The Shackled Void

News travels faster than plague in The Undercroft.

Tarek Mornhall was sitting in his makeshift headquarters, poring over dead-end reports from his men, when one of his paid informants rushed in breathlessly.

"Boss! Fresh news!" the informant gasped. "Just came from 'The Gilded Leech'. Mad rumor. Someone just 'erased' the curse off Gorgon the Butcher's Soul-Branded Shield. Gone. Like it was never there!"

Tarek looked up, eyes narrowing. "Who?"

"Nobody knows for sure. Just described as a robed figure, quiet. But Gorgon called him by a name... 'Nihil'."

Tarek stood. Everything clicked. Anomalous power to erase matter. The same name. "White hair, crimson eyes..." he murmured. His target wasn't hiding. He was interacting. Leaving traces. This hunt just got far more interesting. "Find out everything about this Gorgon. Pinpoint where the deal went down. Our quarry is showing its teeth."

Elsewhere, in the grand library of House Nocturne, Velka blew dust off an ancient leather-bound tome. After hours searching the forbidden section, she'd finally found it: a journal written in cipher by an ancestor who also bore the curse.

With trembling hands, she began decoding. The contents made her gasp.

"...They were wrong," the ancestor wrote. "...They called it a curse, a sickness to be contained, hidden. But they were wrong. This is no degeneration. It is metamorphosis. The Shackles of Nihility do not destroy the soul; they empty it to be filled by something more primal. Containing it only makes the eruption more catastrophic. The only path is not rejection, but integration. One must learn to 'breathe' with the void..."

Velka closed the book, mind racing. Alban wanted him dead. Father wanted him caged. Both were wrong. According to this text, their actions would *create* the disaster they feared. Nihil didn't need an executioner or a prison. He needed a guide.

Following Gorgon's directions, Nihil found The Whispering Flagon. It was crowded, yet every patron seemed wrapped in their own affairs. With his earned coin, he rented a small room on the second floor and ordered a bowl of warm stew and bread.

It was his first hot meal since arriving in this world. As he ate alone in the simple room, Heze felt something akin to comfort for the first time. He'd survived. He had resources. He had a lead.

His system pinged.

[Action 'Curse Erasure' absorbed significant Residual Essence.]

[Void Resonance increased.]

[Current Void Sync: 2.1%]

Erasing magical entities was the fastest path to growth. Crucial information.

After finishing his meal, he stood by the room's small window, watching the flickering lights of The Undercroft below. He no longer saw it as a terrifying maze, but a complex ecosystem. He'd survived the escape. Now, it was time to start playing the game. Tomorrow, he would find "The Weaver".

The first phase of his journey had ended. He was no longer just hunted prey; he was a mysterious new player on the underworld's chessboard.