25 Affinity: Death

Darkness surrounded Aldric, his body now completely healed and devoid of any pain, feeling weightless, as if floating, though he couldn't see to be certain. Then, illuminating the darkness with a ding, was a blue panel appearing before him.

[You have been made a servant of the Firsts.]

[You shall do the bidding of the ones who were, for rewards most men will never know.]

[The Firsts shall now bestow their blessing upon you.]

'Yes, let me see what I fought so hard for.'

[You have been blessed with Affinity | Rank: Unranked]

[You have obtained affinity: Death.]

"Death? More death?!... How the hell is that even an affinity? What happened to fire or lightning? Can I not get one power that doesn't have to do with dying?"

Aldric was certain death was no affinity he was aware of, neither was unranked a rank he knew. However, he had hoped for something that could increase his fighting ability, maybe allow him powerful elemental attacks, but he got 'death', and although he wasn't sure what it was, it didn't seem very much like a combat type affinity.

[You have been favored.]

[You shall be returned to your world.]

Aldric let out a sigh as he floated in the void, waiting to be sent back. Perhaps he could finally take a hot bath and have a good night's sleep after around two hundred and fifty deaths of constant fighting for survival.

*Feed Me*

A voice distorted and seemingly weaving with reality made its way to Aldric from the darkness, not just as words, but a feeling that pressed through his entire being.

"What? Who's there?"

*Feed me their souls*

A strong sucking sensation pulled on Aldric, almost as if yanking him out of the darkness, causing him to go from floating to a sensation of falling, and as his hands flailed in the air, he saw nothing but a blinding white light before, with a thud, he hit the floor.

Aldric groaned softly, cracking open his eyes to see a familiar ceiling. He placed his hand on the stone floor as he sat up to look around, and as he had guessed, he was back in the temple, and with that realisation he quickly forgot what had happened moments ago.

The corpses of the other awakened that he had followed into the dungeon still lay on the floor, but something was off about them—they had begun decaying. Aldric had not immediately noticed the foul stench as he was desensitized by the Reaper's scent, but it smelled God-awful.

However, that was not the only weird observation he made. Additionally, among the rotten corpses, there seemed to be bodies that looked rather fresh, as if having been killed mere days ago—how all the bodies should have looked, yet the ones that did look like this, Aldric could not recognize them.

"How long was I gone?" Aldric muttered to himself.

"Four months."

The voice of the Knight caused Aldric to swiftly turn around, unaware he was there, and upon gazing at the dungeon lord, the sight he saw was shocking, to say the least—the once seemingly undefeatable Knight looked quite battered: armor scratched and broken, sword chipped and bent, and a form of total exhaustion.

Aldric would assume the Knight finally met its match, but he guessed its opponents were most likely the unrecognizable corpses that sprawled across the stone floor.

"Four months?" Al shifted his attention back to the matter at hand. "I was there two days at most."

"There is a difference in time flow between the trial grounds and other worlds."

Al nodded at the knight's words; it made sense and perhaps was the least absurd thing to have happened as of recent. So he refrained from dwelling too much on it and asked a question his curiosity had been struggling to satisfy.

"What happened to you?" Al raised a brow.

"Humans have been flooding in here since about a month ago, in attempts to kill me and clear the dungeon. Some were impressively strong... Although still insufficient."

As the Knight spoke, Aldric watched a strange phenomenon with the newer corpses: a white orb seemed to hover above them. Sometimes they'd stretch and expand, changing shape before slowly going back to an orb.

Aldric rubbed his eyes to be sure he wasn't seeing things, but even after, they still remained. Aldric stretched out his hand and watched in surprise as one of the lights began to float towards him, but upon reaching his hand, the white orb immediately became dark.

"Congratulations on finishing the Main Trial; my purpose has been served... So, end my life."

Aldric turned from the now dark floating orb to the Knight in confusion.

"What?"

"That is how it is meant to be, so please do it."

Aldric hesitated, not because he didn't want to kill the Knight, but instead because he had no idea how to. However, just from intent alone, Aldric watched as the dark orb above his hand began to float towards the Knight, reaching it and stopping.

Suddenly, it expanded into multiple large blades, impaling the Knight's torso completely.

[Soul Exhausted]

"What the..." Aldric mumbled under his breath.