When Aric first heard the whispers, he thought they were madness. Echoes of grief too sharp to be his own. But the System was no hallucination—it was a law older than the Shades themselves, bound into his very soul.
The Sorrow System is not a gift. It is not a curse. It is hunger, and hunger is truth.
Core Mechanism
The System feeds on sorrow essence—the raw emotional fragments shed when life collapses under despair. Every death, every scream, every shattering of hope leaves behind residue invisible to most. Demons gorge themselves on it instinctively, but for Aric, the System organizes it, measures it, weaponizes it.
Essence Collection:
Every kill, every defeated foe releases sorrow.
Feeding is not optional. The System demands it.
Suppression leads to backlash: madness, seizures, loss of control.
Progression Tiers (discovered through instinct and fragments of System prompts):
Thresholds – At specific sorrow levels, abilities awaken.
Evolution Events – When a threshold maxes out, the System forces an "evolution," rewriting part of Aric's body and mind.
Abilities – Powers manifest depending on the type of sorrow consumed (fear, rage, despair, betrayal).
Abilities Observed So Far
Sorrow Consumption: Converts sorrow essence into strength, healing, or stamina.
Echo Veins: When filled, Aric's body glows faintly as sorrow threads through him, amplifying his reflexes.
Empathic Surge (latent): He sometimes feels fragments of the dead's final emotions—useful for sensing ambushes, but destabilizing.
Risks of the System
Aric has already seen its dangers:
Addiction – Hunger grows with every feed. Satisfaction is temporary.
Mutation – Prolonged use warps the host, both physically and mentally. The "Watcher" claims every user eventually becomes indistinguishable from a Shade.
Isolation – Humans instinctively recoil from the aura of sorrow, branding users cursed.
The greatest threat, however, is Backlash:
Suppress sorrow too long, and the System turns inward, devouring the user's sanity until feeding is the only release.
Fragment of Watcher's Warning
The Watcher, that twisted guardian Aric faced, left him with a single cryptic truth:
"Sorrow cannot be destroyed. It can only be consumed… or consume you."
If true, then the System is not a weapon—but a cycle. Aric is caught within it, and breaking free may be impossible.
Unanswered Questions
Why was Aric chosen? The System doesn't manifest randomly.
Is there a final tier? If so, what would it make of him—man, demon, or something worse?
Can sorrow ever be purified, rather than devoured?
Aric has begun to realize the truth:Every fight, every death, every drop of grief brings him closer not to salvation, but to transformation. The only question left is what he will become when the hunger wins.