[ WP ] Then suddenly the steel felt so cold in my hands

... as I saw that... thing walk out from the stone arch. At first glance it was no different than the rest of the undead that I had cut down before, wearing the armor of the gallant knight it had consumed. That illusion quickly fell apart as I saw the faint hints that whatever now resided in that armor had ever been human were nowhere to be found. Where I expected to see the sunken eyes of a wretched corpse was now a dark void, the joints of the armor where I expected to see rotting flesh peeking our from behind the rusted steel was only a pulsating darkness, and the shambling of a soldier barely clinging to what only a select few would call `` life'' was instead a confident stride. 
 
 My steel felt so cold to me now that I nearly dropped it, letting it clatter to the floor of the stone parapet, just barely catching myself before falling into that chasm of pure terror. I raised my sword to it, steeling my resolve to face this darkness, and seemingly in response to my own willingness to fight, raised it's own sword as well with several dark tendrils reaching out from it's wrists to wrap around the handle. 
 
 I swung my heavy blade as hard as I could, only for my blow to be cast aside by the creature's own with a loud clang as more dark tendrils burst from it's arm alongside a bubbling sound that I could only guess was a growl. My second swing would find it's way behind the creatures blade, slashing at a gap in it's armor to cut at the darkness beneath. It's scream deafened me, forcing me to recoil in pain as the creature's own armor burst open as a torrent of tentacles poured out into a writhing mass with bits of metal sinking into the darkness. As I regained my senses I was met with the mass crashing towards me, having abandoned any wish to disguise itself as a person. The wave of darkness only slowing as I helplessly flailed my weapon at it before being consumed by it like the knight before me. Enveloped in the darkness I could only feel the intense pressure as it squeezed me as tightly as it could, snapping my bones one by one before finally falling into unconsciousness. 
 
 I slowly wake, the tiny flame's warmth comforting me once more before rising to my feet. I look up to see the parapet in the distance before setting out once more, feeling the emptiness in me grow ever larger.
