Aldric strained against the abyssal tendrils wrapping around his legs. The darkness clung to him like living chains, draining his strength with each passing moment.
His golden aura flickered, struggling to burn away the creeping shadows.
Ethan stood before him, an immovable figure in the swirling abyss.
"You fight well, Paladin," Ethan said, his voice echoing through the chamber.
Aldric met his gaze, his grip tightening on his sword.
"I have fought worse monsters than you."
Ethan chuckled.
"Have you?"
The dungeon shuddered, and the shadows around Aldric tightened.
For the first time, a flicker of doubt crept into Aldric's mind.
This was not like any dungeon he had conquered before.
This dungeon was… alive.
And Ethan was its heart.
---
The Paladin's Last Stand
Aldric gritted his teeth.
He would not allow himself to fall here.
"Radiant One, grant me strength!"
His golden aura blazed, pushing against the abyss. The darkness recoiled, hissing as divine energy burned through it.
Aldric seized the opening, breaking free from the abyssal grasp. He launched forward, his sword shining like the sun as he struck.
Ethan stood still.
Only when the blade was inches from his chest did he react.
He raised a hand.
Abyssal energy surged, forming a barrier of pure darkness.
Aldric's blade struck the shield—
And stopped.
The Paladin's eyes widened.
"Impossible—!"
The abyssal shield twisted, absorbing the divine energy.
Then, it exploded.
A wave of pure void erupted from Ethan's defense, slamming into Aldric like a tidal wave.
The Paladin was hurled back, crashing against the shifting walls of the dungeon. The impact sent cracks through his armor, his divine aura flickering dangerously.
Ethan took a step forward.
"You rely too much on your light."
His voice darkened.
"Light alone will not save you here."
---
A Dungeon with No Mercy
Aldric coughed, blood staining his lips. His vision blurred, his divine power waning.
He tried to push himself up—
But the dungeon moved.
The ground opened beneath him, a pit of abyssal shadows consuming him.
His golden light fought back, struggling to keep him from falling.
Ethan watched.
There was no joy in his expression. No malice.
Only absolute control.
"You should not have come here."
The abyss tightened, dragging Aldric deeper.
For the first time in years… the Paladin felt fear.
His strength was fading.
The darkness was endless.
And Ethan… was not even trying.
Aldric's vision darkened.
His last thought before he lost consciousness was not of victory—
But defeat.
---
Captive in the Abyss
Aldric drifted in darkness.
The cold abyss surrounded him, a suffocating presence that drained his strength. He could hear whispers—twisted, ancient voices speaking in a language he could not understand.
"Where… am I?"
His body felt weightless, like he was floating in a vast, empty void. The divine energy that once surged through his veins was now barely a flicker.
Then—he felt something.
A presence.
Cold. Ancient. Unyielding.
It wasn't the abyss itself.
It was him.
Ethan.
The Dungeon Master.
Aldric forced his eyes open.
And he realized—
He was no longer in the dungeon chamber.
He was somewhere far worse.
---
The Abyssal Core Chamber
The walls around him were not walls at all.
They pulsed. Shifted.
They were alive.
Aldric lay on an obsidian platform, suspended above an endless sea of shadows.
At the center of the chamber, looming before him, was something that should not exist.
A core.
But not just any dungeon core.
This one was different.
It was black as the void, pulsating with an unnatural energy. The air around it shimmered, bending reality itself.
Aldric had seen dungeon cores before.
But this was… wrong.
"Awake at last?"
The voice was calm. Controlled.
Aldric turned his head—and saw Ethan standing at the edge of the platform.
His violet eyes glowed with abyssal energy, his presence radiating the same overwhelming power as the core behind him.
"You lost."
Ethan's words were not mocking.
They were simply… fact.
Aldric clenched his fists.
"Then finish it." he growled.
Ethan tilted his head.
"Why would I?"
Aldric froze.
He had expected death.
What he had not expected… was mercy.
---
A Fate Worse Than Death?
"You are a warrior," Ethan continued.
"And warriors are useful."
Aldric glared at him.
"I will never serve the abyss."
Ethan's expression remained unreadable.
"You assume you have a choice."
The shadows beneath Aldric moved.
Tendrils of abyssal energy rose, wrapping around his arms and legs. The divine energy within him flared—but it was too weak.
Ethan stepped closer.
"Light can be snuffed out. But the abyss? It never fades."
Aldric felt a chill crawl up his spine.
He was not afraid of death.
But this…
This was something else.
Ethan raised a hand—
And the shadows poured into Aldric's body.
Aldric screamed.
Pain unlike anything he had ever felt tore through him. His divine energy fought back, but the abyss was unrelenting.
It was not just trying to consume him.
It was trying to change him.
And as the abyss surged deeper into his soul—
Aldric realized…
He was losing.
---
Corrupting the Light
Aldric's body convulsed as the abyss invaded his very being. The black tendrils of energy seeped into his skin, burrowing deep into his soul, coiling around the remnants of his divine power like serpents suffocating their prey.
"You will not break me!" he roared, his golden aura flaring in defiance.
But the abyss did not retreat.
Instead, it tightened.
Aldric's breath hitched as an overwhelming pressure settled over him. His limbs refused to move. His mind felt… sluggish.
And then—he heard it.
The whispers.
Faint at first, like an echo in the depths of a cavern. Then, they grew louder.
"Why do you resist?"
"The light has failed you."
"You are alone."
"Embrace the abyss, and you will know true power."
Aldric gritted his teeth, shaking his head.
"Get… out… of my mind!"
The abyss laughed.
Not Ethan—the abyss itself.
The shadows twisted around him, forming grotesque faces, their hollow eyes staring into his soul.
"You were abandoned by the gods."
"Where was your Radiant One when you fell?"
Aldric froze.
His heart pounded in his chest.
Because deep down… a part of him wondered the same thing.
---
Ethan Watches
Ethan observed the process with an unreadable expression.
Aldric was strong. Stronger than most. His faith was unyielding, his will forged from battle after battle.
And yet—
Even the most unbreakable warriors had doubts.
Ethan had seen it before. The abyss did not destroy with brute force. It whispered. It corroded. It planted seeds in the cracks of the soul, letting them fester until resistance crumbled.
Aldric was fighting.
But Ethan knew the truth.
No one resisted the abyss forever.
"How long will you struggle?" Ethan asked, stepping forward.
Aldric's eyes, still burning with golden light, snapped to him.
"As long as it takes."
Ethan stared at him for a moment, then sighed.
"So be it."
He lifted a hand.
The abyss responded.
The tendrils surged deeper into Aldric's core, wrapping around his heart, his mind, his very soul.
Aldric's scream shook the chamber.
And then—the whispers changed.
---
A Glimpse Into Darkness
Aldric's vision blurred.
He was no longer in the abyssal chamber.
He was… somewhere else.
A battlefield.
Bodies littered the ground, knights clad in silver armor lying motionless, their weapons broken. The sky overhead was blackened, the sun obscured by swirling shadows.
And at the center of it all…
Aldric stood.
But it was not him.
Not the man he knew himself to be.
This version of him was different.
His once-radiant armor was cracked, abyssal energy oozing from the fractures. His golden sword was stained black, and his eyes—
His eyes were violet.
Just like Ethan's.
Aldric's breath hitched.
"No… this is a lie!"
But the vision did not fade.
The corrupted version of himself lifted his abyssal blade—
And smiled.
"Why do you resist?" he asked.
"You already know the truth."
Aldric stumbled back.
"This isn't real!"
"Isn't it?"
The corrupted version took a step closer, the battlefield warping around them. The corpses of his fallen comrades rose, their hollow eyes filled with darkness.
They reached for him.
"You let us die."
"You were not strong enough."
"The light abandoned you, Aldric."
"But the abyss… endures."
Aldric screamed, clutching his head.
"Get out of my mind!"
And then—
The vision shattered.
---
The Abyss Grows
Aldric gasped, his body drenched in sweat as he was thrown back into reality. The shadows around him writhed, their grip loosening—but not vanishing.
Ethan studied him carefully.
"You saw it, didn't you?"
Aldric's hands trembled.
The whispers were gone.
But their words remained.
His faith had been unshaken before.
Now…
Now, a tiny, dangerous doubt lingered.
Ethan smiled slightly.
The abyss did not need to win today.
It only needed to begin.
---
End of Chapter 12
Question for readers.
What if you woke up as a dungeon core?