The night after the feast brought no rest to Asad Khan. While Aetherhold celebrated with lanterns and song—raw verse flowing openly for the first time in decades under the shadow of a freed dragon—Asad paced the balcony of his guest chambers in the Rose Throne Palace. The city sprawled below like a jeweled dream: crystal spires reflecting moonlight, floating gardens drifting on gentle winds, streets alive with music that defied every Silence edict. Vyrathax coiled on a nearby tower perch, massive form silhouetted against the stars, eyes glowing like banked coals as the dragon dozed yet remained watchful.
The Original Verse Shard pulsed against Asad's chest in irregular rhythm, as though echoing a distant heartbeat. Visions flickered at the edges of his mind: gray-robed figures chanting in cavernous depths, a colossal crystal monolith humming with stolen power, threads of the Great Verse-Weave fraying like over-strained silk. The Eternal Muse's whisper returned, faint but insistent:
The Veiled Abyss stirs. High Cantor Mara lives. She seeks to sever the root of all improvisation. Go swiftly, or the song of Elyndor ends.
Asad leaned on the balustrade, murmuring to the night:
"Aah ko chahiye ik umr asar hone tak
Kaun jeeta hai teri zulf ke sar hone tak"
(A sigh requires a lifetime to take effect
Who lives long enough for your tresses to reach their end?)
The words caused the air to shimmer; nearby roses on the balcony vines bloomed out of season, petals unfurling in silent sympathy. The System responded:
[Diwan System – Premonition Triggered]
Poetic Essence: 480/480
New Quest Phase Activated: Descent into the Veiled Abyss
Objective: Infiltrate the Silence Order's primary sanctum beneath the northern mountains. Disrupt the Severing Ritual. Retrieve or destroy the Corrupted Anchor.
Difficulty: Extreme – Suppression fields at 95% strength in core chamber
Party Recommendation: Full mobilization
Warning: High Cantor Mara possesses anti-verse artifact – "Muteheart Blade"
Dawn found the party gathered in the palace war room. King Eldric III presided, maps of the northern ranges spread before him, glowing markers indicating known Silence outposts. Queen Lira stood at his side, her sharp gaze assessing each companion. Vyrathax's massive head thrust through an open archway, smoke curling from nostrils.
Asad outlined the vision. "The Abyss lies beneath Mount Umbrax, hidden by illusion veils and silencing wards. Mara intends to corrupt the Anchor—a primordial node of the Great Verse—and mute improvisation across half the continent. If she succeeds, only regimented runes will remain. No ghazal, no ballad, no spontaneous song."
Thrag slammed a fist on the table. "Then we smash it. Simple."
Elara traced a finger along the map. "Not simple. The Abyss is layered: outer caverns patrolled by suppressed golems, mid-levels riddled with null-magic traps, the core chamber warded against raw verse. My people once mapped similar sites. We need subtlety before force."
Silas, voice steadier now, added, "I know their rites. The ritual requires three phases: Binding of Will, Severing of Voice, Final Mute. Disrupt the second phase, and the Anchor destabilizes."
Grom grunted. "Hammer disrupts nicely."
Lirael met Asad's eyes. "We'll need your strongest verses to counter their fields. The shard will help, but overuse risks backlash."
Asad nodded. "Then we fly at first light. Vyrathax carries us to the threshold. From there, on foot."
The king rose. "Take my elite guard—twenty rune-knights. And this." He handed Asad a sealed scroll. "Royal warrant. Any loyal house will aid you. Return with victory, and I name you High Verse Warden of Valoria."
Asad bowed. "Titles are fleeting, Majesty. Verses endure."
By mid-morning Vyrathax launched from the palace bailey, carrying the full party plus a squad of rune-knights strapped to makeshift harnesses on the dragon's broad back. The flight north was tense: storm clouds gathered unnaturally, gray and heavy with anti-magic static. Twice sky-skiffs rose to intercept; both times Vyrathax's controlled flame and Asad's swift couplets sent them spiraling.
They landed at dusk on a barren plateau before Mount Umbrax. The mountain loomed like a clenched fist, its peak shrouded in perpetual mist. A narrow fissure—veiled by illusion—marked the entrance. Elara dispelled the glamour with an elven hum; the crack widened into a cavern mouth exhaling cold, silent air.
Inside, the descent began.
The outer caverns were patrolled by golems—hulking stone figures inscribed with dead runes, moving in mechanical precision. Combat was tight and brutal: Grom and Thrag led charges, hammers and axe shattering joints while rune-knights formed shield walls. Lirael and the knights' archers provided cover. Asad and Elara countered suppression pulses with layered verses—his ghazals clashing against gray waves like fire against ice.
A major skirmish erupted at a chasm bridge. Golems swarmed; a suppression field blanketed the area, dampening sound.
Asad stepped forward, shard flaring:
"Har taraf ab hai tera hi naam
Dil ke sheeshe mein bas tera hi jaam
Yeh sannata to sirf ek dhoka hai
Ishq ki awaaz se sab kuchh toot jaata hai"
(Everywhere now is only your name
In the mirror of my heart, only your cup
This silence is but an illusion
The voice of love shatters everything)
The Domain of Rhyme activated for the first time— a shimmering bubble where raw poetry overrode runes. The golems stuttered; their movements grew erratic as "illusion" manifested as cracking stone. Allies surged forward, bridge cleared in minutes.
[Domain of Rhyme Successful – First Use]
Experience: +950
Level Up! Now Level 16
New Passive: Silence Breaker – +40% verse penetration against suppression fields
Deeper, traps tested wits: pressure plates triggering null-blasts, illusory walls leading to drops, whispering voices sowing doubt. Silas guided them past ritual wards he once helped carve. Elara's lore unraveled hidden paths.
In the mid-levels they found evidence of Mara's ambition: chained bards and minor mages, voices muted by gray collars, eyes hollow. Asad freed them with gentle couplets, restoring faint sparks of verse. One elderly bard, voice cracked but grateful, whispered, "The Anchor weeps. Hurry."
The core chamber opened like a wound in the mountain: vast cavern lit by a colossal corrupted crystal—the Anchor—pulsing sickly gray. High Cantor Mara stood before it, Muteheart Blade in hand, surrounded by elite enforcers and chanting acolytes. The ritual neared its climax: phase two, Severing of Voice.
Mara's eyes locked on Asad. "The anomaly returns. Your words end tonight."
Battle joined in fury.
Rune-knights clashed with enforcers. Thrag and Grom carved paths through gray robes. Lirael and Elara targeted chanters. Vyrathax—too large for the chamber—breathed controlled flame through a widened fissure, scorching flanks.
Asad dueled Mara directly. Her blade absorbed verse attempts, nullifying couplets mid-air. Suppression fields pressed like physical weight.
He adapted, layering stanzas with shard power:
"Duboya mujhko hone ne, na hota main to kya hota
Ab yeh sannata bhi mera shor ban jaata hai
Tera blade to sirf ek darr hai
Ishq ke saamne sab kuchh bekaar hai"
(My existence drowned me; had I not been, what would I have been?
Now even this silence becomes my roar
Your blade is but fear
Before love, everything is futile)
The words pierced. The Muteheart Blade cracked. Mara's composure shattered.
[Muteheart Blade Damaged – Suppression reduced 60%]
Experience: +1400 (ongoing)
Level Up! Now Level 17
Mara screamed, lunging. Silas intercepted, taking a glancing blow but disrupting her focus. Asad finished with a full Stanza Surge:
"Na tha kuchh to khuda tha…
Ab bhi kuchh nahi to khuda hai
Yeh ritual to sirf ek khwab hai
Uth ja, Anchor, apni awaaz paa"
(When nothing was, God was…
Even now if nothing is, God is
This ritual is but a dream
Awake, Anchor, reclaim your voice)
The Anchor flared pure white. Corruption burned away. The Severing collapsed. Mara staggered, blade shattering. Enforcers faltered.
Vyrathax's roar echoed through fissures, demoralizing survivors. The party pressed the advantage. Mara fled deeper into tunnels, wounded but alive.
The Anchor stabilized, humming with renewed harmony. Freed bards sang weakly; the Great Verse-Weave across the region strengthened.
[Quest Phase Complete: Severing Ritual Disrupted]
Experience: +3200
Level Up! Now Level 18
Class Evolution: Ghazal Emperor – 75%
New Title: Anchor Guardian (+50% resistance to muting effects continent-wide)
Bonus: Corrupted Anchor Shard absorbed – Unlock Purifying Verse (purge suppression in large areas)
Exhausted, victorious, the party emerged at dawn. Vyrathax carried them back toward Aetherhold, the mountain behind them lighter, as though a weight had lifted from the world.
Yet Mara lived. Whispers of greater allies—Demon Principalities, rogue mages—reached Asad's ears through the shard.
In flight, he recited softly to his companions:
"Zindagi ke is safar mein hum bhi the
Ab yeh jeet bhi ek nayi shuruaat hai"
(In this journey of life we too were present
Now this victory is but a new beginning)
The conquest continued—deeper shadows, brighter verses.