Shadow Slave: Arcadius of the Forgotten

The instant Cade's armored boots scraped against the uneven stone, all five of the Scavengers froze. Their eyeless heads turned towards him in unison, narrow slits glowing faintly like embers in the shadows.

One of them emitted a guttural, chittering noise, and the other four joined in— a chorus of sound that prickled at Cade's ears. 

"Yeah, yeah," Cade said under his breath, rubbing his ears with an exaggerated slowness. "I get it. You're a scary bunch." 

Before Cade even had the time to compose himself, the first one lunged. As Cade sidestepped, the Scavenger's scythe-like limb sliced through the air where he had been mere moments ago.

Another one followed, its pincer snapping towards Cade's midsection.

Cade dropped into a low roll and barely avoided the jagged edges of its claw. The creatures moved with a terrifying coordination, filling the space with their chitinous clatter as they began to encircle him. 

Cade's heart raced. One thing became clear to him the moment he dodged the first attack— this was not going to be anything like the last few times.

One-on-one, he'd had space to maneuver, to exploit the creature's movements. But here— every dodge brought him closer to another attacker. Every opening he saw came with the risk of leaving his back exposed. 

He raised his sword defensively. His eyes were darting between the grotesque abominations circling him.

Alright, think. Don't just swing and hope, he commanded himself. Remember how Saint took down two Fallen Beasts despite being only an Awakened Monster herself? You're a Battle Master just like her. Act like it. You've got this. 

Then, his train of thought hit an abrupt pause.

Wait... Didn't Saint technically die in that battle?  

As he was thinking this last thought, one of the Scavengers darted forward, its pincer snapping towards his shoulder.

Cade twisted and brought his blade up in a sweeping arc. The edge struck the creature's armored claw and sparks flew as the impact reverberated through his arm. The Scavenger reeled back, injured but also wary.

This gave Cade a momentary gap. 

Another gap that vanished almost instantly. 

Two more surged towards him, their legs clattering as they raised their scythed limbs high. Cade barely managed to parry the first strike. The force of the blow jarred his shoulder.

The second came down before he could even begin to recover. The blade-like limb sliced through the air toward his chest. He twisted away— but too late. The scythe collided with his torso, grazing against his black armor. 

Of course, the armor remained intact. The Ebonveil Plate was an Awakened Memory of the Sixth Tier— it would not be pierced by the limbs of a mere Awakened Beast.

However, that did not mean that the strike didn't do any damage. Cade still felt a sharp line of pain shoot across his ribs. After all, beneath the resilient armor, there was still the body of a mere Dormant Beast.

Cade hissed, stumbling back. The creatures pressed in, their pincers snapping and mandibles clicking in an eerie rhythm. The sharp pain across his chest sharpened his focus. Adrenaline surged through Cade as he tried to catch his breath. 

I can't keep this up, he thought, growing a little less confident than he'd felt when he'd decided to take the abominations on.

His muscles burned; his movements were growing slower with each dodge, each parry and each block. He was outnumbered and overpowered. Even his broken Attribute couldn't make up for the sheer strength and alien coordination of these things as they moved in to rip him apart and devour him. 

Of course, Cade had another ace up his sleeve.

His Aspect Ability— the Unlit Mist.

He had already decided that he would be using it in this battle but somehow— somehow, he found himself oddly hesitant.

Perhaps, he hated the effect his Flaw had on his mind— driving him into a seething rage. He feared that he would end up doing something reckless because of that fury. 

But right now?— right now, he did not have a choice. He had no way of turning this fight around, no way to escape this ordeal.

His only way out was his Aspect.

And so, he steeled himself.

Fine, he thought, gritting his teeth. But this had better not get me killed.  

First, he inhaled sharply, reaching inside for the pool of True Darkness within and then, he exhaled deeply. The first black wisps of the harrowing Darkness spilled from his lips. 

The effect was immediate. The nearest Scavenger paused mid-lunge, its movements faltering as the Darkness began to spread.

Cade felt it too, the somewhat familiar pull at the edges of his mind. The rage. The fire in his veins. His wariness, his sense of danger— once sharp and overwhelming, melted away, replaced by something darker, more primal. 

The Darkness thickened, swirling around him like a living thing. The Scavengers chittered in unease and their pincers lowered slightly as their eyes were rendered useless.

They seemed wary of the True Darkness spilling from the depths of their prey's soul. 

Cade smirked, the bloodlust bubbling just beneath the surface. His eyes were full of an almost overwhelming desire for carnage. For murder. For killing these abominable things that surrounded him.

"Not so tough now, eh?" he muttered, noticing the Scavengers' unease through the Darkness.

And with that, he moved.

He commanded the Darkness forward, directing it towards the nearest Scavenger. The creature recoiled. Its legs clattered as it tried to swing at the black fog frantically.

Cade seized the opportunity. He surged forward, the blade of the Voidfang flashing as he brought it down in a graceful arc. A heavy strike tore through the front of the creature's armored torso. It let out a sharp screech as the black sword bit into its carapace, azure blood spilling onto the coral. 

The voice of the Spell spoke— a whisper in the back of Cade's mind:

[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Carapace Scavenger.]

[You have received a Memory: Crimson Guide.]

[... The Darkness within you takes root.]

Cade didn't fully register what the Spell had said. He was too busy— too busy being consumed by the fury he felt.

The others reacted instantly. One of them lunged at his exposed side, its pincers raised high. It seemed that the Scavengers were not utterly helpless, even when they were shrouded by the oppressive veil of Darkness. After all, their eyes might have become useless, but their sense of smell and hearing still remained.

But Cade's connection to the Darkness warned him of the attacker. He felt the movement of the Scavenger through the dark, dense mist, sensed the tension in the air. He turned in time, parrying the strike and driving the Voidfang's blade upward into the beast's underbelly. 

The Spell spoke again:

[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Carapace Scavenger.]

[... The Darkness within you takes root.] 

The rage surged once more. Cade exhaled more Darkness, the black fog thickening until it obscured the clearing, almost in its entirety.

As the Darkness thickened, the fury gripped Cade's mind even tighter. He felt like he even forgot where he was, for a moment. All that mattered was that he was surrounded by the Darkness, and the abominable things were caught in its embrace.

He was in control here. The Darkness fed him information; it guided his strikes. But it also fed the fire in his chest, the hunger for violence that very nearly consumed him. 

A pincer lashed out from the blackness, almost catching Cade off-guard.

Almost.

But he couldn't be caught off guard. Not here— not within the embrace of True Darkness. No, the Darkness belonged to him and he, to the Darkness. Inside of it, Arcadius was where he was always meant to be— where he was welcome. 

And so, Cade didn't linger. He acted. 

He dodged the blow and commanded the Darkness to move forward. The Darkness surged upward, wrapping around the creature like a living shroud. The Scavenger faltered, unnerved by the oppressive dread the Darkness exuded.

Cade leapt forward and drove his blade through the creature's carapace. He twisted viciously, making sure that the thing felt as much pain as possible before death claimed it.

The Spell announced his kill once again. It had said something more too, though Cade hadn't heard it clearly enough. 

The remaining two creatures hesitated, their mandibles clicking nervously as they edged back towards the coral. Cade could almost feel their fear, faint but growing. 

"Now, don't tell me the oh-so-terrible Nightmare Creatures are afraid of a mere Sleeper like me?" he announced mockingly, the rage shimmering just beneath the surface of his voice. 

He let the Darkness surge forward once again, surrounding the two remaining Scavengers. They screeched and lashed out; their movements turned erratic and desperate.

Cade moved through the fog like a phantom, striking one across its forelimbs before finishing it off with a brutal slash to its armored head. 

[You have slain...]

The last creature lunged despite its fear, its pincer swinging down to cleave him in two. Cade stepped aside with all the precision of a Battle Master. His black sword flashed as he countered with a brutal slash across its torso.

The Voidfang bit deep, azure blood spraying across the coral, some even staining Cade's own face. As Cade smiled, the Scavenger stumbled and the Darkness swirled tighter around it, as if feeding on its distress.

[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Carapace Scavenger.]

[The Darkness within you takes root.]

But as soon as the last creature fell, Cade found himself trembling. His breath was coming in ragged gasps. The Darkness still lingered, swirling faintly around him as he stood amidst the carnage.

But Cade wasn't done... no, not yet.

No, he wanted more— more blood, more fear, more pain, more suffering. A massacre. He looked around frantically, trying to find a recipient for his bloody rage.

Anyone. Any living thing.

But sadly, there was no one around.

There was only Arcadius, standing alone in the middle of a clearing, shrouded by the Darkness that fed his bloodlust. 

He steadied his breathing and tried to focus. As he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, the Darkness started to retreat, moving to occupy its rightful place inside of his soul.

As the black fog thinned, Cade managed to rein his emotions in.

He felt the rage slowly receding away. 

As the Darkness faded completely, it left only silence in its wake. Cade exhaled slowly, his muscles still tense, his mind still teetering on the edge of fury but not falling prey to it. 

"That'll do," Cade muttered, his voice sounding hoarse.

His gaze flicked around to the corpses of the Scavengers scattered around him. "Goddamn! That Ability of mine is more of a cheat code than my Attribute. Sheesh, I sure don't envy anyone who manages to get on my bad side." 

Shaking his head, he moved on ahead to collect the soul shards.