The Abyss Stirs
Diane's Perspective
A Desperate Search
Nisse paced the stone corridor, her normally serene composure cracked with frustration. Her fingers clutched at the fabric of her sleeves, tightening every time she tried to reach through the bond she shared with Diane—only to feel nothing. It was as if Diane had vanished from existence.
Gar watched her quietly, arms crossed, his wolfish features unreadable. Unlike Nisse, he could still feel a faint remnant of Diane's presence in the bond, but it was weak, distant, and flickering like a dying ember.
"She's gone," Nisse whispered, voice barely holding back her panic. "I can't feel her anymore."
Gar exhaled through his nose. "I still feel something."
"Then why aren't you worried?" Nisse turned on him, her eyes sharp with an emotion he wasn't used to seeing from her—desperation. "What if she's dead?"
Gar shrugged. "Then she's dead. But if she's not, then she needs us to stay focused instead of panicking."
Nisse opened her mouth to argue, but a new presence entered the room, cutting through the tension like a blade through silk.
Ren.
The enigmatic master of the mansion stood in the doorway, his long coat barely stirring as he regarded them both with an amused expression.
"You seem troubled," Ren said, his voice smooth as glass. "Looking for something?"
"Where is she?" Nisse demanded, stepping forward. "Where is Diane?"
Ren tilted his head slightly, his sharp golden eyes gleaming with something unreadable. "Ah… the tides shift, don't they? And when the current pulls, some are carried away."
Gar frowned. "Enough riddles, Ren. Where is she?"
Ren chuckled, a sound devoid of warmth. "She's exactly where she's meant to be." He glanced toward the darkened hallway beyond. "Lost in a place where even time hesitates to tread."
Nisse's heart clenched. "The Abyss."
Ren's lips curled into something between a smile and a smirk. "She walks a path of echoes. What she finds there… well, that depends entirely on her."
Nisse took a sharp step forward, her aura flaring. "Bring her back."
Ren met her gaze evenly. "That's not my decision to make."
Gar placed a hand on Nisse's shoulder, pulling her back slightly. He could feel the weight of Ren's words settling over them. Whatever Diane was facing, she had to fight her own way out. They could only be ready to catch her when she returned—if she returned at all.
The Cavern's Whisper
The cavern walls pulsed faintly with an unnatural light, casting long, shifting shadows that danced as Diane steadied herself against the cold stone. Her pulse hammered in her ears, her breath coming in ragged gasps. The abyss was gone—at least for now—but its presence still clung to her like a phantom limb.
She wasn't alone.
A low hum filled the air, like the reverberation of a massive engine buried deep beneath the earth. The space around her was wrong—too vast, yet oppressively tight. The air smelled of ozone and something else, something old and decayed.
She took a cautious step forward, her boot scraping against the uneven floor. The pulsing light flickered, and for a moment, she thought she saw movement in the darkness beyond.
"Diane Peters."
The voice slithered from the shadows, reverberating through the chamber. It wasn't the abyss this time. This was something else.
Something worse.
A Face from the Past
Diane turned sharply, her hands clenching into fists, though she knew physical resistance would do little here. The shadows coalesced into a figure—a man with hollow eyes, his form shifting like smoke.
Her breath caught.
"Orion?" she whispered.
The figure stilled. It was him—or at least, the thing wearing his face. The man who had once been Mike, twisted into something else, something bound by forces beyond his control. The cold intelligence in his gaze was unmistakable.
But he wasn't truly there. A projection, perhaps? A remnant left to taunt her?
"You are out of place," Orion said, his voice a calm blade against the tension in the air. "You shouldn't be here."
Diane swallowed hard. "You know me. You remember me."
Orion tilted his head, as if considering the weight of her words. "I know of you. But that knowledge is… distant. Faded." His gaze narrowed slightly. "You are a variable that should have been erased."
Diane felt a spike of cold rage twist in her gut. "I didn't come this far just to be dismissed like a mistake in an equation."
Orion's form flickered, the shadows around him pulsing. "You think yourself significant? You are a remnant of a broken path. The universe has already moved past you."
"Then why are you here?" Diane countered, stepping forward. "If I don't matter, why send you?"
The shadows behind Orion churned violently, as if something vast and unseen was stirring just beyond the veil of reality.
Orion's eyes—void-black and cold—lingered on her for a long moment before he finally answered.
"Because the abyss watches you."
The Weight of Choices
Diane's heart pounded. "What does that mean? What does it want?"
Orion's expression remained unreadable. "It is drawn to those who defy fate. To those who undo what has been written. It knows your past. It knows your sins. And it is patient."
A chill crawled down Diane's spine. "So, what? It's playing the long game? Waiting for me to break?"
"It does not need to wait." Orion's form flickered again, his voice turning softer—almost human for the briefest moment. "You already carry it with you."
Diane sucked in a breath as a sharp pain lanced through her skull. A vision flashed before her—
A room of glass and stars, chains wrapping around her wrists. The roulette wheel spinning in Tom's hands. His gaze locked onto hers, filled with something she couldn't decipher.
A single phrase cut through the vision, as if spoken from every direction at once.
"The cost must be paid."
She staggered back, gasping. The pain faded as quickly as it came, leaving her reeling.
Orion's expression didn't change, but something in his posture suggested he was observing her reaction carefully. "You see it now, don't you? You feel it. The weight of what you've done."
Diane clenched her fists. "I don't need the abyss to remind me."
"But do you know what they will do?" Orion's voice turned sharper, colder. "Do you know how far they will go to undo your existence?"
Diane didn't get to answer. The abyss had other plans.
The shadows surged.
End of Chapter [Next]