Without hesitating, Luna ran into the darkness…

Eventually, the golden light behind her disappeared as she ran further and deeper into the chasm which was surprisingly bigger than she had originally expected. Thanks to her terrible luck, the cave interior was perched in a creepy darkness that made it hard for her suit’s night vision to peer through. But that wasn’t a problem for her because she was following the weak streams of life energy that leaked out of the Wraith each time it used its powers to fight outside. The closer she got, the more she felt its ominous presence, lurking in the air to feed her fear.

There was a moment where she thought about ditching all this and running out. But Gail’s power couldn’t affect incorporeal objects or beings. Sure, there might be someone at the campsite with the ability to harm a ghost—that would buy the wraith time to escape and attack once again after getting a hold of its powers.

So far, there were five classes of Cursed Creatures: Cursed Beasts, Cursed Soldiers, Cursed Generals, Cursed Tyrants, and Cursed Emperors. Cursed beasts are the weakest of the bunch because they possess a single core. They were also the most common class of cursed creatures and rarely evolved to another class.

Unlike Generals and Soldiers which possessed a single ability due to the presence of two cores, Tyrants and emperors possessed three and four respectively. There was a main core which usually served as the life core, then the others would be the sources of its powers. Some creatures possessed a single power that only became deadlier when they evolved while others gained a new ability from the newly formed cores.

The Wraith had acquired a core that granted it shadow powers and made its mind possession much more powerful from the looks of it. Luna didn’t know how these creatures became cursed in the first place. But she suspected it had something to do with the gods’s wrath and the True Celestials. The people of the ruined city turned to darkness to survive their wrath or madness. The darkness must’ve worked for a while…until it didn’t.

When she was finally close to the source of the sinister presence and life essence, Luna staggered after experiencing a sharp pain in her head. Her suit started flashing red to inform her of the high concentration of Black Ether.

She paused as the pain in her head grew more intense. Soon, she started to hear whispers of distant voices calling out her name. The mind attacks had started. She bit her lips and continued walking forward while she ignored the whispers that got louder and louder as they tried to shatter her mentality. However, this creature was underestimating the strength of her mind because she wasn't planning to give in so easily.

Also, the suit constantly provided a healthy amount of current to her nerves to keep her senses alert.

The path got narrower as she continued. Finally, her foot stepped on something that clanged a second later. When she looked down, she was surprised to see that It was a broken black chain stretching into the darkness. It wasn’t incorporeal since she could touch it.

She then dismissed her helmet and her tired eyes traveled to the darkness the chain had disappeared into. The whispers grew intense, and the pain in her head too grew more excruciating as she kept her eyes on the darkness. When she looked away, they reduced.

‘I guess you’re hiding there…’ Hiding was the only thing it could now since it was still understanding its powers.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Lunaris…leave us…”

“Lunaris…turn back…”

“Lunaris…”

The whispers got louder as she proceeded to the darkness. She bit harder on her lips even more as she fought back the mental noise and tried to ignore the splitting headache. She made it to another section of the cave which was odd because the rock didn’t look that big from outside.

This section wasn’t as dark as the previous one. Here, the cave was bathed in eerie red moonlight that seeped through the cracks that connected to the outside world. The crimson light ignored the laws of physics and unnaturally bent to merge at the single point in the center where the wraith stood, still and lonely. There was nothing to defend as if it had been patiently waiting for her to arrive.

“Lunaris Feng.”

When it spoke, both the whispers and the headache she was feeling stopped, and her mind was freed from the burden of hearing so many voices at the same time.

“Of course you know my name.” She stepped into the light, revealing her pale and sweaty face. She was exhausted….mentally that is. Her thoughts were spinning and the only thing keeping her standing was the damn resilience she tended to have. But she maintained a fierce look as she faced her opponent.

Two black chains were growing out of its body, one of them being the one she followed to find it.

“I know much more than your name, Luanris Feng. I know your fears, I know your hate…I know your pain. And maybe your terrible future. Born with divine blood, forced to watch from the sidelines, questioning her worth...questioning her destiny... questioning who she is." The apparition’s crooked voice echoed throughout the cave as it spoke. Its sinister presence had only grown and Luna was finding it hard to stay on her two feet while face to face with a Tyrant.

Gritting her teeth, Luna raised her sword at the wraith. “Get out of my head!" she demanded in a furious tone. "You don't me know me at all, you creature."

The apparition hissed at her words and lifted its head to face her. It had a rotting human-like face, eyeless sockets, and long grayish hair. It was disgusting. “I am not a creature...I am the priest of Verge. I deliver corpses for my god, the god of death. He gave me this gift…so I continue serving him even in death. But I can no longer hear his voice, did something happen to my lord? Do You know what happened to my lord ?”

“Verge? Is this what this place is? This red desert?” Luna asked, ignoring the creature's question. Wasn't it aware that the god of death died a long time ago?

It didn’t respond.

“What happened here? To the people of Verge?” she continued to ask the apparition, hoping it might speak out something important. This thing was once human...she was sure it could say something important.

Unfortunately, the thing only continued to stare with no expression. It was not obligated to say anything to her, after all.

After a while, it spoke in a more humanlike tone. “Lunaris Feng, the True Celestials did this to us. I am no longer human….I am no longer human….I am no longer human…it hurts…it hurts…it hurts….everything hurts….I am no longer humannn!” Suddenly, the wraith broke into a mad scream that startled even Luna.

The chains on its arms rattled loudly as it shook its head and screamed while facing the walls.

“Who are the True Celestials?” Luna bothered to ask.

The apparition halted at the sound of its question and faced her. “How dare you mention them…!”

Once they locked eyes, the shadows around Luna suddenly took shape and materialized into large spikes that shot themselves at her in an attempt to tear through her. She dodged each one with ease and proceeded to attack the Mind Wraith. She channeled all her suit’s energy to her legs. And then shot herself forward at the apparition with her sword humming as its enchantment came to life.

Her initial step left a large crack on the stone floor as she brandished the black weapon at the wraith. The creature wrapped itself in shadows to defend itself and a wall to separate them. But they were no match for the enchanted blade. Her sword easily cut through the manifested shadows and then the dark shroud the wraith was wearing.

As long she believed she could cut through it, her katana’s enchantment made it possible. And right now, she believed it was possible to cut through a ghost and the sword responded by making it possible—this was something connected to her father’s Aura.

it attempted to fight back by trapping Luna's hands in shadow chains but they were too weak against her strength. She snapped them with a grunt and continued cutting through the apparition. Surprisingly, it didn't try to use its mind abilities on her. She was expecting to be cutting through an illusion. But no. Her sword had made contact with the wraith that easily...

It stared at her and smirked--at least that's what it looked like--while its body started to fade after her fatal strike. It stared at her and whispered in her mind. Its voice was now human. “Hehe. Their end has come to them…”

Then, it was silent. Her mind was her own once again.

With a final look at the fallen chains, she turned and made her way back through the darkness. Now that what was causing it was dead, the moon’s light started to find its way in guiding her through the small tunnel she had used.

This was the second time she had heard of the True Celestials. Just who were they? And why were they called that?

“It seems I have to find Verge if I want some answers…” she sighed tiredly as she returned to the outside world.