The dumps and ruins of Cragmier spread out as far as eyes could see.
Heaps of junk. Metal scraps. Shattered walls in ruins.
A few centuries ago this was the capital of Eclipsera.
A flourishing city that hosted the best luxuries, technology and powers in the world.
That was until two thousand years ago.
The Shatter Dawn happened.
The veil separeting the mortal planes from the spiritual realm took centuries to thin to breaking point.
But one night to cause havoc.
Two thousand years ago the veil splintered in sections. The worst rupture centering over Cragmier.
Eidos Wells broke through the punctures, releasing spirit cores for the six paths.
Minor emotional paths called Ludos existed too. Paths like guilt, regret, hope, lust, peace and more. But they all fell under one of the six paths.
The spirit cores blossomed all over the world. In water, sky, sea, land and air. Even multidimensionaly.
Over time a rare few developed the abilities to cultivate these cores under specific emotional paths.
Cultivation granted them unique powers and skills within their paths.
This was tagged the Enlightment Era. The rise of Spirit Walkers.
Everything was somewhat ok.
Eidos crystals within the wells were mined to make energy globes to drive machines and create devices.
Crystal glass could also be used as building materials for towers and skyscrapers. Even vehicle parts.
Some rare crystals offered manipulative abilities that caused illusions, healed sicknesses and invaded dreams.
Then the first Disos Well appeared. In Cragmier, yet again.
Disos, a pool of all horrible emotions within the spiritual realm.
Death. Rage. Mischief. Horror.
The wells rippled dark and as black as night.
And from their depths rose a corruption unlike anything Eclipsera had ever seen.
Beasts and monsters of every size, shape and increasing devastation.
They ravaged through the cities and villages where the wells sprouted.
Ruin and rubble alone remained after such raids.
The beasts needed to drain eidos cores from humans to survive.
Some were powerful enough to consume essence cores as well. To feed on souls.
A rare few could assume human forms to cause the worst kind of chaos.
Those were terrible times to be alive.
The Spirit Walkers banded together to fight the beasts and defend the world.
It took decades, but finally all the Disos wells were sealed off.
Not permanently, though. That was impossible.
The wells only remained shut until a certain emotion raged strong enough to break through.
Cue the beast invasion.
Cragmier had the infamous tendency to host broken Disos wells.
It didn't take long for Caedren to find one of them.
Behind the ruins of what used to be either a temple or a brothel, a dead vineyard of ivies stretched out for miles.
The air vibrated with creepy energy. The kind that crawled down spines and chilled bone.
The first howl of a beast froze Caedren.
"Sounds like a wolf?!"
Quietly, he followed the sound through a cusp of trees.
Growls and snarls from behind a boulder told him there wasn't just one beast.
A pack of them.
Not wolves. Their unholy dopplegangers.
👽
Beast: Gloomfang Hounds
Rank: Wraith
Attack: Team Disaster
Defense: High sensitivity to fear, guilt and cowardice
👽
Gloomfang Hounds.
A touch of trepidation stirred in Caedren's gut as he watched them.
They looked like wolves.
Wolves stretched by shadows and darkness.
Gaunt and wiry, their too long limbs prodded the ashy ground with the barest of sounds.
Narrow nozzles sniffed the air. Their eyes were glowing pits of dull silver light.
For fur they boasted whispy strands of blackness rather than real hair.
Caedren counted about a hundred of them. Give or take.
Spirit Beasts were ranked into seven, in increasing order of strength from the weakest to strongest.
Wraith—-Awakened—-Warden—Sovereign—Celestial—-Primordial—-Cosmos.
Wraiths were minor threats and equivalent to early stage spirit walker initiates.
Formed from fragmented emotions: fear, envy or sorrow, left behind by the dying.
They could only assume mist-like animalistic shapes.
Gloomfang Hounds were Wraiths, the weakest of them all.
Their greatest strength was team work and combined attack.
One hound was negligible.
A pack of them like this could torment a formidable foe.
Caedren had never heard about them before but somehow he knew everything about them.
Nothing in this world was strange anymore.
The system made sure of that.
"Now all I need is a weapon."
👽
Spirit Weapon: Scepter of Tainted Souls
Rank: Shadow Sword
Rank Effect: Can deliver fatal blows to beasts. Lightweight and sensory attacks.
👽
The sword flourished in his right hand.
Hilt black as night with silver veins. Blade thin as razor and as sharp.
It released an eerie cry when he arched it in the air.
The weapon felt familiar.
And he knew how to use it to deliver fatality.
Like muscle memory from the former Caedren Valerian.
He smirked.
Time to grind.
He stood from his crouching position behind a fallen pillar.
Glass and debris crunched under his boot as he approached the pack of wolves
They idled around a rippling pool of dark grey water.
On hearing his approach, fiery excuse for eyes burned him with glares.
Their canines bared in a low growl.
They wasted not another second before attacking.
Caedren stoon calm and collected.
He waited for them to get within range before lunging forward.
The first cry of the sword took off two canine heads.
Four went down on the next.
The smirk remained on his face as he jabbed and swiped and dismembered.
Swift and slick, his body responded instantly to his thoughts. A dancer's grace to his movement.
Canine bodies dropped like flies all around him.
The corpses rippled before scattering into mist that flowed into Caedren's body.
👽
Essence Core +1
Essence Core +1
Essence Core +1
👽
The hounds bounded around him.
Canines snapping. Fiery eyes blazing.
Their long limbs offered
But their core strength was no match for his own.
His movement blurred with speed.
The muscles of his arms flexed with strength.
Caedren had never felt so much power around his soul.
It was all consuming.
Like getting high on ecstasy.
👽
50 Essence Core acquired
Quest complete.
👽
He couldn't stop.
Energy ignited his veins.
The hounds fused into dark shapes in his vision. All of them targets for his carnage.
Carnage!
Darkness clouded around him before shooting off in sharp tendrils.
They speared though the surrounding hounds without remorse.
The beasts howled and mourned.
Some tried to escape. They scampered towards the black pool…
Caedren didn't permit them.
"Mercy for none."
The dark tendrils stabbed them before they could dissappear into the pool.
Over a hundred writhing serpent's of night stretched from him, a hound captured on each sharp tip.
Feed!
The hounds dissolved into mist.
Their essence merged with the tendrils.
Caedren shuddered with brimming power as the cores shot into his soul at once.
👽
300 Essence Cores acquired.
Essence Cores: 13³
Despair Core: Empty
Misery Grid: Unveiling
Unique Skill has evolved.
Passive Skill acquired.
Passive Skill: Devil's Empath.
>> Devil's Empath: Acute sensitivity to dominant emotions of humans within a certain range.
>>>>Monarch must be highly observant to correctly read body language and facial expressions.
>>>>Emotional vulnerability of victim is an added advantage.
👽
Caedren smiled.
In a world fueled by emotions, such a passive Skill was beyond useful.
With Devil's Empath, he could manipulate the emotions of others to suit his desires.
The skill would help with the next part of his quest.
Acquiring eidos cores.
His stomach grumbled.
When was the last time he ate?
His eyes went wide.
"In my past life!"
Well, obviously former Caedren had been fed in jail, but Caedren's closest memory of feeding was…
Yes, right before getting drunk and the end of the world!
He'd snatched a soggy sandwich from an abandoned plate on one of the tables of the bar…
Caedren gagged.
The manner of things he'd been forced to do and endure because of poverty.
The embarrassment…the insult.
His resolve hardened.
Not again. Not in this life.
This world was his to conquer.
A conqueror still needed to feed and nap.
For some reasonable reason, he felt physically empty and drained of energy.
Vanquishing the gloomfang hounds hadn't been without exertion.
Even with the system, his body required honing to dexterity.
Now, about food…
Cagmier, as the textbook wasteland, had nothing but scraps and beasts to offer.
The nearest town was far west of Caedren's present location.
"Can I Shadow Phase to town?" He wondered aloud.
👽
Shadow Phasing: Ability beyond current rank. Skill requires 13² essence cores.
👽
Caedren frowned.
"But I used the skill earlier."
During Soul Override.
Though unconscious through the entire phase, he'd felt the strangeness of time and space bending around his body.
So, no cheat ability to save him the stress of trudging through the dead lands.
Sighing, he adjusted the band of the ridiculous trousers that drooped down his waist.
He'd barely covered a reasonable distance when the ground trembled.
The strong vibrations sent him tumbling.
"What was that?"
The next rocking vibration shook his bones.
The ground cracked and splintered, veins of fissures spreading out like lighting.
Black goo burst out from the deep wounds.
Caedren scrambled to get away but there was no escape.
The goo filled the hole. Pouring in from every side.
Caedren gasped as the blackness swallowed him.
Even as the black water errupted in heavy torrents, the hole deepened.
The Disos well roared with fierce waves and moaning currents strong enough to sink the titanic again.
Caedren fought against the tempest.
And lost. Pathetically.
He sank deeper and deeper into the darkness.
The Dios Well devoured a certain webnovel's MC for lunch.
Author Note: Thanks for reading. Comment, vote and gift…gifts. You guys are the best 🥲♥️♥️