Lina held the pages of the Abyss Codex with trembling hands. The words written in black and purple ink seemed to pulse beneath her fingers, as if the parchment itself were alive.
"What does this mean, Grand Researcher Elkan?" he asked, looking up at the leader of the Bearers of the Eternal Lamp.
The man, whose face was marked by scars that gleamed faintly in the lamplight, smiled a mirthless smile. For a moment, his eyes—normal, human eyes—were hollow, as if something inside them had receded to reveal only an abyss.
"Life on the surface is... curious, isn't it?" he said, sliding a finger over the Codex map. "All this flora, this unique fauna. The glass-winged insects, the trees that bleed golden sap. None of it is natural. It's the Abyss breathing out ."
Lina felt a chill.
"The Upper City wasn't built to escape the Abyss, as many say," the researcher continued. "It was built as bait . As a beacon for Him to look out for us."
The researcher leaned forward, his voice reduced to a harsh whisper.
—"Centuries ago, the great nations united under a single banner. The true capital, Aetherion, the City of Heavenly Spears, is where our true power lies. There is the Dawn Warriors Headquarters, the black alchemy laboratories, the forbidden archives... All that we are. The Upper City is but a shield. A sacrifice ."
Lina paled.
"Is that why you don't care if you send children or the elderly to the Abyss?" he muttered, remembering the slave markets in the lower levels, the "volunteers" who never returned.
The researcher nodded slowly.
—"The Abyss needs stimuli to react. To reveal itself . And we need to understand it before it fully awakens."
Then the researcher opened a page sealed with black wax. The title screamed in crimson letters:
"EXPEDITION 75: THE HEART OF THE ABYSS".
—"Forty years ago, an elite force descended beyond Level 9. Four hundred soldiers, each capable of killing a Xar-Voth with their bare hands. Only six returned," he whispered. "Led by Elysia ."
Lina sucked in a breath. Elysia , the Supreme Commander of Aetherion, the woman who now led the wars against the anomalies with unwavering coldness.
—"What did you see?"
The researcher closed his eyes, as if fighting an old pain.
—"Something that has no name. Something that slumbers at the core of the Abyss. The survivors... changed. Two committed suicide upon returning. One became the Master of the Forbidden Records. Another vanished into the depths. And the last..."—he paused. "Well, I suppose you know him. He's the drunk who tells stories in the tavern of the Last Descent."
Old Dalk! It was the same one Rheell and Lumis listened to with fascination.
"And Elysia?" Lina asked.
—"She saw more than anyone. And that's why she is what she is now: a soulless sword, slicing through everything the Abyss throws at us."
Lina looked at the Codex again. Between the lines, someone had scribbled a marginal note:
"The Abyss is not a place. It's a being. And we're playing gods in its dreams . "
The researcher stood up, hiding the trembling of his hands under his sleeves.
—"Now you understand why your 'miracles' are low priority. Because if the Abyss is creating benign things ... it's because it will soon create something worse ."
Outside, the purple cracks in the ground of the Upper City glowed with a faint light, like pulsing veins.
Agatha crossed her arms, her eyes cold as abyssal steel.
"Kid, I know I told you to investigate those 'miracles,' but they're not a high priority right now. Do you understand?" He strode toward Lina and the head of research, his boots thumping on the black stone slabs.
Lina clenched her fists.
—"Yes, I understand. But these things are related to the two Level 4 beings who killed Captain Kaleth. I—"
A harsh growl interrupted her.
"Come on, you idiot girl, leave the hunting to the professionals," Rugath the Flayer entered the room, dragging a bloody hook with small Nyx-Terath fangs skewered on it like trophies. Behind him, his men—all beast-scarred and armored with abyssal plate—smirked.
"I'll take care of that stuff, along with my team," he said, nodding his chin at his hunters.
Agatha turned to him, her voice icy.
—"Rugath! What the hell are you doing here? Your order was to keep the lower levels of the Abyss clear of dangerous creatures! Or did you forget?"
Rugath shrugged and sank into one of the worn leather armchairs.
—"Relax, old lady. That's why I came. It turns out nothing 's been coming up from the Abyss for days now. As if everything were... still." Her eyes darkened for a moment. "Besides, you guys need to take a look at this."
He threw a bloodstained report onto the table.
—"A Level 2 rookie found an Alpha in the abandoned lab. That's where everyone who'd been missing from the last week was. All dead." Rugath chewed on a piece of dried meat, indifferent to the horror of her words.
Lina paled.
—"An Alpha at level 2 ? That's impossible. Isn't that right, Head of Research?"
The old man adjusted his smoked-glasses before answering, his voice shaky but full of authority.
"It's not unlikely. Ancient records mention that the lower levels of the Abyss were once swarming with dangerous creatures. Over time, humanity eradicated the deadliest variants, leaving only the weakest... or so we thought." Her fingers ran over the pages of a dusty codex. "But even those 'harmless' beasts we encounter on the surface levels are degenerated versions of monsters that, in the depths, are a nightmare."
Rugath interrupted with a laugh.
—"So what? They killed the Alpha. Problem solved."
The head of research ignored his comment and pointed to a portion of the report.
—"It says here that Lucy found a crystal inside the Alpha's body... and a mark on his skin."
Suddenly, the old man stood up so quickly that his chair wobbled.
—"Wait! A crystal in his body? Rugath, do you know what that means?!"—Her voice broke into a hysterical scream.
—"If it's from the same source as the mutated Xhar-Voth, it's dangerous. What does it say about the crystal?"
Rugath shrugged, tearing off another piece of meat with his teeth.
—"Calm down, old man. That's all there was. Apparently the crystal disappeared or something."
The head of research put his hands to his head, muttering under his breath.
—"No, no, no, no..."
The old man turned to face those present, his eyes wide.
—"When the Dawn Warriors killed the Xart-Voth who accompanied the Noctis, a cleanup team took the body to Aetherion for study. One of the researchers touched the crystal embedded in its chest..."—He paused dramatically—"And the crystal stuck to his arm like a tattoo. It drove him insane. Within a week, he committed suicide by gouging out his eyes."
A thick silence filled the room.
"This could be a clue to understanding the Abyss," the old man continued. "Where is that girl? If she touched the crystal, she's in grave danger. We must find her before she does something crazy. We must investigate her ."
Agatha looked at Lina, and for the first time, there was something like fear in her eyes.
—"Go find Lucy. Now ."
Meanwhile, on Level 2...
Lucy studied the mark on her arm under the light of a mushroom lamp. The crystal patterns had expanded, now forming a recognizable shape: an inverted spiral, identical to that of Alpha Skavrith.
And it hurt .
Not like a wound, but like something awakening under your skin.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her.
—"Lucy..."—It was Vex, leaning against the doorframe, her face still pale from blood loss. "Something's wrong. The Skavrith... they're singing ."
Outside, in the shadows of the camp, the walls whispered with dozens of harsh voices, repeating the same phrase in a forgotten language:
"They're coming . "
The Skavrith outside the camp writhed like living shadows, their gray bodies convulsing in an unnatural rhythm. Their screams were scratches in the air, guttural words no one understood.
Nobody except Lucy.
The mark on her arm burned, as if the crystal embedded beneath her skin had opened her ears to the language of the Abyss. And what she heard paralyzed her.
One of the Skavrith broke away from the group, advancing toward her with jerky steps. Its mouth, full of jagged teeth, opened in a piercing scream:
—"GIVE BACK WHAT YOU TOOK!"—Her voice wasn't human, but a chorus of twisted whispers, as if a thousand throats were speaking at once. "'HE' GAVE IT TO US... AND IF WE DON'T HAND IT UP, 'HE' WILL KILL US ALL!"
Finn stepped back, his spear in hand.
"God, have these things gone crazy now?" he muttered, but Lucy wasn't listening.
Because the Skavrith knew . Knew she'd touched the crystal. Knew she carried it inside her.
And at that moment, Lucy understood: the figure in her dream, the man with the purple eyes and distorted sword... was not a nightmare.
It was a warning .
The next day...
Lina and Rugath arrived at the camp with a squad of hunters, their armor gleaming in the purple light of the Level 2 mushrooms. But Lucy was gone.
"She disappeared last night," one of the camp boys explained, rubbing his temples. "It was like the earth swallowed her up."
"Impossible," Lina clenched her fists. "Someone must have seen her."
Rugath snorted, adjusting his greatsword.
"Or she went crazy and jumped into the void," he said, spitting on the ground. "But if you want to waste time, let's find her. I get paid for bodies, not questions."
Lina looked at him with contempt.
"It's not just a hunt, Rugath. If that crystal is corrupting her or making her lose her mind, it could be worse than any beast."
"Good for me," he smiled, showing sharp fangs. "Killing intelligent things is always more fun."
Lucy had run away.
The visions were too much: faces melting, voices whispering in forgotten languages, the echo of something enormous breathing in the depths. Her feet carried her without thinking to Level 4, where the air was thick and the walls bled black moisture.
And then she saw it: the Great Central Abyss, a chasm that plunged into eternal darkness. Something was calling to her from there.
"Come ," whispered the void.
As if hypnotized, Lucy approached the edge. Shadows swirled, and a figure emerged from them.
She was thin, floating inches off the ground, her body black as the space between the stars. Pupil-less eyes, empty, hungry. Purple veins pulsing beneath her charcoal skin. And a smile... a smile that split her face from ear to ear, full of needle-like teeth.
"Nyarlath," Lucy whispered, not knowing where that name came from.
The creature reached out a hand. Its claw-like fingers touched Lucy's cheek. The touch was colder than death.
—"K'yarnak ph'nglui mglw'nafh..."—he spoke in a language that made Lucy's ears bleed.
And then, the darkness moved to swallow her.
A great obsidian sword sliced through the air, slamming into the creature's side with a sonic crack .
"GET AWAY FROM HER, MONSTER!" Lina shouted, as Rugath charged like a bull, his greatsword flashing in the air.
The creature turned slowly, its smile growing even wider.
The fight was a symphony of violence:
Nyarlath dodged Rugath's sword blow by sliding backward without moving his feet, as if space bent to his will. A hunter lunged with a spear—the blade pierced the creature's chest... and came out clean, as if it had struck smoke.
"It's not solid!" the man yelled, before Nyarlath grabbed him by the face. His fingers sank into the flesh like it was mud. The hunter screamed, and then... he disintegrated into black dust.
Rugath didn't flinch. He spat blood onto his greatsword— cursed blood —and it glowed with red runes. The next blow severed Nyarlath's right arm.
The creature shrieked, a sound that shook the walls. Its severed arm transformed into shadow snakes that attacked the hunters, strangling two before they could react.
Lina took advantage of the chaos to drag Lucy away from the edge.
"Lucy, wake up!" he yelled, slapping her.
Lucy's eyes focused for a second.
—"Lina... "He" wants to kill us. He wants to devour everything "—he whispered, touching her mark.
Nyarlath regenerated his arm, but now there was blood in his smile—Rugath's blood, gasping with a wound in his side.
"Retreat!" roared the Skinner. "This thing doesn't die like the others!"
The surviving hunters fled, dragging Lucy with them. Nyarlath didn't pursue. He just floated, laughing silently, before dissolving into the darkness.
As they retreated, the head of research heard Lina's description and paled.
—"Nyarlath... the ancient texts call him 'The Devourer of Echoes.' He is the dark counterpart to the Matriarchs of Light
Lucy looked at her mark. It now glowed faintly, like a beacon.
Or like a target.