The Eldritch Curse

[<🌛The Eldritch Curse🌜>] Once upon a time, in a land forsaken by the light, there existed a realm swallowed by eternal darkness. It was a place where the sky wept shadows, and the wind carried the anguished whispers of the damned. No mortal dared step beyond the threshold of the cursed land, for those who entered never returned. Deep within the heart of this accursed void dwelled the Eldritch—a race of spectral wraiths, their forms a swirling mass of decay and nightmare. Their hollow eyes burned like dying embers, the last remnants of the souls they had consumed. Legends told of how they were once guardians of an ancient kingdom, but a great betrayal had twisted them into monstrous apparitions, cursed to hunger eternally for the life force of the living. It was said that their domain was a prison of forgotten souls, bound to the dark will of their master, the Shadow King. He, the first of the Eldritch, had torn the veil between the realms of the living and the dead, crafting his kingdom from the very essence of fear. His voice, a cacophony of despair, could shatter the will of even the bravest traveler. One day, a warrior named Kael entered the abyss. He sought his beloved, stolen by the shadows. Guided only by memory and a blade forged from celestial steel, he braved the cursed lands. The Eldritch greeted him with laughter like breaking bones, their skeletal fingers reaching to unravel his mind. Yet Kael pressed forward, guided by the last whispers of his beloved. The deeper he ventured, the more his body withered, his soul fraying at the edges like parchment in a storm. And when at last he reached the throne of the Shadow King, he realized the cruelest truth of all—his beloved was no more. She had become one of them. With glowing eyes and skeletal hands, she reached for him, whispering his name in a voice not her own. The last thing Kael saw before his soul was devoured was the grin of the Shadow King, welcoming him home.