CHAPTER EIGHTY

The Abyss

The abyss swallowed me whole, and I'd never felt so helpless. My stomach lurched as I plummeted, the air roaring past, sharp and cold against my skin. I fumbled with the shardbound bracers, willing them to spark to life. A shield—something to catch my feet, a surface to push off. I yanked free from the anchor, its rope snapping taut then slack as I let it go. Doomcarver slipped from my grip, its massive weight tumbling into the dark, a low scrape fading below. But I was too far from either edge of the bridge—nothing to grab, nothing to stop me. Just the fall.

Hazeveil writhed around me, its shadows flaring, trying to slow my descent. It pulled against the air, a desperate clutch, but it wasn't enough. The wind roared past, stinging my face, tugging at my cloak as I fell for what felt like minutes. Above, the gray fog swallowed the surface faint outline, leaving only a sea of muted light.

All around, the abyss stretched—kilometers deep, a scar in the earth too vast to fathom. Caves pocked the walls, thousands of them, jagged mouths stretching down into the dark. Eyes glinted from within, countless beasts watching, their mana pulsing like a warning. I was a speck in their domain, falling through their gaze.

"Maybe there's no end to it," I said, my voice soft, barely reaching my own ears. My hand brushed Hazeveil, feeling its faint tremor. It could've floated up, caught the wind, but it clung to me, loyal even now. Its efforts shaved off speed, a faint drag against the pull of the abyss, but the ground was coming. I sensed it before I saw it, a shift in the air, a heaviness below. The crater had a floor, far beneath the world, hidden under layers of fog.

It came fast. The ground rushed up, a cracked slab of stone that shattered under my weight. My head slammed hard, pain exploding white behind my eyes. Vision blurred, splintering into fragments of rock, shadow, and my own hands clawing at nothing. I pushed my frost aura forward, a desperate burst of cold mist to shield me. It met resistance—other auras, sharp and hostile

My tentacles twitched, straining to drag me up, but my body stayed limp, pinned to the cracked stone. A blur of motion revealed claws, teeth, something brutally fast that ripped through me. Pain flared, then vanished, leaving only a hollow chill.

I was tumbling again, upside down, weightless. My eyes locked on my body below, sprawled across the jagged floor, neck a torn ruin, blood pooling dark and thick. No head—just a gaping absence where it should've been. The sight hit like a gut punch, sickening, wrong, my own form lifeless, leaking into the stone. Beasts prowled around it, their growls vibrating through the dark, tearing at what remained.

One moment of weakness, and the abyss had won. The long sleep took me, sharp and final. I let my eyes drift shut, or thought I did, surrendering to it.

***

The abyss greeted me as I woke, its weight pressing down like a living thing. No dream—just cold, jagged stone under my hands and the faint hum of my own mana stirring. The fog choked out all but slivers of light, trickling down from kilometers above, yet for a crimson beast like me, it was enough. I steadied my breath, frost curling from my lips, and reached for Kara. "How long was the long sleep this time?"

[Kara]

[Unable to precisely determine passage of time.]

Her words echoed in my skull, sharp and wrong. Kara, who tracked everything, couldn't measure time here? I opened my mouth to ask why, my mind snagging on the strangeness, but a ripple of mana cut me off, something alien, hungry, and closing in. An aura brushed against mine, its intent unmistakable, like teeth grazing my skin. I crouched low, tentacles flexing behind me, eyes scanning the dim haze.

It came from above—a shape too vast to grasp at first, blotting out the faint light. A titanic sphere of flesh, swollen and obscene, its surface a writhing mass of glistening tentacles. No eyes, no nose, no ears, only a gaping maw splitting its bulk, lined with omnivorous teeth, jagged and mismatched, glinting wetly as if starving for meat despite their shape.

Each tentacle, dozens, ended in a pulsing orb, glowing sickly yellow, casting a faint aura of light that burned against my frost mist, shoving it back. The beast floated, defying its impossible weight, no wings or limbs to explain it, just raw magic holding it aloft, a nightmare ripped from some forgotten void.

"What in the hells is that?" I muttered, my voice swallowed by the abyss. A tentacle twitched, its orb flaring, then a beam of energy lanced toward me, white-hot and precise. I dove aside, the beam carving a molten gash through the stone where I'd stood, its heat singeing Hazeveil's edge. My heart raced, frost aura flaring instinctively.

"Shit, shit, shit," I hissed, scrambling as seven more orbs fired in unison. Beams sliced through the air, each one tearing rock like paper, their light blinding in the dim. My tentacles lashed out, anchoring to the ground, yanking me out of their path, but one grazed Hazeveil, charring a patch of its shadowy weave.

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Pain didn't come, but the damage stung my pride. "I can't stay here," I growled, eyes locked on the beast. Another volley came, beams crisscrossing the air, relentless. I leaped, tentacles propelling me, Hazeveil twisting to guide my fall.

I pushed my frost aura forward, mist curling from me, thick with ice. But the beast's light aura fought back, dulling my control, sapping my mana's flow. My mist, so strong in its domain, faltered here.

I didn't hesitate, summoning pillars of ice, jagged and tall, I hurled them at the beast, aiming for its pulsing core. They shot forward, gleaming, but as they crossed into its aura, my grip on them wavered. The pillars slowed, their edges melting, and the beast twisted, impossibly agile, dodging each one. I growled, trying again, summoning ice spears closer to its bulk, hoping proximity would help. But the mana cost spiked outside my mist, draining me, and my aim faltered. Every single one missed.

"I need to get close," I muttered to Kara, my breath ragged. "Any ideas?" My mist was powerful, but against a beast with its own aura, especially one this strong, I was outmatched at range. My will simmered, too weak to overpower its light.

[Kara]

[...]

Before she could reply, the beast's mouth gaped wider, a yellow glow forming deep within—a ball of energy, brighter than the orbs, swelling with a power that made my skin prickle. It fired, a massive beam roaring toward me, wide enough to swallow me whole. Instinct took over, my tentacles slammed into the stone, launching me sideways.

Hazeveil flared, shadows twisting to guide my landing, dropping me just meters from the beast's writhing mass. I didn't wait. Frost claws extended, venom dripping, I leaped, closing the gap in a single bound. My claws sank deep into its flesh, the texture slick and yielding, like stabbing into rancid fat.

The beast thrashed, its scream a low, gurgling roar that shook the ground. I pumped frost venom into it, feeling the cold spread through its hide. Up close, it was weaker; its beams, meant for distance, couldn't track me fast enough. Some orbs fired wildly, severing its own tentacles in the chaos, their stumps oozing black ichor. I moved fast, circling its bulk, slashing again and again, each strike sinking venom deeper. Its aura flickered, the light dimming as my mist began to creep in, reclaiming the air. The beast's mobility slowed, its floating form sagging toward the stone.

One by one, I tore its tentacles free, ripping them from their roots with my claws. The orbs went dark, useless, littering the ground. Only the mouth remained a threat, its yellow glow flaring for another beam. I dodged easily now, the beast too sluggish to aim. It crashed to the stone, its aura fading entirely, my mist swallowing the last of its light. I stood over it, panting, summoning a massive pillar of ice above, jagged and heavy, glinting in the faint glow. "Die," I said, voice cold as I let it fall. The pillar slammed down, crushing the beast's heart, its body splitting with a wet, final crack.

"Well, that was a close one," I muttered, my claws slick with ichor as I pried the crimson core from the beast's ruined bulk. Its glow pulsed faintly, warm against my palm. I absorbed it, mana surging through me, sharp and heavy, fueling my battered body. I exhaled, glancing around. "Now I need to get out of here," I said, my voice swallowed by the fog choking the abyss.

I stood still, trying to orient myself. Which way to go? The fog blurred everything, and the faint light filtering down barely lit the chaos. I reached for Kara, hoping for clarity. "Any sense of direction?" I asked, my tentacles curling nervously beneath me.

[Kara]

[No clear reference points. Terrain data incomplete.]

Her answer didn't help. The whispering lens at my neck hummed louder than ever, a restless buzz, tugging at my mind like it wanted to drag me somewhere. I ignored it, scanning the haze. This place crawled with auras, crimson horrors that were rare on the surface but swarmed here like roaches.

Their mana clashed in the distance, bursts of light and roars echoing over the broken terrain, scarred from countless battles. Titanic fights raged nearby, beasts akin to demigods from the legends tearing into each other, their screams shaking the stone. This wasn't just a hole, it was a prison, a Darwin Cage where only the strongest survived. If I didn't find a way up, it'd trap me forever.

I picked a direction at random, sprinting over the rocky ground, my tentacles gripping stone for speed. Hazeveil flared, shadows weaving to mask me, but stealth didn't matter. A new aura locked onto me, heavy with intent. Another crimson horror—sleek, insect-like, its limbs tipped with glowing barbs. I was drained from the last fight, my mana spent after wielding frost outside my mist, but I couldn't stop. I summoned ice spears, their edges dull without my aura's full strength, and hurled them. The beast dodged, lunging. My claws met its hide, venom sinking in, but it was fast—too fast. We clashed, my mist struggling against its aura.

An hour later, I stood over the beast's corpse. Its crimson core pulsed in my hand, mana flooding me as I absorbed it. Then I fought another, and another. Four horrors fell over hours, their cores strengthening me, my will sharpening even though I'd lost the sword in the fall. But the abyss didn't rest. A new beast found me, despite Hazeveil's shadows, its aura crushing mine. I was too spent, mana dry and body aching. Claws tore through me, and I fell, the long sleep claiming me again.

I rose again, core after core absorbed, their mana seeping into me, sharpening my focus, my mist clinging tighter against rival auras. Each long sleep tweaked something—venom that bit deeper, tentacles that gripped harder, small shifts drawn from past fights. But the abyss never relented.

Horrors tracked me through the fog, and no matter how hard I fought or how fast I ran, I was lost, waking each time in a different jagged corner of the abyss, with only a few hours awake, most of it spent clashing with crimson beasts before the long sleep took me again. The abyss was a prison, unyielding, a Darwin Cage I couldn't shatter.

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