Chapter 3 – Whispers of the Abyss
An oppressive silence.
Seth opened his eyes in an empty room, with no distinct walls or ceiling, just a cold, gray space. He inhaled, but the air had a metallic taste, almost like dried blood. His footsteps echoed as if he was walking on hollow ground. Then, suddenly, a voice rose.
A girl's voice. Weak, broken.
— Help me… please…
Seth froze. His heart began to race.
— Who… who is there?
The voice then screamed, piercing:
— They are burning me! They are chaining me! Descend… descend to Hell and save me!
He felt a sharp pain in his temples, as if the words of this unknown girl were imprinting themselves into his skull. The air became heavy, and the room collapsed around him. Through the cracks in the ground, he glimpsed red flames, screaming silhouettes, and that girl, lost in the blaze, reaching out to him. Her eyes implored him, her chains clattering with every movement.
Seth took a step forward, ready to jump, but the vision exploded into a cloud of ashes. The void swallowed him.
Another world. Another pain.
Kael opened his eyes and immediately recognized it. The creaking door. The smell of rotting wood. His childhood home.
He felt the urge to vomit. His entire body trembled. The room vibrated with memories he had long wanted to forget.
A raspy voice burst behind him:
— You are nothing but a good-for-nothing!
The massive fist of his stepfather struck his face. Kael fell, tasting blood. His memories surged back like time had reversed. He was no longer the warrior he had become; he was reverting to that powerless child.
And worse yet… he heard his sister's cries.
The bedroom door creaked open. The demon of his past entered that room he had never been able to save. His sister's screams mixed with his own sobs.
Kael screamed. He wanted to run, to break the scene, to kill that monster. But his legs refused to move. Everything repeated itself, relentless, and his fists clenched until they bled.
— No… I don't want to relive this… stop!!!
But the illusions forgave nothing.
Tara opened her eyes in a field. A field she knew all too well. The wilted flowers, the dark sky. And in the middle, a small figure lying down.
— No… no, please…
She ran, her legs faltering under the weight of panic. There, on the cold grass, lay her little brother. His empty gaze fixed on the sky, a gaping wound crossing his chest.
— Wake up… I beg you… wake up!
She took him in her arms, still feeling the warmth of his body slowly fading. Her breath broke into sobs. Around her, the world crumbled. Shards of glass floated in the air, reflecting her own tears.
And the sound of a mocking voice slithered in:
— You were too weak to protect him. You always will be.
Tara screamed until her throat tore apart.
And then, there was nothing.
Suo opened his eyes… but there was nothing to see. No walls, no ground, no sky. Just an infinite blackness, a void. Even his own body seemed dissolved in this emptiness.
He sought a memory, an image, a face. Nothing.
No pain. No nightmare. Just absence. As if his fears themselves had been stolen from him.
— Who am I…? he murmured, his voice muffled in the void.
He felt a presence in the distance. A shadow.
The four illusions cracked. Shards of glass, like broken mirrors, flew around them. Each fragment reflected a scene from their nightmare, repeating again and again.
Then, at the center of this distorted world, appeared a hooded figure. Its eyes glowed with a sickly red, its skin marked with black runes.
Mani Wa.
The sorcerer who had sold his soul.
— Welcome to my web of nightmares, he said in a grave, distorted voice. Your fears are my chains; your tears, my feast. You can flee, but you will never escape who you are.
Seth clenched his fists, panting.
— You plunged us into this…
Mani Wa smiled, revealing sharp teeth.
— I did not create your nightmares. You did. I merely feed them.
Kael shouted:
— You monster!
— Monster? No. I am a mirror. You hate yourselves far more than you hate me.
Then, in the void, Suo finally opened his eyes. His gaze ignited with a new light. His memories were gone, but his will burned brightly.
— Enough.
With a single movement, he shattered the illusory glass around him. The darkness illuminated, dispersing the chains of the illusions. Seth, Kael, and Tara drew in breath, emerging from their nightmares, but alas, they fell back into them!
Suo stepped forward.
— I will not let a parasite like you devour us.
Mani Wa emitted a maniacal laugh, extending his arms. The shadows around him took shape, nightmarish creatures emerging from the ground.
The battle had just begun.
To be continued…..