Aiden's gaze swept across the ruins of the Abyss, his spirit tense. The landscape was wrong—a world that had been erased yet still lingered, caught between existence and oblivion.
Shadowed towers, half-formed and broken, loomed in the distance, while rivers of black energy pulsed beneath their feet, as if the Abyss itself was breathing.
And the air…
It was alive.
Whispers clawed at Aiden's mind, unintelligible voices hissing in a language he didn't understand. Yet he felt their meaning.
Regret.
Hatred.
Hunger.
"You feel it, don't you?" Nexus murmured beside him.
Aiden clenched his fists. "What is this place really?"
Nexus exhaled, his usual smirk absent. For once, he looked serious.
"This is where the Architects bury their mistakes."
Aiden's blood ran cold. "You mean—?"
"The Abyss isn't just a prison." Nexus gestured toward the ruins. "It's a graveyard. Of beings, of worlds, of concepts the Architects tried to erase."
Aiden felt a sharp chill crawl up his spine.
