The wind howls eerily through the lonely peaks of the Wukan Mountain. Kai – the last Sentinel of Nagari stood alone. His legendary blade humming softly in the biting cold.
For weeks, he pursued the shadow blight, a malevolent mist consuming villages and twisting the land into a nightmare.
His companion, Yuriku – a nimble scout had fallen to its touch days ago. Lang – a seasoned archer and Kira – the quiet healer were also feared lost.
Kai's resolve was simple – destroy the heart of the blight or die trying. He tracked it all the way to a cavern pulsating with eerie light. Inside, twisted roots and shadowy tendrils blossomed.
He fought through grotesque creatures. His blade – a silver blur against the converging darkness. With each victory, he felt a strange surge of power. A cold strength replaces his weariness.
Finally, he reached the heart of the blight – a pulsating orb of pure shadow. As he lifts his blade for the final strike, a voice, hauntingly familiar echoed from within.
"Thank you, Kai. You have brought it all back to me", the orb pulsed.
From its depth emerged not the shadow blight, but Lord Valerius – the founder of the sentinels, long thought dead. His eyes glowed of malevolence.
"The shadow blight was merely a test", Valerius hissed.
"A trial to find my successor. You, Kai are the perfect vessel. Your grief, your desperation fueled its growth, and now it empowers me."
Kai watched in horror as the faces of Yuriku, Lang, and Kira materialized within the orb. Their forms twisted, their essence absorbed. Valerius hadn't been a victim, he had orchestrated it all using Kai's unwavering loyalty and the lives of his friend to resurrect himself as the god of shadow.
Kai hadn't been fighting the blight but empowering it with his fury. Driven by this new understanding, he plunged his Ashwood blade not into Valerius, but into the cavern's crystalline foundation. The cavern already distabilized by the blight's presence began to collapse.
Valerius roared. His form flickered as his connection to the earthly plain was severed. Kai, though critically wounded by the falling debris, managed to crawl out. The echoes of his friends voices rang within him.
He had failed to save them, but had stopped Valerius from unleashing great darkness upon the world. He was no longer just a warrior. He was a survivor who has seen the true face of evil, even when it wore the mask of good.
Author : Valorian
Images : Gentube ai
GIF : imgflip
