[Welcome to Penance.]
'I'm sorry.'
[The first gate has opened.]
'I'm so sorry.'
[Your penance begins now.]
As the emotionless voice finished speaking in Nacht's head, he felt an unbearable pain begin to spread across his body as if he had been set on fire. It started as a small sharp pain originating from his solar plexus, before slowly spreading to his torso and limbs. He felt a foreign essence enter his body, permeating it with newfound strength.
Letting out a startled scream, he began to convulse. He had never felt any pain close to this in his entire life! Unable to bear the excruciating pain, Nacht eventually lost consciousness.
***
Nacht woke up in a cold sweat, feeling both powerful and extremely weak. It was a weird feeling, he felt like he could crush stone with his bare hands, but he also felt like he ran a marathon and almost died from the experience. Gasping on the floor, he opened his eyes for the first time.
Looking up from the ground, Nacht was left startled and confused with what he saw. Well, he wasn't shaken by what he saw but by the fact that he could see. Nacht was surrounded by darkness and yet he could see perfectly fine.
He noticed the small detailed carvings on the ceiling and walls of the small chamber and he felt the cold hard floor press against his back. The absence of light didn't last long though, shortly after regaining his bearings the entire chamber lit up with light.
Slowly moving his body, Nacht made sure that he was fine and then let out a sigh of relief, before immediately jumping to his feet when he heard something move on the opposite side of the chamber.
"Finally awake?"
Peering into the direction the voice came from, Nacht noticed a person a few years older than himself. He had red hair with a wide smile that stretched across his face.
Alarmed, Nacht took a few steps back.
"Who are you?"
The man's smile widened.
"The name's Alister!"
Walking over to Nacht, he stuck out his hand for a handshake.
"And who might you be?"
Looking at the man named Alister, Nacht got a bad feeling. The feeling wasn't anything unordinary though, it was just that Alister's wide creepy smile made him a little hesitant. Well… that and the strange nine fingered hand tattoo on the back of his outstretched hand.
It was the same insignia that was engraved on the hilt of his sword that he carried in one hand. Anyways, anyone who saw that smile would think that he was some mad salesman trying to sell you a broken clock for double the price.
But that wasn't the only reason why Nacht was hesitant and even a little afraid. The other reason was that Alister was an enlightened. Only humans who have managed to synchronize with their rune were capable of entering the gates of penance when they died. The only reason why Nacht was able to enter was because he had performed the sacrifice ritual.
Ignoring Alister's outstretched hand and taking note of the unorthodox tattoo, Nacht answered in a cautious tone.
"You can call me Nacht."
Alister's smile seemed to dim but only for a moment before he regained his composure.
"Nice to meet you Nacht! Do you perhaps know what floor we're on?"
'Floor?'
Nacht had only just woken up and now he had to talk to some energetic crazy person. His body still hasn't fully recovered from what he could only presume was his core awakening and then going dormant, as there was no rune for the core to synchronize with.
"What are you talking about? What floor?"
Alister made a surprised expression before having a look of realization.
"Are you new to this part of penance?"
After thinking for a moment Nacht decided to tell the truth …well half the truth. He didn't want Alister to know that he wasn't originally from penance since he didn't trust the man, but he also figured he couldn't hide that he had no idea where the hell he was.
"I am, but where are we?"
Before Alister could answer, the detailed carvings around the chamber glowed red before two new individuals appeared in the chamber.
Bang!
Alister moved instantly, he threw a dagger to Nacht and dashed to the new arrivals.
"No time to talk! Take this and try not to die!"
Afraid and confused, Nacht's arms failed to reach out and catch the dagger, causing him to fumble with it in his hands. Cursing himself internally, he finally grabbed hold of the daggers handle and looked up. The sight caused his face to turn pale. He saw a woman in a bloodstained black hood charging towards him with a long metal saber clenched in her hands.
'An enlightened!'
She swung the sword in a wide arc aiming to sever Nacht's neck. Having only a few seconds to react, Nacht ignored the fear that had temporarily grabbed hold of him and tried to dodge to the side but instead– having underestimated his newfound strength–ended up flinging himself across the ground.
'...Damn it!'
In Nacht's peripheral vision, he could see Alister battling a giant of a man. He towered over him, holding a shield in one hand and a giant greatsword in the other. Due to the heat of battle, he didn't have time to think about the ridiculous amount of strength one would need in order to wield a greatsword effectively with one hand.
By the time he regained his footing, the black hooded woman's sword was already barrelling towards him, except this time it was aiming to gut him. Ignoring the feeling of dread that had seeped into his mind, Nacht used the dagger in his hand to try and block the women's saber.
The subsequent clash ripped open the flesh across his torso and caused him to collide into the chambers wall. Dust and the smell of blood filled the air causing Nacht to cough violently on the ground.
'What the hell is this wall made of?'
Despite impacting the wall with a great amount of force, the wall still held firm without even a crack on it. Nacht knew that a normal human would have died on impact being thrown with that amount of force, but he wasn't exactly a normal human either, at least not anymore.
Even with his newfound strength, he still felt his brain rattle inside his skull as he screamed in pain. Disoriented and confused, he strained his battered body to move, but no matter how hard he tried, his body didn't listen.
Nacht could hear the echoes of the women's footsteps rapidly approaching him as if telling him his death was near. In a last ditch effort he looked for the dagger that he had lost when he collided with the impossibly hard wall.
Nacht scrambled to find the dagger, but as he found the weapons hilt he realized his efforts were in vain. The dagger had been destroyed, and with it his chances of survival.
'Is this really how I die?'
Nacht would have laughed if he had the time to do so. Why did he think he could survive? He had lost a fight in mere seconds against a true enlightened warrior and now he would pay the price for ever thinking he was on the same level.
He didn't want to die. He couldn't die! There was still so much left for him to do. Looking up from the ground, Nacht gave the woman an indignant smile.
'I don't regret my actions.'
'If given another chance I would have done the same.'
The woman in black appeared in front of him and raised her weapon, but before it could come down she froze. Her form staggered and she let out a harrowing scream. Her saber slipped from her hands and hit the ground as she fell to her knees.
Nacht wouldn't have known, but the rune on the women's upper back flickered and died as if the power keeping it alight had been snuffed out. When the woman hit the floor, her body shriveled up until she had turned into a hollow husk.
She was dead.
Nacht looked at the woman's dead body with both fear and confusion.
'What just happened?'
Straining his body, Nacht looked in the direction of Alister's battle hoping that the man hadn't gotten himself killed, but what he saw left him stunned. The giant man's body laid dead as Alister walked towards Nacht with a wicked smile.
"Welcome to the crucible!"