The sanctuary vein was a rare mercy in the Abyss.
A narrow fissure hidden behind layers of deceptive stone, its walls were lined with soft, luminescent crystals that pulsed like slow, patient heartbeats.
SFX: thum… thum… thum…
Warmth seeped from the rock, easing sore muscles and quieting the deeper ache of exhaustion. Faint veins of pure script drifted through the air like motes of dust, knitting shallow wounds and smoothing frayed nerves. It wasn't true safety—but it was close enough to feel dangerous.
They had found it by chance, guided by Mira's half-forgotten Void Serpent maps and a stroke of luck the Abyss rarely granted.
For the first time in weeks, they rested.
Mira sprawled across a flat outcrop, patched robe spread like a blanket, her cracked focus orb glowing dimly beside her. Aria sat cross-legged nearby, sharpening her dagger with slow, methodical strokes.
SFX: shhk… shhk…
Levi leaned against the far wall, spear planted beside him. His eyes were half-closed, posture relaxed—but nothing about him was truly at rest.
The silence lingered. Comfortable at first.
Then heavy.
Aria broke it.
"When this is over," she said quietly, not looking up, "when we're safe… I want to break the cycle."
Mira cracked one eye open.
"Not just for us," Aria continued. "For everyone. Shadows. Mages. The echoes trapped down here. End the farming. End the quotas." Her hands tightened around the dagger. "Wake the Devourer if we have to—and kill it."
Mira snorted, rolling onto her back. "That's adorable."
Aria's jaw tightened, but she didn't interrupt.
"The Devourer's older than the Protocol," Mira went on. "Older than the Architects, probably. You'd need an army of Free Shadows just to make it notice you."
"I know," Aria said softly. "But someone has to start."
Mira sat up this time, expression sharp. "And when the Architects notice? They'll erase entire layers to stop you. Me?" She gestured lazily at the glowing crystals. "I want a place like this. Permanent. Strong wards. No quotas. Good food. No hunters. Survival. That's enough."
Silence returned.
Both of them turned to Levi.
"What about you?" Aria asked.
Levi didn't answer immediately.
The crystals' glow reflected off his sharpened features—cheekbones like carved obsidian, eyes dark and unreadable. When he finally spoke, his voice carried that deeper resonance now, steady and weighted.
"I don't know yet."
He lifted the spear.
The runes along its haft flared softly in response, shadows coiling upward like smoke. They shaped themselves into faint, translucent echoes—images drawn from memory no longer locked away.
The first formed hesitantly.
A small boy stood in a sunlit field.
Not Abyss-light. Real sunlight. Warm. Gold.
The boy laughed as glowing insects darted around him.
SFX: distant laughter… wind through grass…
A woman's voice called his name.
Not 47-L.
A real name.
The image shifted.
Older now—a young man training with wooden blades, sweat streaking his brow. Friends shouted encouragement. Every movement chosen, imperfect, free.
Then—
Darkness.
Protocol agents descending from above. Pain. White light. Screaming threads wrapping around his soul.
The boy's face—his face—going blank.
The projections collapsed into shadow.
Aria covered her mouth, eyes shining.
"Those are yours," she whispered.
"Parts," Levi said quietly. "More return every time I harvest. Stabilize. Grow."
Mira watched him closely now, unease creeping into her expression.
"The hunger," Levi continued, "isn't evil. It's fuel. Necessary. Without it, I fray. Fade." He looked down at his hands. "The Protocol made us this way. Souls as currency. I'm just… using the system against itself."
Mira leaned forward. "Necessary until it isn't. I've seen Mages chase bigger essences. Start with wraiths. End with allies."
Levi met her gaze without flinching.
"I won't."
Later, when the others slept, Levi slipped from the sanctuary.
Beyond the vein's warmth, ruin beasts lurked—twisted amalgamations of stone and shadow, trapped in eternal loops by failed wards. Mindless. Aggressive.
Rich.
He chose one pinned beneath collapsed rubble, crystalline limbs twitching as it sensed him.
Experiment.
First attempt: a slow drain.
Shadows extended gently, essence seeping out in thin threads.
Too slow.
Second: compressed pull. Focused. Efficient.
Better.
Third—
He let Kargan's whisper rise.
SFX: low roar… heartbeat accelerating
The spear struck.
Shadows flooded inward, devouring from the core outward. The beast collapsed in seconds, essence surging into Levi—pure, potent, intoxicating.
Strength coiled tighter.
Control sharpened.
And beneath it all—
Satisfaction.
No guilt.
He returned to the sanctuary as the crystals dimmed for the false night.
Aria stirred when he lay beside her.
"Couldn't sleep?" she murmured.
"Thinking."
She reached up, fingers brushing his cheek.
His skin was flawless now—too smooth, too perfect. Beneath it, a subtle chill, like polished stone left in the dark.
"You're colder," she said softly. Not accusing. Just noticing.
He covered her hand with his. "Still me."
"I know." She smiled, trusting. "Just… choose carefully. The weight gets heavier the higher you climb."
He nodded and pulled her closer.
Her breathing evened out.
Levi remained awake, staring at the softly glowing crystals.
Choices.
Break the cycle.
Survive quietly.
Or rise high enough to rewrite the rules entirely.
SFX: whisper… hunger… approval
The weight settled more comfortably on his shoulders.
And he realized—
He was beginning to welcome it.