The Free Abyss stretched endlessly before them.
Kennedy, Sonia, Charles, Ian, and Osei Jerry continued their search for Jack, moving through a landscape that seemed to rearrange itself whenever they thought they had found a way forward.
There were no reliable paths here.
A corridor could become a forest. A familiar building could lead somewhere entirely different. Sometimes, they would recognize a place from their memories, only to discover that something about it had changed.
And Hegroth was still with them.
The Ghoul of Malice followed at a leisurely pace, his presence almost annoyingly familiar by now.
He didn't need to attack them.
Not when he could simply talk.
"Still searching?" he asked.
Nobody answered.
Hegroth chuckled.
"How admirable. Even after everything you've experienced, you still believe there's something waiting for you at the end of this journey."
Sonia glanced at him.
"Can you ever shut up?"
"Of course. But then you'd have to listen to your own thoughts."
She looked away.
Hegroth continued walking.
"You've each confronted something you thought you had overcome. You've fought your fears, challenged your memories, and rejected versions of yourselves that you couldn't accept."
He spread his arms.
"And yet, here you are. Still searching. Still struggling."
Charles frowned.
"What's your point?"
"My point?"
Hegroth stopped.
"This place doesn't end."
The words settled over them.
"You defeat one aspect of yourself, and another appears. Then another. Perhaps you overcome those too. Wonderful! But what happens when the next one arrives? And the next? How long do you intend to keep doing this?"
Kennedy lowered his head.
Hegroth noticed.
"Ah. You're beginning to understand."
"Don't flatter yourself," Ian replied.
"Oh, I'm not. I'm simply observing."
The Ghoul turned toward them.
"How many times must you prove yourselves? How many versions of your pain must you confront before you accept that you cannot possibly defeat everything within you?"
Osei Jerry remained quiet.
He had been thinking about that question himself.
Not because he agreed with Hegroth, but because the experience had made it difficult to dismiss.
What if there was always something else?
What if every victory merely uncovered another problem?
What if becoming yourself was an endless struggle against things you couldn't even recognize?
Sonia crossed her arms.
"So what's your brilliant solution? We surrender?"
Hegroth smiled.
"Perhaps."
He tilted his head.
"Or perhaps you simply stop pretending that you must fight every part of yourselves."
Charles looked at him suspiciously.
"You're making surrender sound like self-acceptance."
"Am I?"
"Yes."
Hegroth laughed.
"Then perhaps you're finally learning to listen."
Ian tightened his grip on his sword.
"You're twisting everything."
"Naturally. I'm a Ghoul."
For a moment, nobody spoke.
They continued walking.
And that was what made Hegroth's influence so effective.
They weren't accepting his offer. They weren't pledging themselves to the Corruption Force.
But they were beginning to consider his arguments.
Not as answers.
As possibilities.
---
Somewhere beyond their reach.
Jack Sterling Oberempong was nowhere to be found.
There was no location to search, no recognizable corridor to follow, no physical trail leading to him.
He wasn't simply hiding.
He wasn't even experiencing the Abyss in the same way the others were.
Jack was trapped in a state of perpetual psychological breakdown.
His mind had become a place where the same emotional wounds could be revisited without resolution. Every time he seemed to recover, the Abyss found another way to bring him back to that vulnerable state.
There was no clear beginning to his suffering.
And no obvious end.
The others were searching for Jack.
But they didn't know that the person they were looking for wasn't merely somewhere else in the labyrinth.
He was caught in a condition the labyrinth had been designed to maintain.
And Hegroth knew it.
The Ghoul of Malice continued walking alongside the others, wearing his familiar smile.
He had no reason to hurry.
After all, they were still searching for their friend.
And the longer they searched, the more they would begin to wonder whether there was anything left to save.
There was nothing.
No ground beneath him. No sky above him. No walls, no corridors, no recognizable landmarks.
Only a seemingly endless void.
Jack sat alone, his forehead pressed against his knees. His entire body trembled as he continuously shook his head.
"No..."
His voice was barely audible.
"No, no, no..."
Images flashed before his eyes.
Not like ordinary memories.
They appeared like a mainframe processing thousands of records at once, each image emerging before another could disappear.
His childhood.
The bullying.
The laughter.
The countless moments when people made him feel as though there was something fundamentally wrong with him.
He saw himself again, standing against those who had made his life miserable.
Then came Henry.
The moment Henry had offered his help, only for Jack to reject it when things became personal.
He remembered the tension between them. The things he hadn't wanted to discuss. The way he had tried to keep certain parts of himself hidden.
Another image.
Jair.
His words returned with uncomfortable clarity.
You're too soft for this world.
Jack remembered confronting him, refusing to accept that his kindness made him weak.
But now, even that memory seemed different.
Another flash.
Henry.
The betrayal.
His hand slipping away.
That moment.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Jack's breathing became uneven.
"Why?"
He pressed his forehead harder against his knees.
"Why would he...?"
He couldn't finish the question.
Henry was the one person he had trusted enough to let close. The one who had stayed beside him through so much. The person who had helped him understand that he didn't have to hide everything about himself.
They had a connection.
Didn't they?
"Maybe..."
Jack slowly lifted his head.
"Maybe he had a good reason."
He wanted to believe that.
He desperately wanted to believe that Henry hadn't simply decided he was no longer worth staying beside.
"No. I refuse to believe it."
His head began shaking again.
"No..."
But another memory emerged.
Jair speaking to Henry.
That particular smirk.
Be careful. You don't want to become like me.
Jack stared into the darkness.
What if?
The thought came quietly.
What if Jair had been right?
What if Henry had eventually seen something in Jack that he couldn't tolerate?
What if Jack's light had become too much?
He remembered how Henry had encouraged him. How he had helped him become more comfortable with himself. How he had stood beside him when Jack struggled to recognize his own worth.
And now...
The same person had let go.
Jack's expression crumpled.
The one who helped me shine...
His lips trembled.
Finally ran when he experienced how bright it was.
A tear fell.
Then another.
Perhaps that was it.
Perhaps Henry had grown tired of standing beside him. Perhaps Jack's existence had become overwhelming. Perhaps everything he had considered friendship had gradually become a burden to the other person.
And perhaps Henry had simply reached his limit.
"That's why..."
Jack's voice broke.
"That's why you did it, didn't you?"
He stared into the void, as though Henry might somehow appear and answer him.
"You couldn't take it anymore..."
His hands tightened around his legs.
"I became a shadow..."
The tears continued.
The Abyss had given him the memories.
But it had also given him an interpretation.
A way to connect every painful experience into one devastating conclusion:
That perhaps the people who hurt him had always seen something he couldn't.
That perhaps his light wasn't something to be celebrated.
That perhaps, eventually, even the people who loved him would want to escape it.
Jack lowered his head again.
And the vision replayed.
Henry's hand.
The moment it slipped away.
The moment Jack had been left behind.
He shook his head.
"No..."
But this time, he wasn't rejecting the memory.
He was rejecting what he had begun to believe about himself.
And somewhere in the darkness, that distinction was becoming harder for him to remember.