Chapter 183: The War Beneath the Abyss

The Abyss rejected him.

That fact settled like a weight in Damien's chest.

It was not that the Abyss was simply a void.

It was not that the Abyss was simply a prison.

It was something more.

And it had looked at him—at the echoes of all his past selves, all the failures, all the choices that had led him here—

And it had cast him out.

You do not belong here.

The words still burned in his mind.

Not a warning.

Not a threat.

A judgment.

And that was more terrifying than anything else.

The Silence That Follows

The others were still watching him.

Erynn was crouched beside him, her silver eyes searching his face. "Damien?"

He exhaled, his breath still uneven. "I'm fine."

Dante scoffed. "You just got thrown across a frozen wasteland by a giant hole in reality. That's not 'fine.'"

Carys's expression was cold, calculating. "It reacted to you."