Darkness. Vast, endless darkness.
Sunny floated in a void of nothingness, his consciousness adrift. There was no pain here, no fear. Just emptiness and silence.
'Am I dead?' he wondered.
"Not even close, partner," a familiar voice answered from the darkness. His shadow—his skill—spoke with unusual clarity. "This is all yours. You just need to learn how to use it."
The formless void around him seemed to pulse in response, as if acknowledging his presence.
'What is this place?'
"Your potential. Your power." The shadow's voice was almost excited. "Open your eyes, partner. Kick some ass."
Sunny's eyes snapped open.
Pain crashed back into his consciousness—his dislocated shoulder, his cracked ribs, the taste of blood in his mouth. He was lying on the cold ice floor. Only minutes had passed, but everything had changed.
The heroes were scattered across the chamber, bloodied and broken. Lina lay motionless near one wall, her staff cracked in two beside her. Brynn was on one knee, using her hammer to prop herself up, blood streaming from a gash across her forehead. Aria struggled to stand, her right leg bent at an unnatural angle.
And Nyx—
'No,' he thought, horror flooding through him.
Nyx stood between him and the armored attacker, her slender frame swaying. Her armor was in tatters, punctured in multiple places. Blood dripped steadily from her wounds, forming a crimson pool at her feet.
She was taking blows meant for him.
As he watched, the armored man drove his fist into her stomach. She staggered but remained standing, her daggers held loosely in trembling hands.
"What are you doing?" Sunny shouted, his voice raw and broken.
Nyx glanced back at him, a strange smile playing on her blood-streaked lips. Holes riddled her body, each one seeping crimson life.
"Protecting you, dummy," she said, her voice barely audible.
Then she collapsed, her daggers clattering uselessly to the ice. She had lost too much blood.
The armored man laughed, a cold, cruel sound that echoed through the chamber. He stepped over Nyx's crumpled form, his attention now fixed on Sunny.
"My mission was simple," he said, casually wiping blood from his gauntlet. "Milk the dungeon boss of all the information she knew." He gestured toward the chained woman, who now seemed little more than a dim outline, most of her essence consumed by Sunny's earlier absorption. "But you've barely left her alive."
He advanced, each step deliberate. "So now I'll just take your head to my master instead."
Sunny tried to move, to scramble backward, but his body refused to respond. The temporary enhancements had completely faded, leaving him weaker than before.
'They can't win this,' he thought, despair washing over him. 'We're all going to die here.'
Then, a familiar blue window flashed across his vision.
[SKILL: VOID ABSORPTION HAS LEVELED UP]
The notification rippled, expanded, transforming into something new.
[SKILL TREE FORMED]
[SHADOW UNLOCKED]
He stared at the notification, a desperate plan forming. 'Shadow? What does that mean?'
He reached out with his awareness, feeling for the new skill. There—a sensation of depth, of substance where there should be none. The shadows around him seemed to pulse in response to his attention.
He wasted no time. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he dragged himself toward the fallen heroes. His hand trembled as he reached out, touching first Nyx's shadow, then Brynn's, then the others. Each contact sent a jolt of cold energy up his arm.
The armored man paused, head tilting in puzzlement. "What are you doing now, boy? More parlor tricks?"
Sunny ignored him, focusing on the shadows beneath his palm. They felt different now—more tangible, more responsive. He could sense the essence within them, waiting to be tapped.
'One chance,' he thought, gathering the shadows around him like a cloak. 'Make it count.'
He waited for the right moment—when the armored man took another step forward, his guard momentarily lowered in contempt.
With the last ember of his temporary power and the new strength drawn from the heroes' shadows, he unleashed a blast of pure void energy. Not at the man, but at the chained woman behind him.
The dark bolt struck true, enveloping what remained of the dungeon boss in a shroud of absolute darkness. She shuddered once, then dissolved completely.
[DUNGEON BOSS DEFEATED]
[ITEMS DROPPED]
Amidst the glittering loot that materialized where the woman had been suspended, one item caught Sunny's eye—a small, glowing stone emanating soft blue light. A return stone, used to exit dungeons instantly.
'Perfect.'
The armored man roared in fury, realizing too late what Sunny had done. He spun, his sword raised for a killing blow.
But Sunny was faster. His shadow extended—a tendril of darkness stretching across the chamber—and snatched the return stone.
The shadow coiled back to him instantly, depositing the stone in his palm. He activated it—not for himself, but aimed directly at the charging attacker.
The stone pulsed once in his hand. A swirling vortex of blue energy erupted around the armored man, engulfing him mid-stride.
"What—No!" he screamed, his armored hands clawing futilely at the air as the teleportation magic took hold. "YOU CAN'T—"
His voice cut off abruptly as he vanished, forcibly ejected from the dungeon.
Silence fell over the chamber, broken only by Sunny's ragged breathing.
'It worked,' he thought, disbelief mingling with exhaustion. 'It actually worked.'
But they weren't safe yet. The dungeon would reset soon, now that the boss was defeated. And the heroes were in no condition to make the journey back.
He dragged himself to Nyx first, checking her pulse. Weak, but still there. 'Hang on,' he thought, tearing strips from his shirt to bind her worst wounds.
Then Aria, then Brynn, then Lina. All alive, but barely.
His own pain faded to the background as a new determination took hold. He struggled to his feet, his dislocated shoulder hanging uselessly at his side. With his good arm, he began gathering the heroes' weapons.
'I'm going to get them out of here,' he promised himself. 'All of them.'
The task of moving four unconscious heroes seemed impossible for his battered body, but then he felt it—the shadows around him responding to his will, becoming substantial.
'Maybe...' he thought, focusing on his new ability.
His shadow extended, growing larger, stretching outward like living ink. It wrapped around the fallen heroes, first Nyx, then Aria, Brynn, and Lina, encircling their bodies in bands of darkness.
With a grunt of effort, he commanded his shadow to contract. The dark tendrils tightened, securing the heroes like ropes. When he took a step forward, his shadow pulled them along behind him.
The massive doors, which had slammed shut behind them, now stood slightly ajar—another effect of the boss's defeat. Beyond them lay miles of treacherous, monster-filled terrain.
'One step at a time,' he told himself, putting one foot in front of the other. 'Just one more step.'
Hours blurred together as he trudged through the frozen landscape. His shadow never faltered, dragging its precious cargo over ice and snow. Monsters appeared occasionally, but seemed to shrink away from the darkness that writhed around him.
Finally, the entrance to the dungeon came into view—a distant rectangle of daylight. Sunny's vision swam, his consciousness flickering.
'Almost there,' he thought, his legs trembling with each step. 'Almost...'
With a final, herculean effort, he stumbled through the entrance, emerging into the blinding light of day. His shadow contracted, pulling the heroes out behind him.
Through the haze of his fading vision, he could make out the shapes of shocked guards rushing toward them, weapons drawn, voices raised in alarm.
Sunny collapsed to his knees, a weak smile spreading across his blood-caked face.
'Hehe, made it,' he thought.
Then darkness claimed him once more.