CRIMSON GUARD

Harry stood amid the growing grass and sighed while trying his best to formulate a plan to grab the crystal from the growing grass. This kind of situation was one of the situations he hated the most where he had to do something but he had to do it before the time reached zero. Only that this time it isn't a stopwatch but it's rather a group of grass surrounding what he was looking for.

'What do I do? Do I have to jump in the middle in order to take it or do I have to stretch my hand?', he asked himself with his right hand which was still bleeding from the wound caused by the black sword. He gritted his teeth while enduring the pain and while thinking through it and clearing up his mind through the storm like some old hermit. I bet this moment would have looked good if he had his white beard reaching the ground and his eyebrows reaching the skies.

Time was now of the essence since each tiny fragment of it spent lucratively was going to decide if one was going to be successful or not. Harry closed his eyes and stared into the enveloping darkness which was far and thin within his line of sight. He had expected to see the yellow screen trying to grab his attention but this time it wasn't the matter since all he could see was total darkness.

'What is this? Where is that stupid screen when I need it the most?', he asked himself while continuously staring into the darkeness as if he was searching for something. His eyes searched and searched but couldn't notice anything extraordinary among the shifting shadows of what seem to be an ocean of shadows. What was terrifying enough was that he was lost in the middle of these shifting shadows.

He could have sworn that he could feel several hands grabbing his legs. His body shuddered with the thought of what could be happening to him.

He tried to move but he couldn't and trying to open his eyes had also become another problem. 'What is this? The darkness, I've never felt it to be as thick as this ever before.'

True to his words the darkness was something he had never witnessed before even though he was one with the darkness. It was thicker than ever and the kind of pressure exuding out of it was more than he could take.

Before he knew it his body was slowly sinking into the darkness bit by bit. 'Wait why are you doing this to me? Aren't we suppose to be one, me and you? Why are you doing this?', he asked while his body was slowly being emerged into the darkness.

The thick shadows held on to his body and slowly crawled to his chest and then to his neck where their grip on his body tightened a bit for no reason. This had caused him to gasp for air with his mouth opened like a fish out of water and eyes widening as if they were almost going to bulge out of their sockets.

His screams slowly turned into muffled cries and then nothing as the shadows covered his face completely, blurring his vision and ceasing his breathing in the process. Harry hyperventilated and tried hit outmost best to fight his way out of the situation.

The thick shadow continuously swirled around his fragile body, creating a cocoon around his skin. Harry wriggled like a worm amid the deafening darkness.

His vision slowly faded away as several images of the life he had lived on earth flashed through his eyes causing tears to roll down his cheeks and into the darkness. 'So is this how I'm going to die? Without even a comfortable coffin, a funeral and a cremation ceremony. Not even anything left behind to help my friends and family remember my unimportant existence. Is this the true definition of how short a human's life is and how easy a healthy person can just kick the bucket?

Who's bucket was it though? Did it belong to the grim reaper or the devil? Which one these truly signified death? Why are all these thoughts coming to me at this important time of my unimportant life? Can't I just die peacefully like any other good and important person outside this hell? Wait, what if this is just another nightmare like the ones I pass through everyday within that house? What if it will just pass by and leave if I'm able to endure it to the end?'.

As if reacting to his anxiety, the shadow squeezed his body tightly almost popping his eyeballs out of their sockets. This had caused a small amount of blood to trickle out of his mouth and nose. He choked on his own blood uncontrollably. Burning sensations began to build up within his chest. Before he could prepare himself for what was about to happen, his lungs had already given up on him and had exploded in his chest.

Harry's eyes darted helplessly across the darkness and then rolled up into oblivion. After his untimely death, the shadows left his body and slowly descended back into their positions.

Out of the sea of shadows appeared a single humanoid shadow. Its presence created an ominous feeling with the place. The shadows across the ground where it stood slowly dispersed away from it stood as if they were trying to give it some space or some triumphant entry.

'You did nothing wrong to me friend. You are the only friend I have and I would like to see you prosper than ever. That's why I must be numb to this pain. Together we will grow as one—inseparable and inextricably intertwined.', the figure said while slowly progressing towards to the body on the ground.

Upon reaching where the body laid, it turned into a mist of shifting shadows and entered into the mouth of Harry's limped body. The process continued until all the shifting shadows which were at the place where the figure stood vanished into Harry's body.

A rectangular screen appeared out of thin air once again and this time it wasn't the colorful one that Harry had first sighted. It was all black with a purple hue and an ominous presence around which caused the sea of shadows to twist and turn as if they were reacting to the power of the rectangular screen.

Looking closely at what was currently written on the screen, one could make out the words: "Sychronization has been completed."

Cough!

Cough!

Soon after the screen had appeared though, the continuously coughing of a person echoed throughout the place. The limp body which laid amid the shadows had come back to life once again.

Harry stood up from the ground with a frown on his face as he stared at the words on the screen. "What's with this gothic theme?", he asked the system with his annoyance sky rocketing at the moment.

The screen changed it words in an oddly manner as compared to how it used to. This time it had disintegrated into nothing as if an acid had been poured on the screen. In the next second though and new screen appeared out of nowhere and on it were the answers Harry was looking for.

[The system has finally and successfully synchronized with the user's soul stone. Due to the attributes of your soul stone the system creates a theme to match its abilities. From what the system has done you can guess the state of your soul stone.]

Harry's eyes twitched when he had read the last part of the message. He knew he was always engulfed in a fog of darkness from birth but he didn't knew that this darkness was now in his heart and soul. A devilish smirk appeared on his face when had realized that what had happened to him not long ago was just a silly dream, no, a nightmare which he had woken up from. What he didn't know was that the custodian of that darkness now resided within his body.

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