Darkness.
It was the first thing Brent knew.
Not the quiet dark of night.
But the heavy, choking kind—thick as smoke, cold as grave-soil. He floated in it, half-dead, numb, his body torn and battered from the fall.
The toxins should have killed him instantly.
But his Eternal Aegis triggered in the final second. Ten miraculous seconds of invulnerability had saved his life—barely.
He slammed into the bottom of the well with a sickening crack, skidding through moss and bone until he came to rest against ancient stone.
System Rebooting…
Vital Signs: Critical
Healing: Minimal auto-regeneration active
Light Source: Severely depleted
Status: Trapped
When he awoke, he couldn't move.
His breath rasped like rust scraping iron.
Above him, the well mouth was barely a pinprick of light—impossibly far.
He coughed, blood flecking his lips, and dragged himself across damp rock. He was broken. Alone. Abandoned.
And yet…
He refused to die.
Days Passed
He discovered a crack in the wall behind a collapsed arch. Barely wide enough to squeeze through. He forced his shattered frame inside, inch by agonizing inch, fingernails torn and muscles screaming.
What he found was not salvation.
It was a labyrinth.
A forgotten underworld—massive chambers filled with poisonous fog, venomous beasts, and strange, slithering shadows that moved without sound.
He fought with sticks. With rocks. With teeth, when he had to.
Every breath burned. Every drop of water tasted of metal and rot.
But slowly, as weeks bled into months…
He adapted.
He learned to filter air with cloth soaked in certain moss. He found cavefish and glowing insects he could eat. He scouted routes through toxic vents and narrow crevices. And he trained.
Not for strength.
But for survival.
System Online – Partial Sync Achieved
New Passive Unlocked: Survivor's Grit
Increases endurance, poison resistance, and instinctual awareness after prolonged suffering.
Challenge Accepted – "Endless Crawl"
Survive 100 days in the death labyrinth without light powers.
Progress: 87/100
On the 93rd day, Brent stumbled into a forgotten shrine.
It lay beneath a ruined staircase, behind a mural of a dying god split in half—one side bathed in gold, the other cloaked in black flame.
The hidden room was small, circular, lined with ancient bones.
And in the center sat a throne.
Upon it, a skeleton. Slumped. Motionless.
It wore decayed plate armor, etched in dark runes. One gauntleted hand still clutched a black-bound tome, glowing faintly with a pulsing crimson light.
The moment Brent entered, the system flared.
WARNING: Forbidden Artifact Detected
Codex of the Duskborne
This tome mirrors the Lumen Codex you possess. But it is not light—it is shadow incarnate. Knowledge buried for centuries. A counterforce to divine flame.
Touching this book may corrupt or enlighten. Proceed with caution.
Brent knelt before it, breath trembling.
His body was ruined. His soul cracked. His faith shaken.
But still, the light in him had not gone out.
He reached toward the book, even as darkness pulsed beneath his skin, whispering temptation, power, vengeance.
And as his fingers brushed the leather…
His vision went white.