Beastbound: Reincarnated in the Abyss

The Abyss did not mark borders with walls or banners. It bled from one horror to the next, each domain tangled like veins under diseased skin. But even here, a different pressure loomed as they neared the Veiled City.

The void thickened, humming with a sound Raen could feel in his teeth. A dissonant chorus, whispering thousands of syllables all at once—half promises, half confessions. Ember Vow paused beside him, her eyes unfocused, as if trying to sort the voices from inside her skull.

"Are they calling to you?" Raen asked.

Her pupils contracted to slits. "No. They're warning each other. About you."

Hollowfang's hackles lifted, a ridge of smoky fur spiking along its spine. Even Despair Maw, usually content to slither behind Raen's shadow, pulled tighter, its breath rattling like wind through dying leaves.

Up ahead, an archway waited. It was built not from stone or bone, but from countless threads of silver, woven so tightly they seemed solid. Symbols burned along them—some shifting too quickly to follow, others flickering out as if embarrassed to be seen.

[You Have Entered: The Outskirts of the Veiled City]

[Passive Effect: All Spoken Deceptions Are Amplified]

[Warning: Lies May Reshape Local Reality]

Raen stared at the message until it faded. A slow exhale left him. "So speak carefully."

Ember Vow offered a thin, almost rueful smile. "Or not at all."

Together they stepped beneath the arch. The temperature didn't change, but it felt colder—an inner cold, nestling between ribs. The ground here was a mosaic of broken mirrors, each shard reflecting different versions of the sky. Some were starless. Some burned with white fire. A few showed nothing at all.

As they walked, images bloomed under Raen's boots. Once, he glimpsed himself standing on a throne of chained beasts, Ember Vow at his feet, her eyes hollow. Another step revealed him impaled on obsidian spikes, Hollowfang gnawing at his corpse.

Each reflection was a lie. Or a possibility. In the Veiled City, they might be the same thing.

—

It didn't take long for the city's denizens to appear. Shapes peeled from the walls, dragging veils of ink behind them. Some had too many eyes, arranged in patterns that made Raen's skull ache. Others wore mirrored masks that cracked and reformed whenever he tried to focus.

None spoke. They simply watched, drifting just out of reach. Whispering without voices. Judging.

Raen kept moving. Slow, deliberate steps. Each one echoed too long, as if the air itself was reluctant to swallow the sound.

Behind him, Ember Vow's gaze darted from shadow to shadow. Her breath clouded, though the air was not cold. "They fear you," she murmured.

"No." Raen's hand tightened on the hilt at his side. "They measure me."

A figure loomed ahead, taller than the rest, robed in writhing glyphs that twisted like worms under skin. Its mask was a simple plate of tarnished gold, blank except for a single vertical slit. When it spoke, the voice was a chorus, layering dozens of mouths atop each other.

"Raen Tiberis. Usurper of forgotten names. Thief of despair. Heir of Hollow Flame."

Raen stopped a pace away. "You know what I am. Then you know I have no patience for games."

The figure tilted its head, and the slit widened, blooming into a grin lined with miniature teeth.

"Then be welcomed, Sovereign of Lies. The Veiled City has waited long for a king who understands that truth is but the most convincing fiction."

A ripple passed through the crowd. Murmurs rose—not from mouths, but from the city itself. The towers leaned closer, eavesdropping. Windows blinked like eyes.

Raen did not smile. "I'm here for Kahless."

The figure's hands unfurled, fingers like strips of living parchment. "All are here for Kahless. Even Kahless himself. But the city will not give him freely."

"And why is that?"

"Because he feeds it. Promises it a world without boundaries, where every truth is equally false. A paradise for those who fear finality."

Ember Vow's voice was sharp. "And what do you fear?"

The figure's grin split further. Tiny hands reached from the slit, clutching its edges, pulling it wider until darkness gaped.

"Being real."

—

They moved on.

The denizens did not follow, yet Raen felt them in every reflection, replaying steps that hadn't happened yet. The streets twisted of their own will, arranging new intersections without a sound. Buildings knotted into impossible angles, their doors blinking open and shut.

At last they reached a square of polished black glass. In its center stood a throne—empty, humming with a low, hungry pulse. Around it hovered chains of light, each link inscribed with constantly shifting names.

Raen's pulse quickened. "This is it. Kahless's mark."

[System Notice: Rival Heir Domain Detected]

[Domain Owner: Kahless, Harrowborn of Shattered Courts]

[Effect: Reality Flux — Stability Reduced by 37%]

Ember Vow laid a hand on his arm. "He's close. I can taste it on the air. Like burnt silk and old tears."

Hollowfang snarled, pacing tight circles, its eyes darting to unseen shapes in the dark. Despair Maw lowered its head until teeth scraped the glass, drool sizzling into smoke.

Raen approached the throne. Each step sent ripples through the square, distorting reflections. His own image bled colors that didn't exist, grew extra limbs, laughed with someone else's mouth.

He reached out.

Before his hand could touch the armrest, a voice cut through the square—smooth, amused, echoing with a chorus of self-satisfied sighs.

"Careful, brother. That seat bites."

Raen turned.

Kahless stood on the far edge of the square, draped in a cloak made of shifting faces. Each visage screamed silently before being swallowed by the next. His hair was white as powdered bone, his eyes black pits rimmed in bruised violet. In one hand he held a staff topped with a broken mirror, shards orbiting it like lazy moons.

"Kahless," Raen said, voice steady.

"Raen," Kahless echoed, dipping his head in a mock bow. "How lovely to finally meet. Tell me—do you come to join me, or to kill me?"

Raen didn't answer.

He simply drew his blade.

The glass underfoot cracked in a perfect circle around him. Ember Vow's hands flared with runes, Hollowfang crouched low, Despair Maw arched its back in a sea of teeth.

Kahless laughed, a rich, indulgent sound. "Excellent. I do so adore when negotiations begin with honesty."

[Hostility Confirmed: Domain Conflict Imminent]

[Battle Initialization — System Synchronizing…]

[Warning: Reality Flux Exceeds Safe Parameters]

Raen's eyes narrowed. The Abyss itself seemed to inhale around them, gathering for a scream.

He took his first step forward, blade raised.

"Let's begin."