CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  Glimpsing the Dark Side

  Every time Bram tasted Rowan’s blood, he felt a sense of bliss better than cloud weed or any other poison offered by the drug dens of the capital…but this time it was vastly different. Instead of setting his body afme with pleasure, the blood he drank now was like freezing ice rushing into his veins.

  ALERT! The purest form of dark elemental energy has entered your body, threatening to rip you apart from within!Bram had bee familiar with the taste of power flowing inside him, but this was too much of it. Far too much, and all at ohe pain was immediate and excruciating. It was like imbibing venom that was melting him from within. It crashed against his mind like a tidal wave threatening to drown him ihs so dark no light could pee it.

  His sciousness dwindled.

  His mind was unraveling.

  Rowan was right.

  Humans weren’t meant for the dark.

  ‘Ping!’

  A bright blue radiance fshed to life within the darkness enveloping his mind. It spread enough dwindling light t him back from the brink.

  ALERT! Darkness has touched your soul. It is attempting to corrupt you. The Loom reends that you don’t let it.Tell me something I don’t know!

  The Loom’s message was like a breath of fresh air to a drowning man, and with that breath came a desire to live. So, unbearable as the pain was, Bram’s stubbornness kept him up while anger allowed him tain his focus.

  A band of dark energy flowing out of the Midnight Shard whipped against the back of his left hand, drawing blood that seemed too dark to be his.

  WARNING! Your health is being rapidly drained. You will lose [1] HP for each sed you maintain tact with [Rowan Wolfe].Bram wasn’t sure, but the stant messages from the Loom seemed to be staving off the darkness in his mind almost as if the system roviding him with a source of light to hold onto.

  I ot surrender!

  Humans may not be built to harness dark elemental energy, but somehow, Bram mao roll with it. He tio drain Rowan’s blood as if he were drawing poison from a wound, and with that poison came rippling bands of darkness, which, surprisingly, started to taste familiar to him. Soon enough, he became certain that this fvor of power wasn’t new. Not to him.

  As realization dawned on him, Rowan’s strained voice reached his ears.

  “Get away…Bram.”

  Calling him by his given hat’s how he knew how hard a time she must be having. He had two reasons not to listen to her though.

  Firstly, Bram could see the ge in Rowan’s status. Slowly, but surely, the dark veins that spread across her skin were reg to the point that a rosy tinge was returning to her cheeks. Besides, more and more of this dark elemental energy was being transferred onto Bram who mao siphon it with lesser difficulty than in the beginning because of reason wo; this alien energy he ed wasn’t so alien after all. Indeed, he’d tasted it less than an ho when he’d fought Loveless as a blood champion.

  Yes, it seemed the source of Rowan’s magic was finally revealed to him. While the Dawnlight Stone’s radiance empowered the imperium’s founding sorcery, the trickster’s magic might be fueled by darkness.

  Bram pulled away from her neck briefly so he could insist, “I’m all right… You’ve already…inocuted me…to the darkness.”

  “Have I…?”

  “It’s your turn…to trust me…”

  Rowan didn’t fight him off when his lips returo brush against her skin. She fell into his arms in a kind of surrender and then matched her breathing to his. Together, they attempted to achieve what she couldn’t do aloo take the power of darkness and make it theirs—and they had help.

  ALERT! The Loom will attempt to transmute the pure dark elemental energy flowing into you, turning it into a more suitable form to help yrowth.WARNING! Transmuting dark energy has failed.WARNING! You’ve taken in too much dark energy. Your body is deteriorating.Don’t give up! Bram screamed inwardly. Try again!

  ……ALERT! A sed attempt will be performed.At this point, Bram was feeling quite feverish. His attempt to relieve the pressure from Rowan’s body raised the pressure on him. The bands of dark energy rag through his insides wracked his entire body, f the prin and out of sciousness. Oher hand, Rowan had stopped shaking. She was regaining trol of herself. This belief kept Bram from pletely bg out.

  Thank you, My Prince, she whispered into his mind. You’ve drained enough of the energy ihat I’m able to absorb it more fortably now…

  Rowan twisted around in his arms so that they were face-to-face. Then, to Bram’s surprise, she pressed her lips to his ned began to drain him of blood too.

  Allow me to return the favor.

  ALERT! [Rowan Wolfe] is attempting to siphon off your body's excess dark elemental energy, sing it of the taint seeking to corrupt you. This may aid the Loom’s attempt to transmute the lesser amount of dark elemental energy that remains within you.Brilliant, Bram whispered.

  They were quite a pair, each trying to lessen the burden oher so they could do what her could achieve alone. Because of this show of devotion, fortune chose to smile at them once more.

  ALERT! The Loom has successfully transfigured the dark elemental energy you’ve absorbed into a more refiate suitable to aid yrowth.GRATULATIONS! You have received [20] attribute points!With the pain inside of him dwindling siderably, a new notification arrived t a smile to Bram’s face.

  GRATULATIONS! The tinuous drinking of the blood of [Rowan Wolfe] has allowed you to i an ability belonging to her.ALERT! You have permaly learned [Blood Drinking Lv.1]. You no longer o bee a [Blood Champion] to wield this ability.Bram recalled how Chris had a simir achievement; repeatedly bashing his oppos with his shield earned him the ‘Shield Bash’ spell.

  It seemed the Loom took experiend training into at more than the prince first realized. If so, then this was truly a wele boon. Ohat might even allow Bram to pete with a dream walker like Hajime.

  Speaking of Hajime, Bram, whose mind had calmed down, finally noticed that he and Bridget were standing nearby. They must have made their way into the pith when the power of the Midnight Shard disappeared. They didn’t e any closer though. Instead, they gave him the thumbs up. Bram didn’t uand the gesture nor the wide grins on their faces until he realized what they must be looking at. He and Rowan were ed in a tight embrace with their lips still pressed to each other’s necks though they’d both stopped drinking the other’s blood.

  Bloody hell…

  Embarrassed, the prince pulled away from her. For her part, the trickster didn’t seem to mind. She looked to still be in a daze much like Alkaid had looked when they first entered the young woman Loveless had enthralled.

  “Rowan,” Bram called, “are you… all right?”

  “Yes,” she whispered, sounding wistful. “I’d fotten what it’s like…the touch of darkness flowing through me.”

  GRATULATIONS! You’ve helped the Rebel Trickster of Legend regain some of her lost power!“Like the caress of an old lover whose hand I hadn’t felt in many years…”

  Bram didn’t like this strange parison. Even more, he didn’t like the Loom’s message.

  WARNING! [Rowan Wolfe] has absorbed pure dark elemental energy into herself, skewing her alig out of band drawing the trickster closer to the dark side.“Rowan…”

  “I read it as well.”

  “What does this mean…?”

  ALERT! Yrowing bond with [Rowan Wolfe] has blossomed into a new system; Alig.Light and darkness are ever at war within oneself. One’s [Alig] is determined not by the red string of fate, but by the as and choiakes on their path trowth. With the arrival of such a choice, your star grhter or darker, opening the way to new possibilities while closing doors to others. But be warned, stray too far in one dire and your path will narrow, ging you in ways you may not like.“I say this often, but the Loom is truly an ingenious tool… Perhaps I should rely on it more.”

  “You do have access to it…”

  Bram recalled one of their older experiments where Rowan grafted the Loom onto her soul after she’d fihe formu that bihe summoning ritual with the ritual that gifted the Loom to otherworlders. It roof that Aarders could also receive this tool of otherworldly self-improvement. Only, at least in Rowan’s case, the Loom refused to share aails of her status with Bram. It was the first time sihe system became useful that it denied him information.

  “But what does this mean for you…?” he asked.

  “I think it means Rowan has to watch what she eats,” Bridget deduced.

  As administrators, she and Hajime could also see the messages that appeared for Bram.

  “She’ll need a bance of dark and light food to ensure her alig doesn’t go too far iher dire.” Bridget looked like she uood Rowan’s ruggle. “I help. We Earth women have plenty of practice watg our diet.”

  “Yes, ‘tis an affli for women here on Aarde as well,” Rowan replied ically.

  Both women shared a ugh, with Bram and Hajime looking on in fusion.

  “Would it be so bad?” Hajime asked as he helped Bram to his feet. “If Rowan chooses only the light from now on—”

  “—Then I would be er than the gods I abhor,” Rowan cut in.

  “What do you mean?” Hajime asked.

  “There is no be to being unbendingly wful. Nor is it better to be an ung creature of darkness,” Rowan insisted, further expining, “I would see things only as bd white, choosing the most extreme of choices while ign other possibilities that could eter results and lesser heartache.”

  “We live in a world of gray…things shouldn’t be so clear-cut,” Bram agreed.

  Rowan fshed him an impish smile. “It’ll be best you find me something with a divine fvor for my meal… You wouldn’t wao get too dark. Aarde might not survive it…”

  “ime, let’s go raid a temple that hasn’t been abandoned,” Bridget said spiritedly. “It’s not just Rowaher. We’re all affected by this alig system.”

  She’d finished helping the trickster to her feet and was now iing the shard in Rowan’s hands.

  “Stuff like being uo learn spells that require you to have a darker alig or maybe get penalties for being too good,” she added, frowning afterward. “This isn’t a normal piece of sorcerite, is it?”

  “I believe it’s deifacted sorcerite,” Bram expined.

  “Deifacted?” Bridget repeated. “Is that even a word?”

  Bram plucked the shard from Rowan’s hand—and nothing happened.

  The Midnight Shard had lost the tendrils of darkness cloying inside of it, though this k h-hewn crystal ner than his hand still had an otherworldly luster to it as if it had trapped starlight within its depths.

  “It’s sorcerite fashioned by the gods…they’re powerful souragic different from the one borne from nature,” Bram expined.

  “That thing held darkness i…shouldn’t we throw it away?” Bridget asked.

  The prince shook his head. “We may be able to use this again iure. Possibly sell it for enough griffins to fuel Reise’s development… Things touched by the power of divinity don’t remain unscathed.”

  “This is true for more than just sorcerite,” Rowan added.

  She grabbed Bram’s left arm and raised it to eye level.

  The tendril of dark energy that had she back of his ha behind a scar that trailed down to his wrist like a lightning bolt falling to the earth. Ohat was as bck as the veins that had appeared on Rowan’s skin earlier.

  “You touched pure darkness, and it’s left its mark on you.”

  Hajime, whose eyes glittered at the sight of the lightning-bolt-shaped scar, asked, “Will you be able to summon the power of darkness now?”

  “Maybe you’re cursed now,” Bridget proposed.

  Bram couldn’t help sighing.

  His panions seemed too excited over the fact that he might have just been cursed. Not that this would be a new experience for him. He’d been cursed all his life.

  “Maybe a bck dragon’s living inside your arm now!” Hajime said excitedly, though this ent made no seo the others.

  Their enthusiasm was iious though, and Bram couldn’t help w if something did ge inside of him thanks to this scar.

  Iingly, the otherworlders were correct, something had ged inside of Bram. Apart from the twenty attribute points he’d earned earlier, there were a few new updates on his status s.

  ALIG: Still in progress…And a new spell, Bram’s first…

  TIER 3[????]Though it seemed even the Loom didn’t know what to make of it, Bram couldn’t help but imagihis [????] was ected to his ret brush with true darkness.

  Funnily enough, earning his first-ever spell wasn’t the update that caused Bram’s jaw to drop. No, that honor beloo another equally shog thing.

  MAGIC POINTS (MP):15It took him a long while—to the point that his friends thought he might have bee atose—but Bram eventually mao say, “Rowan…I…I—”

  “You’ve grown,” she finished for him.

  Teically, this wasn’t a guess since she rivy to his emotions and probably khe ohing that could shock the prin such a manner.

  “And you?” Bram couldn’t help asking. “What ges are you undergoing…?”

  “You’ll see it soon enough,” she promised. “But first…”

  Rowan drew everyone’s attention to the ter of the spongy ground right where the Midnight Shard had been floating earlier. Half-buried oh was a red pinee.

  “I believe there’s one more treasure for you to collect.”

  As soon as Bram picked it up, several new notifications popped up in front of him.

  GRATULATIONS! You have received a [Nymph Seed].“Iing,” Rowan whispered. “Very iing.”

  The Loom seemed to agree with her because it cssified the nymph seed as an ‘Elemental Egg’, which Hajime and Bridget guessed might mean Bram just earned something future Earth users would covet…a pet.

  “A pet…?” Bram frowned.

  This seemed a little insulting sidering what Loveless had been.

  “It’s just what we call a rare summon exclusive to the summoner’s at,” Bridget expined.

  Bram didn’t hate the idea of an ‘exclusive’ summoned creature, though he wasn’t sure he could think of the nymph’s egg in this manner. He recalled the tragedy of Loveless’ life, how she’d been used by the gods and thrown away ohey’d finished with her.

  “I won’t do the same…”

  From what he knew of nymphs, reination ossible so long as one seed survived. The Loom verified this on the seed’s status s; that the nymph who’d died could be bain in a new life. But Bram doubted she’d keep the memories she possessed in her previous life. At least he hoped she wouldn’t.

  He patted the seed in his hand. “Your life will be more fun…happier too.”

  “How are you going to hatch it?” Hajime asked.

  It was a questioher the Loom nor Rowahe ao.

  “Ravi might know how to hatch it. He is a summoner,” Bridget suggested.

  “We’ll ask him,” Bram agreed. “Before that, there’s something else we o finish.”

  Bram turo the other notification that arrived alongside the one about the nymph’s seed.

  ALERT! The dungeon [Red Ruin] has been abandoned by its inal owner and no longer has a caretaker. It is now possible for the Loom to absorb the dungeon, turning it into a resource the system manage. Doing so will provide the administrators with many bes alongside new responsibilities.ALERT! Accepting responsibility for [Red Ruin] will unlock the system’s Dungeon Manager feature.Would you like to take over the ma of [Red Ruin]?YESNO“Yes,” Bram, Hajime, and Bridget answered together.

  ALERT! You are uo gain trol of the dungeon [Red Ruin] while enemies are gathered outside of it.“By the Loom,” Bridget sighed, “this quest is way too long…”

  “It’s a quest. They’re supposed to be long,” Hajime answered knowingly. “This is probably the st one.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “We’re running out of enemies.”

  Right on cue.

  ALERT! A new quest has arrived!URGENT QUEST:Defeat the Invaders of the Red Ruin!

  GD_Cruz