####
Isaac's morning had been filled with unexpected events, but now he was finally starting his descent down the mountain, eager to reach the town and find some semblance of civilization.
As he descended, he occasionally glanced at his missing shadow and the absent shadow of his sword, pondering the bizarre phenomenon.
'Why don't I have a shadow? Am I a ghost or something? No, that can't be it—I can interact with objects, and they have shadows.'
'So why doesn't my sword have a shadow either? It's just me and my sword… And why did only the large leaves I cut with the sword rot? Rust can't do that so quickly. What's going on?'
Confused, Isaac shook his head. The lack of answers was frustrating, but he had no way of finding out more for now.
As he mused over his shadowless state and the mysterious rotting leaves, Isaac continued his hike down the mountain, weaving through the darkening trees.
The forest's gloom intensified, the gigantic, twisted trunks appearing like tortured souls imprisoned in this treacherous land.
'These tree barks look like wailing human faces,' Isaac thought, shuddering at the eerie sight.
The cold air bit into his skin, and the fog clung damply to his clothes.
He was dressed in sports shorts and a t-shirt, practical given the smell of his other clothes, which were too pungent to wear without risk of fainting.
Despite the chill, he pressed on, taking occasional breaks to sip water and nibble on his sandwich, losing track of time—a concept that seemed increasingly meaningless in this place.
During his rests, Isaac found himself staring at the eerie star above, examining his black-bladed katana, or searching futilely for his shadow, as if it might somehow return.
He had little else to do but endure the solitude.
"I wish I had a chess set; I'm so bored I might play against myself," he murmured.
Despite his amnesia, he retained knowledge of various subjects like math, science, literature, and chess—a game he remembered playing often, though the details of when and with whom remained elusive.
After what felt like an eternity, Isaac reached the base of the mountain and paused to catch his breath.
"Hahh, hahh…," he panted, the cold air sharp against his skin. The occasional gusts felt like dull, yet cruel blades, grazing his flesh in a twisted form of torture.
Peering through the fog, he calculated how much farther he had to go. 'Just a bit more, and I'll reach the foot of the mountain,' he guessed.
"Sigh~, one last push," he whispered to himself, summoning his resolve.
Isaac's descent was fraught with tension, the twilight casting eerie shadows across his path. The distant, looming castle glowed red, a grim beacon reminding him of his uncertain destination.
Suddenly, a bone-chilling cold settled over him. Isaac paused, his breath visible in the frigid air. The trees seemed to sway unnaturally, their shadows flickering in the dim light.
"What the…?" Isaac muttered, squinting into the gloom. His grip on his sword tightened as his senses heightened.
A shadow detached itself from the darkness, coalescing into a creature with hollow sockets where eyes should have been.
Its face was a grotesque, stitched-up grin, the edges of the mouth forever pulled back into a joyless smile.
Emerging from the swirling mist of shadow, its gaunt, emaciated form hunched over, twisted by a crooked back that gave it a contorted posture.
Four elongated claws, sharp and gleaming like blackened obsidian, extended from each hand.
Isaac barely had time to react before the creature lunged at him, its shadowy form blurring with unnatural speed.
Its claws slashed across his left arm, a searing pain tearing through his flesh.
"Gah!" Isaac cried out, his voice breaking with the intensity of the pain.
Blood poured from deep gashes, staining his clothes and dripping onto the cold ground.
The wounds burned with an icy fire, as though injected with a venom that sent waves of excruciating pain pulsing through his veins.
Desperation drove him to swing his sword in a wild arc, the blade slicing through the creature's shadowy form with a sizzling noise.
The creature dissolved into smoke, reforming a moment later, the eerie, stitched smile appearing to widen in a taunting grin.
Isaac's arms throbbed with relentless pain, the gashes pulsing with unnatural heat. Each movement sent fresh jolts of agony through his body, the skin around the cuts feeling raw and inflamed. His vision blurred, and his limbs felt heavy, unresponsive.
Dark, shadowy tendrils snaked from the creature's body, reaching for Isaac's limbs once more.
He dodged, slashing at the tendrils, but they passed through his blade like mist.
The tendrils coiled around his wounded arms, their chilling touch draining his strength, seeping into his bones and making his entire body shiver with cold dread.
Isaac's heart pounded, primal fear clawing at his mind.
The creature's presence clouded his thoughts, rendering him unable to think or move clearly.
The shadows around him writhed and pulsed, adding to his disorientation.
"Stay back!" he shouted, thrusting his sword forward.
The creature phased through the attack, its form flickering before vanishing into the shadows.
Isaac spun around, eyes darting around, breathless, he searched for the creature, his arms screaming in pain.
The creature reappeared behind him, its hollow sockets glaring with malevolent emptiness.
The stitched smile seemed to widen further, a grotesque mockery of human expression. Isaac turned just in time, swinging his sword with all his might.
The blade connected, cutting through its smoky form.
With this strike, Isaac felt a profound energy surge from deep within him, an invisible force pouring out of him like water through a broken dam.
This was the same sensation he felt when cutting the leaves but greater—a profound depletion that left him gasping for breath.
The release was accompanied by a sharp, sizzling noise like hot metal meeting cold water, as it hit the creature.
"SCHREACHHH!!!!"
The creature's scream was a chilling symphony of pain.
It began as a high-pitched, piercing shriek, sharp and grating like nails on a chalkboard, underpinned by a deep, resonant growl filled with primal fury and raw anguish.
It was a sound that clawed at sanity, a harrowing chorus of suffering that resonated through the forest, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake.
The creature's shadowy body recoiled violently, writhing and twisting as if scalded from within.
Red and black marks spread where the blade had struck, expanding like dark veins, gnawing away at its core.
The creature convulsed, the shadowy mist surrounding it thrashing chaotically, as though trying to escape an unseen torment.
Seeing that he could now hurt the creature, he knew he had to strike immediately or he would not get this chance again.
If he let this opportunity pass, the creature might escape and seek revenge—that would be the best outcome.
The worst would be dying miserably at the hands of this creature.
'I have to kill it now; I don't know how much longer I can keep this energy flowing,' Isaac thought, barely holding on through the pain and dread.
He had to strike while the iron was hot.
With his last reserve of strength, he raised his sword with one arm and struck again with all he had left.
Isaac could feel the energy draining from him with each strike, an invisible torrent of power siphoning from his very being.
It left him weaker and more exhausted, a gnawing emptiness settling in his gut as if his life force was being bled out through the blade.
His limbs grew heavy, his vision blurred, and his breath came in ragged, desperate gasps.
The adrenaline coursing through his veins momentarily made him forget the agony, his muscles stiffened and stretched to their limits.
He didn't care—he struck again, again, and again.
"DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE, die you son of a b****!"
he screamed with all his fury, unleashing his wrath on the creature, momentarily forgetting his pain, dread, and exhaustion.
"SCREACHHHHH?!!!"
The creature's scream reverberated through the forest, a chilling cacophony that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
Isaac staggered back, feeling the life force drain from him with each strike, leaving him weakened but strangely resolute.
The creature, now covered in red and black veins, continued to screech, its shadowy form writhing in agony.
It suddenly tried to rise again and swing at him, but Isaac quickly backed off and delivered one final blow.
"Schreachhh~"
The creature let out one last scream, its form writhing in silent hatred that words could never capture.
Isaac watched in a daze as it dissolved into the night, leaving only a fading echo of its malevolence.
"Huff… Huff… Huff…"
Isaac collapsed to his knees, then fell onto his back, gasping for breath. The dreadful pain was still there, but it was finally receding.
He looked up at the colossal star then he looked down at his arms, the blood and pain a stark contrast to the cold night air.
His vision swam, and his limbs felt like they were bound by iron weights, each movement a Herculean effort against the overwhelming pain.
He was about to pass out but knew he had to tend to his injuries first.
As he fumbled to retrieve his spare clothes from his bag to make a bandage, he heard a voice:
[-Congratulations, you have gained a small soul shard of a Shadowwraith.]
[—Your abyss grows more profound and treacherous.]
"WHO'S THERE?!!" He screamed.
Fear spiked through him, and his eyes darted around, trying to find the source of the voice.
It seemed omnipresent, echoing from everywhere and nowhere at once.
"I must be hallucinating from the adrenaline and pain," he muttered to himself.
Isaac quickly wrapped the clothing around his left arm, tying a knot to stem the bleeding.
His eyelids felt as heavy as mountains, his body weighed down as if it were made of steel.
Slowly, he dragged himself to a nearby tree, leaning his back against it.
"Huff… Huff…"
He wanted to find a safer place to rest, but before he could move any further, he lost consciousness, leaving his fate to the treacherous forest.