The darkness spread in a slow creep, light was sucked in and drowned by the darkness. I could feel the hairs on my neck stand up, and I had the distinct feeling I was being watched. I looked around me but the darkness had blocked out all sight and sound.
A voice that sounded as if a thousand people whispering at once pressed in on me from all sides.
"Be baptized within the Abyss." I watched as an eeri purple light appeared above me. I turned about looking for the speaker, I caught movement from the corner of my eye. I didn't make any sudden movements, turning slowly I saw a clawed hand reach out of the darkness.
It held an orb of what I could only call black light, the hand didn't reach for me, no its target was my shadow that was cast by the purple light from above. The orb pressed against my shadow and became liquid darkness that bonded with my shadow.
The black light flashed and the hand was gone along with the darkness. I was back in the alley with my speeder, the light from the bar's back door illuminated a small portion of where I stood.
A ping from the system made me jump.The system message opened in front of me.
Mission complete: Stare into the Abyss. Reward: Baptised by the Abyss, Shadow Bind.
I looked at my stats page and scrolled all the way down to the abilities.
[Abilities]
{Passive}-Minor Regeneration: heals minor wounds, accelerated healing during/after consuming blood.
{Active)-Minor Blood Manipulation: By using your own or your victims' blood to create weapons and armor.
{Active/Passive} Grasping Shadows:Active- Your shadow stretches and latches onto your enemies shadow restricting their movements. Passive- Enemies that die bound leave behind Shadow Grain.
-Neophyte of the Abyss-
Mission: Absorb 10 portions of Shadow Grain
Reward: Acolyte of the Abyss
I had finally gotten my ability! I looked about the alley making sure the coast was clear, I hopped onto my speeder towards my next target. As I raced through the streets I thought back on my experience with the strange realm I had entered, or that had materialized from the darkness, I wasn't sure which.
It was impossible, yet it happened, I haven't read anything like this happening before.
I thought it over slowly. 'No, I wouldn't have been able read this anywhere. This was probably secret of large families, corporations, and the protectorate. Not to mention all the other races out in the vastness of space, there was no doubt in my mind that the Terrans were not the sole occupants of the starry skies above.
With all this vampire, wolves, and arachne having popped up on a remote planet, in a lab no less, a few terrans knew that they were not alone either. I needed to be extremely careful until I could hold my own against the Terrans.
I found my next target within a bar twenty minutes later. He was enjoying a game of pool with his friends while I watched him from a table in the corner. I waited for over an hour before they finally made their way to the exit, there were five of them in total and getting to my target would require their deaths.
I walked out behind them and watched them get on their own speeders, they sped away while I was mounting my own. I followed my target to an apartment complex, he had separated from most of his friends besides one either a roommate or just a good friend.
They stopped outside a third floor apartment, one pulled out a gun while the other began picking the lock on the door.
'You have got to be kidding me.' I started walking towards the dynamic duo, they opened the door and entered the apartment. I reached the door thirty seconds after they had entered and I heard muffled screams.
I stopped into the dimly lit apartment, it was quite nice. Very clean and well kept, except for the massive computer station. It was very impressive and by the looks of it, it had cost a few months worth of rent. I wondered how they afforded the equipment yet lived in such a small home.
I turned away from the computer and followed the muffled voice.
"Alright Sasha, you are going to give us the money. We know you hacked into that corporation's accounts and have been siphoning their credits." I heard the hammer on the gun cock back. I peeked around the door frame and my target held down a woman while his partner held a gun to her head.
She glared at the man with the gun, my target had his hand over her mouth, I watched as she stomped on her captors foot and bit his hand. My target yelped and stumbled back. The man with the gun whipped her in the face with his pistol and she crumpled to the floor.
This was an excellent chance to try out my new ability. I thought of the shadows that had engulfed me before and tried to make them appear, with little success as nothing happened. I read the abilities description again, it was my shadow that it mentioned, not the shadows around me.
I imagined that is was my shadow that stretched out from me and this time I felt it, it moved forward but the further it went the more I had to focus, I felt beads of sweat as I pushed it further but it didn't reach more than five feet before I had to let the shadow flow back to me.
'I guess harnessing the ability will take time and practise.' I thought to myself. I wished that I would just be able to wield it with ease but I guess there is nothing that comes that easily. I breathed in and crept into the room, while my target nursed his hand I got close to his partner.
I was about three feet away before I used my shadow ability on the man, this time I was close enough to see a shadow stretch from me and dive beneath the man. The man stiffened and grunted but was unable to move, not for lack of trying though. As he struggled I felt my energy lessen quite a bit, I moved forward while I still had time and broke the man's neck.
These men were not ability users, just normal criminals and to me they were weak little lambs that had strayed too far from the herd. I saw that as my shadow pulled away from the man that within my shadow was a clump of glittering sand. Once it reached me the sand disappeared into the depths of my shadow, I suspected that this would be the Shadow Grain that I needed to collect.
I let the body drop and walked quickly to my true target, the man was so terrified that he didn't even move when I approached him, I commanded the shadows to bind him even though it was unnecessary, there was no need to waste precious materials.
I made short work of my target as I broke his neck in a similar fashion as his friend. I drank a few mouthfuls to satiate my quest before using my blood collector to gather the rest of his blood. Unluckily for me I had run out of canisters once I had finished with my two bandits, I picked up their bodies and left the apartment.
I found a grate for the sewers nearby though I had to walk out in the open with the bodies for a few minutes before I was able to dispose of them.
On my way back to my speeder I contemplated whether or not to kill the girl in the apartment, she wasnt my target, nor could I collect her blood so it would appear to be her lucky day.
-within the small apartment-
A girl was sitting in front of her station and watched the entire process as her two assailants entered her home and the mysterious hooded figure that killed them and took their bodies away. She hacked into the traffic cameras and watched as he chucked the bodies into the sewer only to leave immediately after on his speeder.
"Who the hell are you?" she said aloud. The crest on his back was enlarged on the screen.