I stared out the window at the rising dome of shadows as it cut off the sun capping at the top. We were trapped inside, and the darkness took on an egg shape. I saw it as the blue sky shrank until the shadows met high in the sky, sealing us in. We were all consumed by the dark egg from the forest to the farm. I had read about it but never heard a rumor of this happening.

So, either no one had seen this happen in living memory or no one who has seen it has survived. I thought the second part was a little unlikely. Someone from the outside could probably see the massive black egg for miles. There were many small towns and baronies in the county of Noma, and they should all be able to see the egg.

Kara bleated and ran to the window, ears flopping while Phoebe struggled to catch up with her other kidnapping. I brushed Kara’s head feeling the beginning of her horns. She was too young to develop them, but her high VIT must have accelerated her growth. The kid bit at her leg and bleated at me again.

“Are the growing pains getting to you?”

“Pain?” I heard the voice bang around in my head until the echo finally stopped, only to be replaced with a pounding headache.

“Can you understand me?” I asked out loud.

“Stand?” The word boomed in my skull.

-10HP

Blood gushed out of my nose from the power of her voice. 8 more of those, and I would be dead. I smiled despite the pain. With some more experience, she could kill monsters and level up. Since she was my familiar, I would get some of her exp as well. Now I just needed to keep my mouth shut to avoid another booming attack.

“Pain?”

“Yes, that hurt me.”

“Hurt pain?”

“Yes, good girl,” I said, and she jumped up. Kara's sheer amount of joy in her little hooves was almost enough to make me forget about being sealed inside a massive black egg.

System Corruption 10%

Suddenly parts of my display vanished. The system's voice hadn’t said something like that to me before. Was it the egg or Kara’s power?

The little goat’s display scrambled before winking out entirely. Kara bleated, then ran around me to hide in the corner of the barn.

System Corruption 40%

The green power that always erupted from my body suddenly clung to my skin. My heart raced as my power finally betrayed me in full. Without the system holding it back, the energy would finally destroy me. I stared out into the darkness as my body glowed green despite the darkness. Animals around the farm charged at my position, and I saw creatures making their way toward me in the darkness.

Tiny humanoids made of shadow seemed to float across the ground as they chased little green goblins. I watched in fascination as one grabbed a goblin before morphing into black ink and sliding inside the poor creature. As the poor creature shrieked, large black masses grew across the goblin’s green skin. They grew until the poor mob exploded into dozens of little shadowy creatures that looked almost like black goblins to me.

One of the goblins made it into the light, and the shadow creatures from before stopped at my light’s edge. However, the shadow goblins weren’t deterred. They charged even as my light burned their skin. A team of roosters attacked it, followed by one of our larger pigs. The great pig squealed as it rolled over and crushed the shadow goblins.

System Corruption 78%

What few system functions remained winked out, but I wasn’t feeling weaker. When the antiforms attacked, only those strongest in the system, like heroes, could endure. Their connection to the system meant it could take days for the corruption to overpower them. Father had scars from when an antiform attacked him.

I should be unimaginably weak without the system, but instead, I felt good. My nose had already stopped bleeding, and the light around me grew stronger. The shadow goblins that had been able to withstand my light before burned to ash. My light within the shed grew ever brighter, and I felt strange.

The shadows moved much slower than before, and the Kara seemed to freeze completely. I could help my family not by making them stronger but by showing my own strength with this power. This power that was never meant to benefit me, that could make a goblin into a dragon, flowed through my body.

System Corruption 90%

I could feel Rot’s Curse winking in and out. My power rose, and I couldn’t leave the animals unprotected. My eyes closed, and I concentrated on the light flowing through me. It felt like it was already well aware of what I wanted and guiding me by the hand. My hand rose, and there was a small ball of light between my fingers. Greenlight radiated off the little ball as bright as the sun had been.

My light illuminated the barn and most of the farm with my emerald light. Where it touched, no shadows dared to enter. Even the shadow goblins seemed wary. I moved, and the world seemed to stand still as I sped towards the darkness.

A shadow ogre emerged from the tree line and charged at me. It was a brute taller than a hill with hair like tentacles and sickly yellow eyes. Then, more ogres emerged from the tree line, hefting genuine tree branches.

System Corruption 95%

I felt stronger, like the power that was always mine had finally been returned to me. The ogres towered over me, but it felt like I was the one with the advantage. I moved, and the air cracked. I could hear it as craters exploded in the ground with my every step. Even as I raced towards the shadow ogres, I didn’t know what I would do. They were so high above me in stats, but I felt like that suddenly didn’t matter. A club raced after me with shocking speed even with my perspective slowed down. I had never fought before; my father wouldn’t allow it; I was too weak. My hands flew up to block, and the ground around me exploded. An incredible force slammed into my shoulders, but I stopped the club somehow. All that power behind the ogre’s swing, and I stopped it cold.

On reflex, I punched, and light exploded around my fist as it traveled in the form of a solid green blow. The darkness that made up the ogre’s body gave way, and ink poured out instead of blood. Four other ogres joined in and slammed down with their clubs as I tried to catch my breath. They struck, smashing me into the ground. The crater widened before a geyser erupted with the rupture of the underground spring. Water splashed against the ogres, and their bodies melted where the water touched them. I spat out a mouth full of blood into the water.

System Corruption 100% 

Crashing All System Functions Ceased

Rebooting…

Failure To Connect

The egg, I realized why they bothered with enclosing this place in an egg of darkness. Even if the system is corrupted, it will only shut down and reboot unless they block it with the egg. I stood up as my power merged with my body with that in mind. I could feel my strength climbing with every beat of my heart. This was what I was always missing. Before, I had been incomplete close but always separated from my power. Everything had changed, and nothing had. Something was missing. I had a goal that I had forgotten. I closed my eyes; it felt like it happened so long ago that it hardly mattered now.

I would save my father and sister from the antiforms and never let them live it down. There was a problem the forest was huge. I focused, and I felt several sources of life; two of them were like infernos while others were candles. Knowing that my father would be fine, I charged after the second-largest inferno.

Everything either broke or exploded as I moved, and I loved it. This was what being powerful was like I could cross great distances in the blink of an eye. Trees exploded shadows of all kinds burned to ash as I moved. Nothing could stop me anymore, and soon I would be the strongest in the county and the world. My speed increased again, and I burst into a clearing.

Violet was covered in sweat, a fading torch in one hand and her prized sword in the other. Across from her was a woman who looked familiar. The woman was dressed in a cloudy silver plate mail and wielded a long double-edged sword one-handed. Just looking at the blade made my skin crawl. It felt like the weapon hated me.

“Get away from here; she’s too strong, get father.” I focused on my opponent. My power erupted, bathing the clearing in green light, but the antiform woman didn’t shield her eyes.

“Found you.” The whole forest, no, the world yelled those words with all its might. I punched forward, letting my light fist cover the distance. A dark barrier appeared around the woman and blocked my attack. I shot forward, gathering light between my fingers before throwing a light ball at her. The ball floated in the air but didn’t do any damage.

“You don’t remember a thing, do you. That’s amazing, and if you die here, the system won’t reincarnate you.”

Her sword flashed forward, and despite my improved perception, I barely moved in time. I raised my arms to block it and felt the blade pierce my skin. A scream tore through my throat as I felt something invasive crawl up my veins. I raised my finger, and a green beam fired. A blinding light flashed through the clearing as I tightened my control over my qi. It was the only thing I could do.

I felt a crack and pushed my power forward. The woman tried to pull the blade away, but I forced my muscles to harden. Even with all her strength, she couldn’t rip her sword out of my arm. I tightened my control, using everything the qi control skill taught me. I felt the shield shatter, and my finger beam blasted point-blank into the woman's dark armor. The shield fell away, but no matter how much I tightened my control, my beam couldn’t punch through it. I needed more practice with qi control.

The second I ended the attack, I punched the woman’s hand, forcing the sword away. Violet jumped into the fight and stabbed the woman under her chin. Flames lit up the clearing, and an ocean of black ink exploded from the woman’s throat. Violet’s blade glowed white as she leaped away.

I gripped its handle, and black lightning blasted up my hand. I couldn’t let go even if I wanted to as the lightning continued to shock me.

Even dying, the woman spoke. “That blade was not meant for your hands. Its ore was mined from the abyss and forged in the flames of hatred for your kind.”

The words I said next didn’t feel like my own. “This isn’t the first time I have taken something from the world.” My power surged forth into the blade, and slowly the lightning subsided. For a second, when my light-filled the blade and battled against the hateful presence, I thought it was over. I pulled the blade out of my arm, only for my power to tip the scales. Cracks covered the sword, glowing green along its dark metal blade. When it hit the point of no return, the weapon crumbled. The darkness would not serve my power for now.

A satisfied expression appeared on the antiform woman’s face. I shook my head; maybe she did deserve that. Then, I tossed the weapon's hilt to the ground and turned my attention to my father’s presence.

“Look out!” Violet pushed me out of the way as a massive club swung down. It hit her on the shoulder and threw her against one of the trees. I realized too late that the club belonged to Bobby. My heart started beating rapidly again as I prepared to fight the Man Donkey.

Then I stumbled and felt something racing up my arm. I stared down to see black veins standing out against my tan skin. My qi was fighting it, and with enough time, it would push it back, but if I fought at the same time, it would spread. I heard Violet’s labored breath as she pushed herself out of the remains of the tree. She tossed me her knife.

“Use it to cut open your arm and get the bad blood out. Sorry, we don’t have leaches or the time to use them. But, fighting with you is something I’ve always wanted to do.”

“Then I won’t take long,” I said and stabbed the knife into my forearm. The darkness infesting it had made my skin more than weak enough for the knife to pierce. With a way to force the darkness out, I used the power in my body to push. Horrible-smelling black ink poured out of the wound.

Violet matched blow after blow with Bobby, but she was slowing down. Her earlier fight had cost her stamina, and I wasn’t sure her system could last much longer before it was corrupted. They exchanged dozens of blows as the ink poured out of me. When it finally bled red again, I used my power to close the wound.

Bobby swung again, and I dashed forward and caught the club. The spikes on it didn’t even puncture my skin. The difference in the quality of the antiforms was staggering. I punched forward, ripping through links of shadowy chainmail and piercing the shadow man donkey’s chest. Light exploded off the shadow mob before its body rapidly dissolved into ink.

Violet swayed on her feet before leaning on my shoulder. Even with the system, she was nearly exhausted while I could keep going for a long time. Maybe it was because I was still fresh from the fight, or it could be my power supplementing my body.

Suddenly, I was pushed away. I turned just in time to see a stinger sticking through Violet’s body. Where did it come from; I hadn’t sensed a thing? I turned my head to see the darkness spreading through Violet’s body like venom. Attached to the tail was a long-segmented creature with massive reptilian hands, eagle talons, and the head of a princely man.

Violet raised her sword as it exploded with blue flames. She slashed the tail away even as the darkness spread through her body. The monster shrieked and darted to the side. I realized that its presence vanished again when it moved.

“I told you I would protect you, big brother,” Violet said.

“She’s going to be one of us soon.” I pointed my finger at the creature even as its presence vanished, and it darted out of the way. “I was made to kill you in the off chance you were here. How can you hit what you can’t sense, see, or predict? My shell can deflect the attacks of light lords, so your little beams won’t be a problem. What will you do? Tick tock, your sister will soon be one of us.”

“You were made to kill my brother.” A bird made of blue flames exploded from Violet’s blade and smashed into the monster mid dash.

“No fair heroes cheat. You weren’t supposed to fight us; we’re the good guys; he’s bad.” The monster cried as the flames burned up his body.

I raised my hand and blasted him. A beam of light overtook his body before it faded away. All that was left of the creature was the still wiggling bit of tail. I stared down at my hand and didn’t believe what I had just done. My power guided me through it like it had since my system went down. I raised my hand to do the same to the tail when Violet collapsed.

“Run; you can’t save me,” Violet said and pressed her sword against her neck. On instinct, I wrenched it away from her. “What are you doing? I don’t want to become one of those things?” The egg above shattered, and the sunlight returned.

“See, the sun’s back, and soon the system will be too,” I said.

Violet shook her head. “It hasn’t stopped spreading. I don’t want to be like mother.

“She died in childbirth,” I said as my eyes widened.

Tears filled her eyes. “I trained hard, and you helped me, big brother. Without you, I wouldn’t have become so strong. I’m sorry I wasn’t good enough.”

I pressed my hands against her wound and pushed in all the power I could. The darkness slowed to a crawl and then began to reseed. Violet gasped while my power worked against the darkness. But, as the egg vanished and the sunlight shown through, there was a problem.

System Rebooting…

“No system, don’t do this to me.”

System Rebooting 1%

In an instant, Rot’s Curse flashed, and the power I had just gained fell like a stone. Rot’s Curse was the first thing to come back online. Even as I fought the darkness and pushed with all my might and the ink from Violet’s wound flowed out, I knew I would lose. The darkness was still creeping back, but my power wouldn’t last.

System Rebooting 20%

-10HP

HP 80

Blood poured from my nose as I struggled to pull more power out of my body. What had once felt inexhaustible had quickly found its limit. Yet, I was so close, just a little more, and she would be saved.

System Rebooting 50%

-25HP

HP 55

The march of darkness was at a standstill with my power. I was holding it just around the wound; all I needed was a little more time, and I could save her.

“Help,” I yelled with all my might.

“Let me go; you’ll kill yourself.”

“Then we’ll both die; that’s better than failing you.”

System Rebooting 75%

-40HP

HP 15

The darkness pulled ahead and spread slowly through her body, retaking lost territory. Violet pushed me away, and I fell on my ass. She looked at me, and one of her blue eyes had turned yellow. The other had turned green with yellow invading it. I stared up at Violet as her wound closed. She walked over and picked up her sword as I gazed at her from the ground.

“This is the last time I will be able to say this. I love you, big brother, and I’m glad I protected you. No matter what I say in the future, remember that.” Violet said. “Dark Barrier,” The same shield the other antiform used appeared around me. “This should protect you from any monsters until father finds you. So, sleep,” Violet said, and I lost consciousness.

That day wasn’t over, and already I had lost my sister. I didn’t know then that I was set to lose even more.