chapter 56

Sai stepped through the gate, and the world **shifted** around him. The ruins, the battlefield, the others—they all **vanished** in an instant. There was no transition, no sense of motion. One moment he was in the waking world, the next he was somewhere **else.** The air here was heavier, thick with abyssal energy that pulsed like a heartbeat. The ground beneath his feet wasn't stone, but something **darker**, something that moved ever so slightly, like liquid frozen in time. Sai exhaled slowly, his breath visible in the cold, and then he **looked up.**

The Abyss was **alive.**

The sky stretched infinitely, a swirling mass of black mist and faint, shifting lights—like distant stars buried within the darkness. Towering structures, neither ruins nor fully built, loomed in the distance, their shapes twisting subtly when he wasn't looking directly at them. There was no sun, no moon, but everything was still **visible** in an eerie, unnatural way. The shadows weren't just **shadows.** They **watched.**

Sai's system flared to life.

**[You have entered the Abyssal Depths.]**

**[Time Distortion: Active.]**

**[Unknown Entities Detected.]**

His hand instinctively went to his daggers, and he took a cautious step forward. The moment his boot touched the ground, the Abyss **responded.** The mist swirled around him, rising up like grasping hands before settling once more. Sai's heart **pounded.** This place was wrong. Not in the way a dungeon was dangerous, not even in the way a Lost Gate felt unnatural. This was **different.** It wasn't just **another world.**

It was a **forgotten one.**

A sound echoed through the air, distant but growing closer. A **whispering chorus, layered voices speaking in a language Sai didn't recognize but somehow understood.** They weren't words so much as **thoughts**, pressing against his mind like an unwelcome presence.

**"A Heir walks once more."**

Sai froze. His breath was slow, steady, controlled, but his muscles were **coiled like a spring.**

**"One who seeks. One who claims. One who is not yet whole."**

The mist in front of him **shifted.**

Something stepped forward.

Sai's grip tightened on his weapons, but he didn't move—not yet. The figure emerging from the abyssal fog was **humanoid**, but only barely. Its body was composed of shifting darkness, solid one moment and ethereal the next. It had no face, only the outline of where one should be, and its eyes—if they could be called that—were **empty voids, flickering with faint golden light.**

Sai's system reacted instantly.

**[Abyssal Entity Identified: Keeper of the First Gate.]**

**[Threat Level: Unknown.]**

The figure **studied** him. Or at least, Sai **felt** like he was being studied. The weight of its gaze, even without eyes, was suffocating.

"You have stepped beyond the veil," the Keeper said, its voice layered, distant yet near. "You are the first to do so in an age."

Sai exhaled. "And that's a problem, isn't it?"

The Keeper tilted its head, not in confusion, but **acknowledgment.** "It is a change."

Sai narrowed his eyes. "I don't care about change. I came here for answers."

The mist **reacted** to his words, swirling violently for a moment before settling once more. The Keeper remained motionless.

"Then speak your question."

Sai didn't hesitate. "What is the Abyss?"

A long silence followed. Then, **the world around him changed.**

The structures in the distance shifted, the mist swirled upward, and suddenly, Sai wasn't standing on the abyssal ground anymore. He was somewhere else—**floating, weightless, surrounded by visions of the past.**

The Abyss wasn't **always the Abyss.**

It had been **something before.**

A kingdom, a force, a **balance.** And then it was **shattered.** Sai watched as the vision unfolded before him—**warriors clad in abyssal armor, fighting against enemies he couldn't see. A great city collapsing into nothingness. A throne left empty.**

And at the center of it all—**the Betrayer.**

Sai's breath hitched. The figure at the heart of it all **looked like him.** Not exactly, but close enough that it sent a shiver down his spine. The same sharp features, the same dark hair, the same **presence.**

The Keeper spoke, its voice no longer distant. "The Abyss was not born. It was made. A choice. A price. A consequence."

Sai clenched his fists. "And the Betrayer?"

The vision **paused.**

Then, **for the first time, the Keeper hesitated.**

"The Betrayer was the first to make the choice."

Sai's pulse **quickened.** "The first?"

The Keeper didn't answer.

Instead, the vision **collapsed** around him, and he was back in the Abyssal Depths. The mist settled, the structures resumed their endless shifting, and the Keeper stood before him once more, as if nothing had happened.

Sai's hands trembled slightly, though he quickly steadied them. "That's it? That's all you're giving me?"

The Keeper remained silent for a moment. Then:

"You stand at the threshold of the second choice."

Sai exhaled sharply. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

The Keeper's form flickered, its golden eyes dimming slightly. "The Abyss has tested you once. It will test you again. And in the end, you will choose as the Betrayer once did."

Sai's chest **tightened.** "I'm not him."

Another pause. "You say this now."

Sai **gritted his teeth.** He had come for answers, and now he had even more **questions.** The Abyss wasn't **just** some sealed power. It was something that had been **chosen.** And now, it was waiting for him to do the same.

The Keeper stepped back into the mist. "The path is open. Step forward, or turn away."

Sai **didn't move.**

The weight of everything pressed down on him. If he went forward, there was no telling **what he would find.** But if he turned back now…

He'd never know the truth.

And Sai wasn't the kind of person who could live with that.

He exhaled slowly, then took a step forward.

The moment his foot touched the ground, the Abyss **rippled.**

The trial had begun.