The Crimson Elf

Silax's heart pounded a frantic rhythm against his ribs. The thirst for strength, the yearning to carve his own destiny, gnawed at him.

Despite the allure of unlimited power, Silax's excitement was quickly doused by a wave of caution. He refused to lose his head.

"I do not seek to be a god. All I want is freedom to make my own choices."

"That is exactly what I offer. Freedom to go wherever you please. Freedom to be whoever you want. Freedom in life. Freedom from death. Freedom from the laws that govern the world."

Maecenas' voice held an intoxicating pull, Silax found himself being drawn in as the words entered his mind.

"What sort of power is it? How do I obtain it?"

Silax couldn't stop himself from responding to words of the black figure.

"An Orenda-Sigil. Different from that which his wielded by any other elf. One which comes with added benefits."

The reply dampened Silax's enthusiasm. Accommodating a sigil was one thing Silax had longed for but never able to get. His glabella was destroyed a long time ago, turning his Nexus into a dark empty void, unable to accommodate sigils or orenda.

Now that he had become a vampyre, it had now become impossible. Only elves could inscribe sigils, there were even certain elves born without the ability to inscribe one.

As his heart was filled with disappointment he focused on the spot between his eyebrows, and what he found shocked him.

'It's been healed! I can sense my Nexus. The ethereal space that exists to accommodate orenda is whole. But how? The transformation? It must have recovered while I went through the change.'

This new discovery, though welcomed, confused Silax. Only elves were bestowed with the space meant to absorb orenda. How did he still have it, now that he had become a vampyre?

Silax decided to throw those questions to the back of his mind, now wasn't the time to dwell on them. It was time to see what the difference between the sigil Maecenas was offering and the ones he knew of.

Silax was still vigilant regarding this offer. Power always came at a price, and this entity reeked of something far more sinister than gold or jewels.

"What's the catch? What do you want in return?" he finally forced out.

Maecenas tilted, a movement that somehow suggested a malicious grin.

"Do not fear. The price is small for such a gift."

The formless figure extended a tendril of blackness, its tip glowing with an ominous violet light.

"A mere sliver of your essence, a fragment of your soul. Not for me, but to fuel this magnificent gift. Woven into the fabric of this gift."

The inky tendril of darkness snaked towards Elias, wrapping around his wrist like a cold serpent. He flinched, but the voice soothed him, a silken whisper in his ear.

"Imagine, Elias, bending reality to your will. Commanding the elements, crushing your enemies with a thought. This power can be yours. All you have to do is accept."

Before Silax could react, the black tendril shot up his arm, wrapping itself around his forehead. He cried out in pain, a searing agony erupting within his skull.

He felt a part of himself, something vital, being ripped away, as it was woven into the symbol. A fragment of his soul was sacrificed for this unknown power.

Silax tried to focus on the sigil being inscribe into his glabella, to take his mind away from the agony. He directed his mind into the ethereal space, the Nexus.

The sigil was shaped like an eight-pointed star, its sharp angles and eight points radiating outward like grasping claws. The shape screamed of the endless reach of darkness.

The sigil was a deep, inky black, devoid of any light or color. It appeared like a hole punched into reality, swallowing any light that came near it. Unlike elemental sigils, this sigil lacked the traditional runes.

The pain began to recede as information on the sigil was transmitted into his mind.

The Devouring Void.

A sigil of unending darkness that embodies the all-encompassing nature of the void, a hungry void which consumes and extinguishes all other elements.

This sigil's true power lies in its ability to devour other sigils. The Devouring Void sigil latches onto elemental sigils and drains them of their essence.

As it consumes, the sigil writhes and pulsates, the stolen power manifesting as warped versions of the elemental runes on its surface. 

Each consumed elemental sigil grants the abilities of that element and an added ability related to that sigil once saturation is achieved.

The Devouring Void is not limited to the elemental sigils. It has the potential to consume runes of power, stealing its ability and creating versions of the runes on its surface.

Be warned, activating the Devouring Void sigil is a dangerous act. It requires a deep understanding of the intended elemental sigil, and the bearer of the sigil to be consumed never survives.

The splitting headache Silax felt subsided, he opened his eyes to see that the tendril was still latching onto his head. 

Maecenas' figure was faded and depleted, only the head and the tendril holding onto Silax was left. It had used the energy that its body was made up of to fuel the creation of the sigil. 

The little part left of his figure pulsed faintly, a hint of something like amusement flickering within its dark core.

"The gift is now in your hands. Use it wisely. Or unwisely. The choice is yours."

Then it vanished completely.

Silax stumbled back, a hand flying to touch his forehead.

The voice of Maecenas echoed one last time in his mind, this time more silent, like a whisper. 

'I leave you with a parting present. A leaf from Asorin. Picture a place in your mind, and you will be there. Five uses are all you get, and each additional person you take with you constitutes a use.' 

In the center of the room where Maecenas had vanished from, lay a sole leaf. It was green and ordinary looking; it did not look to have anything special about it.

Silax stood alone in the chamber, the weight of the unknown gift pressed upon him. He had gained power, a power unlike any other, one he will have to discover what it entailed.

He looked upon the leaf that lay on the floor, the blandness of it was underwhelming to him.

'Could this truly be the leaf of the legendary tree I have spent so much time searching for? This is a new clue to its location, but now that I have the power of the sigils, do I need to continue my search? Yes. Asorin offers much more than any sigil can grant.'

He walked up to the leaf and picked it up. As soon as he grabbed it, his vision swam, and he was back in the hall with the well.

He had only spent thirty minutes in that white chamber, but he had gained much more.

Once again, a lot had changed in him.