Ancient Ruins, near the City of Rivana, Kingdom of Astralia

Aiden Silver, the heir to the Black Swan Merchant Company, was terrified. Not only had his father banished him to a remote town in the provincial south of the kingdom of Astralia, but his damn private secretary, Benett, had insisted on exploring this ancient pile of rubble on the way.

"Benett, is this really necessary? What's the point of getting cold and hungry when I'm sure that we won't find anything anyway," Aiden whined as they entered another empty, dust-filled corridor.

"Your father was quite explicit in his instructions, young Master Silver. We are to find what is hidden here and only then are we to finish our journey to Rivana," Benett replied coldly.

Benett didn't like Aiden. The young merchant's son was still behaving like the petulant little brat that he had always been, even though he had reached adulthood a few months ago. If someone were to catch Benett in a rare moment of honesty, he might have even admitted that he had fantasies of cutting the brat's throat. Alas, that was not going to happen, as Benett was an inherently dishonest person to begin with and Aiden was still needed.

"Can't you see that this endeavour is foolish, old man! We have already lost two of our guards to this damnable place!"

He wasn't wrong, they had almost immediately lost their first soldier to one of the many traps in the ruin. Benett grinned wickedly as he remembered the petrified expression on Aiden's face as the first victim's head got severed by a blade trap.

The second guardsman died shortly after. They had encountered their first group of monsters, plagueworts, odd abominations that resembled bloated rats with greenish skin, yellow eyes, and pus-filled boils. Getting rid of the little monsters wasn't an issue, they died easily enough, but the unfortunate guardsman was bitten as he finished off the last of the pests.

Benett could've told the group that the monster's bite carried a deadly venom that would infect anyone who came in contact with their saliva and he could've used his healing magic once the man realised that he was poisoned, after all the venom was quick to kill but easily neutralised, but why bother?

The man had died within the hour, struggling on the floor and unable to breathe as his lungs lost function. Unfortunately one of the other guards had taken pity on his comrade and mercy killed him, before Benett could fully relish the scene. Because of this, and the fact that they had left two more guards outside the ruin to guard their carriage and horses, left the group with only two guardsmen in addition to Bennett and Aiden.

"Be quiet, you coward!" Benett shot back, "Do you wish to attract more monsters? Are you going to pick up the sword once the other guards fall? No? So shut your mouth and do your best to survive."

Of course, the old man knew that there weren't any more traps or monsters, but he kept this from the brat for now. They continued wandering through dark, empty hallways until they arrived at an ominous iron door.

To the surprise of the rest of the party, the old man brandished a key from somewhere and unlocked the door. Bennett gave the door a strong tug and it opened for the first time in hundreds of years as the shrieking of the door's ancient hinges echoed through the ruined corridors.

The two remaining guardsmen entered the new room first, shields and shortswords in hand. Total darkness awaited them, as even Benett's lone torch failed to penetrate the dark for more than a few metres. Almost as eerie as the darkness was the complete lack of sound, when they had traversed the earlier parts of the ruins they were able to hear the occasional rustlings of animals or monsters in the distance and the whistling of the wind, as it penetrated through the various holes in the ruins structure. The moment they stepped through the door, however, all sound ceased, as if an unknown force was preventing it from entering the room.

"I don't like this, maybe young Master Silver was right and we should leave..." one of the guards muttered, both the guardsmen and Aiden were visibly nervous now.

"Nonsense! Don´t let him infect you with his cowardice!" Benett scowled at the guard. "We are almost there, I can feel it. Just keep moving forward and all will be revealed."

As if some otherworldly entity wanted to prove the old man right, the moment they continued to walk forward, blue mana-flame torches flared to life and banished all darkness from the room. The group was now able to make out that they were in a plain circular chamber with a domed rooftop. It was different from all the other rooms that they had passed so far, there were no signs of former life here, no remains of furnishments, and none of the murals that they had seen throughout the ruins were found here. In fact, the only feature was an ominous pitch-black obelisk in the centre of the room.

"What is this? Where is the treasure you promised, old man? This was all for nothing!" Surprisingly Aiden was the first person in the group to recover his limited wits.

"Oh, but that's where you are wrong, it is right there!" Benett was pointing at the obelisk. He was barely able to contain his excitement now, just a little bit longer and, after all these years, his family's ancestral calling would finally be fulfilled.

"What? That weird thing? How?!" The prospect of treasure reinvigorated Aiden's will to go on as he slowly moved towards the object, his footsteps making the only audible noise in the chamber.

As he reached the centre and the obelisk he realised that the object was not actually black. He had initially thought that it might've been created from obsidian or similar material, but now he found that it was really made of a crystalline material that he didn't recognize. The black colour came from a substance within the structure. At first, he thought that it seemed to consist of solid matter, but as he came closer he discovered that the substance was really made of thousands of individual strands of thick, impenetrable mist. Not only that but within it he found swirling particles, their blood-red colour seemingly growing brighter the closer Aiden closed in on the obelisk.

"Like this!" Aiden was caught off guard as Benett silently approached from behind. He was equally oblivious to the knife that had suddenly appeared in the old man's hand. Recognizing the secretary's murderous intent, Aiden's instincts screamed at him to move, to flee to safety. But to his horror, he found that he couldn't move at all.

Aiden cried out as the old man roughly grabbed his right hand and slashed open his palm without hesitation. Bennett jerked Aiden forward, pressing the young man's bleeding palm against the obelisk.

Several things happened at once. The guards, who had so far remained close to the entrance of the chamber, finally noticed that something was wrong and tried to get to Aiden to help. But as they were running towards the two men and the obelisk, a magic circle, that had so far been hidden under the thick layer of dust on the ground, flared alive. A dome of energy sprang up around the obelisk, spanning over half of the room. The guards, who were about to cross the edge of the magic circle, were violently thrown back as they hit the newly erected barrier.

At that moment, Aiden regained control of his body. Desperate to put as much distance between himself and the obelisk, he stumbled backward, falling over his own feet and landing with his backside on the dusty floor.

"What the hell! Benett, what in the burning abyss do you think you are doing? Have you gone mad? My father will have your head for this!"

Bennett didn't respond, he was maniacally laughing as he pointed at the obelisk. Aiden was confused. At first glance, he couldn't make out what the old man was focusing on, but then he noticed it too. The obelisk had started to absorb his blood. Aiden watched in horror as his blood slowly vanished into the obelisk.

Suddenly, a resounding crack reverberated through the chamber as the final drop of blood was absorbed by the structure. Aiden, momentarily forgetting his peril, got up and approached the obelisk again. With a mix of astonishment and terror, he discovered multiple cracks that he was sure weren't there before. Aiden slowly ran his hands across the damaged surface as another, louder crack sounded from within the object.

Aiden was starting to back away from the obelisk when it suddenly violently exploded into countless fragments. Once again he stumbled backward, this time barely managing to stay on his feet. Back where the monolith once stood, he now found a sea of crystalline shards. Above the shattered pieces hovered a cloud composed of the same materials that were previously contained within the structure. Black tendrils, interspersed with glowing, red particles.

Before Aiden was able to comprehend what he was seeing, the tendrils within the cloud started to pulse violently and shot toward him. He was unable to react as the tendrils began to wrap themselves around his body. Starting with his ankles, they slowly crept higher, ripping apart armour and underclothes but leaving his body unharmed as they cramped down on it. Aiden wanted to struggle, wanted to get away, but for the second time that day, he had lost control of his body. Unable to save himself, he was relegated to watch in horror as the tendrils reached his face.

For a moment nothing happened, then the strands of dark energy started to force themselves into Aiden. At first, they entered through his nose and ears, then they forced his mouth open. Aiden expected to feel pain as the substance penetrated into his body, but there was just a feeling of intense pressure as it spread throughout him. Mere moments later all of the tendrils had disappeared into Aiden's body.

The pressure vanished and for a few precious moments nothing happened. Briefly, Aiden began to hope against hope that this nightmare was over and nothing further bad would happen to him. Then, a nightmarish, searing pain flared alive. Aiden had never felt anything like it before, it wasn't the kind of pain that would be inflicted by a physical injury. Instead, it felt like his very being was being torn apart. He was able to feel how his control over his being was overwritten, as his existence faded away from reality. And then, he was gone.