First-dark the next day, found me standing in front of the entrance to Nihilators cave lair.

My heart was thumping rapidly and there was a hollow feeling in my stomach.

Taking a deep breath, I clenched my fists and went through the opening, starting the hour long journey to my god’s prison.

The journey to Nihilators’ prison was less creepy than the previous times I had made it. As a Shadow-Touched creature, I fit right in with the other creatures of darkness. Though that did nothing to alleviate my tension. My nervousness increased as I got closer and closer to my destination, and the deadly creature that lay within

I walked down the tube-like tunnel, its walls perfectly smooth from the blast that formed it so long ago. I walked with sure steps. I ignored the snarling Mastiffs, waded through the dark river unhindered, and crossed the shadow-made bridge that spanned the lava flow. They were all part of my domain now.

Then I was standing before the enormous, chain-bound gates of Nihilator’s prison.

I stopped a moment to mentally prepare myself for the encounter. Should I try to make an entrance? Maybe show off my control of darkness? No, I shook my head. Even at my maximum, any power I exhibited would look pathetic to Nihilator. Better not risk angering him. But that thought led to another idea. Maybe I should have brought a gift... an offering. Shit! Why hadn’t I thought of it sooner. I hastily rummaged through my inventory, hoping to find something that might interest a tier 8 boss. Nothing.

The only thing that I thought might not offend him too much was a figurine of a dwarf carved from black onyx, I’d had it in my inventory for ages. It looked expensive and I hoped the black motif of the carving would interest him.

Holding the figurine I boldly stepped through the smaller doorway. Feeling as if I’m walking into the belly of the beast.

Nihilator’s immense hound shaped body, laying on the floor, was the first thing I saw. The three great chains made of different elements, still binding him to a stone mound.

This time, I could sense something coming from the demi-god...a faint wisp of information.

I frowned. It was too faint for me to understand, but it felt important.

Vic, help me out here?

he grumbled.

Nihilator progress to next boss tier: 11%

That… was interesting.

Our clan’s god raised his head and looked at me. Now that I was somewhat used to his presence I saw draconic features intertwined with his hound-like appearance.

“WE MEET AGAIN MY LITTLE MINION” he greeted me with an uncaring tone.

His voice hit me like a billowing wind, and I was hurled to the ground by its force.

“OH HOW DROLL” he yawned, exhibiting dozens of sharp teeth.

As before, his body began shrinking, until he was the size of a horse.

“Why have you come before me, my servant?” he demanded.

At his smaller size, his voice no longer pressed down on me, and I was able to stand and bow to my deity.

“I’m afraid I bear dire news, master. And come seeking your guidance. But first…” I carefully placed the small figurine on the ground between us. “Accept this small token offering.”

Nihilator’s bowed down his great head, his nose sniffing at the figurine, nearly touching it. He jerked up his head, his eyes opened wide. “Where did you find this?” He demanded. “It is an ancient artifact of immense dark power! With it, I can break my bonds and be free from this accursed prison.”

I paled at that, I wasn’t ready for the apocalypse to start just yet.

“I..I..” I stammered, “I...didn’t realize…I mean...really?”

“NO, NOT ‘REALLY’ YOU WRETCHED WORM!” Nihilator roared and I was once again slammed to the ground by the sheer force of his voice.

“YOU DARE BRING SUCH A LOWLY OFFERING TO NIHILATOR? YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!”

I was helpless to resist. Pressed down, barely able to move, I could sense Nihilator open maw approaching me.

“No, please, master!” I yelled out the first thing that came to mind “the Travelers have found us.”

I breathed in relief when Nihilator stopped to consider my words.

He growled, as if chewing his next words, “What do you mean by that, minion?”

“We discovered a small group of Travelers in the forest, and went out to attack them,” I hurriedly explained. “During the fight, they let us know they were here searching for our clan specifically. We disposed of the intruders at great cost. But, now they know our location, and I fear we won’t be able to stop a full invasion force of immortal Travelers. They intend to destroy us, master.”

Nihilator seemed unimpressed by our plight. I had to delicately present the situation as his problem.

“My lord, If they succeed, I won’t be able to send you the energy you require to break from your prison.”

Nihilator growled again. “And I sense you have the roots of a plan, minion.”

I nodded. “Yes master. I plan to activate the Eternal Night blessing at your Shrine. It will help weaken our enemies, though I fear it won’t be enough.”

Nihilator slowly nodded, relaxing his aggressive stance. “That is true, minion. However, there is more to it.”

I perked up at that. Do tell.

“Once activated, darkness will spew from the place of my worship. But that pitiful Shrine you dedicated to my worship will barely be adequate to bestow that blessing. You would do well to build a place of worship more worthy of me.”

Yeah, yeah, I already figured that out. Tell me something I don’t know. I was very careful to contain the thread of that thought deep inside my mind.

Nihilator continued. “At the center of its point of origin, the blessing would be highly concentrated, and thus, more effective against your foes. However, it is within your reach to expand my area of influence, thus expand its more effective center.”

Now, that was something I hadn’t considered before!

“How may I accomplish that, oh great Nihilator?” I asked tentatively.

“BY PERFORMING THE TASK I HAVE ALREADY GIVEN YOU!” he blasted back at me.

For the third time in our discussion, I was hurled to the ground by his voice.

“Four weeks have passed since I tasked you with consecrating three places of worship to my name. And you have consecrated only one.”

He growled menacingly, then licked his mouth. “Though I do admit, you offered a truly magnificent sacrifice. So I shall be lenient with you and allow your pitiful existence to continue a while longer.”

I shivered slightly. Nihilator’s threat carried a lot of weight. He was one of the few creatures of this world who could destroy my soul and end my life permanently. I got lucky in sacrificing Barska back then. It looked like the 8000 energy points it generated were to Nihilator’s liking.

I bowed deeply. “I understand master.”

Quest Updated: Dark Missionary

Nihilator tasked you with consecrating a total of three new locations in his name.

You have consecrated one altar at Raider’s Camp to The Cult of Nihilator.

Remaining: 2 Time limitation: 20 days

He growled, but looked appeased by my words.

“Once you have dedicated the three places of power around your pathetic little clan, all the area between them will be enshrouded with my Eternal Darkness. Making the blessing upon your entire valley more effective. Any foe that dares to enter will be weakened immeasurably.”

Now that was good news!

So all I had to do was find or build two more Shrines, effectively marking a triangle with the valley at its center.

Vic remarked.

“Of course, five places of power would prove even more effective,” Nihilator said, as if hearing Vic’s telepathic comment.

Vic said jubilantly.

I groaned silently.

“In addition,” Nihilator continued “You will need Adepts, who shall perform as my priests, and to attend each of my temples. Furthermore, you will have two Adepts attend the central temple at all times.

So on top of everything, I’d have to recruit five more goblins. I grimaced, goblin Adepts were expensive, Advanced and Exquisite food were needed to summon them.

Well, as long as I’m here, I might as well try to get a little extra out of the Double-D.

Vic chortled

I thought for a moment, phrasing my next words carefully.

“Master, even with the Eternal Night blessing, my forces might still prove not strong enough to repel the invaders. Could you perhaps offer any tiny bit of help?”

“You are as impudent as always,” he remarked calmly. “Grant me the remaining energy I require, and as I have already promised, you may call on my help for one hour.”

Yeah sure, like gaining another ninety thousand energy is no big deal, I thought, careful not to roll my eyes.

“I’m afraid that at our current rate it would take too long to gather the required amount,” I confessed, “though if my clan is destroyed, no amount of energy would be generated at all… surely master, in your vast power and boundless wisdom, there is a little more you can offer?”

Vic spoke up

I ignored Vic, and continued speaking to our clan deity. “Perhaps you can grant me a few more Faith Points, to activate the blessing, or maybe teach me a few more runes? Any little thing you can do would help us greatly.”

Nihilator looked at me calmly. Too calmly.

“So, you wish to learn more runes, is that right, my minion?”

Vic piped in.

“Yes master.” I bowed.

“And you wish me to bestow you with more Faith Points?”

I bowed again.

Barter skill level increased to 10

“Very well, then you shall have both!” He declared magnanimously “Swear before me that you are my most humble servant. Offer your flesh and your life to me as a token of your faith.”

Vic yelled in my mind.

I ignored Vic. If Nihilator just wanted to hurt me, he could do that at any time. If all he wanted was for me to do a little bit groveling at his feet…well that was a small price to pay to have his support in the coming fight.

I bent down to my knees before the great beast, and with my best humble voice declared; “Nihilator, great lord of darkness and dust, I vow to serve you faithfully, from now and forever. I offer my life and my flesh to you freely.”

You have made a vow in the name of your deity, Nihilator

Condition: endure your reward.

Failure: permanent debuff [varied]

Success: 100 Faith Points, new rune learned.

I scratched my temple. Endure my reward? What the--

My thoughts cut off as Nihilator’s narrowed his eyes, and I was suddenly immobilized. I could sense the mana flow in my body becoming still, similar to my own Freeze power. I was a Dark Mana manipulator, a goblin Totem boss, chief of my clan. I struggled against Nihilator’s hold, but all I could do was stare back at him, hoping to survive what was sure to follow.

Raising one great paw, Nihilator reached toward me with a single, long, razored talon. Pushing the tip into my chest he began to etch. Blood spurted to the floor as he carved a rune deeply into my flesh. Concentrated dark-mana oozed like syrup from the claw into my wounds, searing like acid.

My Mind Over Body trait served me well, I bore the pain, fighting off the overwhelming urge to scream, waiting for Nihilator to finish toying with me. Barska and that sick hob-elf bitch could have taken a lesson from this dark sadist.

At last he finished. My wounds closed of themselves, sealing the dark liquid within, painting the shape clearly on my chest, like a raised full body tattoo, or a ritual scarification.

Vow completed: Endure

Reward: +100 Faith Points, new rune

Additional effect: you have been bound by Nihilator.

You gained knowledge of a new rune: ‘Og’ (Rune of Binding)

You have absorbed a high concentration of dark energy.

+3 Dark Mana skill (new skill level: 30)

I was reading the new messages with great interest so Vic’s statement distracted me.

What do you mean by ‘bound’? I didn’t feel any different, aside from the burning, residual pain in my chest.

It doesn’t really matter, Vic. I’ve got what we come for. And then some. The contribution to my Dark Mana skill alone was astounding. The skill was now at the maximum potential for my Mental attribute, theoretically allowing me to Dominate and Freeze creatures ten levels higher than myself. Reaching my upper limit cap meant I’d have to level up to increase the skill level further.

Suddenly released from the magical hold, I fell to my knees. I stayed down and bowed to Nihilator. “Thank you, master.”

Grunting and turning his back to me, Nihilator resumed his original position.

I walked out of his chamber and made my way back up the tunnel.

Vic left my shoulder, and walked beside me.

“That was stupid boss, you don’t know what power he has over you now.”

I shrugged, “I will, soon enough. I just need to experiment with the new rune a little bit first.”

“But--” he tried to object.

“Hey, what’s that?”

We’d reached the lava flow, and I caught a glimpse of a reddish glint coming from a shallow alcove. It was located above where the lava stream drained into a hole in the wall.

Vic followed my finger and squinted. “Seems like there’s something there. But can’t really see what from this angle”

He resumed walking up the tunnel.

“Hold on, I want to check it out.”

“How would you do that? In case you haven't noticed, there’s this river of molten boiling rock below it.”

“Like this.” I concentrated and activated Shadow Teleport, instantly reappearing on the edge of the shallow alcove. I almost lost my footing, but managed to grab hold of the alcove walls in time.

Vic snickered. “Yep, that’s a pretty cool spell boss.”

Inside the alcove was a deep horizontal shaft, about the width of a goblin’s head. The shaft was radiating heat and it was filled with Magmashrooms.

Jackpot!

I collected as many of the rare items as I could, stuffing 37 of them into my inventory. As far as I knew, these rare magma-infused mushrooms could be used a in variety of rafts, even as ingredients in Exquisite Food. If nothing else they were high value items for trading.

Feeling better at the unexpected find, I teleported back down and we resumed our walk.

I was thinking of how to best use the magmashrooms, when Vic interrupted with “Ding! You have an incoming message.”

“Eh?”

New Era Online [Internal messaging service]:

From: SuperWolf#23

Subject: We need to talk!

Oren,

Send me your current coordinates.

We need to talk.

ASAP.

Tal

I frowned.

Tal...Tal...But he was...a Traveler. We are...were once…close friends? But he is not truly of NEO, he is nothing but a distraction now.

“Aren’t you gonna answer back?” Vic asked expectantly.

I shook my head. “There is no reason, to.”

I gave a mental flick, closing the message.

“Boss, wait a minute, we need to talk.”

I stopped walking and stare at him. ”Now what? You’re going to scold me for ignoring that message?”

“Tal is your friend, boss. You best pal, actually.”

“No.” I shook my head. “That would be Tika, Zuban, even you. The Travelers come from another world, they don’t care about us. I can’t maintain personal contact with one.”

“Don’t you remember your life before NEO? Think Oren, how did you become a goblin?”

A flash of memory flared in my mind, being laughed at, humiliated, and kicked around. I felt my temper flares.

I clenched my fist. “It’s those damned Travelers’ fault! Vatras might be the worst of them, but we can’t trust any of them, we’re nothing but fodder in their eyes!”

“Is that so?” Vic asked calmly. “Then what about the twins?”

I calmed myself. “That’s different. They are partly of NEO, I can feel that. They just need to take one small step to become one with this world fully, like me. Still, I don’t plan to lower my guard around them.”

Vic shook his head… sadly. “You’re losing it boss. You are a player, your name is Oren and this world was made by your people. This world was made to be a game.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “It’s not like you to say things like that. What are you up to Vic?”

He smiled mischievously. “Well, I took the liberty of sending Tal your coordinates and I just had to find a way to keep you standing long enough in one place.”

My rage flared. “YOU WHAT!?”

A familiar black sphere popped up around me, engulfing my body.

Vic voice came to me from far away.

It’s for your own good, boss.