THE BLACKTHORN CODEX
Episode 21 — In the Heart of the Abyss
November 15, 2023 — 8:30 a.m.
> And in the bowels of the city, the first roots that had emerged began to retreat, hesitant, as if waiting to see who would control this place now marked by the Codex and its secrets.
The Marseille bridge was silent, but the silence weighed like a damp cloak. The morning light still hadn't penetrated beneath the arches. The Altar of the Abyss pulsed, and each vibration made Clarisse's flesh resonate. Her body was no longer entirely her own, but for the first time in hours, she felt a glimmer of human will within her.
"I... I can still fight," she murmured, her voice strangled.
Léandre approached, holding the open Codex. The pages pulsed like a living heart, revealing ancient patterns, runes, and words forgotten for centuries. He understood that the Altar was not just a portal. It was the remnant of a primitive ritual, a nexus built by long-lost priests who had sought to bind death to stone.
"If we are to close this fissure, we must reach the heart," Leander said. "The roots you see… they are only the surface. The center… the center is where it all began."
Clarisse nodded weakly. Her breath was short, but her green eyes shone with a fragile determination. The entity grunted, protesting this renewed resistance.
The ground beneath the bridge trembled as a black root pushed into the river, seeking to spread into the city. Leander placed his hand on the Codex and recited the incantation, ancient and hard to pronounce. The black light flickered, and Clarisse felt the Altar's grip weaken, just for a moment.
"Follow me..." Leander said, and he led her across the bridge, toward the central fissure, where the Altar seemed to breathe.
There, they saw the heart of the Chasm: a black, shifting, almost liquid mass, radiating an energy so ancient that the stone itself seemed to tilt. Faces and hands formed in the mass, the souls of those who had been swallowed, as if imprisoned in that forgotten ritual.
"That's... that's why the Guardians of the Threshold exist..." Clarisse murmured. "They protect this heart."
Leander nodded. "And we must neutralize it before it spreads further."
A struggle ensued. The entity tried to take Clarisse back entirely, tugging at her spirit, bringing her to the brink. But Leander placed the Codex between her and the black mass, reciting the words of the original ritual. The crack shuddered, the black light flickered, and for the first time, a foreign voice echoed through the Altar:
> "Who dares disturb what is ancient?"
Clarisse screamed, her own voice mingling with the entity's:
"I am me! I refuse!"
A burst of green light burst from its eyes, striking the black mass. The Altar shuddered, the crack shrank slightly, and the roots that had spread into the city began to retreat. Leander understood that the Altar could be contained, but not destroyed. The heart must be sealed, not annihilated.
"We cannot destroy it... only contain it," he whispered to Clarisse.
And for the first time since the opening of the Chasm, the entity retreated, recognizing that its possession was no longer absolute. Clarisse breathed on her own again, weak but conscious, while Léandre prepared the final ritual to seal the heart of the First Altar.
The bridge of Marseille remained silent, but the world around her was beginning to recover from the awakening of the Altar. The danger was not over, but a fragile victory had been won: the first battle to contain the Chasm.