The abyss didn't whisper this time.
It screamed.
From beneath the breaking bridge, a shadowed claw ripped its way free, dragging with it scraps of burning parchment. Pages clung to its fingers like skin peeling from bone. When the figure stood, the air itself bent around it — a cloaked titan stitched from every word the Archive had ever devoured.
Its face was a whirlpool of ink. Letters surfaced, writhed, and melted away, too fast to read. Staring into it was like drowning.
The void spoke:
"The Third Trial begins."
Aiden's lightning chains fizzled, retreating like whipped dogs. Elias' fire sword sputtered, almost embarrassed to exist in the thing's presence.
The curse inside Aiden hissed, frantic.
"Run. Hide. Consume. Escape."
Aiden spat blood, his hands trembling on his broken sword hilt. "Fuck you… I'm not running."
The faceless void tilted its head, as if mildly entertained.
"I am the Judge of Records. Keeper of erased gods. The measure of stolen power."
The bridge cracked again, stone tumbling into forever.
Elias grinned through clenched teeth. "Finally… a fight worth breaking my bones for." He raised his sword, fire roaring back. "C'mon then, faceless bastard!"
The Judge lifted its hand. Pages tore loose, thousands of them, shrieking as they spun into a storm. Words bled across them like fresh wounds.
"You, child of lightning," the Judge thundered. "Thief. You carry power that was never yours. You will be judged first."
One page ripped free, lit in black fire, and shrieked as it branded itself into Aiden's chest.
The scream that tore from his throat wasn't human. His body convulsed, runes flaring, skin burning. The abyss shook with it.
Elias' grin cracked. His eyes narrowed.
The mark carved itself into Aiden's chest — a grotesque mouth with endless teeth, ink dripping from its edges like blood.
The curse laughed in his head, wild and gleeful.
"Yes… yesss… now we are one."
The Judge's voice was final.
"The Brand of Devourment is yours. Survive it… or feed it."
The page-storm detonated, raining fire and ink, each scrap screaming in the voices of dead gods.
Aiden staggered to his feet, shaking, half-blind, chest on fire. Every breath was knives. Every step was war. But he stood anyway.
"I won't fucking kneel."
Elias barked a laugh. "That's the spirit, brat. Either you'll outlast it — or I'll get front-row seats to watch you eaten alive. Win-win for me."
The Judge raised both hands. The abyss swelled, black waves boiling upward like it meant to swallow the world.
This wasn't the end of the trial.
This was the beginning of the end.
---
Author's Note:
🔥 The Judge just branded Aiden with a literal nightmare tattoo — a mouth that eats everything. Elias is still mouthing off, because of course he is. And now the abyss is about to lose its shit.
If you got slapped with the Brand of Devourment, would you resist it… or let it chew through everything in your path?
⚡ Don't just read and ghost me. Throw some damn Power Stones at this chapter — every stone keeps Aiden standing, Elias smirking, and me alive long enough to finish this chaos.