The figure moved first.
Kael barely had time to react.
Its foot struck the ground, and the black surface cracked beneath it.
The creature crossed the distance between them in less than a second.
Kael raised his arm.
The impact threw him backward.
His boots dragged across the stone before he crashed into a jagged wall.
Pain shot through his shoulder.
He gritted his teeth and pushed himself upright.
“Fast.” The figure tilted its head.
It was still wearing his shape.
Same height.
Same broad shoulders.
Same dark hair falling over the forehead.
But something was wrong with its face.
There were no eyes.
No nose.
No mouth.
Only smooth, pale skin.
Kael wiped the blood from the corner of his lips.
“So that’s what you’ve been making.” The creature lowered its stance.
Kael recognized it immediately.
His stance.
The way he kept his weight slightly forward.
The position of his hands.
Even the angle of his shoulders.
It had learned him.
Not just his movements.
His habits.
Kael took a slow breath.
Then he deliberately relaxed his shoulders.
The creature copied him.
He shifted his right foot backward.
It did the same.
A faint smile appeared on Kael’s face.
“Then you’re still thinking like me.” The creature attacked.
Kael waited.
At the last possible moment, he stepped aside.
The fist passed his face.
He caught the creature’s wrist, twisted, and drove his elbow into its ribs.
The impact sounded wrong.
There was no flesh beneath his hand.
The thing folded around the strike like wet clay before snapping back into shape.
Kael’s eyes narrowed.
“Of course.” He released it and jumped backward.
The creature didn’t pursue.
Instead, it watched him.
Learning.
Kael’s smile disappeared.
That was the problem.
If it could learn his movements, then fighting it normally would only make it stronger.
He looked around the Abyss.
The darkness stretched in every direction, but now that his eyes had adjusted, he could see details he had missed before.
There were structures beneath the darkness.
Pillars.
Broken arches.
Fragments of enormous stone platforms suspended in the distance.
Some carried symbols Kael didn’t recognize.
Others were covered in what looked like dried blood.
This place had not always been empty.
Something had built it.
Something had lived here.
And something had destroyed it.
Kael stepped toward one of the pillars.
His fingers brushed against the surface.
The moment he touched it, his vision changed.
For an instant, the Abyss disappeared.
He saw sunlight.
A city.
People running through crowded streets.
Metal towers stood beside ancient stone buildings.
Vehicles moved along elevated roads while enormous barriers surrounded the city.
Then the image changed.
The same city was burning.
People screamed.
A massive creature tore through one of the outer walls.
And above it all— A symbol.
A black circle split down the middle.
Kael pulled his hand away.
The vision vanished.
He stared at his palm.
“What was that?” The Abyss remained silent.
Behind him, the creature moved.
Kael turned.
It wasn’t attacking.
It was standing beside the pillar.
Its featureless head was pressed against the same symbol.
Kael’s expression hardened.
“You saw it too.” The creature slowly turned toward him.
Then, for the first time— It spoke.
Its voice sounded like Kael’s.
But older.
Colder.
“You were not supposed to remember.” Kael froze.
The words weren’t loud.
They didn’t need to be.
Something inside the Abyss had changed.
The darkness around them trembled.
Kael stared at the creature.
“Who are you?” The figure’s head tilted.
“I am what remains.” “Of what?” The creature stepped toward him.
“Of you.” Kael’s stomach tightened.
“That doesn’t make sense.” “It will.” The creature raised one hand.
The darkness behind it opened.
Not like a doorway.
Like reality had been cut.
Beyond it was a battlefield.
Kael saw bodies.
Hundreds.
Maybe thousands.
Some wore the armor of soldiers.
Others wore strange black uniforms.
And among them— He saw himself.
Not the Kael standing in the Abyss.
Another Kael.
Older.
Covered in blood.
Standing before an enormous gate.
Three people stood behind him.
One of them was Cairos.
Kael’s breathing stopped.
The image disappeared.
“No.” For the first time since entering the Abyss, fear reached him.
Not fear of death.
Fear of recognition.
He looked at the creature.
“Show me again.” It didn’t move.
“Show me.” Nothing.
Kael stepped forward.
“I said show me!” The Abyss shook.
The creature suddenly drove its hand into Kael’s chest.
He didn’t see the attack.
He only felt it.
Something cold passed through his ribs and entered his body.
Kael screamed.
He dropped to one knee.
Black veins spread from the point of contact across his chest.
The pain was unlike anything he’d experienced before.
It wasn’t burning.
It wasn’t cutting.
It felt as though something was rewriting him from the inside.
He tried to pull the energy out.
Nothing happened.
He tried to move.
His body refused.
The creature stood over him.
“You wanted the Abyss.” Kael struggled to breathe.
“Yes.” “You wanted its power.” “Yes.” “You wanted to remain when everything told you to leave.” Kael looked up.
His eyes were filled with pain.
“Yes.” The creature leaned closer.
“Then understand the first law.” The black energy surged through his body.
Kael clenched his teeth so hard he felt something crack.
The creature whispered: “Nothing enters the Abyss without leaving something behind.” Kael’s vision blurred.
He felt something being pulled out of him.
A memory.
A face.
A voice.
He reached for it instinctively.
“No.” The Abyss continued taking.
“No!” Kael slammed his fist into the ground.
The stone shattered.
Something inside him answered.
Not fear.
Not rage.
Something deeper.
Something that had been waiting.
The black veins across his chest stopped spreading.
Then they reversed.
The energy began flowing back toward his heart.
The creature stepped away.
For the first time— It looked uncertain.
Kael slowly stood.
Blood ran from his nose.
His breathing was uneven.
His eyes had changed.
A thin black ring surrounded his pupils.
“What did you do?” The creature didn’t answer.
Kael looked at his hands.
He could feel something inside him now.
A presence.
Not another voice.
Not another consciousness.
A second pulse.
The Abyss had left something behind.
Or perhaps— It had awakened something that had always been there.
Kael closed his fist.
The darkness around him reacted.
Every shadow within several meters bent toward him.
The creature watched carefully.
Kael looked at it.
“You wanted to learn me.” The creature remained still.
Kael took one step forward.
“Then learn this.” His shadow spread across the ground.
“And understand why I came here.” The Abyss trembled.
Far beyond the ruined pillars, something enormous opened its eyes.
This time, it wasn’t merely watching Kael.
It was afraid of him.
And somewhere above the Abyss, in a world that still believed Kael was gone— Cairos suddenly woke from a nightmare.
He sat upright, breathing heavily.
His room was dark.
His hands were shaking.
Because for the first time in years, he had dreamed of the same thing.
The Abyss.
And Kael standing inside it.
Alive.
Cairos stared into the darkness.
Then whispered the words he had spent years refusing to say.
“You idiot…
what did you become?” CREATORS’ THOUGHTS Okikiayo_Fadiji Now we’re getting somewhere.
Kael has taken his first real step into the Abyss, and the truth about his past is beginning to surface.
But remember… the Abyss never gives anything for free.
— Fadiji