There was no sound.
Aren found himself hovering in a space between an infinite sea of stars.
He froze, a wave of unease crawled up his spine. Astonished by the distant galaxies, his body quivered.
The wind blew at his back, in a space where wind shouldn't exist.
"Huh?"
He slowly turned his head, only to catch sight of something he would never forget.
There was nothing, but everything. A singularity cloaked in contradiction. Only a black sun that had golden disks running around it.
Bigger than a star, even bigger than a galaxy. Aren was speechless.
He stared deeply into the black abyss in front of him that centered around a golden ring.
Without even blinking once, he continued staring like there was somebody in the large void meeting his gaze or almost as if the void was speaking to him in a tongue older than thought itself.
Aren felt being pulled into the dark abyss, but he didn't budge, due to the fact he was unable to move.
Then, he suddenly woke up. His eyes widened, he woke up to firelight, frostbite, and the scent of blood.
'What the hell was that?' He thought.
Aren was trying to fight back his body from shivering — even slightly so. He refused to show weakness.
With what he had just witnessed, he was left dumbstruck. His thought process stopped, trying to gasp the reality of catching a glimpse of a sun void of color, able to devour light.
'The Abyss?' He questioned himself, moving his head upwards to look at the moon.
The moon illuminated the large expanse of the Pale Verge where mostly jagged rocks of ice jutted out the ground.
In the center of the Pale Verge, there stood a large, dark ancient keep known as the Cinderspire Keep.
During the harsh Long Night, the crew had to stay there. To gather their thoughts, and plan how they'll continue with their journey.
However, they did not dare to step inside the Cinderspire itself.
They knew if they stepped inside, they would be messing with a Mutated Aberrant.
Aren felt bitterly cold, as the wind blew at him and his party. He exhaled before extending his arm toward the fire they set up.
"I feel a sense of danger rising," said Faye.
"Danger?" asked Kellen.
Faye nodded, "We should have stayed elsewhere, their movement is getting louder."
Aren looked at her in disbelief, almost taking his built up frustration out on her.
"You were the one that led us here." He said, his tone grim.
"Yes, but…" Suddenly, she closed her mouth and stopped talking.
Silence hung over the camp, each person dedicated to their own thoughts. Aren couldn't ignore Faye, but he was ready for any kind of attack all the time.
A question was raised in Kellen's head who was rather quiet after the argument between him and Aren.
"How did you two obtain your Aberration?"
The firewood crackled.
Faye and Aren stayed silent, perhaps not wanting to share their journey of becoming Aberrants.
"I made my way through Defiance." answered Aren.
Kellen's eyes widened, "What? You defied the Paragons?"
His tone unwavering, Aren answered, "The Paragons mean nothing to me."
Kellen slightly shook his head, bewildered at the audacity of Aren.
The corners of Faye's red lips tugged up, she answered Kellen, "Unlike Aren, I unlocked my Aberration because of Guidance."
At that moment, Kellen felt like an ant surrounded by wild monsters.
Hearing Faye was a Guided helped him relax a bit, but he still hasn't quite approved of the fact he has to sleep next to loathsome creatures.
Quietly, he gripped the weapon tucked into his belt.
Aren looked at Faye, "How many nights had passed since the Long Night began?"
"It's hard to tell, but I'd assume two." she answered.
Aren sighed, knowing there was a long time ahead of them before they could see the sunlight again.
Behind the crew, there was a large staircase leading up to a pearly gate, the entrance to the Cinderspire.
Out of nowhere, something knocked at the gate from inside.
It resounded in the ears of the crew, waking them up as they were feeling rather cozy next to the fire.
"What was that?" Kellen murmured, hiding his shaky hands.
In the beginning, they entered through an open gate leading inside the area that was within the walls of the Keep.
They were too naive to think that the Lord Ravagers would stay inside, when human flesh stood right outside their door.
Looking back, the gate they first entered through was closed now.
'Damned monsters. They got us.'
It was completely sealed off, and they hadn't even realized it all. They didn't even hear it.
Aren pulled his dagger out, then held it in front of his chest.
'I can never rest. Not while I'm asleep nor when I'm awake.' Aren thought to himself.
The knocking intensified as a large wave of wind howled at the crew. Soon, the gate began breaking down, but not enough to fully open.
In a mere moment, the reverberating knocking stopped.
Loud growls were heard by multiple beasts from behind the dark gate which was in its breaking point.
Slowly, the Ravagers started pushing with brute force.
Before the crew even realized, the large gate of concrete was flying in mid-air, knocked backwards into the thick walls of the Keep.
The Lord Ravagers of the Keep started spilling out like water, their numbers were seemingly endless.
All types of growls and roars echoed throughout the entire region, awaking other monsters in the vicinity.
'What a troublesome turn of events..' Aren thought.
Some were missing arms. Others were headless. One walked on splintered bones, limping, dripping something thick from under its helmet. None were alike, yet they all moved with a grotesque, unified hunger.
The uncountable amount of Lord Ravagers bursting through the gate kept stumbling and periodically falling down the staircase. Aren watched them fall, pitying them.
"How many of them are there?!" Kellen asked, panicking.
"Too many." Aren answered. It didn't need a genius to know the answer to Kellen's question.
'There must be a Wretched Glutton involved in this… But where?'
Aren's jaw tightened, his grip on the dagger strengthened.
Was the source of the Lord Ravagers from outside the Keep? Or was it inside? Could it be that the Glutton was controlling them from afar? Or perhaps they were independent?
The questions continued to rise in Aren's head, his uncertainty growing like nothing before.
One of the Lord Ravagers stood up, their metallic armor clanked and the sound of bones breaking echoed.
In mere moments, they surrounded the crew in all directions.
With nowhere to run now, they had to fight or accept their death. But they couldn't accept it so easily.
The ancient blue slate rings formed around Faye's wrists, she pointed her palm and shot out beams of light.
Following her, Aren jumped into the middle of the chaotic Ravagers.
The Ravager drew his blade at him, then swung immediately.
Aren raised his dagger and deflected the poor swing of the Ravager. In battle, he felt unusually calm and carefree.
He struck the Ravager's legs, making it stumble and eventually fall on its back. Taking the opportunity, he stepped on it and headed towards the next one.
They swarmed around him in mere seconds, each one holding a sword and a rather wide shield.
Countless blades swung at his neck, but he stepped out of the way for each swing, showing years of experience despite his young age.
As he was quickly getting out of the way, he was using his height to his advantage by leaning down whenever he had the chance, then kicking the shaky legs of the Ravagers until they were laying on the floor.
Unfortunate for him, he didn't have a clue on how to finish them off. But ruining their foothold was the most he could do for now.
Faye was releasing a large amount of beams using the ancient rings, but it wasn't enough to exterminate all of them.
The swings only increased, until Aren was barely keeping up. His plan was slowly proving to fail.
Then it hit him. An iron shield struck him right against his head, tempering with his consciousness. Aren grunted loudly, stumbling down.
Now that he stopped, even for a second, he was ultimately finished.
Another blow by a different shield struck him hard.
Blood leaked out his head and dripped down his cheek, he fell down to the ground grasping for air.
Seeing the large number of Ravagers from the floor with blurry vision, he clutched the grass using his fingers.
His eyes twitched again.
Out of nowhere, his hand that was clutching the grass started being enveloped by a dark substance, his nails grew longer and scales emerged on his palm.
'No. Not like this. I.. I swore I wouldn't be like them!'
His heart beat faster than ever, making him feel as if it was gonna burst out his chest.
Jet black highlights emerged on his chestnut hair, and both his legs were being transformed in the same bizarre manner his hands did.
'No!' Trying his best to fight the power back, but ultimately he couldn't do a thing. His vision blurred.
Saliva trickled outside his mouth as he started losing concentration.
For the last time, a blade stabbed through his back. The Ravagers were hungry.
He grunted. Not out of pain. Something crude… He felt better than he had in the past years.
His eye twitched one last time.
He tried screaming, but only a long, joyous laugh came out.
Eventually, he was consumed by the sheer power.
Aren felt his heart shudder and his lips twitch upwards into a wide grin.
"It feels amazing…"
In a flash, he slid his hand across the air towards the Ravagers.
Silence amidst chaos. No one, and nothing moved at all. Only then, they realized their bodies were split in half.