"How do you repent for betraying your family, your world? How do you tinue living whehing you have ever known is gone? How do you tinue fighting for a cause that is almost as lost as your own soul?

  I don't know the ao those questions, yet I still try. After all, what is the point of giving up after all those cycles?"

  ~ Unknown

  Good Luck. Let the Prime Night Hunter be born.

  For the first time sihe introdu, those words weren't thrown in Leo's face, and instead, a booming voice spoke them right into his mind. Chills went down his spine in an instant, freezing him in pce. Yet, before the bone-chilling fire could settle, the System acted.

  From every pore on Leo's body, an ominous dark mist began to seep, gradually filling the room with swirling shadows. The density of the darkness forced him to narrow his eyes to maintain focus. Then, just as the mist settled, a bd red miasma oozed from his being, pooling at his feet and gradually coalesg into a living and breathing co.

  Leo's breaths greid and shallow as the dark matter crept higher, steadily engulfing more of his body. Panic welled up within him as he attempted to move, but his limbs remained unresponsive, rendering him a helpless spectator. And so he could only watch, wide-eyed, as the dark matter tis quest.

  Calm dowook a deep breath. The System won't harm me. It is only starting my evolution.

  However, despite the thoughts swirling in his mind, Leo's heart tio race. It was an instinctual respohe natural impulse of a human trapped in a fined space. Only in this instahe enclosure was a co of an alien substance, dev his body, slowly burying him alive.

  I swear, you never warn me about the important shit... Leo cursed, closing his eyes as the sticky miasma swallowed his neck. Inch by inch, the living matter finally reached his eyelids, gluing them to his face, trapping him pletely.

  Despite all of that, Leo had no trouble breathing, and when the alien matter enveloped his entire body, even the pressure on his skin disappeared. It was as if the co had dissolved into thin air, yet its presence was still palpable, holding Leo firmly in pce, restrig any movement.

  Am I gonna just stay like that, uo see until the evolution ends? Leo questioned internally as even the stant pain faded away, leaving him pletely numb.

  As if hearing Leo's query, the bindings around his body snapped away. His eyes flew wide open as he fell towards the vast darkness below. Hell, everything around him was dark, yet he could still see, still prehend what was happening.

  This is gonna hurt... again. Leo gritted his teeth as his body crashed straight into the ground. However, the pain never came, and the impact barely registered in his mind, almost like it never happened.

  "What the fuck is going on? Where am I?" Leo breathed out, slowly rising to his feet and sing his surroundings with a keen eye.

  True to his previous observations, the nd was engulfed in an eerie darkness. The hard, stony ground y beh a thin veil of shadowy mist, while the sky above was a opy of velvety bess adorned with specks of red and violet stars. It was a realm ed by darkness, a pce where shadows ruled supreme. And to Leo, this desote realm whispered one word.

  Home.

  "You wouldn't be the first or st to call it that. After all, what else capture the sensation of one's own soul enveloping their being from each side?" A soft and melodious voice filled Leo's ears, and he immediately turned on his heel, gaping at the person that appeared in his vision.

  Throughout his life, Leo had entered tless individuals, their physical appearances often a passiail. Beauty or attractiveness held little signifi; he had much more pressing matters to attend to.

  However, at this moment, as his eyes fell upon the figure before him, Leo couldn't help but be captivated. Never before had he beheld someone who embodied a sense of eternal allure, aic essence, and a palpable aura of danger — all in a single being.

  Yet here she is, perfectly fitting the description of those words and more. Leo watched as the woman took step after step, the thin mist barely obsg her bare tanned feet.

  She, indeed, was ahereal beauty, her lithe figure exuding an air of grad elegance. Her long, waist-length hair cascaded down like a waterfall, its rich violet hue almost blending into the darkness surrounding them. Then there was her dress, a flowing and thin thing crafted from alien matter; its colors a striking bination of bd violet, shifting and shimmering as if alive.

  Wow... Leo summed up in his mind, still rooted in pce, as his gaze fell on an almost familiar face.

  It held a delicate softness, exuding youthfulness and innoce, yet there was a subtle ess to the woman's expression, hinting at hidden mischief. Her eyes, a mesmerizing shade of crimson, locked with Leo's gaze, the slits in them glowing with mirth.

  "You..." Leo muttered, and the woman's pink lips curled into a slight smirk.

  "Indeed, Leo Hale," she returned with a nod, ing closer and closer.

  "I've been called many things throughout my life, but I only ever took one name for myself, one you know well enough," Nikra tinued, stopping just a breath away from Leo. "I'm the first Old Oo be born, titled the Lady of Darkness and the Void. I'm the one who failed the entire Multiverse, and I've been waiting for this day lohan you imagi's truly a pleasure to meet the bearer of my middle shard, the one person who finally share my destiny, my burden."

  Leo took a step back, his mind going a hundred miles per hour. Alright, that's one way to introduce yourself, although I wish I knew what in the fuck is going on... And 'share my destiny and burden'? How the hell am I supposed to reply to that.

  Nikra suddenly smiled wider. "You don't have to. I don't even expect you to. At least not before I expihing."

  Gulping, Leo raised his hand, eyes widening at the shadowy position of the limb. His gaze quickly so the rest of his body, noting the same thing. What?! How the hell didn't I notice this before?

  "You were overwhelmed, and your mind isn't w at its full capability currently, young one," Nikra expined out of nowhere once more. "Besides, you have nothing to worry about. Your form is as natural as it get."

  Faster thahought possible, he turo the woman. "Alright. Oop reading my mind. It's not helping. And two, what are you even talking about?! Natural?"

  Leo suddenly froze. Fuck. Maybe I shouldn't have screamed at someone who is pretty mu a goddess. Goddammit, get a grip.

  A burst of tinkling ughter abruptly filled the area, the sound as captivating as the person behind it. "o worry, Leonardo. Cycles I've waited for someoo speak with, and trust me, it will take a lot to truly anger me. And even then, an Old One I might be, but the power you fear faded a long time ago... Now, as for reading your thoughts, I will try to avoid it, though it may prove challenging given our link."

  Alright, that's good, I think... Although link? Ah, whatever; I worry about it ter... Leo grumbled, his eyes eg once more with Nikra's.

  "Well, if you say so... Oh, and please stick with Leo, or do you wao call you by your title?" He quipped and held his breath. If the a woman was sihen this shouldn't be an issue.

  Thankfully, Nikra just chuckled.

  "I shall do that. I have heard enough pleasao st ay. I don't need more from my Legacy," the Old One smiled, although it didn't fully reach her eyes.

  And that's a of worms I don't want to open right now. Leo grimaced and quickly steered the versation in a different dire. "So about my form being natural..."

  Nikra's eyes lit up just a bit. "Ah, yes. Please follow me. You o see it to fully uand."

  Quirking an eyebrorobably wasn't even there, Leo trailed behind the Old One as she effortlessly glided through the mist. Her dress billowed and swirled with each step, and he couldn't deny that his gaze often strayed to Nikra's back. He was only human, after all.

  Well, probably not any longer, but who cares... Leo shook his head and sped up to matikra's pace.

  "So where are we goily? From what I uand, we are inside my soul already, but as embarrassing as it sounds, that doesn't really tell me much," Leo stated, fog his gaze sights around them.

  "That's right, this is your soul, or rather your soulscape, and right now, we are headed to its core... You o uand that each soul possesses an infiential, and those nds," Nikra motioo the empty pnes surrounding them, "represent this potential that be used by the core to grow, expand."

  Huh... Already learning something new. Leo smiled. "And what about the sky? The same rule applies?"

  Nikra g him, her eyes glinting. "Partially, but it also pys a different role... Please, take a look at it again and tell me what do you see, what do you feel?"

  Leo frowned as he stared at the endless darkness. Every on a while, another violet aar would appear, pierg through the veil, yet apart from that, he didn't really know what to search for.

  What do you see and feel?

  Blinking, Leo let the view e him, filling his entire mind. The vision of the bck sea with tless colored ships captivated his thoughts. And so he watched as the boats fought for their pce, bringing others into the fold and growing into forms Leo felt he should know…

  Wait... It 't be that simple, right? Leo blinked again, turning to Nikra, who smiled widely and nodded. "The sky also presents my potential. Not just of my power but affihat I might be able to use iure."

  "Exactly," Nikra ughed, and Leo couldn't help but smile a bit wider. In the back of his mind, he khis was the woman who was at least partially responsible for the first Outbreak. A, her happiness was tagious for some reason.

  Don't worry about it for now. Leo shook his head. I will have plenty of time to get mad ter. No reason to ruin a pleasant versation with someone who knows more than me.

  "The Darkness is pretty self-expnatory, the step after shadows. And I take that the red and violet is my e to the Void, right?" Leo questioned instead, and Nikra nodded. "So if that's the case, then why are there more and more of those stars appearing? I don't think I'm doing anything to cause that."

  Nikra quirked an eyebrow, eyes shining with mirth. "And tell me, Leo, what is happening outside your soulscape?"

  Leo blinked, blinked hard. "Ah shit... Right, I almost fot about the evolution..." Suddenly he frowned, "But wait, if my evolution alone is strengthening my e, thehat mean that all Voidlings have some kind of Void aspect? After all, they e from there and probably always evolve with Void in mind."

  For the first time siheir meeting, Nikra grimaced. "It's a lot more plicated than that. I swear to expin it to you as soon as possible, but let's put this versation on hold. At least for now... In the meantime, look ahead. We are here."

  Just as she said that, they stopped right at the edge of a cliff, and Leo quickly followed Nikra's gaze to the sight awaiting below.

  Shadows, living and always in motion, danced in a vast pond below. However, now that Leo was so close, the e he had been missing since he appeared inside his soul suddenly snapped back. And at ohe entire pond of shadows froze, obeying his and.

  Wow... Leo found himself muttering internally for the sed time this day.

  "Indeed," Nikra's musical ughter echoed all around. "Wele to the core, Leo Hale, the truest part of your soul."

  Chaos65

  [colpse]