Nightmare of the Abyss

After sometime,

A heavy silence hung between them.

Bruno's breath was slow, measured. His fingers twitched as he stared down at his own hands, expecting them to feel… different. He had used something unnatural, something that had touched him back when he grasped it. The Abyssal Remnant—it had responded to his will.

But now? He felt no immediate change. No physical pain. No burns, no scars.

And yet, something was different.

The world around him felt sharper, like the darkness wasn't just emptiness but something that pressed against his skin, observing, waiting.

Across from him, Raine sat slumped against a jagged stone pillar, her expression blank, her gaze distant. The false memories had rattled her.

Bruno knew the feeling.

For a brief moment, he, too, had almost believed in the past that was never his. His hands had felt the warmth of a family he didn't remember. He had seen a life that might have been his—but wasn't.

Raine let out a slow, shaky breath. "It's inside our heads," she muttered. "The Abyss isn't just a place. It's alive."

Bruno didn't answer immediately. He glanced upward at the sky—or what passed for one. The shifting black mass above them swirled endlessly, consuming the faint, flickering lights within it like a dying heartbeat.

They were far from safe.

He exhaled. "We can't stay here."

Raine closed her eyes for a moment before nodding. "Yeah."

She pushed herself up, still shaky, and Bruno could see the exhaustion in her posture. The abyss didn't just drain their bodies—it drained their minds.

Bruno glanced at the ruins surrounding them. The architecture was wrong. The stone structures were built with jagged, uneven angles, yet they all aligned perfectly, as if made with intent. Symbols ran along the edges—strange markings that twisted slightly the longer he stared at them.

"These ruins," he murmured, running a hand along the rough stone. "They weren't just left behind."

Raine frowned. "What do you mean?"

Bruno hesitated. He couldn't explain it, but something deep in his gut told him this place was never abandoned.

It was waiting.

He turned toward Raine. "We need to move."

"Where?" She scoffed. "Everything looks the same."

Bruno glanced at the markings again. Something about them felt familiar. He couldn't read them, but his mind recognized their rhythm.

He swallowed. "Not everything."

Taking the lead, he followed the etchings on the ruins, a pattern in their placements guiding him forward.

Minutes passed. Maybe longer. The Abyss had no sun, no concept of time. Only the suffocating stretch of its endless domain.

Raine followed close, watching their surroundings. "I don't like this," she muttered. "Feels like we're walking into something's trap."

Bruno didn't disagree.

The deeper they went, the less the Abyss moved. The air was still. The shadows didn't shift as much. The ever-present feeling of being watched faded, like something had lost interest.

Then, he stopped.

Before them, a staircase led downward.

Cut into the blackened stone, the steps descended into a yawning cavern below—one that pulsed with a faint, deep-red glow.

Raine exhaled sharply. "You've got to be kidding me."

Bruno said nothing. He took a step forward, but the moment his foot hovered over the first stair, something whispered.

Not aloud.

In his head.

A distant echo, like voices speaking from behind a thick veil of water. Ancient, layered, unintelligible.

Bruno jerked back, heart pounding.

Raine's face had gone pale. "You heard that too?"

Bruno nodded slowly.

Neither of them moved.

Then—

A pulse.

Deep within the cavern below, something shifted.

A ripple passed through the ground beneath them, a vibration that wasn't sound, wasn't touch—it was something else. A memory not their own.

For a split second, Bruno's vision flashed.

A city, burning.

Dark figures moving through the streets, devouring the light itself.

A throne, empty.

A door, sealed.

The vision ended as quickly as it came, leaving only the sensation of something missing.

Bruno staggered back. Raine caught herself against the stone wall, panting.

Her voice was hoarse. "What the hell was that?"

Bruno clenched his fists. His mind was still reeling.

They weren't supposed to see that.

Whatever was down there—it wasn't just waiting.

It was remembering.

He turned to Raine. "We're not going down there."

She exhaled. "Good. I was about to kick you if you said otherwise."

For the first time since they had met, Bruno smirked.

But the moment was short-lived.

Because as they turned away from the staircase…

The whispering didn't stop.