Rebirth of the Shadow Warrior

2- The Trial of Worthiness

When Thaddeus opened his eyes again, he was not in pain.

That was the first wrong thing. He should have felt emptiness or maybe something entirely different but instead, all he felt was weightlessness.

There was no sky, no ground, only an endless darkness that stretched into infinity. He turned slowly, his mind struggling to accept what his eyes showed him.

Confusion tightened in his chest. He remembered dying. That much was clear.

But how...?

The memory seemed lost to him for some unknown reason.

He tried to move but his body refused to respond, as if it no longer belonged to him. Instinctively, he also tried summoning his powers but to his surprise, nothing worked.

For the first time in years, Thaddeus felt something close to panic.

He turned frantically, looking around.

He couldn't even remember how he got here.

It was as if that section of his memory had been wiped away.

As if confirming his fear, a massive, dark figure materialized before him.

Its presence alone bent the air, distorting the darkness around it. Looking at it felt like staring directly into a black hole.

The figure did not move but Thaddeus could feel its presence pressing down on him like an invisible mountain as it stared at him.

Then the figure spoke in a reverberating voice that shook every corner of the abyss.

“Welcome to the Dark realm, Thaddeus. I've been expecting you for a long time..."

Thaddeus flinched, wondering how it knew him.

“…Who are you?” He forced the words out, different thoughts running through his mind.

The entity stared directly at Thaddeus and spoke again, sending fear all over his body.

“ I'm the guardian of the Shadow System and you're here.... because you died.”

Thaddeus struggled to breathe, despite the fact he no longer needed to, struggling to believe what he just heard.

The figure raised a hand and suddenly, memories flashed through Thaddeus’s mind.

He remembered the betrayal then dying.

Then Thorin's face surfaced in his mind.

Immediately the images stopped, he looked down slowly, breathing heavily with anger coursing through him.

“So I did die…”

The entity remained before him, now less like a shape and more like a distortion in reality.

“Correct,” it answered calmly.

His fingers curled instinctively, expecting pain to follow the memory but there was none.

His mind struggled to align it.

If he was stabbed… and died… then this shouldn’t be happening.

Yet here he was.

Thaddeus looked around again, trying to make sense of his situation.

The entity continued.

“ Your death activated what was sealed within your bloodline.”

Thaddeus paused.

“Bloodline…?” he repeated slowly.

The entity continued.

“A system dormant for generations. One that only awakens with rebirth.”

Thaddeus frowned, confusion all over his face.

He couldn't understand it.

He knew his family were god level cultivators but a hidden power in their bloodline? Something triggered by death itself?

“ Impossible... What do you mean? ” Thaddeus muttered, his mind trying to make sense of what heard.

" There are many things you don't know.." the entity responded and silence followed.

Then suddenly, something else happened.

Strange memories began to rush into his mind.

Memories of things that never happened.

He saw a future where he rises again...

He saw the council kneeling before him, begging for their existence.

He saw himself ruling empires...

Thaddeus gasped in shock, unable to believe what he was seeing.

“This… isn’t real…”

“ Yes. It is not the present,” the entity replied.

“But it will become your future… after you've proven yourself worthy of the system.”

Thaddeus’s eyes widened, still shaken by what he saw.

“Wait— my future? System? What! ” He rushed, breathing heavily as he began to understand that these were forces beyond anything he ever known.

As if reading his mind, the entity looked at him one last time before floating away.

“Prepare.”

Thaddeus blinked rapidly, his fear intensifying each passing second.

“Prepare for what?” he demanded. “You can’t just say things like that and disappear—!”

But the entity was already gone and Thaddeus was left alone, standing in the endless darkness with unanswered questions burning through him, staring at where something had just told him his entire life had changed and offered no explanation for what came next.

Then, suddenly a second voice answered.

It didn't sound like the entity but something different.

[SYSTEM INITIALIZING…]

[HOST DETECTED: THADDEUS LYNWOOD]

[SOUL STATUS: EXECUTED]

Thaddeus froze for a minute.

He wasn't breathing, yet his heart pounded violently against his chest like he was alive.

“Who’s there?” he demanded but the voice did not respond.

Instead, a floating panel of pale light opened in front of him and the voice continued

[WELCOME HOST]

Thaddeus couldn't understand what was happening.

It continued.

[THIS SYSTEM EXISTS TO CORRECT UNJUST DEATHS AND ELEVATE HOST TO THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF POWER.]

Thaddeus stood still, his curiosity taking over.

“... What is this?”

For the first time, the system’s tone changed.

[JUDGMENT HAS FALLEN UPON YOUR DEATH

AND YOU'VE BEEN CHOSEN]

The panel expanded again as the voice spoke more.

[ BUT FIRST , YOU HAVE TO PROVE YOURSELF WORTHY BY SURVIVING THE SOUL DEVOURING BEAST.]

Thaddeus’s expression changed instantly as the last words landed. “What do you mean—”

But before he could finish, it went off.

He looked around and tried calling out for the entity but his voice was dissolved by the darkness before it could get anywhere.

His chest continued to rise rapidly at intervals.

Before he could process what was happening, he heard a terrifying roar from the abyss.

It sounded like the cries of a million voices begging to be freed.

Thaddeus instinctively stood his ground at the sound. It was as if his body had already decided before his mind could argue.

The shrieking sound continued to echo through the corners of the abyss long after the creature shut its mouth.

Thaddeus slowly steadied his breath as he watched the creature descend out of the darkness and braced himself for the worst.

Nothing prepared him for the sight and his jaw dropped the moment he saw it.

It was nothing like anything he had seen before.

It towered over him like a building and its sheer size made it seem as though the abyss itself was struggling to contain it.

Four red eyes sat embedded in its skull, unmoving and all fixed on him at once. Above them, three long horns arched upward, each one burning with a living fire.

The horrifying creature stood several meters away and stared intensely at him as if to scare him away.

Thaddeus's heartbeat quickened at the sight and he unconsciously let out a sigh.

He had faced war. He had faced cultivators who could split stone with a glance. He had survived battles that should have ended him long before this moment.

But this.

This was unlike anything he had ever fought before .

His instinct screamed at him to move, to reconsider every decision that had brought him here but his feet stayed planted, fully knowing there was no escaping from this.

The beast tilted its head slightly, as though amused by his decision and then gave another tremendous roar.

This time, the cries were louder.

It sounded like millions of trapped souls all breaking at once, overlapping and collapsing into one single unbearable cry.

For a moment, he wondered if this was what the souls inside it had heard before they died.

It was as if the creature wasn't just roaring but flaunting the cries of the souls it had devoured and was telling him, without words, to prepare to join them, reminding him of the same fate that awaited him after this.

Thaddeus bit his lips in fear and slowly forced himself to focus.

Because whatever this thing was, it had already killed countless beings who had likely felt the same terror.

And yet it still breathed which meant it could be killed.

The creature took slow steps and lowered its head slightly, showcasing its burning horns as the screams within its roar intensified.

Then it waited, as if giving him time to understand what was coming.

His hands grew cold but Thaddeus didn’t look away. He stood his ground and tried to summon his powers.

Instantly, dark shadows slowly materialized around his hand. It felt like something recognizing its owner after a long absence.

A great relief washed over him as the familiar feeling coursed through his body.

With his powers back " He smiled, staring at the shadow energy circulating his hands.

Now he stood a chance.

He had died once already and whatever this was, it would not take that away from him twice.

The beast raised its head slightly, as if acknowledging the defiance and let out another roar.

In the blink of an eye, it surged forward.