Echoes of the Abyss
The dawn painted the sky in hues of ash and blood as Jerry and Janice walked away from the smoldering castle. The air still reeked of burnt magic, a metallic tang that clung to their clothes. Janice's fingers brushed the raw skin where the collar had seared her neck, its phantom weight a reminder of the Abyss's hunger. She glanced at Jerry, his profile etched in the pale light. He walked like a man, but his eyes—flickers of white-gold beneath the lashes—betrayed the divine storm within.
"Where do we go now?" she asked, her voice steadier than she felt.
"Somewhere they won't follow," Jerry said, though his gaze lingered on the horizon, as if reading a map only he could see.
"They'll follow anyway," Janice murmured. "The king. The Abyss. *Him*."
Neither needed to name Archibald. His howl still echoed in the hills, a dirge of teeth and regret.
---
**The King's Burden**
In the castle infirmary, King Hakinim pressed a cloth to a guardsman's bleeding temple. The throne room's wreckage had spread—shattered windows, scorched tapestries, and the lingering stench of rot. His advisors clamored around him, voices sharp as daggers.
"Your Grace, the eastern lords demand an audience—"
"—peasant riots in the south—"
"—duke's messengers arrived, threatening war if his daughter isn't found—"
The king silenced them with a raised hand. "Send riders after the godling. Offer him whatever he asks. We need his light."
"And if he refuses?"
The king's jaw tightened. "Then pray the Abyss devours us last."
---
**Stephan's Covenant**
Deep in the forest, shadows coagulated around a derelict chapel. Stephan knelt on cracked altar stones, his human skin sloughing off in ribbons. Before him, a pool of black water rippled, reflecting not the chapel's ruins, but a cavernous void where chains thicker than oak trunks anchored a titan's limbs.
*"Failure,"* the Abyssal master boomed, its voice grinding like continents colliding.
"The godling is stronger than we foresaw," Stephan pleaded. "But the girl—the collar *marked* her. She's a conduit, even now."
The titan's fiery eyes narrowed. *"Then rip open her soul. Let my legions feast."*
The pool darkened. Stephan's remaining flesh dissolved, revealing the sinewy horror beneath. "As you command."
---
**Archibald's Crucible**
Archibald crouched in a river, the water steaming where it touched his mutated flesh. His reflection wavered—a grotesque amalgam of talons and too many eyes, yet beneath the distortion, the ghost of a nobleman's brow. The priest's blood had been a feast, but the hunger returned, sharper.
*Crunch.*
He spun, claws raised. A deer froze, its heartbeat a frantic drum. Archibald's muzzle twitched. *Prey. Easy. Weak.*
But as he lunged, a memory flashed: a maid's scream, his own hands pinning her wrists. *Monster.*
He veered, talons gouging a tree instead. The deer fled.
"No more," he growled, though the Abyss in his veins hissed, *Liar.*
---
**The Road to Nowhere**
Jerry and Janice camped in a hollow beneath an ancient oak. Jerry kindled a fire with a glance, its flames tinged gold. Janice watched him, the way he cradled the light like something fragile.
"Who was Lisa?" she asked quietly.
The fire dimmed. "She died," Jerry said. "In another life. Another world."
"And you loved her."
"I *am* her." Janice's words surprised them both.
Jerry's eyes met hers, glowing full now. "You remember?"
"Fragments. A city of glass and steel. A hospital bed. Your face—older, lined with grief." She touched his cheek. "You're not him anymore, are you?"
"I'm… more. And less." He captured her hand, his touch fever-hot. "The divine doesn't *replace* the mortal. It consumes."
A branch snapped. Jerry's light flared, illuminating three riders in the king's colors.
"Godling," the lead rider bowed. "The king begs your aid. The Abyss stirs at our borders."
Janice stiffened. "How?"
The rider hesitated. "Entire villages… emptied. Not a corpse left. Just *symbols* carved in the earth."
Jerry's flame died. "Show me."
---
**The Hollowed Village**
They reached the village by midday. Thatch-roofed cottages stood intact, but silence hung heavy. No birds. No flies.
Janice knelt, tracing a symbol gouged into the dirt—a spiral with jagged hooks. "This wasn't here before."
"It's a ward," Jerry said. "To cage souls."
Inside a barn, they found the truth: a ceiling etched with the same symbols, dripping black ichor. Below it, a mound of—
"Eyes," Janice gagged. Hundreds, maybe thousands, layered in a putrid mosaic. All staring.
Jerry's light swept the room. "Abyssal ritual. They're harvesting fear."
"To what end?"
"To break a god." His voice wavered. "To break *me*."
A child's whimper echoed. Janice froze. "Did you hear—"
The eyes *blinked*.
The mound erupted. Tentacles of shadow lashed out, wrapping Janice's throat, yanking her into the dark as the walls screamed.
---
**Archibald's Gambit**
Archibald smelled the Abyss before he saw the village—a reek of spoiled miracles. He moved toward it, compelled by a voice that wasn't *quite* the hunger.
He found the barn, its doorway a maw of shadows. Inside, Jerry battled a living nightmare, his light shredding tentacles that regrew faster than he burned them. Janice dangled above the eye-pit, her skin paling as the symbols drank her soul.
Archibald's claws flexed. *Feed. Fight.*
He leapt, jaws closing on the shadow's core. The thing shrieked, recoiling. Janice fell; Archibald caught her, his talons careful as silk.
"You?" Jerry stared.
"Balance the scales," Archibald snarled. "Then we're even."
The shadows coalesced into Stephan's face. *"Traitor. The master will flay your soul!"*
Archibald roared, tearing into the darkness. "Already flayed."
---
**Janice's Choice**
Janice woke in the oak hollow, the ward's poison coursing through her. Jerry hovered over her, his hands aglow, but the darkness resisted.
"It's in my blood," she whispered.
"I can purge it," Jerry said, but fear tinged his light. "But I might… unravel you."
Archibald watched from the trees. "The Abyss wants her. Use that."
"No," Jerry growled.
Janice grasped his wrist. "Do it. Lure them in. End this."
When Jerry refused, she seized his glowing hand and pressed it to her chest.
Light and shadow collided. Janice screamed—and the world *split*.
---
**The Abyss Unveiled**
They stood in a starless void, the titan's chains suspended above like a spider's web. Janice's form flickered, half-flesh, half-shadow.
*"Little conduit,"* the titan crooned. *"You brought me the godling."*
Jerry stepped forward, light blazing. "You want me? Here I am."
The titan laughed, chains shaking. *"I want you *broken*."*
It snapped a talon. The chains fell, and Jerry's light dimmed as the titan's prison crumbled.
"No!" Janice leapt, not with magic, but a dagger from her boot—the king's gift, forgotten until now. She plunged it into the titan's eye.
The void shuddered. The titan howled, its blood eroding the darkness. Jerry's light surged, binding the titan once more.
"You'll pay for that, mortal," the titan spat.
Janice grinned, bloody and defiant. "Already have."
---
**The Cost**
They awoke in the oak hollow, dawn breaking anew. Archibald was gone, but his claw marks scarred the earth—a trail leading north.
Janice's hair now streaked white where the darkness had touched. "It's not over," she said.
"No," Jerry agreed. "But we've bought time."
The king's riders approached, but Jerry waved them off. "Tell your king to fortify the borders. The Abyss will rise again."
As they walked, Janice laced her fingers with his. "Where now?"
Jerry smiled, a mortal's smile. "Wherever the road is darkest."
Behind them, unseen, the titan's whisper coiled through the shadows: *"Let them run. The girl is mine now."*
And in the north, Archibald faced a coven of Abyssal worshippers, their chants dying as he entered. "Hungry," he rumbled, and the screaming began.