Dark Lord: Rise to Power

Arin was blinded by the huge green flash. The tolling bell had intensified to the extent that he feared going deaf forever! He tried to close his ears but found his limbs unresponsive. He couldn't feel any of his organs; it was as if his whole body had been paralyzed. Yet, at the same time, he felt incredibly light, as if he no longer had a physical body. Fear gripped him as he anticipated something horrible beyond his imagination. Slowly, he opened his eyes.

The blinding light was gone. Instead, everything seemed pitch black. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realized it was not as pitch black as it had first appeared. A soft greenish glow permeated everything. He tried to look at himself. To his astonishment, he was now floating in space. His body was translucent, and he could see through it. A chill ran down his spine as he realized he had become incorporeal.

"Am I a ghost now?" Arin shouted in horror. "Destined to wander aimlessly in this cold, dark void?"

He felt like he could cry. "So, my torment is not over yet, and I have to be punished for eternity, stuck in this limbo as a ghost from now on?"

He hoped someone would answer his cries and tell him that it was all a lie, his concerns were false. But in the back of his mind, he knew that no one was going to answer him in this godforsaken limbo.

Arin had grown up facing hardships. No matter how dark the situation seemed, it couldn't keep him down for long. This time, he quickly regained his composure and decided to gather more information about his current location. He realized he was not trapped in a black hole, as he had imagined. Instead, this was a strange land of perpetual twilight. The sky was strange as well, with a beautiful yet eerie aurora constantly changing shape, twirling and twisting. Looking at it made Arin feel dizzy after a while.

He shook his head and looked downward. A well-like structure was just below his feet, glowing with a bright celadon hue. This time, he also noticed a strange statue near the well.

"What the hell…" Arin exclaimed. "Where did the statue suddenly appear from?" He was sure that if this gigantic statue had been there before, he would have noticed it when he first opened his eyes.

This enormous statue depicted a mysterious figure in a robe, its face hidden beneath a hood. Arin couldn't tell if it had hands, but there were two massive wings spread on either side. It seemed to be made of marble, matching the greenish tint of the surrounding land of twilight.

Arin tried to discern the face carved into the statue. To his surprise, it felt like the statue was also looking at him. Arin sensed that if he observed it closely for a bit longer, he could actually see the face. Suddenly, he felt like the stony lips moved!

"Feeling better?" the statue spoke.

Startled, Arin darted backward, his survival instincts kicking in. Then he realized he had regained control of his body.

"Happy now?" the voice spoke again.

"Who are you? Where am I? What is happening to me? What is this place? How long am I..." Arin started spouting a barrage of questions but was cut short by the statue. "It seems you have yet to shed your mortal traits! So many questions, yet so little patience!"

"Wait..." shouted Arin. "It's the same voice I heard in my head!"

"Yes, and now listen to me as I speak," said the statue. "I am the God of Death, and you are in my realm, the land of Death." Suddenly, a thick fog slowly covered the face of the statue. As the face became blurry, Arin noticed the smirk disappearing, replaced by a grim expression. The fog eventually covered the entire statue, leaving only two glowing green eyes visible, piercing through the mist. For the first time, Arin felt truly intimidated and frozen in place.

"Listen to my words, my Hem'netjer," the strange statue spoke. "Listen closely, for you are now standing before Nerthazir, the Reaper Prime. I am the inevitable, the lurking shadow waiting to shroud mortals at the edge of their final breath, the eternal silence trailing their last heartbeat. No matter the paths mortals take in their lifetime, all paths eventually lead to my realm of perpetual twilight, as none can escape my grasp. You sought the hidden knowledge of the beyond in your last life. You should have known that when you stare at the abyss, the abyss stares back at you. You have answered my call, and in return, you shall bear witness to the end of all things. Embrace your fate, for in my domain, eternity unfolds in the flicker of an eye."

"So, I am dead and now trapped in this land of Death forever?" asked Arin.

"Yes, and no," spoke Nerthazir. "You are going to a new world to conquer it as my Champion. You will rule it and establish my superiority over all the other gods by crushing their followers."

"Why me?" asked Arin.

"Perhaps it is because of who you are, the latent potential surging inside you, or because of your interest in the occult. Or maybe," Nerthazir paused, "it was just a random event, a trick of fate. The mischievous, elusive, and strange fate that binds everything, from you mortals to even us gods."

"Are all those people who have been vanishing these last few days summoned by you as well?" Arin asked suspiciously. "If yes, then where are they? Are they your champions too?"

"This is for you to find out," Nerthazir chuckled. "As well as the path you will take and how you will tread upon it. You are not my puppet or slave. You are free to quit being my champion; all choices will be yours. But you should remember, every cause has an effect. As the decisions will be yours, so will their consequences."

"That's not something I had expected from a grim God of Death!" Arin said in surprise.

"Yes, I am often misunderstood by mortals, not that I care much. Anyway, go with my blessings, carve your own path. I wish you achieve what you had hoped for in your last life and more. As my Hem'netjer, you will have dominion over life and death. You will take life from the living and bless the dead with undeath. But remember to treat the power I bestow upon you with respect and responsibility. Or the power will corrupt you instead and take control of you. Following me is akin to walking on a tightrope; one misstep and you are destined to fall to your doom. But if you maintain balance and keep walking on that tightrope, you will one day reach your destiny, which I won't reveal now," said Nerthazir in a compassionate voice.

Arin suddenly remembered his father, whom he had forgotten much by now. There was a certain warmth in the God of Death's chilly embrace. "It will be done," Arin said spontaneously, bowing his head in reverence.

"May it be," Nerthazir's mysterious statue, which seemed to have come alive, gestured. Arin started floating upwards. He paused for a moment, able to see eye-to-eye with Nerthazir. "Before you leave for your new home, remember these doctrines of mine," said the Eternal Reaper. "Maintain Balance, Embrace Death with Grace, and Protect the soul from Corruption—both in and out of the body." Nerthazir gestured again, and Arin started floating upwards with increasing speed. Arin could feel his incorporeal body crumbling under the unmatched acceleration, and everything that made him Arin was dissipating. Only his consciousness remained at the end.