Chapter 8 – Dawnmarch
The first rays of sunlight cut through the shattered chapel windows, painting the bloodstained walls in soft gold.
Clara wiped her sword clean, her movements automatic. The adrenaline had faded, leaving a strange hollowness in its place. Around them, the rescued prisoners gathered what little strength they had. Some clutched each other, others simply stared at the rising sun like it was the first time they'd seen it in years.
Andrew stood near the exit, eyes on the horizon. His coat fluttered in the wind, the shadows around him reacting subtly to the shifting light. He hadn't said much since the fight. But he didn't seem hurt. Not a scratch on him, as if the cult leader's attacks had simply passed through smoke.
"We can't stay here," he said, voice low but firm. "Monsters roam in the daylight too. And more cultists might return."
Clara nodded and stepped away from the survivors. "What about them?"
"They're free," he replied. "We did our part."
Still, he left a pouch of rations and a few weapons beside them—silently. Then, without looking back, he walked down the path leading west.
Clara followed.
---
The road was broken and overgrown, littered with abandoned cars and monster corpses. They traveled through half-collapsed towns and crumbling farmlands, facing ambush after ambush. The Rift hadn't spared this region—if anything, it was worse here. The trees whispered wrong. The ground cracked where it shouldn't. And the monsters…
They were getting stronger.
One was a four-legged beast with bone-white skin and no eyes. Another was a bloated centipede the size of a truck, its hide tough as stone. One by one, they fell—burned, sliced, or shattered by a warhammer made of darkness.
Andrew moved like death incarnate. Calm. Efficient. His umbra constructs struck with surgical precision, while Shadow Step made him a blur. Every kill added to the abyssal energy swirling quietly beneath his skin.
Clara, by contrast, danced between fire and wind. Her tri-elemental magic tore through enemies like a storm. But her eyes weren't as bright anymore. She fought like she was trying to drown out a memory.
---
By midday, they stopped briefly by a broken-down gas station. Clara sat on the hood of a car, breathing heavily.
Andrew stood watch. He didn't tire like she did. Not anymore.
"Do you ever wonder…" she asked suddenly, "what we'll become if we keep going like this?"
He didn't answer at first. Then: "I don't think we have the luxury to wonder."
A pause.
"…Yeah. I guess not."
They kept walking.
The road ahead was cracked and riddled with scorch marks from past battles, surrounded by trees warped from Rift exposure. Clara walked a few steps ahead, her back straight, movements looser now. Not relaxed—just not as tense as before.
Andrew watched her in silence, his thoughts elsewhere.
He hadn't told her. About the new skills. About what he'd felt during the fight with Buzzsaw.
That strange pull when he crushed the man's core.
That flicker of something in his system. Like the darkness had chewed on something bitter and grown sharper for it.
> New Skill Acquired: [Shadow Barrier] – LV 1
Surround yourself with a dense shell of darkness. Absorbs damage based on Intelligence. Weak to light-based attacks.
> New Skill Acquired: [Umbra Blast] – LV 1
Condense and fire shadow energy in a violent burst. Moderate cooldown. Splash damage.
> New Skill Acquired: [Curse Magic] – LV 1
Your darkness twists into malice. Debuff targets with weakening curses. Scales with level and intent.
> New Skill Acquired: [Dispel Magic] – LV 1
Your essence rejects foreign forces. Dispel low to mid-level magical effects within a short range.
> New Special Ability: [Seeker] – LV 1
Sense mana signatures, life energy, and terrain in a 5-meter radius.
Syncs with Dark Minions. Becomes passive at higher levels.
> New Element Acquired: [Gravity Manipulation] – LV 1
Increase or decrease your mass by 2×. Increases mobility or power based on application. Consumes stamina.
It was a lot.
Too much, maybe.
His status window was beginning to look more like something out of a corrupted boss file than a normal Player. The skills weren't just dark—they were adaptive. Alive. And they came to him almost instinctively, like he wasn't learning them, but remembering them.
That thought unsettled him.
He glanced at Clara again. She'd stopped at a collapsed road sign and was brushing her fingers over the rusted letters, trying to read what town they'd just passed. Her hair caught the wind, flicking back as she moved.
She was strong. Braver than she gave herself credit for. And she was adapting too—maybe not as fast as him, but fast enough to keep up.
He didn't know why he hadn't told her about the new powers.
Maybe he was afraid she'd look at him differently. Like the others did, before the world fell apart. Or maybe… maybe part of him just wanted to hold onto something of his own. Something untouched. Hidden.
"Andrew?" Clara called, turning to him. "You okay?"
He nodded slowly. "Yeah."
She studied him for a second longer than usual, then let it drop. Trusted his silence.
He didn't deserve that trust. Not really.
But he'd fight to protect it anyway.
Andrew's POV
He activated Seeker for the first time.
The moment the ability flared to life, the world shifted. Not visually—but beneath the surface. He felt it. A pulse. A low hum of presence radiating out from him in all directions, like ripples across still water.
The shattered road… the broken buildings… the ruins around them… all mapped out in eerie clarity. Five meters in every direction, like a mental sonar.
And in that radius, three mana signatures flickered. Faint. Small. Hidden beneath the dirt.
He raised a hand. "Stop."
Clara froze mid-step. "What is it?"
"Burrowers," he said. "Three. Lying in wait."
She didn't question how he knew.
Within seconds, the ground exploded as insectoid beasts the size of dogs erupted from beneath the earth—mandibles snapping, eyes gleaming with malicious cunning. They didn't attack blindly. One tried to flank. Another spat acid. The third… it retreated, as if to alert others.
They weren't beasts.
They were soldiers.
Andrew's Umbra Blast slammed into the closest one, turning it into sludge. Clara followed up with a wind spear, pinning the second mid-air before cleaving it in half.
The third had barely made it ten meters before a shadow dagger pierced its spine.
"That's new," Clara muttered, frowning.
Andrew nodded grimly. "They're coordinating. They're thinking."
She looked back at him. "And you can sense them now?"
He hesitated—then nodded once. "Seeker. Just unlocked."
She didn't question further. Trusted him again.
But the truth was darker.
That last creature… it had looked back at him before it died. Not in fear.
In recognition.
---
They moved faster after that. Kept their pace sharp. Their kills more efficient. But the monsters weren't coming in waves anymore.
They were probing.
Scouting.
Studying.
And when night fell, the world seemed to hold its breath.
At the edge of an abandoned village, surrounded by ruined apartment buildings and trees split in half, Andrew felt it—a presence. Far larger than anything he'd sensed before.
It didn't move like a monster.
It watched.
His hand drifted to the hilt of his shadow-forged weapon.
"We're close," he murmured.
Clara's eyes narrowed. "To what?"
He didn't answer.
Because deep within the ruined forest ahead, something was waiting for them.
And it was smiling.