Nothing magical is ever that simple, is it?

Awakening begins with the return of your hearing. The voices have silenced, leaving only the echo of dripping water and the occasional sound of rock reduced to the size of gravel skittering down larger stones.

Next, your ability to feel, to recognize the physical existence of your body connects with your brain. You immediately wish it hadn't. Your mind stops processing any sound, overwhelmed by the sensations of agony in every part of your body as you lay on your back, cold, damp stone below you. Were you injured? The last thing you remember is halting before a door inscribed with an ominous message. Your companions cross your mind. If you are feeling such pain, are they injured as well? You struggle to open your eyes, to regain your sense of sight.

Your eyelids lift to reveal nothing but more blackness. You blink repeatedly, struggling to move your limbs as well, searching blindly for your staff. Finally, to your great relief, the darkness begins shifting, slight details arising above you. Tapping into your training, you manage to push the pain from the forefront of your mind, regaining your ability to process sounds. The dripping of water is now accompanied by a trickling, as if small streams are passing downwards nearby. Your fingers faintly contact something which feels familiar, and you barely manage to grip your staff. You close your eyes, concentrating. A soft glow surrounds you, and the pain vanishes.

With a grunt, you push yourself into a sitting position. Glancing about, you readjust your grip on your staff. The darkness surrounding you obscures your surroundings to a degree that should be impossible, almost as if it is a solid mass which has moved in to surround you closely. You cast a small illumination spell, the top of your staff functioning as a torch. The darkness around you dissipates as if a smoke, a hazy mist lingering in the air. You recognize nothing around you. Small trickles of water cascade down the rubble now behind you, dark stone bricks which seemingly collapsed from somewhere high above. The stone is nothing like what you can remember from the rest of the catacombs, much less the antechamber before the ominous door. Before you, a tunnel of the same stone brick stretches beyond the light of your staff. There is no trace of the rest of your party.

Your brow furrows as you try to focus on the events which led to your current, lonely situation. The more you try to remember, the less seems to come to you. The only thing you manage to latch onto is opening the door despite the message and entering alone. You place your free hand to your temple, feeling your head beginning to pound. You jump, dropping your staff as you jerk your hand back.

The faint light still glowing now from below glimmers around the edges of your hand, creating an ominous silhouette. As you slowly twist your wrist, the light glints off of the strange item which seems to have fused with your skin. You pull up the sleeve of your robes, revealing the black metal epidermis blending with your skin at your elbow. Somehow, this... thing has attached itself to your body, and clearly will not be removable. You sit, closing your eyes and taking a deep breath, preparing to enter a meditative trance. You turn your focus within yourself.

What you find terrifies you.

Where once you would see clearly your own soul, the light within your being, you find an entanglement of your inner light and an unidentifiable darkness. Just as the metal has fused with your skin, this darkness seems to have melded with your soul, refusing to loosen its grip. A sudden shock rocks your soul so deeply, you feel the shiver through your body, your trance broken, thrusting you back into reality. You have no idea what to make of this situation. Never have you heard about such an invasion of the body and soul. What sort of being could do such a thing?

Slowly, you take up your staff, the natural skin of your right arm speckled with goosebumps, the cold of the damp, dim corridor sinking into your body. Slowly, you trek onwards, moving your staff side to side in order to illuminate as much space as you can, trying to examine every inch of the space around you. Somewhere down here, you must be able to find the answer. This place caused this corruption to invade you. It must be able to explain it to you as well.