Aeron kept to the shadows, his breath steady as he surveyed the ruined chamber ahead. The mutated beast lay motionless, its body still pulsing with unnatural energy. Even in death, it radiated power proof that it had been something far beyond an ordinary dungeon monster.
His fingers twitched as he studied the remains. Something was off.
Nyxus' voice rumbled in his mind, calm yet edged with warning.
"This beast was altered. Changed by something... artificial."
Aeron narrowed his eyes. "Artificial?"
Lena crouched beside the corpse, her fingers hovering over the jagged wounds Aeron had left. "This thing didn't move like a normal dungeon creature," she muttered. "It was fast too fast."
Aeron nodded. He had noticed it too. The way it reacted, the way it anticipated his attacks it wasn't natural.
Lena pulled out a small device, scanning the body. The screen flickered, displaying readings that made her frown. "There's some kind of external energy signature. It doesn't match dungeon corruption."
Aeron stiffened. External energy? That meant one thing.
"Someone tampered with this creature," Nyxus confirmed.
Lena met his gaze. "The guild?"
Aeron's jaw clenched. "Who else?"
The thought made his stomach twist. If the guild had a hand in modifying dungeon monsters, it meant they were doing far more than just controlling dungeons. They were experimenting.
And if they were willing to alter creatures like this, it meant they weren't just covering up corruption they were creating it.
Lena stood, adjusting the strap of her rifle. "We should move. If this thing was an experiment, there could be more."
Aeron nodded, casting one last look at the beast before turning toward the corridor ahead. He had come here for answers, but all he had now were more questions.
And something told him he wouldn't like what he found next.
---
The tunnel ahead twisted sharply downward, the air thick with an unnatural chill. The deeper they went, the more Aeron felt it a presence, lingering in the darkness.
Nyxus remained silent, but Aeron could tell he felt it too.
Lena kept close behind him, her movements cautious but fluid. "This place feels wrong," she murmured.
Aeron agreed.
Then a whisper.
Faint, distant. Almost too quiet to notice.
Aeron halted. His eyes flicked to the shadows ahead, his grip tightening on his dagger.
Lena froze beside him. "What?"
He shook his head. "Thought I heard something."
Nyxus' voice was low.
"You're not wrong. Keep moving."
Aeron exhaled, taking another step forward.
The corridor opened into a wide chamber, but something about it was... strange.
There were carvings along the walls ancient, intricate. Not the crude markings of dungeons, but something deliberate.
Something intelligent.
Lena brushed dust off one of the symbols, her eyes narrowing. "These aren't dungeon runes."
Aeron ran his fingers over the markings. The patterns looked... familiar. Not because he had seen them before, but because something deep in his mind recognized them.
"These are the remnants of an old power," Nyxus murmured.
Aeron swallowed. "Yours?"
Nyxus didn't answer right away.
Then "No. This is something even older."
Aeron frowned. If even Nyxus didn't recognize the source, then what the hell had they just walked into?
He took another step forward
And the floor shifted beneath him.
Aeron barely had time to react before the ground collapsed, sending him plunging into darkness.
---
The fall was short but brutal.
Aeron hit the ground hard, the impact jarring his bones.
Above, Lena's voice rang out. "Aeron?!"
"I'm fine," he called back, shaking off the dizziness.
A cold draft swept through the chamber. The air was different here older, heavier.
Nyxus stirred.
"You're not alone down here."
Aeron's muscles tensed. His eyes adjusted to the dim light, scanning the surroundings.
The space was massive, a hidden chamber buried beneath the dungeon. Crystals jutted from the walls, faintly glowing with a pulsating blue light.
And at the center of the room
A throne.
No not just a throne.
A massive stone seat, carved from a single blackened slab, its surface etched with the same ancient symbols that lined the walls above.
Aeron's pulse quickened. He could feel the power radiating from it.
And sitting upon the throne
Was a figure.
Aeron's breath caught.
It was a warrior, frozen in time. His armor was cracked, his body half-turned to stone, as if he had been petrified mid-battle.
But it wasn't just his appearance that sent a chill through Aeron's spine.
It was the aura.
Nyxus' voice was grave.
"He was one of us."
Aeron's fingers twitched. "Another contract holder?"
"Once. But now... he is something else."
The warrior's eyes flickered open.
Aeron didn't hesitate.
He dove to the side just as the warrior moved, the stone cracking as his petrified form came to life.
The warrior rose, his joints creaking, the sound like breaking rock.
Lena's voice echoed from above. "Aeron?! What's happening?"
He didn't have time to answer.
The warrior lunged.
Aeron barely had time to react before a massive, jagged blade came crashing down. He rolled to the side, avoiding the strike but just barely.
"Careful," Nyxus warned. "He's not fully human anymore."
Aeron gritted his teeth. Great. Another damn monster.
He sprang forward, dagger in hand, aiming for the warrior's exposed side.
But before his blade could connect
The warrior caught his wrist.
Aeron's breath hitched.
Then he was hurled across the chamber, slamming into the stone wall.
Pain exploded through his body, but he didn't have time to process it. The warrior was already moving, his movements unnatural, relentless.
Nyxus' voice cut through the haze.
"His contract was severed. He is a forsaken one."
Aeron coughed, staggering to his feet. "And that means what, exactly?"
"It means he will not stop. Not until one of you is dead."
The warrior charged again.
Aeron tightened his grip on his dagger. His mind raced. If this thing was once a contract holder, then...
He focused. Summoned Nyxus' energy.
And when the warrior's blade came down
Aeron met it with his own.
The impact shook the chamber. Sparks erupted where their weapons clashed.
And for the first time the warrior hesitated.
Aeron saw it. The flicker of recognition in those dead, blue eyes.
He pressed forward.
If this warrior had been like him once, then there had to be a way to stop him without losing himself in the process.
And he was going to find it.
The weight of the forsaken warrior's blade pressed against Aeron's dagger, sparks flying as steel clashed against steel. His muscles tensed, straining to hold his ground against the sheer force behind the attack.
But the longer he fought, the more he realized this wasn't just brute strength.
There was a technique in the way the warrior moved, an eerie precision that Aeron recognized. This man had been a fighter once no, more than that. He had been like him.
Nyxus' voice hummed in the back of his mind, solemn, almost reverent.
"I know he was."
Aeron's eyes flicked toward the warrior, watching the way he moved. There was something familiar in his stance, the way he carried his weapon as if his body still remembered a battle he had fought long ago.
"He was called Kael," Nyxus continued. "A contract holder from an era long before yours."
Aeron's breath hitched. Another contract holder?
Orion's blade came down again, and Aeron barely managed to parry, twisting his body to the side. His feet slid against the uneven ground as the impact sent a jolt through his arm.
This wasn't just some mindless dungeon monster. This was a fallen warrior one who had once held power beyond mortal limits.
"He was a warlord in his time, bonded to a contract much like ours," Nyxus said. "But something… severed him from it."
Aeron gritted his teeth. "Severed?"
Nyxus hesitated.
"Not many can survive without their contract. Kael… should not be alive."
Aeron's mind raced. If his contract with Nyxus was ever broken what would happen to him?
Would he become like this?
A hollow shell of power, forced to keep fighting even after everything else was lost?
Kael struck again. Faster. Harder.
Aeron rolled to the side, but too late the force of the blow sent him stumbling backward. The warrior didn't slow down, pressing forward with inhuman speed.
There was no hesitation in his strikes.
No emotion.
Only duty.
Aeron barely blocked the next attack, his dagger trembling from the force. Kael's dead eyes bore into him, something unreadable flickering behind them.
"He's testing you," Nyxus murmured.
Aeron's breath came fast. "Testing me?"
"He was once like you. He knows what it means to fight with a contract… and now he wants to see if you are worthy."
Aeron gritted his teeth. Worthy?
He didn't have time for whatever test this was. He needed to end this fight now.
Shifting his stance, he called upon Nyxus' power.
The shadows at his feet stirred, twisting and curling upward, energy surging through his veins. His body felt lighter, stronger Nyxus' influence wrapping around him like a second skin.
noticed.
For the first time, the forsaken warrior hesitated.
A beat. A pause.
Then a whisper.
Low. Faint.
A voice that was not Kael's but something older, deeper.
"You… carry his shadow."
Aeron's pulse jumped. Kael spoke.
Before he could react Kael lunged.
Faster than before. Almost desperate.
Aeron barely had time to process what he had just heard before his instincts kicked in.
He dodged low, shifting his weight, and countered his dagger slashing through the darkness between them.
But Kael was already gone.
Aeron's eyes darted around, searching then he saw it.
Kael had stepped into the shadows.
For a moment, the warrior's form seemed to dissolve into the darkness itself melding with it, disappearing.
A cold realization hit Aeron.
"He still has fragments of his contract left," Nyxus said grimly. "That should be impossible."
Aeron's breath caught. If Kael was using remnants of his old contract…
That meant he wasn't just a forsaken warrior.
He was something else.
A survivor.
Aeron barely had time to react before Kael reappeared behind him.
A blade aimed straight for his heart.
---
Above the pit, Lena gritted her teeth, pacing.
Something was wrong.
She could hear the clash of metal echoing from below but Aeron hadn't responded since his last shout.
Her grip tightened on her rifle. She had to get down there.
Quickly.
Glancing around, she spotted an old rope dangling from the cavern wall. It looked unstable but at this point, she didn't care.
Without hesitation, she slung her rifle across her back and began her descent.
Whatever was down there, she wasn't about to let Aeron face it alone.
---
Back below, Aeron twisted his body at the last second.
Kael's blade grazed his ribs instead of piercing through his heart.
Pain flared, but Aeron ignored it. He pushed forward, his free hand snapping up to grip Kael's arm.
For the first time, Kael staggered.
Aeron didn't hesitate.
Summoning Nyxus' power, he let the shadows wrap around his fingers and then, with all his strength, he drove his dagger into Kael's shoulder.
Kael let out a choked sound.
Not pain.
Recognition.
Aeron's mind flashed with images.
Not his own.
But Kael's.
A battlefield, long ago.
A war fought in the name of gods long forgotten.
A warrior standing stop countless bodies holding a broken blade.
And then
A betrayal.
Aeron gasped, snapping back to the present.
Kael staggered backward, his form flickering for a moment. His body shook as if something inside him was fighting against itself.
Then he collapsed to one knee.
For the first time, the forsaken warrior was vulnerable.
Aeron's breath was heavy. His heart pounded.
He could end it.
Right here. Right now.
But something stopped him.
Orion had spoken his name. He had recognized Nyxus' power.
Which meant…
He still remembered.
Nyxus' voice was quiet.
"He is not completely lost."
Aeron's grip tightened on his dagger.
He had come into this fight expecting another mindless enemy.
But Kael wasn't just a monster.
He was a man one who had suffered something Aeron didn't yet understand.
And now, Aeron had a choice to make.
Would he kill Kael?
Or would he find out what truly happened to him?
His answer would change everything.