"Power isn't given. It's taken from those too scared to hold it."
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The world changed twelve years ago.
Nobody knew how, or why — but one morning, glowing gates began appearing across the planet. Inside them were realms full of creatures that shouldn't exist — monsters that fed on light, and darkness that breathed like it was alive.
They called them Domains.
And the people who could enter them… the ones who survived long enough to return… they were known as Hunters.
---
Damian Vale was not one of them.
At least, not yet.
He worked nights in Deacon City — a place so corrupt even the rain smelled like blood and gasoline. While other Hunters fought in Domains, earning fame and credits, Damian mopped floors in the Bureau's lower labs, cleaning up their "classified" messes.
He was invisible. A ghost among gods.
Until that night.
---
It happened in Sector 12 — a minor Domain breach the Bureau claimed was "under control."
Damian was supposed to mop blood, not spill it. But when the alarms blared and the walls started breathing, he realized the Bureau had lied.
The Domain had evolved.
The air turned black. Corpses twitched. The gate pulsed like a heart. And in the center of it all stood a creature unlike anything in the Hunter database — a being made of shifting shadows, eyes glowing with hollow light.
Everyone else ran. Damian didn't.
Maybe it was fear. Maybe it was exhaustion. Maybe he was just done running.
The creature tilted its head. "You can see me?"
He nodded slowly. "Unfortunately."
The being laughed — a low, distorted sound that cracked the walls. "Then your soul is awake."
Before Damian could move, it lunged.
Darkness swallowed him whole.
---
When he woke, everything was quiet.
The Domain was gone.
The Bureau agents were dead.
But his shadow… wasn't his anymore.
It moved on its own. Breathed. Watched.
A voice echoed in his mind — calm, ancient, familiar.
> "You should've died. Instead, you were chosen."
"Chosen for what?"
> "To become what hunts the hunters."
His vision flickered. A black window appeared before him, glowing faintly with runes.
[SYSTEM INITIATED]
Name: Damian Vale
Class: Shadow Warden
Level: 0
Aura Core: Dormant
And beneath it — one final line that made his heart stop:
You are the last heir of the Abyssal Gate.
---
The next night, he woke up with his first Aura Pulse.
His skin burned like fire and frost at the same time. Shadows bled from his veins, crawling along the walls like living smoke. He felt everything — the vibration of lightbulbs, the pulse of the city, the fear in people walking past.
He could harvest it.
Aura — the life force of existence itself.
And every time he took it… he grew stronger.
He didn't need the Bureau anymore. He didn't need permission. He didn't even need sleep.
He just needed more power.
---
They came for him three days later — a squad of Bureau Hunters in gold armor.
"Damian Vale," their leader said. "You're under arrest for unauthorized possession of a Shadow Core."
He smirked faintly. "Arrest me?"
His eyes glowed cold silver. The streetlight above them shattered.
"I am the Core."
The ground cracked. His aura burst outward — black fire laced with blue lightning.
The soldiers didn't stand a chance.
When it ended, the entire block was silent.
And above the bodies, Damian stood, eyes glowing like a storm.
A window appeared in the air again.
[LEVEL UP]
Current Level: 5
New Ability Unlocked: Aura Extraction — Consume the fear of others to evolve.
He wiped the blood from his lip and smiled faintly. "So this is how it feels… to stop being prey."
The city lights dimmed as if bowing to him.
Somewhere deep below, the Abyss whispered his name —
> "Rise, Shadow Warden…"
And Damian did.
He turned his back on the Bureau, on humanity, on weakness.
His path was no longer survival — it was ascension.
The world had gates.
He would become the one who owned them.
---