Darkness

Li Wei stared at the woman as he saw her swift changes in expression. Her eyes wandered all over Li Wei's body and stopped at Li Wei's right hand.

"You! Who are you?" quietly asked the woman with a weird face.

"What? Why should I tell you?" answered Li Wei. In his mind, he was preparing to activate the suicide option at a moment's notice.

"Wait, I don't know how you can instantly die but don't do that!" declared the woman as she showed the torture instrument in her hand and placed it down before raising her two hands to show that she was not going to harm him.

'What is she doing? Diverting my attention?' thought Li Wei.

"I will not harm you! Please be at ease!" said the woman and at the same time, the marks on her face suddenly disappeared, leaving behind a spotless face. But even without the marks, the woman could not be called attractive.

"Why should I believe you?" suspiciously asked Li Wei. Instead of reassuring him, the fact that the marks disappeared made Li Wei tenser than before.

The woman looked at him for a moment before answering: "Simply because if I am not wrong, the ring on your right hand is the Ring of Chaos!"

Li Wei froze. His ring was his biggest secret! It was his trump card and the only time he ever used the [Chaos Sphere] when he arrived on Zero was against Li Yuxin but even then, he did not reveal any information about it. So how did that woman know about it?

"Looking at your expression, I guess I am right!" said the woman as she looked at Li Wei.

Without waiting for an answer, the woman moved and four loud "Bang!" were heard.

Li Wei suddenly felt his hands and legs able to move again. They were previously stretched by chains, making him look like someone who was learning to float on water for the first time. Now, his hands were free to move; the chains randomly disappeared as if they were never there.

"Lady Messenger! What are you doing? This man is..."

"Silence Gogius!" ordered the woman as she saw the mage trying to step forward. "Get out of here! I need to talk to him in private!"

Li Wei, who was now free to move, tried to get up and found that he was previously lying on a wooden table. Several tables were aligned in a row. On each one of them, four chains could be seen which previously held the limbs of the other players. A few items could also be seen scattered all over the place. They were the items dropped by the players after their death.

A few torches could be seen on the walls of the room. In front of him, Li Wei saw the woman crossing her arms and looking towards the door where the mage, Gogius was standing. The latter angrily looked at Li Wei for a moment; he wanted to argue with the woman but quickly dismissed the idea. He grumbled as he obeyed the order and closed the door while he left the room.

"I am sorry for making you see that and for capturing you," said the woman showing a sincere expression.

"Who are you? Why did you suddenly decide to release me?" asked Li Wei.

The woman moved and tried to sit next to Li Wei. But the latter quickly jumped off the table and backed off.

"Sigh... You can call me Messenger! Because that's what I am; a messenger of God!" said the woman while looking at Li Wei.

"You are one of those heretics? What do you want from me!?" declared Li Wei.

The Messenger frowned, "Don't mix heretics and evil cults together! Despite the appearance, they are completely different entities! Heretics are simply a product of the church that turned wrong; they are people who believed that Zero was created by God and that people are ruining it which is why they are trying to fight to kill people and allow nature to rule the continent!"

"Evil cults are different in the sense that we serve different gods! More specifically the gods worshiped by demons and devils! Our goal is not to wipe out humans off the continent, all we want is to earn a place on Zero!"

Li Wei looked at the Messenger, "Is there even a difference?"

"Do you really need me to explain? Heretics kill for the sake of killing. We, the evil cults fight for the sake of opening a territory for the demons to live! You don't know that, but the demons did not attack Zero without a reason in the past. They attacked because their own home was being threatened! And they needed a backup plan. Their opponent was too strong and so, they turned towards Zero which was ruled by silly humans. If they did not need to fight on two fronts, Zero would have already been conquered," explained the Messenger.

"I don't care about the motives of the demons! Just tell me why you released me?" asked Li Wei on his guards.

"Did I not already say it? Because you own the Ring of Chaos! Which makes you the Heir of the Chaos Faction!"

Confused, Li Wei asked, "The Chaos faction? What is that again?"

The messenger sighed and stood up, "Come with me! This is not a proper place to have a conversation."

She walked towards the door and opened it. She looked outside and seeing that the mage was already gone. She turned towards Li Wei and waited to see his reaction.

"What is happening? Is that another one of their tricks?" said Li Wei to himself.

He hesitated for a moment and finally, he decided to follow the Messenger for a moment. If he felt any sign of danger, he would immediately activate the suicide option.

...

Li Wei was brought into a well-decorated room. There were a lot of mats on the floor and weird symbols and items could be seen on the walls. It looked like a Shaman's lair.

The Messenger showed some pillows and indicated Li Wei to sit there. The latter suspiciously looked at the pillows but seeing nothing wrong with them after moving them, he sat down and waited.

A few moments later, the woman came back, carrying two cups and a bottle. She quickly opened the sealed bottle before pouring a red liquid in the cups and giving one to Li Wei.

Li Wei hesitated, "Is it poisoned again?" He nevertheless took the cup but decided to not drink it.

The Messenger did not seem to mind and quickly downed her own cup to show that the liquid was not dangerous but that did not change Li Wei's opinion. Just like how the merchant poisoned them, the Messenger might have consumed something else before coming into the room.

"So? Tell me! What is that faction you were talking about?" asked Li Wei.

The messenger placed her cup on the floor and looked at Li Wei, "There are several hidden factions on the continent of Zero. Before the empires were built, Zero was ruled by different factions. But when war broke out, the different factions were the one that took the heaviest blow. In the end, they slowly weakened and now, their names are barely known to the world. The empires rose into prominence and the faction gradually faded into the background."

"In fact, despite losing several warriors during the war, the hidden factions remained the strongest force of the continent but with time when no more wars occurred, these factions lost their purpose and were slowly forgotten. People stopped joining them and now, they are never heard of, but they did not become extinct yet!"

"I belong to the Faction of Darkness! Just like you belong to the Faction of Chaos! We all have different goals but, in the past, we all once fought on the same side!" explained the woman.

"And so? That does not tell me why you let me go?" asked Li Wei.

The Messenger smiled, "That is simple! Just like you are the heir of chaos, the faction of darkness also has an heir! I just want to make a deal with you!"

"I don't understand what you mean by heir? I never met anyone that talked to me about being the heir of the Faction of Chaos or anything like that!" said Li Wei.

"Then let me explain, as I said, the factions did not completely disappear even though centuries have passed. And naturally, all the factions want to get back their seat of power! But that is not easily achieved! Our leaders tried for decades to revive the factions and regain our authority but in vain!"

"However, a few years ago, we received an oracle that I believe every single faction also received. Strangers from another world will soon arrive on Zero and they would bring great changes to the continent! And these changes include the possibility for us, the hidden factions to once again get back our power!"

"I don't know much about that oracle, but I know that Gaia picked a few individuals among these otherworlders and declared them as the heir of the factions. They are the one she believes would be the ablest to lead these specific factions. Naturally, this is just her own opinion and the factions do not have to abide by that but within the Faction of Darkness, we all firmly believe that Gaia made the right choice."

"And so, since you turned out to be the heir of the Faction of Chaos and I, as a member of the Faction of Darkness would like to make a deal with you!"

"This simply does not make sense, I never asked to lead a faction!" said Li Wei.

The Messenger waited for a moment before saying: "Some things are just bound to happen. This is what we call destiny!"

"Tsssk, I do not believe in the thing called destiny! I am free to do whatever I want!"

"Think as you wish! But let's talk about the deal!" said the Messenger.

Li Wei crossed his arms, "Why would I make a deal with you? Not only are you capturing people to experiment on them, you also fight for the demons!"

The messenger sighed, "We are just trying to find the reason why the otherworlders can revive upon death. This is something that can save millions of lives! It might be cruel, but we are not the only one who does that! Maybe even the Faction of Chaos or the church is capturing the otherworlders to experiment on them!"

"That is just another reason for me to not want to associate with them!" firmly declared Li Wei.

"That is up to you. I am here to make a deal! I will let you go without harming you and even compensate you for failing your quest. All I want is for you to help the heir of darkness once when he will need it. That is all!"

Li Wei frowned; he was being offered rewards, but at the same time he was being tied to someone!

"Why should I agree? As I said, I don't want anything to do with the factions you mentioned!" said Li Wei.

The Messenger answered, "Your faction can help you grow, just like I am trying to help the heir of darkness by making this deal! Please consider my offer!" and as she spoke, she took out a set of items and placed them in front of her.

Li Wei was stunned; in front of him, five bottles of potions and a pair of long swords were neatly arranged. As he stared at the items, information windows appeared, making him gasp. The five potions were Grade 2 stats increasing potions while the long swords were also Grade 2 weapons.

[Dark Runic Sword (Grade 2)]

Damage: 22-25

Effect: [Spreading Darkness]: When hitting the target's skin. Deals bonus damage. Bonus damage: 2-3

Li Wei stared at the items. He knew how valuable they were and was extremely tempted to take them. But at the same time, he maintained some sanity and held himself. These were not free gifts! There were conditions attached to them.

"Then, tell me about your heir and I'll think about it," said Li Wei.

The Messenger lowered her head, "Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the heir of darkness. All I know is that he exists. Not even the leaders of the cult know about him. We should be able to locate him as soon as he refines the artifact he was given but we did not receive any news yet!"

"Artifact? What artifact?" asked Li Wei.

"Just like you have the Ring of Chaos, the heir of darkness was given the Seals of Darkness. Each faction offered a precious artifact to their heir to help them and at the same time make them recognizable! If I am not wrong, the Faction of Chaos should already be aware of how many times you refined your ring and they probably also know your location!"

Li Wei froze, "Then does that not mean they can find me at any time?"

"That is precisely why I said that things are bound to happen! Sooner or later, they will try to get in contact with you! Each faction behaves differently, and I don't know much about yours."

"At least, they are not demons that fight to kill humanity, right?" asked Li Wei.

"The different factions were already forgotten by most humans and that is all due to time! More than four centuries went by since the factions were at their peak. Humans have short lifespans and with each new generation, more knowledge is lost. But you are right; your faction is like you! Although they also fought against humans, they always released their prisoners and fought to minimize the casualties!"

"Who are they?" asked Li Wei. He was curious to learn about those that might possibly be stalking him through his ring.

"Isn't that obvious? The remains of the Faction of Chaos are mainly composed of elves."

"Elves?"