Unwan could feel it now, he was inside the Night Curse. The air was damp, heavy with the scent of wet soil, and something bitter lingered in the atmosphere. Darkness swallowed everything. Only his grimoire, suspended in midair, cast a faint violet glow across the void.
Slowly, Unwan lowered himself into a more comfortable position. First, he had to extinguish the grimoire's light. No matter the situation, that glow would only draw creatures toward him. It was a matter of safety, even if keeping it ready might prove useful against future dangers.
He reached up, took the grimoire from the air, and slipped it into his bag. Then he carefully surveyed his surroundings. Nothing. Only darkness. He couldn't see a thing. But there were sounds.
They had been there since the moment he arrived. Those sounds were steadily gnawing at his nerves. One of them was unmistakable, footsteps. They resembled a human's, yet something about them was… off. Worst of all, they were getting louder.
'Great. I haven't even been here a minute. What incredible luck.'
'Yes, especially.'
Unwan moved from his spot and drew the Themir sword, bracing himself for the unknown threat. He turned toward the direction of the sound and waited, either for something to happen, or for the footsteps to fade.
He knew for certain it wasn't night. This darkness was the absence of light. It was something else entirely. Which meant he couldn't simply sit and wait for daylight to return like others might.
The footsteps grew so loud that their owner had to be within ten meters. And then a thought surfaced in his mind.
'Maybe it's a human.'
'Maybe it's a Night creature wearing a human shape.'
It was a small thought, but it carried hope. He wanted to believe it was a person. Someone who could lead him out of this suffocating darkness. Even if the [Unliked] condition affected him, Unwan believed that alone wouldn't be enough reason to kill him.
Just as that hope began to swell, the footsteps suddenly stopped. His heart lifted. A warmth stirred inside him. After all, he was the "Drinker of the Spring of Hope." Any spark of hope could strengthen him.
'Is it really human?'
The figure began moving again, slower this time. Unwan desperately wanted it to be human. But something felt missing. Something he had overlooked, or failed to notice just now.
The being reached his side and stood there, silent. Unwan kept his blade pointed in its direction, ready. The figure raised a hand.
At least, Unwan assumed it was a hand, close enough to see its outline. It looked disturbingly like human skin. He let out a small sigh.
Then the being's hand grasped the Tachi.
Unwan was about to speak, but his instincts screamed that something was wrong, telling him to run. Yet, he asked.
— Hello, what is your na...
A sharp sound cut through the darkness. And then he understood. It wasn't human. It only resembled one. yara But it was too late.
The creature had already wounded him. A fresh injury opened across the left side of his abdomen. This wound felt different, like it had been made by a strange, unnatural blade. The creature let out a roar that echoed across the entire area.
Unwan retreated. He didn't know what it was, but being that close was clearly dangerous. Blood flowed from his abdomen, though for now he could still move. And once again, they were forced to fight in the dark. There was nothing around them but suffocating blackness. How was one supposed to survive like this?
The idea that came to Unwan sounded reckless, even foolish: strike blindly.
If he was lucky, his kata would connect and turn the tide. If not, he would only give his opponent another opening. It was a dangerous gamble. But he had no other choice.
He raised his tachi high and brought it down with tremendous speed toward where the creature had stood moments earlier. Nothing.
Then something lunged from the left. It seized his left shoulder and squeezed. No, not squeezed.
Its grip was so powerful, so hard, that its fingers pierced into his flesh. His shoulder bones nearly cracked under the pressure.
But in that instant, Unwan realized the creature's mistake, and decided to exploit it. He released the tachi from his left hand and drove it upward toward where he estimated the creature's throat to be. The tachi came so close that, though he couldn't see it, there couldn't have been more than a finger's width between steel and flesh.
Yet the creature reacted swiftly. It used its second hand to block. The clash of metal rang out in the darkness. Fortunately, Unwan had a second plan.
Unlike the creature, he had another free hand. He let go of the tachi, catching it with his left hand, and thrust it toward the creature's torso.
Sensing this, the creature tried to shift its hand into defense again, but Unwan seized its arm tightly. Its hand slice across Unwan's.
'What kind of hand is this…?'
But the tachi was already in motion. It shot forward toward the creature's heart and pierced through. A strange, distorted groan escaped it. For a second, Unwan thought it was over. But, it wasn't.
The creature plunged its remaining hand back into his shoulder and began hacking at his right arm with the other.
'You, flighty jerk.'
In response, Unwan tightened his grip on the tachi, raised it high, and slashed diagonally downward to the left.
'Just die already… You stubborn idiot? Die... Die!'
At last, he severed its head.
The creature's head flew one or two meters away before landing. Its body collapsed, its movements finally ceasing. Its hands fell limp. Once Unwan pried the creature's hand from his shoulder, he dropped to the ground himself.
Then, from the corpse, a small white sphere radiating a faint glow emerged and drifted into his grimoire.
A faint smile touched Unwan's lips.
— Phew... First Night Creature defeated. Not a bad first impression. No spells, no grimoire. Just the Themir tachi, a durable body… and a sharp mind.