Shadow Slave: Heir of the daemons

But the fourth chamber was different. The moment Ray stepped inside, the air thickened, pressing against him like an unseen force. Shadows slithered across the walls, coalescing into a figure that moved faster than anything he'd encountered before.

The creature lunged, its blade-like arms flashing through the dim light. Ray barely had time to raise his sword before steel clashed against steel in a blinding whirlwind of strikes. His arms trembled under the sheer force of the relentless assault. He ducked, twisted, barely evading the razor-sharp edges that sliced through the air inches from his skin. His breath came in short gasps, his muscles burning as he struggled to keep up.

The figure feinted left, then struck right - Ray barely parried in time. Sparks erupted as their blades met again and again, ringing through the chamber in a frantic symphony of survival. The creature's movements were unnatural, its attacks flowing with inhuman precision. Desperation clawed at Ray's mind as fatigue weighed down his limbs.

He had to end this. Now.

Summoning the last of his strength, Ray let the creature overextend on its next strike. As it lunged, he sidestepped at the last moment and drove his blade deep into its side. A guttural hiss filled the chamber as the shadowy figure shuddered, its form dissolving into black mist.

Panting, Ray staggered back into the main room, sweat dripping from his brow. But something was wrong. Everything was eerily silent - too silent.

He clapped his hands together. Nothing.

"No… no, no, no!" he screamed, but even his own voice was swallowed by the void. His world had gone completely silent.

Panic surged through him, his heart pounding like a drumbeat he could no longer hear. He clutched his head, his breath ragged. He was losing his senses - one by one.

Desperate to escape this nightmare, Ray forced himself to his feet and stumbled toward the next chamber, unwilling to delay. If he hesitated, fear might paralyze him entirely.

The fifth chamber was an inferno of raw power. A towering, armored behemoth stood at its center, a living fortress of metal and wrath. The beast's molten eyes locked onto Ray, and with a roar that he could not hear but felt reverberate through his bones, it charged.

Ray dodged to the side as the creature's colossal blade slammed down, shattering the stone floor where he had stood a moment ago. The sheer force of the impact sent a shockwave rippling through the room, nearly knocking him off his feet. He rolled, barely avoiding another devastating strike, then sprang up and slashed at its exposed joints. His sword glanced off the thick armor, barely leaving a scratch.

The behemoth swung again, and this time, Ray had no choice but to block. The impact nearly tore the sword from his grasp, sending a jolt of agony up his arms. His grip trembled. If he took another hit like that, he wouldn't be able to hold on.

Sweat trickled down his forehead as he analyzed the creature's movements. He had to be smarter. Faster. Instead of meeting its attacks head-on, he danced around it, using his agility to his advantage. He waited, breath held, watching for an opening.

And then he saw it - the exposed gap between the plates of its armor. The moment the beast raised its weapon again, Ray lunged forward and drove his blade into the weak point. The behemoth let out a soundless roar, its massive form quaking before it collapsed, disintegrating into shimmering particles.

Ray stumbled out of the chamber, his legs shaking, exhaustion clawing at him. He reached for the wall to steady himself, but his hand met nothing.

Dread gripped him.

"I can't feel… I can't feel anything," he whispered, his voice quivering in the void of sound and sensation.

The sixth chamber was pure horror. A void-like abyss stretched before him, and in its depths, something stirred. A formless, writhing monstrosity lurked, its body shifting between shapes too grotesque to comprehend.

Ray's sword felt weightless in his hands - or was it even there? He could no longer trust his senses. He couldn't see, couldn't feel, could barely even tell if he was still breathing. He was fighting blind, relying on nothing but instinct.

The entity lashed out, unseen but undeniably present. Something cold and suffocating wrapped around his leg, yanking him forward. He slashed wildly, his blade meeting resistance before whatever held him recoiled with an unearthly screech. The ground - if there even was a ground - shook beneath him.

He kept moving, attacking shadows, striking at distortions in the darkness. Every blow weakened him further, every second pushing him closer to the edge of oblivion. The entity screamed - a soundless, soul-crushing wail that made his mind feel like it was fracturing.

But finally, finally, the nightmare ended. The creature crumbled into nothingness. Ray collapsed, his body trembling, his mind unraveling.

He knelt in the darkness, his spirit fraying.

"I can't… I can't do this. Help… someone, please," he whimpered, his voice small and broken.

He was no longer sure if he was even alive, or simply lost in some eternal torment.

Then, after an unknown amount of time, it could've been minutes or weeks, Ray didn't know anymore, a voice rang out, piercing the void:

"Wake up! This is not the fate that has brought you here!"

The words were powerful, cutting through the despair.

Ray's trembling stopped. His fingers brushed against something solid—the hilt of a blade.

———————————-

Oblivion's Thread

———————————-

He clutched the sword like a lifeline, his last hope. It pulsed with an energy that guided him forward. Without his awareness, the void shifted, revealing a final, seventh chamber.

At its center loomed a massive, radiant entity, an unfathomable being of shimmering power. It remained sealed, unmoving, seemingly unaware of his presence. But Ray felt it, somehow he knew - this was the source. This was the end.

With renewed determination, he tightened his grip on Oblivion's Thread. The blade felt alive, as if it knew the battle to come. As he moved, it guided him, each strike unraveling the entity's form, peeling away layers of its immense power.

Light and shadow waged war around him, the very fabric of the labyrinth trembling. The entity let out a final, shuddering cry before it unraveled completely, dissolving into nothingness.

The walls of the labyrinth cracked and dissolved, fading into radiant light. Ray stood alone, breathless, as the world around him collapsed.

"Thank you, boy. Your deed won't be forgotten…"

The voice echoed through the void, fading as the labyrinth disappeared entirely.

Ray stood amidst the fading remnants of the void, his breath steadying as reality snapped back into place. When the darkness fully receded, he found himself standing in the grand plaza, but something was weird – absolutely weird.

A deafening uproar filled the air, not directed at him but at the space behind him. Ray turned slightly, instinctively tensing, only to find… nothing. The colossal dark cube, the ever-present monolith that had loomed over this place for as long as history remembered, was simply gone. No remnants, no ruins, not even dust left behind. Just an empty space where something unfathomable had once stood.

The crowd was paralyzed in collective shock. For those who had always known the labyrinth, the vanishing defied reason. People pointed, whispered, gasped in disbelief. And yet, no one seemed to notice Ray himself. Even though he had appeared exactly where the entrance should have been, the moment had been swallowed in the confusion.

Ray took a slow step forward, testing his footing, half-expecting the nightmare to drag him back into its cruel grasp. But no, this was real. He had escaped… and yet, it wasn't over. He could feel it. The weight of the nightmare still lingered, like a phantom clutching his very soul.

Still, he sighed in relief. His senses were back. The air smelled of roasted food and market spices, a welcome contrast to the stale nothingness of the labyrinth. The sound of merchants bartering and street performers playing lively tunes reassured him that he was truly here. He had survived.

With nothing left to do, Ray simply walked away. The crowd unconsciously parted for him, as if the universe itself ensured he remained unnoticed. It wasn't just luck - this had happened before. No one had brushed against him, no one had so much as glanced at him properly since he arrived in this strange place.

He wandered aimlessly, trying to process everything. He had no money, no plan, and the nightmare's trial still lingered in his mind. The weight of what had happened pressed down on him, and yet something gnawed at his thoughts - like an invisible thread pulling him forward.

His steps eventually led him to a small, tucked-away street vendor, his wares spread out on a frayed old carpet. Trinkets, scraps of metal, charms - junk, by most standards. But as Ray's eyes passed over them, something caught his attention.

A figurine.

It was no larger than his palm, carved from an unfamiliar dark stone, depicting a robed figure with an obscured face. Its shape was crude yet carried an eerie sense of purpose, like it was never meant to be an ornament but something… more. The moment he laid eyes on it, a shiver ran down his spine.

That feeling. The same one he had felt when he first saw the boy at the station. A connection.

Before he realized it, he had crouched down, picking up the figurine with a hesitant hand. The vendor, an old, hunched man with sunken eyes, watched him with mild curiosity but no real interest.

"You like that?" the vendor muttered. "Hah, take it. I've had that thing for years. No one wants it. Brings bad luck, they say."

Ray hesitated. "I don't have money."

The vendor scoffed, waving a dismissive hand. "Trade, then. Anything'll do."

Ray rummaged through his belongings, his fingers brushing against something rough - the scrappy weapons he had looted from the thugs, at least the few he had left. They were worthless to him now. Without a word, he pulled one out and handed it over.

The vendor's eyes lit up with amusement. "A blade for a curse, eh? Good trade." He chuckled dryly, happy to be rid of the figurine.

Ray barely heard him. The moment the figurine settled into his grip, an odd warmth pulsed through his fingers. His breath hitched as his vision blurred, the world around him flickering for the briefest of moments. Then, just as quickly, everything returned to normal.

Unsettled, he tucked the figurine into his coat and walked away.

Minutes later, in an empty alley, Ray found himself unable to move.

A strange force compelled him downward, his knees buckling until he knelt upon the cold stone. His hand gripped the figurine tightly, his fingers trembling as an overwhelming presence washed over him.

Then, without thinking, his lips parted.

And he spoke.

A prayer.

A prayer in a language he had never heard, yet understood. A name lost to time slipped past his tongue, reverberating in the air around him. The world seemed to pause, the very air thickening with something ancient.

When the last word left his lips, silence reigned.

And then, a whisper.

[You have been seen]

Then, came the weirdest part yet, as soon as the words were spoken, Ray found himself in a frozen world.

When he tried to figure out what had happened just now, he was met with nothing. No matter how hard he tried, there were no memories of him entering this alley.

The last thing Ray knew was buying the figurine, before he appeared in this frozen world, sitting on the ground in a dirty alley.

But then, even this world began to slowly fade away, making way for a breathtaking sight, a true tapestry of what one could only call, divine. This was accompanied by a voice he heard when it all started.

[Prepare for Appraisal…]

But he ignored it for now, or rather he just didn't hear it. Ray's attention was solely on the magnificent sight before him.

The sky above him stretched into eternity, a vast expanse of endless darkness illuminated by an infinite number of stars. Constellations pulsed with an otherworldly light, their forms shifting in ways that defied logic. Everywhere, shimmering strings of luminous energy wove through the void, binding the stars, creating an intricate cosmic web too vast and complex for the human mind to fully comprehend.

Ray stood there, enraptured, feeling impossibly small beneath the celestial wonder.

His breath caught as he realized where he was. This was no ordinary vision. No hallucination.

This was the realm reserved for those who had survived the nightmare. A sacred space, where challengers were rewarded.

And soon, he would receive his aspect.