Chapter 5: Descent into the Abyss

Kael plunged into the abyss.

The wind howled around him, or maybe it was the abyss itself whispering in a language he couldn't understand. The darkness stretched endlessly below, swallowing light, swallowing everything.

For a moment, he was weightless. Just a fragment of existence lost in an infinite void.

Then, the abyss reached for him.

Shadows coiled around his limbs, slowing his descent, but they weren't gentle. They dug into his skin, pulling, prying, as if trying to unravel him piece by piece.

Kael grit his teeth, forcing his abyssal energy outward. The tendrils recoiled, but they didn't disappear. They lingered, watching. Waiting.

This isn't normal.

Every instinct screamed at him that this place—this part of the abyss—was different. It wasn't just darkness. It was alive.

And it wanted something from him.

With a final pulse of power, he pushed the shadows away and landed. The impact sent cracks through the obsidian ground beneath him, but he barely noticed. His focus was on his surroundings.

The place was… wrong.

It wasn't like the wasteland or the chasm above. It wasn't even like the abyss he had come to know.

Structures stretched across the landscape—massive, broken monoliths carved with symbols he couldn't read. The air was thick, heavy, pressing against his skin like an unseen force.

And at the center of it all, a door.

Unlike the first one he had passed through, this one wasn't a monolith or a construct of shadow. It was ancient, carved from a material that gleamed like obsidian yet shimmered like water.

But the most unsettling thing wasn't the door itself.

It was what was reflected in it.

Kael took a slow step forward. His own reflection stared back at him, but something was wrong.

The eyes weren't his.

They burned with a crimson light, filled with something he couldn't name.

And then, the reflection moved.

Not in sync with him. Not as a mirror should.

It took a step forward, independent.

Kael's breath hitched. He tensed, abyssal energy curling around his fingertips.

The reflection smirked.

"Do you remember yet?" it asked.

Kael didn't respond. He didn't need to.

Because the moment the voice reached his ears, something inside him cracked.

A memory surfaced.

Not his.

Or was it?

Flashes of a past he didn't recognize flooded his mind—battlefields soaked in shadow, voices whispering his name, a throne carved from darkness, and a presence… vast and suffocating, waiting in the void.

A name echoed in his head.

Not Kael.

Something older.

Something lost.

The reflection stepped closer, eyes gleaming with knowing amusement. "You were never meant to be just another abyssborn."

Kael clenched his fists. "Then what was I meant to be?"

The reflection chuckled. "Open the door and find out."

Kael's gaze flickered to the ancient gateway. The abyss pulsed around him, as if urging him forward.

He exhaled, steadying himself.

Whatever lay beyond that door—answers, truth, or something far worse—he would face it.

Because one thing was clear.

This was never just about power.

It was about what he was.

And what the abyss wanted him to become.

With a final breath, he reached out—

And pushed the door open.