Kael did not return to the oldest part of the Abyss.
Not yet.
There were twelve people he still needed to find.
Twelve names that had been reduced to numbers in a file.
Twelve people who had entered the Abyss with him.
Twelve people who never came back.
Kael and Shade followed the old expedition trail instead.
The path was almost invisible now, buried beneath dark soil and pale roots.
But Kael remembered enough.
They had come this way before.
Seven years ago.
He stopped beside a broken tree.
“This is where they separated.” Shade looked around.
“Separated?” Kael nodded.
“Darian wanted to go back.” “And the others?” “They followed him.” Shade looked at him.
“You didn’t.” “No.” “Why?” Kael stared into the darkness between the trees.
“Because I was already hearing something.” “What?” Kael’s expression tightened.
“I don’t remember.” They continued.
The forest became darker.
Eventually, they reached a large stone basin surrounded by dead trees.
Kael recognized it immediately.
The expedition had used this place as their second camp.
But there was something wrong.
There should have been equipment everywhere.
Weapons.
Backpacks.
Medical supplies.
Instead, there was almost nothing.
Only a metal case sat half-buried in the dirt.
Kael knelt and pulled it free.
The case was badly damaged.
He opened it.
Inside were twelve identification tags.
Shade looked down.
“You found them.” Kael picked up the first.
**DARIAN VALE.** The second.
**MIRA SEN.** The third.
**TOMAS REY.** One by one, he read the names.
Twelve tags.
Twelve people.
None missing.
Kael stared at them.
“If they all died…” Shade looked at the tags.
“Why were they left here?” Kael didn’t answer.
He turned the case over.
Something was engraved underneath.
Not a message.
Not a warning.
A date.
The date Expedition Seven had entered the Abyss.
Kael’s fingers touched it.
The world disappeared.
He was standing in the camp again.
Seven years younger.
Twelve soldiers surrounded the fire.
Cairos stood beside him.
Riven was there too.
Alive.
Laughing.
For a moment, Kael simply watched.
The memory felt different from the others.
Clearer.
Almost real.
Darian was sharpening a knife.
Mira was checking ammunition.
Tomas was asleep against a tree.
Someone was arguing about food.
Riven was telling a story.
Kael smiled.
He remembered this.
Not everything.
But enough.
They had been afraid.
But they were together.
Then Cairos stood.
“We move at dawn.” Darian looked up.
“Toward the gate?” “Yes.” Riven stopped smiling.
“We shouldn’t.” Cairos looked at him.
“We have orders.” Riven shook his head.
“Orders don’t matter if we don’t come back.” Nobody answered.
Kael looked at Cairos.
“You knew.” Cairos met his eyes.
“I knew enough.” The memory shifted.
Morning.
The twelve moved through the forest.
Kael walked behind them.
He remembered thinking something was wrong.
Not because of the Abyss.
Because the group was too quiet.
Then Darian stopped.
Everyone froze.
“What is it?” Mira asked.
Darian pointed ahead.
Someone was standing between the trees.
Kael.
The younger Kael stared at the figure.
His own face.
His own body.
Standing twenty meters away.
Riven raised his weapon.
“What the hell?” Cairos grabbed his arm.
“Don’t.” The copy smiled.
Then it spoke.
“Cairos.” Everyone froze.
It sounded exactly like Kael.
Cairos stared at it.
Kael stepped forward.
“That’s not me.” The copy looked at him.
For the first time, its expression changed.
Confusion.
Then recognition.
“You.” Kael felt the memory pulling apart.
The copy took one step backward.
The forest around it twisted.
The twelve soldiers began shouting.
Weapons came up.
Something moved behind them.
Then everything went black.
Kael returned to himself.
He was on the ground.
Shade was holding his shoulder.
“Kael.” Kael breathed heavily.
“I saw them.” “All twelve?” “Yes.” “What happened?” Kael looked at the identification tags.
“They met me.” Shade frowned.
“You mean your copy?” Kael nodded.
“It wasn’t the first time the Abyss had copied me.” Shade looked at the ground.
“And then?” Kael stood.
“We followed it.” They continued through the forest.
The memory had shown Kael where to go.
A narrow ravine.
A broken bridge.
A cave hidden behind falling water.
Inside, they found the remains of the expedition.
Not bodies.
Equipment.
Twelve backpacks.
Twelve weapons.
Twelve empty sleeping spaces.
Shade looked around.
“They made it this far.” Kael nodded.
Then he saw the wall.
Not writing.
Handprints.
Hundreds of them.
Some human.
Some not.
Kael stepped closer.
One of the human handprints was smaller than the others.
He placed his palm against it.
A memory returned.
The twelve were running.
Something chased them.
Not one creature.
Many.
Copies.
Each one wearing a different face.
Darian.
Mira.
Tomas.
Riven.
Cairos.
Kael.
They were being surrounded by themselves.
The soldiers fired.
The copies kept coming.
Darian fell.
Mira pulled him up.
Tomas disappeared into the darkness.
Riven screamed for Cairos.
Kael remembered grabbing someone’s hand.
Then another.
Then another.
They were trying to stay together.
But the Abyss kept separating them.
One by one.
Not killing them.
Taking them.
Kael watched helplessly as each soldier vanished into a different part of the darkness.
Darian disappeared first.
Then Mira.
Then Tomas.
Then the others.
Riven was the last.
He stood alone.
Cairos was gone.
Kael was gone.
The copies surrounded him.
One of them stepped forward wearing Kael’s face.
Riven raised his weapon.
“You’re not him.” The copy smiled.
“I know.” Then the memory ended.
Kael opened his eyes.
Shade was staring at him.
“They weren’t killed.” “No.” “They were separated.” Kael nodded.
“Taken.” “By the copies?” Kael shook his head.
“No.” He looked deeper into the cave.
“The copies were only keeping them there.” Shade understood.
“The Abyss.” Kael nodded.
“It took the twelve.” He looked at the empty sleeping spaces.
“And it kept them.” “Why?” Kael didn’t answer.
Because this time, he wasn’t going to invent an answer just because the silence demanded one.
He picked up one of the abandoned backpacks.
Inside was a photograph.
The twelve soldiers stood together.
Kael was not in it.
Cairos was not in it.
Riven stood in the center.
Everyone was smiling.
Kael looked at the photograph for a long time.
Then he turned it over.
There was no message.
No warning.
No secret.
Just the date.
Seven years ago.
The day before they entered the Abyss.
Kael slowly lowered the photograph.
“They were never meant to die here.” Shade looked at him.
“No.” Kael placed the photograph back inside the bag.
“They were meant to disappear.” For the first time, the fate of the twelve was no longer a question.
They had not been killed by the Abyss.
They had been taken by it.
And somewhere beneath the darkness, twelve people were still waiting.
Kael stood.
“We’re going to find them.” Shade nodded.
Together, they left the cave.
The twelve didn’t die.
They were separated and taken by the Abyss.
And Riven wasn’t lying when he said something hunted the expedition.
He simply didn’t know the whole truth.
Now Kael has a reason to go looking for them.