The smoldering remains of the Village of Draxen faded behind him. Graxion didn't look back—not out of pride or satisfaction, but because something else now pulled at him.
A tug not of emotion… but of command.
> [New Milestone Achieved]
— First Ascension Triggered —
System Integration: 17%
New Trait Unlocked: Shadow Sentience
He stopped in the middle of a dry ravine. The wind had died. Even the insects had gone silent. Something in the air had changed—thickened, like invisible hands pressing on his chest.
> "Ascension?" he muttered.
The answer didn't come in the usual cold system voice.
This time, it came like a whisper through bone, vibrating just behind his ears.
> "Ascension is the moment your soul forgets what it meant to be weak."
He turned. No one there.
But the shadows around his feet… they began to move on their own. Not following him. Not reacting. Moving. Living. Thinking.
A tendril rose from the ground, curling like a serpent, its tip splitting open into an eye—slitted, glowing deep violet.
Graxion flinched. This wasn't just power anymore. This was something with a will.
> "What are you?" he asked.
> "I am what is left of the first void," it said. "Before gods. Before vampires. Before blood. I am what filled the spaces between creation. I am shadow—not cast by light, but born before it."
> "Why me?" Graxion whispered.
The tendril coiled tighter.
> "Because you are hollow. Because you are not bound to fate or bloodline. Because you were rejected by all… and so you may become more than all."
He took a step back. For the first time since awakening the system, he felt the edges of fear.
> [Warning: Host stability fluctuating.]
Mental Pressure: High.
Host is nearing threshold of Madness.
Madness.
So this was the price.
Power like this didn't come freely. The shadow didn't need blood or mana—it fed on willpower, identity, and most of all… sanity.
> "If I lose myself," Graxion said aloud, "what's left?"
> "A god," the shadow replied. "Or a monster. The world will decide which."
---
That night, Graxion didn't sleep. He sat beneath a crumbling tree, eyes open, watching the shadows as they flickered and pulsed even without light.
They were thinking. Growing. Waiting.
> [Passive Skill Learned: Shadow Communion]
You may now communicate with lesser shadow entities.
You are no longer alone.
---
In his dreams—if they could still be called that—he saw flashes.
A future of cities made of blood.
A boy with pale skin and a ring of darkness.
A battle beyond stars, where light fractured and shadows fed.
And a name spoken through eternity.
> "Quinn…"
Graxion jolted awake, heart pounding. The name burned on his tongue like fire.
> "Who is Quinn?"
But no answer came.
Just the rustle of wind... and the whisper of shadows, laughing softly in the dark.