close to it rippled and pulsed, the demonic energy did the same.

A multifaceted keystone lying on the altar which gleamed with pure golden light with a quality of iridescent mixed between it, reflecting the shining runes. Caution bled through me as I walked closer to the altar.

The walls of the room began to grind against the cobblestone floor as they began to cave in on themselves.

Panic gripped my insides as I looked around me, the walls were pushing to enclose me within them.

What’s happening...?? I thought as I tried to think of some way out of here. I looked backward and the door had vanished, leaving only a sturdy wall..

After a moment of consideration, my head turned and I looked back at the multifaceted keystone and placed a hand over it, but it felt cold and dormant as I sensed it, so I nudged it with as much of my mana as I could and next second, my mind lurched as my senses and vision completely drained as some suction force pulled me toward itself.

When my vision restored again, I found myself entrapped inside a white void which stretched on forever. There was no semblance of life or any movement around me.

The hair at the back of my neck stood as I felt anxiously nervous as my nape grew cold. My mana surged, cladding itself into my hands, ready to be commanded into a spell at a moment.

But from several meters away, I saw some kind of entity standing carelessly together with me in this void. Its body was a lump of dark shadows which seemed to dim amd envelope the void by its presence.

My breathing betrayed me, as I felt every hair on my body stand in alert as I laid eyes on that black entity. It didn’t have a mouth, neither eyes or ears. Just...darkness. An abysmal black.

For some reason I felt fear grip at my insides...that thing was not normal, it wasn’t something I could fathom.

I was getting this ominous premonition, about this place and that entity. It was unusual of me to feel this way, but this black entity was arousing such dread in the air just by standing there.

It generated a crackling kind of noise, its head turned to face me and I felt my back grow cold as goosebumps rose all over my body.

I took a stance and lunged in it’s direction, mana already formed into a spell as I took aim with a half formed sword of frost which effortlessly sliced through its torso as the entity’s body slumped to the floor, staining it in some murky black sludge.