I pushed past the urge to find Syl Night. She was a known factor, a variable that could be solved later. The Ebonscar core, the Eye that sees the past, was an unknown vulnerability—a core root access I couldn't ignore. I needed to know who Zayn Vyrn was before I trusted anyone in this world.
If I'm going to be erased, I might as well find out the name of the operating system.
I plunged deeper into the ruins, toward the heart of the throbbing green glow. The closer I got, the more oppressive the air became. It felt like walking through static electricity—my hair stood on end, and the air crackled with a low, dizzying hum.
The remnants of this place defied architecture. Massive chunks of metal, twisted into impossible knots, lay half-submerged in the glowing green rifts. The very stone beneath my feet was hot to the touch in places, smelling sharply of ozone and something metallic, like burnt copper. The air tasted like sucking on a penny.
I was relying entirely on the Shadow Cloak, the F-Tier power struggling desperately against the harsh, unnatural light of the rifts. The effort was immense, like constantly resisting a powerful psychic counter-virus. The strain registered as a low-grade headache and a persistent mind blur at the edges of my vision.
[Sanity Threshold: Below 80. Recommended Action: Retreat.] The warning flashed, a cold digital panic I ignored.
My feet slid across a floor made of fused, obsidian-like rock. I was entering what must have been the center of the old city—the structures here were bigger, the twisted metal more ornate, resembling the remnants of a shattered crown.
I found it—the "Eye."
It wasn't a structure, but a vast, circular depression in the earth, cracked like a broken lens. A huge, slow-pulsing green rift filled the entire area. The air above it shimmered, and for a moment, I didn't see the ruins; I saw a flicker of ancient, impossible technology—vast golden machines, screaming faces, and the blinding light of a single, terrible curse.
The God-King broke this world. And this is where he dropped the hammer.
The energy here was too much. The Veil wasn't just fractured; it was gone. This was the exposed core, leaking raw Void data.
The second the thought crystallized, the Void reacted.
The air screamed.
The green glow of the rift pulsed violently, and a mass of pure, obsidian shadow erupted from the epicenter. It solidified instantly, forming a vaguely humanoid shape—long, skeletal limbs, a narrow, elongated head, and no discernible features beyond two pulsing points of faint red light for eyes. It was larger than I was, radiating a dense, oppressive aura of raw, alien malice.
[Threat Detected. Entity: E-Tier Void Spawn. Engage.]
The E-Tier rank flashed, instantly quadrupling the level of cold dread. An E-Tier entity was leagues above my F-Tier Shadow Cloak and my pitiful, scrawny body. This wasn't a fight; it was an execution order.
The creature was devastatingly fast—a blur of shadow and skeletal motion. It didn't lunge; it teleported across the distance, its massive, clawed hand sweeping out with the speed of a falling blade.
I threw myself sideways, the raw fear lending me an unnatural speed. The claws missed my head by less than an inch. I felt the powerful whoosh of displacement, and the sound of its strike hitting the shattered pillar I had just vacated was a sound of finality—the iron pillar sheared in half, spitting sparks and collapsing into dust.
No trading blows. Not even breathing near it.
I scrambled to my feet, my lungs burning, the crude knife clutched tight. My Shadow Cloak was fighting a losing battle, flickering violently, giving me only momentary confusion rather than true stealth.
I had to use the environment. The creature was pure aggression, a blunt instrument of the Void. I was a precision tool.
I sprinted, zigzagging through the ruins, the Shadow Spawn right on my heels, its heavy, silent footsteps echoing the frantic drumming of my heart. I focused on the debris—the massive, twisted girders and the unstable, cracked segments of the old city's infrastructure.
I used the Shadow Cloak to deepen my blur, vanishing momentarily into the shadow of a colossal, leaning archway. The Spawn overshot, slamming into the arch with a sickening crack. It paused, its red eyes scanning.
I seized the opening. I needed to know what could stop it. I lashed out with the knife, aiming for the densest part of its shadowy torso. The rusted knife barely penetrated the obsidian surface. The black material hissed and dissolved around the cut, but the creature barely slowed. It was durable, powered by the core.
It let out a silent, psychic shriek that blasted into my mind, a thousand knives of pure noise.
"...Kael! Zayn! You will fall!"
The dual names hit me with the force of a battering ram, seizing the fear in my core. Kael—my consciousness, my memory, the one who knows how to hack. Zayn—the body, the brand, the target with the ingrained fear of this place. The names blurred, a terrifying, inseparable union.
I am Kael. But in this body, in this fight, I am Zayn. The terror of Zayn's past mixed with Kael's primal survival instinct, creating a frantic, desperate surge of energy.
The confusion was a vulnerability, and the Spawn pressed its advantage, charging again, its shadow-claws raised high.
I ducked at the last second and sprinted directly under the hanging dome—a vast, half-collapsed piece of metal structure that I had noticed was barely resting on a single, weakened pillar, suspended precariously over a smaller green rift.
The Void Spawn, driven by singular, brutal intent, followed me, ignoring the structural integrity of its surroundings. It crashed into the final pillar holding the dome with devastating, blinding force.
Now! The exploit!
The dome, already damaged by the ancient fracture, groaned, then shrieked. The structure buckled instantly, raining down tons of twisted iron and shattered concrete onto the monster.
It shrieked again, a sound of agony that ripped at my fading sanity. The sheer weight of the ruins crushed the obsidian body, smashing it directly into the open, glowing green rift beneath.
The rift flared a brilliant, blinding white, and the air was instantly sucked away in a powerful vacuum. The E-Tier Void Spawn was instantly and utterly consumed, not just by the crushing metal, but by the raw energy of the exposed fracture itself.
I staggered back, leaning against a still-standing wall, my body shaking violently from exhaustion, fear, and psychic backlash. My breath came in ragged gasps. I had survived, but my mind was raw.
[Sanity Check: Critical. Recommend immediate rest.]
I looked at the annihilated ruin. That was the essence of this world's curse—raw power that could be exploited, but only at the cost of your mind.
As the air returned, I heard the faint, distant sound of heavy boots and gruff voices. The Black Swords were getting closer, drawn by the massive energy signature of the destroyed E-Tier monster. The Inquisitor was definitely still on my tail.
I had to leave. I pushed myself away from the wall, forcing my legs to move. I had survived the core, but I hadn't found the secret to Zayn Vyrn's past.
Before I escaped the ruins, my eye caught a final piece of graffiti—a crude carving etched deep into a slab of scorched metal near the exit:
THE EYE SEES THE PAST, BUT THE VOID REMEMBERS THE GOD-KING'S CURSE.
I paused, breathing heavily. The God-King's Curse wasn't just a metaphor for a broken world; it was a physical, active force. It was the root of the Veil, the source of the Void, and the reason I was here. It was the master password I desperately needed to crack.
As I slipped back into the relative shadows of the slums, I glanced back at the Ebonscar. Up on a high, stable ledge, the same long, dark shadow I'd seen earlier was still there. It didn't move. It just watched me leave. Syl Night. She wasn't an assassin; she was an observer, and now she had cataloged my near-death fight.
My only certainty now was the voice that hunted me, using my own identity against me.
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Poll: Kael has survived a fight with an E-Tier Void Spawn in the Ebonscar core and gained a key piece of information linking his current situation to the God-King's Curse and the Veil. He knows Syl Night is observing him, and the Black Swords are closing in.
Should Kael use his Shadow Cloak to find Syl Night immediately to trade information and secure shelter (Rat's Nest), or risk another night in the deep shadows of the slums to observe the Black Swords' movements?
A) Confront Syl Night (Seek the Rat's Nest to leverage his Void knowledge for protection and intel on the Veilmarked.)
B) Observe Black Swords (Prioritize mapping patrol routes to find a sustainable, long-term hideout, delaying contact with the dangerous rogue.)