Chapter 103: Into the Abyss

The void cradled me as I fell.

My body weightless yet heavy, descended through the void, wrapped in the embrace of the alien space.

The silence was a lie.

Tantalizing whispers, dripping with honeyed malice, slithered around my ears and limbs like a bundle of vines.

The strange nature of the world existed for but a moment before I was consumed by a bright white light.

THUMP.

Ugh...

I finally landed on what-seemed to be ground or rather...a garden.

The soil was silvery black, shimmering like platinum dust. The flowers that bloomed around...if they were even flowers, were akin to glass. They had translucent petals and lightless stems, and even more disturbing they didn't sway like usual flora...instead they moved as if they were breathing.

Ugh...

I remained sprawled in the mist of the flowers, unable to move my body. I had after all been ruthlessly brutalized by the head of the artery.

TSK...

That monster...

I paused for a moment, in a daze before muttering,

"That...that was a lot to take in..."

The fact that the Breathing Giant was actually Balor, the King of Chaos. The Great Cataclysm. The existence of the Kingdom of Fire and its Palisade. The cruel fate of its inhabitants. The Eon Ocean and...

The Inevitable.

The one who had supposedly brought an end to Balor and turned him into the Breathing Giant.

Who were they? What was it?

I had so many questions but no one to answer them.

There's also that new item...

Crown of Thorns.

[Inventory:] Crown of Thorns: When the void of chaos devoured the flame, its embers fell to its harrowing maws. A singular ember withstood the void with an unbreakable tenacity before a lonesome figure sparked its rage. This figure soon became the target of the ember's millennium hate, and soon came to bear the burden of its flame. This Uncommon Item has the Effects; Burden of Fire and Curse of the Fallen.

[Effect:] Burden of Fire: For metal to be forged, it must first pass through fire.

[Effect:] Curse of the Fallen: Once worn can never be removed.

After reading the description, I let out a dry chuckle.

How diabolical...

I glanced at the Effects, my gaze turning dark.

[Effect:] Burden of Fire: For metal to be forged, it must first pass through fire.

[Effect:] Curse of the Fallen: Once worn can never be removed.

To think that the heads that I had killed were actually soldiers of a fallen kingdom who were digested by a ruthless giant.

I smiled darkly, grasping for breath.

Hehehe...that bastard must be crazy if he thinks I'll feel sorry for his foolish friends' deaths...

After all, from the very start they were all fools.

One should never put their trust in anyone but themselves, talk less of a mortal man. Second, they were all bound by notions like honor, bravery and valiance. How foolish...what good is honor if you're dead...

I chuckled again, mocking the deaths of thousands of humans.

But what does it matter...? The Fomorians had lives too. They are beings of chaos, yes but they too live and breathe, they too had lives no matter how twisted those they were...and they perceived it as just in their own right.

So why should humanity be labelled righteous, and the other be labelled evil just because there's a difference of viewpoints?

In the end who dictated good and bad?

Morality was merely a matter of perspective.

"HAHA...ACK-"

I let out a low laugh, before coughing out blood.

Is there a flaw in my thinking? Yes. Am I wrong? Most likely. Am I just raving? Why yes of course, raving was after all a symbol of madness.

The dark light in my eyes glinted sharply.

A wide grin, one that showed a bit too much teeth, came to my face.

And as for madness...

"It was simply the truth no one wanted to hear."

I do wonder what he meant by Palisade though...was he referring to the Wyvern Mountain...?

I leaned back, staring up at the empty, infinite void above – the void I had most likely fell from. It wasn't bright like the sky of day nor dark like that of night, instead it was simply just imperceptible as if hiding something within it.

"So, this...is the Abyss..."

The path of escape I had once sought.

And the whisperer of the hideous truth I was now seeking.

Staring up at the sky while laying in the expanse of these strange flowers, I felt rather cold.

The Abyss was cold.

I took a deep breath, feeling something sharp shift beneath my chest.

ARGH...

I let out a pained groan, feeling something warm and cool trickle out of my chest.

My gaze turned hazy.

Stats...

[Name:] Alex

[Title:]???

[Level:] 11

[EXP:] 203/400

[Skills:] Oversaturation, Mind Palace, Reverb Mapping, Art of Learning, Body Constitution, War Arts, Anti-Lip Sync, Invisibility, Manipulation, Vast Knowledge Base, Pickpocket, Panoramic Vision, Resistance, Terror Inducement, Thousand Tongues, Death Darting Eyes, Kinesthetic Awareness, Berserker

[Saturation Technique:] Art of Magic Circles.

[Path:] Invocation

[Spells:] Spoken Phantom Blink

[Aliases:] The Mastermind, The Fool, Skeleton Horror, Feral Connoisseur, Fomorian Horror

[Debuffs:] Partial Hearing, Myopic Vision, Anti-Lip Sync, Rizzless

[HP:] 23/200

[Achievements:] Flash of Power, Combat Novice, Death March, Wild Chef, A Great Step, Combat Master, Death Campaign, Beat the Odds

I stared at my HP counter, a low chuckle escaping my lips.

Wow...that low...?

I sighed, closing my eyes.

Wasn't this the exact problem I wanted to guard against?

"Ugh..."

Without enough EXP, I can't return my body back to perfect shape...but...

I focused on my Aperture, forcing the World Energy in it to swirl.

Less than half now...

Using Phantom Blink in that last fight had taken more World Energy than usual.

Damn...why? The distance wasn't even large...or could it be something else?

My intuition dinged.

The void's nature...it must be its influence that caused distortions in space...

I remained silent for a few moments, before breathing in.

Trying to inhale the World Energy but I failed.

Wait...what?

An uneasiness began to creep into my heart when I realized that...

Here in the Abyss...

There was no World Energy.