Heroes of Darkness: A Dark Dungeon Realm LitRPG Omnibus Collection

by Wolfe Locke

  In all of his suffering, Luca begged for death, asking for a release from the pain he was in and the suffering that his life had become. This was a reminder of his worst nightmare, the worst day of his life. Just like with the car, Luca was once again found himself trapped. Trapped, unable to remove himself from the rock his leg was impaled on.

  Physically Luca was too weak to pull his body from it, and mentally he could not bring himself to try and force it. "Why me?" he cried to the dark, but nothing answered as the dark shadows from before started to form around him, their presence disturbing the air and filling it with the pulse of malice.

  Ultimately Luca stopped begging for someone to help him and started to vow revenge. Revenge against the men who had taken him from the car and thrown him down into this hole.

  Revenge against the strange man, the elf known as Master Sorlasan, who had condemned him to this Hell. Revenge against everyone who looked the other way instead of helping him. Luca vowed that if he should ever leave this place, he would never again be so weak. Never again would he be a victim.

  Luca’s thoughts filled with madness. Inner darkness had awoken within him that dulled the pain. His hate fed on his suffering, numbing him to everything in a way that no anesthetic ever could. Eventually, he passed out in exhaustion.

  His cheeks were caked with dust mixed with the tears he had shed. As he lay sleeping, the swirling shadows emerged again, collapsing on Luca’s sleeping form, whispering into his ear as he slept, feeding his mind thoughts of dark ambition and darker futures.

  The dark entity in its hunger for a vessel whispered, hunched over Luca’s unconscious body as it spoke to him. "If you seek this power, and should you find it? What will you do with it?"

  Luca responded, looking out into the void past the darkness into the future from deep within his sleep. His expression hardened into something sinister as he gazed upon that elsewhere, reflective of the dream that had been whispered to him.

  A vision of the flock of crows he had seen on the road. His eyes slowly opened in a trance, showing only furrows of crimson red, and he responded in a voice deeper than the boy should have been capable of producing. "Power."

  The shadows laughed in contentment. A shadowy arm reached out to the boy and stroked his face. "Well, then, little one. I, Amarath, the Immortal, accept you. You have passed my trial. On my behalf, you will bring calamity upon the race of men and be the iron upon which they sharpen themselves. Then and only then may they come to escape Aeon’s Blight."

  Notification: “Blessing of the Immortal”

  -You have gained the Blessing of Amarath, the Immortal. A Lord of Pandemonium. As a vessel of Amarath, you will have access to a portion of his power. This will grow in time to match your own progress.

  Chapter 6: The Black Emblem

  The shadow that was the immortal Amarath materialized something resembling a hand as an incorporeal arm reached forward and tore the jagged rock out of Luca’s leg. It would not suit his designs for a permanent physical flaw to develop in the one he had chosen to be his vassal.

  A vassal to use as he manipulated the outcome of the Genesis Game. With no further need for a body, Amarath dematerialized into black mists.

  In the trance-like state the boy had fallen into, Luca noticed nothing. A moan of brief agony escaped his lips as the stone spike was removed from where it had been embedded in his leg. But even this pain was not enough to awaken him from his deep slumber.

  The sound of ripping and tearing of Luca’s flesh was replaced by the sound of kneading skin and muscle fiber as the wound rapidly healed, completely unhindered by the presence of the foreign object. In this, Luca had been lucky.

  The healing magic of the World Dungeon was not absolute. Permanent flaws could occur if the healing was interfered with. When the restoration was complete, the boy collapsed on the ground asleep.

  Luca slept a deep and dark sleep. The sleep that comes to those who have teetered on the very edge of death. The sleep for those who have stood on the precipice between life and abyss that follows and somehow survived.

  A sleep that crept like a thief in the night, visiting the sickly and infirm, the young and the old. The sleep of the lost, broken things set loose to wander in the world in suffering. The sleep of the damned.

  Amarath’s presence was thick around the boy, examining him. The immortal could tell Luca’s psyche had been heavily damaged. Probing through the boy’s chaotic memories, Amarath could see Luca’s mind had begun to warp. Traumatized from the ordeal of losing his father. Tormented from being trapped with the rotting body in his helpless, crippled state for days and nights. The very edges of Luca’s mind had begun to fray, partially shattered by being cast by those who had saved him into the endless void that was the entrance of the World Dungeon.

  "No young one, this will not do," whispered Amarath, seeing the one who was to be his instrument was already nearly at the breaking point.

  Swirling and condensing around Luca’s ear, the otherworldly shadow whispered dark desires directly into the heart and soul of the boy. Manipulating and twisting the lines between good and evil.

  Replacing the very core of the boy’s being until all that remained was the drive for survival at any cost and an insatiable need for power. With that drive, the survival of the boy’s mind was assured. “It will take some young one for this to take root.”

  If Amarath could smile, he would have. The shadow stopped and resumed observing, content with his meddling, the visions of Luca’s dreams readily revealed to him.

  A low thrum of energy began to reverberate throughout the ground as the very essence of the otherworldly being that Amarath was set into the boy's core and began changing him. A glow of a profane crimson circle appeared under Luca, channeling him with the energy of the dark shadow.

  "And now for my blessing, young one," whispered Amarath as all but one of the shadows that comprised his current form retreated rapidly from the boy, removing themselves from Luca’s unconscious body and the places within his consciousness they had embedded themselves.

  The sole remaining shadow drew the energy of the cave into itself, amplified through the power of the crimson circle as the dark shadow began to slowly solidify. The remaining portion of Amarath shifted, changing, taking on the hue of glossed black obsidian, and formed into a black emblem with Angel Wings.

  As it lay across Luca’s chest, the obsidian emblem of Angel wings began oscillating with dark energy as the boy's skin surrounding the emblem started to burn, the skin smoldering clear to the bone. His blood was boiling in his veins. The black obsidian carved its way through the hole it had created in Luca’s skin and embedded itself deep in the boy’s chest, partially merging with his heart.

  The horrible wound started to rapidly heal as the skin grew back, obscuring what had transpired and what the boy had been through.

  As for Luca, all of the dark dreams Amarath had set into motion came to a halt. In pure agony, he woke up screaming.

  Unknowing what was going on, all Luca could do was beg for mercy, not for the first time that day, and though he asked, none came. For him, there would be no relief or respite. Only the far off whispers of the lord of shadows offered any comfort, though Luca did not recognize it.

  Notification: “Bonded Emblem”

  The Black Emblem has been bonded to you. Within the Emblem is stored a portion of the true power and soul of Amarath, the spirit of the World Dungeon. So long as you retain this Emblem, you will remain Amarath’s chosen.

  Anger coursed through his veins as Luca screamed in accusation, an accusation against everyone who had left him behind and everyone who had failed him.

  "Why me!? What did I do to deserve this? Answer me. Oh my god. Please, somebody help me? What did I do to deserve this?" Though Luca screamed, he would never get an answer, an answer he had no expectation of receiving, realizing as he did that he was truly alone.

  Help would never come for him. As Luca’s screaming echoed throughout the ca
ve system, he found it did nothing to quell his anger. Slumping over, Luca slammed his fists into the ground.

  Luca didn’t consciously notice in his flirtation with madness that the rocks cracked beneath the force of the blow.

  From deeper inside the cavern, the dark entity Amarath lurked, watching. Far away from the ability of the boy to notice his presence. Watching and waiting to see what the boy's reaction would be to his new reality.

  The Shadow’s attention was drawn by the boy's presumptuous posturing. Let me introduce myself then. Amarath appeared as swirling shadows collapsing in on each other, building bonds of sinew and muscle from the bonded void.

  They formed a gigantic arm that reached out at an incredible speed and clutched the boy by the neck, lifting the boy off the ground. The pressure threatened to burst Luca’s organs and grind his bones to dust, but even then, Luca did not respond with tears. Instead, the boy stared back in a furious rage. The shadow knew the change had been successful. The child bore his mark and was already beginning to change.

  The shadow spoke in a domineering voice that demanded silence and instant attention, lest further interruption invite annihilation. "Hush, child, for I am Calamity and the Ruin. I am the immortal Amarath, a Lord of Pandemonium. I am the judgment of all men. Both trial and tribulation. I have chosen you to be an instrument by which I test them. On my behalf, you will be their ordeal. A disaster to break upon them, yours is a dark destiny. It is you who will be the iron they sharpen themselves against so that there may finally be an end to this."

  In confusion, Luca did not know how to respond, and for a moment, he thought he was going to be overwhelmed by fear but somehow was able to maintain his composure and asked of the entity that held him as calmly as he could, "Am I going to die?"

  "No, child," answered Amarath. "You are to live. You are to survive. The Genesis Game has already started, and there are many players who line. It is time for you to join it if you but say yes and accept the power that has already been granted you."

  "What do I have to do?" asked Luca, his fear abating as he considered the offer extended by Amarath, the offer tempting him.

  "Accept what your eyes see, and choose what is in front of you," replied the dark being as he set the boy down on the ground, knowing that things were fundamentally about to change for the boy forever.

  Blinking in recovery, Luca saw the visage of a screen over his eyes, obscuring his vision as words and numbers appeared. Is this screen what the shadow meant by accepting and saying yes?

  Notification: Quest Unlocked – The Chosen of Amarath

  Details: A Dark Lord of Pandemonium known as Amarath, has chosen you to be his vassal, a type of pledged servant for the duration of The Genesis Game.

  Conditions: Willingly Select Yes

  Reward: Legendary Class - Unlocked

  Reward: Racial Change

  Notification: Acceptance Status

  Do you accept? Yes/No

  Luca did as he had been instructed and led to do by Amarath. He didn’t question the reality of the prompt he saw before his eyes, choosing to accept what he saw as real. It hardly would make sense for me to draw the line here at what I can believe in, not after everything I’ve seen and been through.

  Reading over the text, Luca frowned at the wording. On an instinctual level, Luca knew that whether he liked the terms or not, whether he really understood the implications or not, saying no was not an option.

  Luca knew if he said no, the immortal monster in the dark would kill him without hesitation, if not thrust upon him some ghastlier fate. In his heart, something else had appeared. It was not quite courage, but something else altogether. Luca possessed an overwhelming desire to live and a desire to accept the power this deal would bring him. He mentally selected yes, and the screens quickly disappeared, replaced by another.

  Notification: Affirmation of Choice

  Details: If you wish to return to the surface, you will be allowed to leave with the use of your body intact.

  Yes/No

  The way this screen was worded made Luca second-guess his choice a bit, but he had already made up his mind and quickly selected No to the question of coercion. The answer was clearly yes, but the semantics didn’t matter. He wanted this deal to happen.

  Notification: Quest Updated – The Chosen of Amarath

  Reward: Legendary Class Granted: Angel of Death

  Racial Change: Nephilim

  The last notification lingered for just a few moments. As soon as it vanished, Luca doubled over in pain as more energy pulsed from within the obsidian-colored emblem that was embedded beneath his flesh. The force exerted by the emblem tore the skin from Luca’s body as Luca clenched his fists in refusal to acknowledge the pain. Luca’s limbs stretched as his body was remade into something else altogether.

  All around Luca, the darkness and its shadows began to disappear as Luca felt the sensation of being transported to somewhere else, though still within the same plane of existence, the inner realm of the World Dungeon. Yet, before Amarath faded completely, he spoke one last thing. "Upon thee, child, I give a new name. You are to be Seraph, and I charge you to complete this dungeon and seize for yourself the Altar of the End. Then and only then will you find the insatiable hunger for power that gnaws at you even now satisfied. Survive, you are to become the sum of all men, and though you will crave power, you will never find yourself removed from the concerns of humanity.”

  Even as his body was wracked with pain, he still understood the words more as a mental instruction than as a sound. With nothing further said, Luca collapsed on the ground as his body changed. He writhed around on his belly, unable to respond. He passed out as the tip of black wings erupted through the skin near his shoulder blades and began to grow.

  Chapter 7: The Arrival

  Notification: Arrival – Ground Floor - The Elven City of Hometown

  Details: The Elven City of Hometown resides within the inner realm of the World Dungeon. The city is all that remains of their once-great civilization. Their homeworld of Titania was purged by a phenomenon referred to as the Green Madness, an extinction-level event.

  Hometown is the last bastion of the fallen race of the Elves; as such, they are profoundly possessive and guard it carefully. A sprawling city, all players may find whatever they need and more to prepare themselves to enter the varying dungeon floors on their quest.

  The air smelled of burnt ozone as Luca materialized into existence in the very heart of the Elven City of Hometown. His arrival marred the steel of the reception platform with black scorch marks. The memory of the recent trauma he had suffered was distant and unfamiliar as if it had happened to another person.

  The glare of a strange sun began beating down on him as people moved around on their errands and business. He was partially stunned by the sounds of a city bustling with life. Awestruck, Luca did nothing for a moment as he looked around in wonder at the magical city, taking in the sights, ignoring the strange sensations between his shoulder blades.

  The platform Luca stood on appeared to be in the middle of a glossed and polished cobblestone plaza. A sort of train-platform-looking building was suspended above the square. He looked around and saw eight shimmering portals arranged in an octagon while stores and service shops ringed the area.

  Each of the shops drew small crowds of what Luca could only assume to be groups of medieval warriors or adventurers based on observations of the armors they wore and weapons they wielded.

  Everywhere Luca looked, the impossible seemed to exist. Minotaurs walked freely alongside Elves, while dwarves haggled with street vendors, and other races Luca could not recognize seemed to scurry between one thing and the next. Each seemed to be taken directly out of a fantasy book or the mythology of old. Yet, something about what Luca saw bothered him, though he was not able to put his finger on it.

  A dirty hand reached out and grabbed the hem of his shirt, breaking Luca from the immersive illusion of majestic beauty he felt towards the cit
y. "Hey, don’t touch me!" Luca yelled angrily as he swatted away the hand that was grabbing on to him.

  With a look of irritation, Luca looked down at who had touched him. He found himself looking into the eyes of a girl younger than he was, looking directly at him. She asked with a tone Luca found uncomfortably familiar, "Please, can you help me? I’ve been praying. I’ve lost my parents. We got separated on the road, and I don’t know where I am."

  Luca struggled to stammer out a reply, looking into her eyes and seeing only that desperate need. He couldn’t give her the answer she wanted, and he couldn’t give her the help she needed. "I’m sorry, I don’t know. I can’t help you." Luca watched as the light seemed to fade in her eyes as she processed the disappointing answer. Why did she think I could help her? I’m just as lost as she is.