"I swear I'll kill you if you somehow got lost again."
Cullen and Adam had been walking down the caves for an hour, but there was no sign of the well. They started in the same spot Cullen had, but he was already seeing things he'd never run into before.
"I am lost. I thought that much was clear. Iris said we will eventually run into it as long as we keep going."
Adam groaned in boredom.
He started playing with the walls of the caves, taking stone and dirt with him and condensing them.
"Do you need to do that now? Just wait until we get to Limbo."
Cullen didn't understand why Adam would waste his ability's stamina now. It had to be taxing to keep all that weight with him.
"I probably won't be able to control anything in Limbo. The entire place may be part of the Abomination, so if I don't gather this now, I'll have nothing to fight with."
'Right, he told me this after fighting the Dancer.'
What would happen if Adam lost his weapons in Limbo? Would he have to fight with his fists? It dawned on Cullen that Grade-E Abominations are not Adam's specialty.
"Are you sure your ability will even work?" Adam asked. "It's possible that it won't, considering everything down there is already dead."
Of course Cullen thought of that, but he still wasn't certain.
"I guess we'll just have to try."
A Jewel came into view, which Cullen bombarded with crystals. It died in seconds. This was the tenth he had seen with Adam, bringing his total crystals to eighteen.
'I can manage these, but it's getting more and more difficult. I think twenty is a good place to stop.'
Cullen and Adam fought similarly now, controlling weapons around them. Obviously, Adam was far more powerful and versatile, but this allowed Cullen to fight alongside him instead of doing nothing.
They continued for a couple more minutes before Adam suddenly stopped. Cullen looked over at him, confused, then felt it too.
"Is this Limbo?" Adam smiled. "Feels creepy."
'This is definitely what I felt before. The well must be up ahead!'
Despite finally finding it, there was no relief. The shivers reminded him of how terrifying Limbo really is.
A few steps later, the well came into sight. It looked exactly the same as before, and felt like it had been waiting for Cullen. He wiped sweat down his forehead, then looked at Adam, who frowned.
"It's kind of out of place, don't you think? Are you sure Iris didn't send us to a trap?"
"She could have let me go in the first time, but she didn't. I don't think they're lying."
Unconvinced, Adam marched up to the well and peered down, exactly what Cullen didn't have the chance to do last time.
"Wow! This is amazing," Adam said, sarcastically.
Cullen rolled his eyes and followed, also looking down the well. There was nothing but darkness, no clue to where it led.
Adam compressed some more of the cave wall, wanting to take as much with him as he could. Cullen commanded all of his crystals to enter his backpack.
"Whenever you're ready," Adam nudged at the well.
'Of course, he wants me to go first.'
Cullen sighed. He didn't allow his mind time to be afraid. Instead, he jumped right in.
***
"Why did you change your mind so easily, Eric?"
Greye and Eric sat alone in the room. Greye was waiting for Ryan to wake up, while Eric was preparing to leave.
"I've never seen you panic like that before, when we told you Cullen was in the caves. And now you're letting him go back?"
Even the Triarch himself was scared of Limbo, yet he allowed Cullen and Adam to go alone.
Eric looked at Greye, his face unchanged.
"Because he wanted to. Cullen knows his ability best, so I won't stand in the way of him using it. If he told me he wanted to fly into the sun, with that determined look on his face, I'd let him."
Eric was very different from the other Triarchs. Cullen could see it clearly, and Greye began to realize it as well. He didn't control; he led.
Dan entered the room, prompting Eric to stand up. The two of them left together, and Greye returned to check on Ryan.
"Finally. I honestly doubted you could sleep that long on stone."
Ryan wiped his face, looking around like he'd forgotten where they were.
"Damn… Are we leaving now?"
"We've been waiting for you. Ready?"
Ryan nodded.
"I'll go get Iris. Wake up some more."
Shortly after, Greye, Ryan, and Iris all began traveling. It was a long trip to the castle, and they would have to pop in and out of tunnels. Luckily, Iris could see where the Jewels were so that they wouldn't be caught easily.
On the way there, Ryan decided to explain his ability to Iris, who was fascinated.
"That's incredible! We'll be able to take multiple paths at once in the castle. I really think we could thoroughly explore everything by the end of our trip."
Iris turned to Greye.
"What about you? You said it was some sort of teleportation?"
Greye smiled. "Yes, I can teleport myself and others if we have physical contact. It should be enough to escape if we find ourselves in danger, as long as nothing blocks me."
Iris frowned.
"What about the monster under your shirt?"
Ryan froze, turning to look at Iris.
"How do you know about that?" he stammered.
But unlike Ryan, Greye didn't seem bothered.
"I take it that your ability is the reason you discovered it? You can see far and close, but must focus on a specific area to get details. Is that correct?"
Iris didn't answer.
"It's fine, you don't have to confirm it. But until you do, my little Abomination will also remain a secret."
The three of them were silent for the majority of the trip.
***
Cullen didn't remember landing. He jumped down the well and now stood on a hill, nothing in between.
Around him was… empty. A desolate desert as far as he could see. The sand was black, the sky white. Everything was monochrome.
Cullen looked behind himself and saw the only object that was down there with him—a rope. An infinite rope, leading into the sky.
"I guess that's how we get back," Adam said.
Cullen jumped.
"When did you get here?"
"I don't know."
"…"
Everything was strange, almost like this place shouldn't exist. There was no sound, no wind, just the sand beneath their feet.
"They made it sound like this place was crawling with Abominations, but I see nothing."
He was right, there was no movement anywhere.
"Whatever," Cullen said. "Let's just walk until we find one."
And that's what they did, for a long time. So long that they couldn't see the rope behind them anymore. Adam claimed he knew how to get back, but Cullen wasn't so sure. What if Limbo was playing tricks on them like the Mindcradle? There was no way back besides that rope.
Then, finally, they saw something.
A strange object in the distance, slowly making its way toward them. Two, actually. The smaller one in the front, and a strange box behind it.
"What do you think it is?" Cullen asked.
"I don't know, but it doesn't look like anything from The Amethyst Burrow. Must be an Abomination from the surface."
He was right, it probably came from someplace else. And that meant that it had once been a human, whom The Devil stole life from. It also meant that its ability would be unpredictable.
As it came closer, Cullen could start to make out what it was exactly.
A human-looking figure, whose face was blurry, wore a black suit and top hat, dragging an object behind it with a rope over its shoulder. It had a sickle hanging from its belt and looked to be tired from walking. The object it dragged was a shed, much larger than the Abomination itself. It was worn down, with chipped wood, no windows, and a single door.
"That's strange," Adam said. "Why the hell is it dragging around a shed? It would make sense if its core were protected in there, but it's clearly in the Abomination's chest."
"It must be a part of its ability. If not, and it was somehow brought to this place, you would be able to control it, right?"
Adam furrowed his brows and stared at the shed for a second.
"No, I don't feel anything. Must be a part of it."
The two of them couldn't look away from the Abomination, not out of fear, but out of confusion and curiosity.
"What could possibly be in that shed?"
"What could possibly be its ability?" Cullen added.
'Maybe there are traps in the shed? Or maybe it's carrying around a bunch of weapons. Whatever it is, it must be strong enough to haul that around.'
When there was about 100 meters between them, the Abomination finally seemed to notice Adam and Cullen.