The Mask Calls
Aden turned the mask over in his hands. It was old, yet eerily well-preserved—smooth black stone with faint golden etchings tracing its surface. The sigils around him reacted to it, dimming slightly as if recognizing its presence.
> What is this thing?
He didn't have time to hesitate. The cultists were still searching for him, and the deeper he went, the stranger the temple became. Aden took a deep breath and placed the mask over his face.
A sudden chill shot through his skull.
Then—darkness.
Not the kind that blinded, but the kind that revealed.
The world around him twisted. He wasn't in the temple anymore. He stood in a vast, ruined hall, watching figures draped in black and gold cloaks kneel before a monstrous shape.
It wasn't human.
> "The pact is made," a voice echoed, ancient and distorted. "The temple is our anchor. Through it, we shall erase the betrayers."
Then came the screaming.
Flashes of slaughter—masked warriors tearing through cultists, shadows swallowing entire chambers, sigils burning with unholy fire.
And then—one last vision.
A lone masked figure stood against the overwhelming darkness. A hunter of the abyss.
The temple's last defender.
Aden gasped as he was wrenched back to reality. His hands trembled. His heartbeat thundered in his ears.
The mask wasn't just an artifact. It was a legacy.
> They weren't the first to hunt the cult.
> And now, he had stepped into that role.
The Overseer Moves
Deep in the temple's core, the Overseer stirred. A figure clad in crimson robes sat before a vast altar, their presence imposing.
A subordinate knelt before them, shaking.
> "The intruder…" the cultist stammered, "he—he found it."
The Overseer's head tilted slightly.
> "Found what?"
> "The mask, my lord."
Silence. Then, a slow exhale.
The Overseer rose to their feet, the torches around them flaring.
> "Then it is time."
The sigils on the walls pulsed, shifting from dim gold to deep crimson. A low hum resonated through the temple—a summoning.
> "Let him taste true despair."
Aden clenched his fists. His body felt lighter—his mind sharper. The mask had changed something.
In the distance, a deep, resonant chime rang through the temple. The walls trembled. The air shifted.
Something had awoken.
Aden turned toward the darkened passage ahead.
If they wanted a hunt…
> Then he'd show them what true hunters looked like.