Chapter 48: The Forgotten Rise
The Abyss **was listening.**
Sai could feel it beneath his skin—**a pulse, a presence, a waiting hunger.** It had always been there, whispering in the dark, but now it was **watching him.**
Kael and Neris stood at his side, two warriors from **a past erased from history.** They had come to test him, and he had proven himself. **But they were only the first.**
Ezren had told him: **You need an army.**
Now, Sai was starting to understand.
He wasn't just gathering warriors.
He was calling back the **Forgotten.**
---
### **The Next Challenger**
It had been hours since Neris had knelt, swearing herself—however temporarily—to Sai's cause. The abyssal mist still swirled, restless, waiting.
Then, **it shifted.**
Kael, ever the warrior, was the first to sense it. His fingers curled around his sword. "Someone's coming."
Neris's dark eyes flickered toward the mist. "Not someone."
Sai exhaled. **Multiple presences.**
Lena groaned. "Great. More people who want to stab us before deciding if they like us."
Sai muttered, "Wouldn't be the first time."
Ezren said nothing. He only watched.
And then—**the shadows parted.**
A **group** emerged from the abyssal mist, moving as one. Their armor was blackened, their weapons dull but **functional.** Unlike Kael and Neris, they bore **no symbols**, no marks of rank or faction.
But Sai recognized them immediately.
**Survivors.**
Not warriors from a lost kingdom.
Not assassins from the shadows.
But those who had **once belonged to something greater and had lost everything.**
Their leader stepped forward.
A man, tall and broad, his face partially hidden beneath the hood of a torn cloak. His left arm was missing from the elbow down, a crude abyssal replacement of mist and shadows swirling in its place. His eyes—**not golden, not burning—just tired.**
He studied Sai for a long moment. Then, his voice, rough and low, cut through the silence.
**"Are you the one calling us back?"**
Sai met his gaze. "Depends. Are you the ones answering?"
The man exhaled, glancing back at his people. "We didn't have a choice."
Sai frowned. "What do you mean?"
The man turned his gaze back to him.
"The Abyss won't let us ignore you."
---
### **A War Long Forgotten**
Sai had expected fighters. He had expected warriors, killers, mercenaries looking for power.
But these people?
They were **something else.**
They weren't here to fight for a cause.
They were here because they **had nowhere else to go.**
The man with the missing arm—**who called himself Garrik—** knelt before Sai, but it wasn't the same as Kael or Neris. There was no **pledge of loyalty**, no promise of following him to the end.
Instead, there was **a question.**
Garrik met Sai's gaze. "You're taking up the throne of the Abyss. But tell me this—what are you planning to do with it?"
Sai inhaled sharply.
It was the question he had been **trying to avoid.**
Ezren had told him that the Abyss didn't need a **king.**
Only a **leader.**
And yet…
The Betrayer was coming.
And when he did, **there would be war.**
Sai clenched his fists. "I don't care about ruling. I don't care about power." He lifted his head. "But I won't let the Abyss fall again."
The mist around them **shifted.**
Garrik studied him, then nodded. "Then we're yours."
Behind him, **the rest of his people knelt.**
Not because of loyalty.
Not because of oaths.
But because they had chosen to **believe.**
---
### **The Rising Army**
Sai turned to Ezren. "Is this what you wanted?"
Ezren's golden eyes flickered. "It was never about what I wanted."
Sai exhaled, rubbing his temples. "Great. More cryptic nonsense."
Lena snorted. "You're getting used to it."
Sai sighed. She wasn't **wrong.**
Still, the reality of what was happening settled heavily on his shoulders.
He wasn't just gathering fighters.
He was **pulling back something that had been lost.**
Something **the world had tried to erase.**
The **Abyssal Order was returning.**
And whether he wanted to or not—**he was leading it.**
---
### **A New Threat**
The moment Sai **accepted Garrik's group**, his system flashed with a new **notification.**
**[Abyssal Forces Assembled: 10%]**
**[Warning: Hidden Order Movement Detected.]**
Sai's stomach twisted. "Damn it."
Ezren's gaze sharpened. "They've noticed you."
Lena frowned. "Wait—who?"
Ezren exhaled. "The ones who have spent centuries keeping the Abyss buried."
Sai clenched his fists. "The Hidden Order."
Kael scowled. "Of course those bastards wouldn't sit still."
Neris chuckled darkly. "Looks like you're getting famous."
Sai sighed. "Yeah, and I hate it."
Ezren folded his arms. "They won't strike immediately. But they will move against you."
Sai's jaw tightened. "Then we move first."
Lena blinked. "Sai?"
Sai turned to the others. "I'm done waiting. If they want a fight, they're getting one."
Ezren's smirk returned. "Good. Then let's begin."
The Abyss **stirred beneath them.**
And the next battle **was set in motion.**