Niko emerged from his shadow form inside the tower of nothing.
[Notification: Go down into the temple and retrieve The Book Of Beginnings By Sterling Davidson]
"Where have I heard that name from before?
Shaking off his unease, he stepped forward, his boots clicking against the cracked, uneven floor. The faint sound echoed through the ancient structure, amplifying the eerie silence. Stone walls loomed around him, their surfaces scarred by time. Wooden planks creaked beneath his weight, warped and rotting in places. Nature had crept in long ago—thick moss clung to the ground, and furniture lay cloaked in layers of dust. The air was heavy with the scent of decay, adding to the oppressive atmosphere of the forsaken temple.
Niko pressed on, his hand instinctively summoning the bo staff. Every step felt heavier than the last, not from exhaustion but from the sheer weight of the place itself. The air wasn't just still—it was watching. He could feel it.
The corridor narrowed, the flicker of his waypoint casting an eerie green hue over the walls. Shadows danced in the corners of his vision, but when he turned his head, there was nothing there. The wooden planks beneath him groaned louder now, like they might give out at any moment.
He paused at a doorway, its frame warped and splintered. Beyond it lay a wide hall, its ceiling arched high above and cracked open in places. Stray beams of light cut through, illuminating the layers of dust swirling in the air. Vines snaked down from the cracks, their leaves dry and brittle, as if even they struggled to survive here.
"Why does it feel like this place is holding its breath?" Niko muttered under his breath.
The silence was shattered by a low creak, and his head snapped toward the sound. One of the old wooden tables in the hall had shifted, just slightly. Niko's grip on his weapon tightened, his heart racing. He crouched low, slipping into the shadows instinctively, his form blending with the dimness around him.
A faint rustling sound echoed through the hall. Not footsteps exactly—more like something dragging. The noise grew louder, closer.
"Just my luck," Niko hissed under his breath, his eyes scanning the room for movement.
It was... it was... something Niko couldn't even comprehend. What was this thing?
His eyes strained to make sense of the shifting mass before him. It moved like liquid but had a form—sort of. Shadows writhed and coiled around it, like smoke trapped inside a glass jar that didn't quite exist. There were no distinct features, no face, no limbs, just an undulating presence that seemed to fill the space, expanding and contracting as if it were breathing.
The air grew colder, biting at his skin despite the oppressive heat he'd felt earlier. A low hum filled the hall, vibrating through his chest like the sound of a tuning fork pressed against bone. It wasn't just sound—it was pressure, a force that made it hard to think, like his mind was being squeezed.
"What the hell are you?" Niko whispered, his voice trembling despite himself.
The thing didn't respond, at least not in any way that made sense. Instead, it shifted again, its amorphous shape stretching upward, as though it were towering over him now. The shadows it cast didn't behave normally—they rippled and writhed, crawling up the walls and ceiling like living things.
Niko's instincts screamed at him to move, to do something. But for a moment, all he could do was stare, rooted in place by the sheer wrongness of it. This thing wasn't just unnatural—it was impossible.
Then it lunged. Or maybe it didn't. It was hard to tell; the space between them seemed to vanish in an instant, and Niko threw himself backward just in time, rolling to the side as the floor where he'd been standing splintered with a deafening crack.
"Guess that answers that," he muttered, his voice steadier now. Whatever it was, it wasn't friendly.
Summoning the Eternal Night, Niko vanished into the shadows.
The oppressive weight of the creature's presence lifted slightly as he melted into the darkness, becoming one with the void. In this form, he felt untouchable, a phantom slipping through the cracks of reality. The world around him dimmed, colors fading to muted tones of black and gray, while time seemed to slow to a crawl.
He darted through the temple's shadows, silent and unseen, circling the entity that had nearly crushed him moments before. It didn't seem to notice his shift—at least, not yet. The writhing mass continued its erratic movements, lashing out in unpredictable patterns that cracked stone and sent debris flying.
Niko moved cautiously, his eyes scanning for any weakness, any clue as to what this thing was or how to deal with it. But nothing about it made sense. It wasn't solid, yet it could shatter stone. It didn't have eyes, yet it seemed to sense everything around it.
As he slipped into a deeper patch of shadow, a faint whisper brushed against his mind.
"Eternal Night..."
He froze. The voice wasn't his own, nor was it anything he'd heard before. It was cold, hollow, and it resonated deep within him, like it had crawled out from the same abyss he now inhabited.
"What are you willing to sacrifice?"
Niko's grip on his essence faltered for a split second before he steadied himself. He wasn't about to let some creepy disembodied voice shake him. Not now. Gritting his teeth, he pressed on, the shadows swirling tighter around him like a protective cloak.
"Sacrifice?" he muttered under his breath, his voice a low growl. "Haven't I already given enough?"
But the voice didn't answer. Instead, the creature's movements stilled, and for the first time, it turned—or shifted—toward him directly. It didn't have a face, but somehow, he knew it saw him.
It didn't matter that he had cloaked himself in darkness, shrouded by his Eternal Night. The void he commanded, usually an impenetrable curtain to his enemies, seemed useless here. The creature's awareness cut through the shadows like they were nothing.
"What the hell...?" Niko whispered, his chest tightening.
The air grew heavier as the creature moved again, deliberate and slow, each motion radiating malice. It wasn't searching anymore; it didn't have to. It knew exactly where he stood.
Niko's grip on his essence tightened, his frustration rising. Eternal Night had always been his edge, his safeguard. To have it undone so easily—it was infuriating.
"Alright," he hissed, darkness pooling around his hands as he summoned more of his power. The shadows warped and pulsed at his command, forming writhing tendrils that lashed out in all directions. "You see me? Fine. Let's see if you can handle this."
He unleashed the darkness, tendrils of pure shadow surging toward the creature. They struck its form, not to injure but to overwhelm, encasing the thing in a cocoon of suffocating black. The shadows writhed and tightened, like living chains attempting to subdue the incomprehensible entity.
But the creature didn't struggle. It didn't falter.
Instead, the shadows recoiled. Niko's power twisted and dissolved, as if the creature had consumed it entirely. The oppressive void he wielded so confidently now felt like a candle against a hurricane.
His heart pounded as the creature loomed closer, unaffected, relentless. For the first time, doubt crept into his mind.
This thing was different. This thing didn't just see the darkness—it owned it.
He had encountered his own counter, another darkness user!
How could he beat this? This… Thing he could only flee! "Yes… yes i could again go down stairs grab the book and leave that way i could complete the mission while staying alive!"
He didn't waste another second. Spinning on his heel, Niko bolted. His essence surged, the shadows parting in his wake as he made a beeline for the staircase deeper into the temple.
The stairs loomed ahead, spiraling down into deeper darkness, and Niko didn't hesitate. He flung himself forward, skipping steps as his boots slammed against the stone, each echo a frantic reminder of how close that thing was. The oppressive aura of the creature pressed harder, the shadows around him shifting unnaturally, clawing at his resolve.
"Just keep going," he muttered, teeth clenched. "Just get the damn book and get out!"
The air grew colder as he descended, and the walls of the staircase felt narrower, as if the temple itself was closing in on him. The faint glow of the waypoint pulsed somewhere far below, a dim beacon promising hope—or a trap.
Behind him, the creature didn't need to rush. It didn't need speed when it could seep into every crevice, saturate every shadow. He could feel it creeping closer, its oppressive presence brushing against the edges of his senses.
A sharp jolt of instinct screamed at him, and without thinking, Niko summoned a burst of Eternal Night. Dark tendrils lashed out, slamming into the walls and cascading down the stairs, creating a swirling barrier that held the creature's presence at bay for the moment. It wasn't much, but it gave him seconds to breathe.
"Just a little more," he growled to himself, forcing his legs to move faster.
Finally, the staircase ended, spilling him into a cavernous chamber that reeked of age and decay. The waypoint pulsed brighter now, hovering over a pedestal in the center of the room. On it sat The Book of Beginnings, its cover shimmering faintly as if it didn't belong in this world.
"There you are," Niko muttered, his voice a mix of relief and desperation. He sprinted toward the pedestal, but the instant his foot touched the chamber floor, the ground shifted.
A guttural roar erupted from the walls themselves, the sound vibrating through his bones. Niko froze, heart hammering as massive tendrils of shadow erupted from the floor. They weren't his.
The creature was here.
"No, no, no!" Niko hissed, summoning another wave of Eternal Night to counter the advancing tendrils. His shadows clashed with the creature's, sparks of violent energy lighting up the dim room.
He forced his way forward, step by agonizing step, his essence draining faster than he wanted to admit. The creature wasn't holding back anymore. This wasn't a hunt—it was a fight.
But Niko didn't stop. His focus narrowed to the book. If I can just grab it...
With one last desperate surge, he lunged forward, his hand closing around the book's cold, smooth surface.
Then he heard a roar and falling stone and nothing more.