"It's mine, not yours!! "
"No!! It is my precious, my only, my precious"
"How dare you call my own yours!! "
"I will be the one to remain with it"
"Bastard! Get away from my precious... Leave it alone!! "
Hundreds, no hundreds of thousands of individuals were fighting for something, something so high up in the lightless sky that it was not visible.
The only source of light were the burning, everlasting flames, dancing in Grace as the dim light only helped to illuminate more of the endless expanse of void and darkness.
The entity watched on in silence as the individuals killed each other in it's name. They spilled blood, shattered bones, smashed heads and tore one another's flesh in pure madness.
In the end, only one survived but could not reach the entity as it was too high up in the darkness.
"Nooo!!! My love!! My only! My precious!! Please, allow me to be forever with you... Let me be a part of you!!! "
The one who survived stood upon the mountain of countless carcasses and dead bodies and began to call on to the entity.
The individual raised his hands high in the air as he fell to his knees in disappointment.
He life was slowly fading away, just like the dancing flames below.
In the end, the flames faded away, just as the man's life slowly slipped from his grasp.
Even in the face of death, he remained adamant "please, my precious... Let.. Me remain.. With...you..... "
The man finally passed, and the flames that once burned with fury, died in regret. Leaving only darkness in replacement... Darkness... and void.
... ... ...
Utsuro jolted awake, breathing heavily as cold sweat dripped from his face. His clothes were wet, his heart racing and fear, slowly tightning it's grip.
He looked around... Nothing. He was still in his room "just a bad dream" He said as he fell back on his bed, giving a long sigh.
"Cross" He thought. It has been a long time since he last checked his runes
[Name: utsuro saisei (because you, a hollow being died and was reborn from the void, you were named utsuro saisei) ]
[Age:15]
[Trait(s) : eye of the cross (it lay in the shadows waiting, watching until it's time of use will come) ]
[Attributes(s) : shadow soul (they come forth from the darkness in thine heart, and the sadness in thine eyes) ]
[Attribute(s) class: shadow soul (class one)
[Soul(s) : 100]
[Would you like to absorb souls? ]
[Yes] [no]
Utsuro looked at his runes in confusion. First of all, wasn't shadow soul dead? Like seriously... Shadow soul died in front of him.
And he definitely killed more than 100 gorgons with the help of eye of the cross so why 100 souls.
He would find out about that later. "I wonder what absorbing the souls will do. "
"Yes" Utsuro thought
A hundred souls aggressively burst out of the runes in front of utsuro, scattering everything in the room and trying to get away from utsuro.
Some even tried to attack but we're inevitably absorbed when they got too close.
Utsuro's hair and clothes began to flutter even though there was no wind and he began to slowly lift as countless,barely visible chains made of pure hollow aura burst still out of utsuro's upper back, catching the souls and instantly dragging them back to be absorbed.
The souls that tried to escape, only got as far as the other end of the master sized bed, before being inevitably caught by the chains.
After a few seconds, everything was over. Utsuro fell from the air unto his bed, landing softly and making a slight bounce. He looked around a few times, making sure that no danger was lurking but found nothing.
[Absorbsion concluded]
[The hollow souls howl and scream in torment, They strive but in the end, all is futile]
[Shadow soul absorbs 89 souls]
[They resurrect]
Immediately the runes announced shadow souls resurrection, a ripple in the space in front of utsuro slowly became visible as it twisted and morphed in an unreal manner, slowly turning into a palm-sized black, orb that emitted a black ghostly aura.
The orb itself was like condensed black smoke and the force it exuded was impure and unholy.
It opened it's white, circle eyes and gave a wide grin, exposing it's white teeth and sharp canines.
"Hey buddy! " Utsuro said partly happy for shadow soul's resurrection.
[Essence ember(s) : 11]
[Soul(s) : 0]
Utsuro looked at his runes once more and couldn't help but wonder what essence embers were for. Was it like some kind of spiritual or psychic energy or some thing?
Just as he was thinking about this he sighted something
[Would you like to name shadow soul? ]
Utsuro didn't finish reading it
"Yes" He thought.
[Speak it's name]
Utsuro paused for a while before saying "I shall name you Erebus"
The aura which shadow soul exuded swirled giving it a silent, cool effect.
[Erebus accepts it's name, it's being swirls and flares with fury]
[Your bond grows stronger]
Utsuro felt different. He felt... More... He felt larger
Just as utsuro was admiring this feeling, Haven's morning bell rang "it's 5 already? " He ran into the bathroom and took his... Not so thorough bath, wore his clothes and as usual, left his hair unkempt.
As he opened the door and was about to go out, he looked back at his room. It was scattered... Well, not so scattered. The souls didn't have much to scatter.
The only things in the room were a stylish, decorated table and chair turned upside down, a white, broken vase which was once beautiful and meant to be on the table, a wardrobe that only survived the souls because it was attached to the wall, and a master's bed.
Utsuro hesitated before he ran back inside to arrange his room. In a few minutes, he was done and back to the door.
Utsuro took one last look at his room, before slamming the door shut and proceeding to run to a location that we, the readers do not know.
Shadow slave now named Erebus, gave a deep sigh at utsuro's behavior before evaporating and appearing beside utsuro who was running from hallway to hallway at a fast pace. He ran inside a ring and quickly infused his aura into it.
Dark ghostly glow slowly began to flow out of the ancient scribbling and marks then, utsuro wasn't there anymore and the glow slowly faded away.
Utsuro had spent the past few days exploring and observing Haven. The location of different rings, position of halls,hallways, rooms, and even the guards' patrol position up to the 15 floor were now stuck in his head. Though he hadn't learned up to a quarter of Haven, he had gained considerable knowledge.
He had also been trying to figure out how to beat Barney's challenge before the day of the test came but Barney was just too strong and wasn't cutting him some slack.
In his explorations, he had found out that not all the rings in Haven needed an even number of ascendants to work. Some would still work with an odd number.
Finally, after running for a few more minutes, utsuro got to a particular ring. A ring that was twice as big as the rest. He hesitated a bit before stepping inside the ring and after a few minutes, he was gone.
The next place utsuro found himself was a mountain-forest terrain. He was on the smallest mountain which was clear of forest and surrounded by other far, far taller mountains.
"You're late... Again..." Barney said as he appeared in front feont of utsuro about 30 feet away from him.
Utsuro didn't answer but instead, raised his hands up in defense. "Do you remember the rules? " Barney asked
"There are no rules" Utsuro said as he leaned slightly to the front, preparing to attack but before he could do anything, Barney's large fist was already just a few centimeters from his face. The next second, every thing blacked out.