Where Light Dares to Walk

The path had widened again, if it could be called that.

No longer a corridor, it was a vast canyon cut into the flesh of the Abyss itself. Towering walls of dark stone loomed on either side, threaded with faint veins that pulsed like veins under skin. Thin mists drifted in slow spirals above the canyon floor, catching pale glimmers of ghostlight that had no obvious source.

Hollowfang padded close to Raen, head low, ears swiveling constantly. Despair Maw slithered just behind them, breath slow and deliberate, a low rasp each time its chest plates flexed. Ember Vow walked on Raen's other side, hand brushing against his, her runes faint but steady. They were a battered procession, but still unbroken.

And ahead of them, for the first time since they'd begun this descent, stood something that didn't belong.

It started with a scent.

Not blood, or rot, or ozone from Ember's power. But something sharp, almost medicinal. Raen frowned, nostrils flaring. Memoryweaver twitched inside him, uncertain — the Abyss held many horrors, but this smell was alien even to it.

Then he heard voices. Low, muttering, laced with ritual cadence.

They rounded a slow bend. The canyon opened into a broad floor, almost circular. At its center, a ring of light had been carved into the stone — harsh, white, wrong. Seven figures stood around it, cloaked in armor that glinted with faint etchings of suns and crossed spears. Between them hovered a shard of cracked crystal, suspended over a shallow pit that bled faint golden light.

[System Notice: Cross-Realm Breach Detected]

[Entity Class: Mortal Purification Envoy]

[Objective: Seal Abyssal Threads]

Raen slowed to a halt. Hollowfang snarled low. Despair Maw let out a sound close to a chuckle, jaws opening slightly.

One of the armored figures looked up. Even across the distance, Raen saw the helm shift — caught the faint spark of surprise.

Then the crystal flared.

A beam of clean light lanced out, slicing across the space between them. Raen threw himself sideways, dragging Ember with him. Hollowfang leapt the other way, claws raking grooves into the stone as it twisted midair. The light struck where they'd been standing — the ground erupted in a hiss of steam and flakes of molten rock.

Despair Maw lunged forward with a booming laugh that shook the walls. Its jaws closed over one of the armored figures before the man could even raise a ward. There was a wet crunch, then silence. When Despair Maw pulled back, dark blood sprayed across its face, steaming where it touched the creature's plates.

A chorus of shouts rose. Symbols on the envoys' breastplates glowed with frantic pulses. They raised their hands — thin strands of golden light leapt between them, forming a wide net that crackled through the air.

Raen surged to his feet, Memoryweaver snapping into his hand. Threads of molten gold poured off the blade, racing up his arm. Ember slid in beside him, her runes flaring so bright they nearly washed out her eyes.

"Mortals," she hissed. "Praying to their pale gods to close doors they don't understand."

"They'll burn the world trying to keep this one out," Raen snarled. He stepped forward — and Memoryweaver flared, a single bright line that carved the golden net in half. The magic sputtered, the strands unraveling like scorched silk.

Hollowfang lunged. It hit another envoy broadside, jaws crushing down on the man's arm and shoulder. The envoy screamed — a raw, human sound — before it cut off in a choked gargle. Blood sprayed across the floor, steaming where it hit the lines of light.

Despair Maw crashed into two more, jaws opening wide. A gout of searing black fog poured from its mouth, swallowing their shields. When the fog cleared, both men were little more than slumped heaps, armor pitted and fused.

The last three envoys tried to rally. They dropped to one knee, pressing hands to the ground. Glyphs burst out around them, sun-wheels and flaming swords, spinning faster and faster.

Ember's hands snapped forward. Ribbons of runes wrapped her arms to the elbows. She tore them outward — the air itself buckled. The glyphs shattered like glass struck by a hammer, spraying shards of faint orange light that winked out before they touched the floor.

One envoy rose anyway. His helm had been knocked aside, revealing a young face, sweat-slick and wide-eyed. He held up a trembling hand, palm facing Raen.

"D-don't think this ends with us, Abyss-claimed!" he shouted. "Your corruption crawls — we've seen the cracks. We've sealed twelve already. We'll seal a hundred more. You won't be allowed to reign above!"

Raen strode forward, Memoryweaver held low. "I don't intend to reign over anything. But this place is bleeding because fools keep trying to stitch wounds they don't understand."

The envoy's jaw worked. Then he spat at Raen's feet. "We will burn the sky before we let your kind walk it."

Hollowfang surged in. One snap of its jaws ended the conversation.

Silence returned.

The canyon floor was littered with twisted bodies and smoldering glyph fragments. The shard of crystal still floated over its shallow pit, pulsing faintly.

Raen approached it slowly. Memoryweaver twitched. Ember caught his wrist. "It's a stabilizer. Tying their prayers into the Abyss. Keeping a breach open enough to push their will through."

"So it's a leash," Raen muttered. He lifted Memoryweaver. The blade hummed, then sliced down. The crystal split cleanly, light gushing out in a thin scream that echoed off the canyon walls before fading.

[System Notice: Cross-Realm Breach Severed]

[New Thread Registered: Mortal Resistance Escalating]

[Authority Adjustment: Observation of Mortal Realm Enhanced]

Raen let out a breath. Hollowfang pressed close to his side, licking blood from its snout. Despair Maw looped around them all, tail curling near Ember's feet in a strange, protective swirl.

Ember watched the last of the light fade from the cracked pit. "The mortal world knows, now. Not just about the Abyss — about you. Your face. Your beasts. What you carry."

"They'll come again," Raen said. Not a question. Just fact.

Ember's hand slipped into his. Her smile was tired, a little savage. "Let them. They'll learn what the Abyss already has — we don't break. We don't kneel."

They turned away from the dead. Ahead, the canyon narrowed once more, folding into a corridor slick with faintly glistening scales, as though some vast serpent had molted against the walls.

The Abyss was still waiting. Watching. But now it shared that attention with mortal kings and trembling priests who would rather scorch the earth than let Raen's chosen path stand.

And that suited Raen just fine.

Because between mortal zealots and a hungry void, he knew exactly where he stood — with beasts at his side, Ember's breath warm against his neck, Memoryweaver steady in his hand.

Ready for whatever tried to close around them next.