Beastbound: Reincarnated in the Abyss

The Abyss didn't wait for Raen's command. The instant his foot pressed forward, the entire square erupted.

Glass splintered in radiant lines, each shard spinning up into the void like tiny daggers. The throne at the center cracked down its middle, spilling veins of molten black that twisted into serpent shapes before fading into smoke. Chains of light snapped one by one, each break echoing like a funeral bell.

Kahless stood untouched amid the chaos, the edges of his cloak fluttering lazily. The faces woven into the fabric screamed and clawed at one another, but he only smiled, tilting his staff so the broken mirror atop it caught fragments of warped starlight.

"You're quite the storm-bringer, brother," Kahless purred. "But tell me—do your beasts obey from loyalty, or from fear of what you are without them?"

Raen didn't answer. He drove his will outward instead.

[Command: Advance]

Hollowfang lunged, paws striking glass that shattered and immediately reknit beneath it. The beast's maw opened wide, black flames twisting around its fangs. A heartbeat later, Despair Maw surged alongside, its enormous head splitting open in a grin of teeth that sang with grief.

Kahless only raised his staff. The shards orbiting its head spread out in a fan. When Hollowfang's jaws closed on him, the figure dissolved into a swirl of mirrors, each reflecting Hollowfang's own snarl back at it.

The beast staggered, eyes clouding with confusion. It snapped at empty air, striking nothing.

Despair Maw's bulk followed through, aiming to crush the swirl under sheer mass. But its jaws passed harmlessly through the illusions. As it did, the mirrors convulsed and vomited forth chains of silver that wrapped around its snout, dragging its head sideways until the beast roared in frustration.

Kahless reappeared a dozen paces away, smirking. "The Veiled City rewards those who understand the lie of solidity. Why should I be there just because you see me there?"

Raen narrowed his eyes. Memoryweaver—the power he'd earned by embracing every stolen name—stirred under his skin. He drew in a breath that tasted of scorched iron and broken promises.

Then he reached for the web of emotions tethering his beasts.

Not just their loyalty—he plunged deeper. Into Hollowfang's raw hunger for Raen's approval. Into Despair Maw's aching need to devour sorrow and be recognized for it.

[Aspect Activation: Memoryweaver]

[Effect: Emotional Threads Reforged]

Power surged from his chest in thin, incandescent lines. They pierced Hollowfang and Despair Maw, flooding their cores with memories not of conquest, but of the quiet moments after battles—when Raen's hand rested on fur, when a word of praise meant more than a fresh kill.

Hollowfang's snarl sharpened. Its eyes lost the fog, pupils snapping into razor slits. It twisted, fangs slamming into the nearest chain. The silver links shrieked and burst into fragments that fizzled before they hit the ground.

Despair Maw shuddered. Its teeth stopped clattering. Slowly, it lifted its head, chains still draped across its muzzle like dead vines. Then it bit down. The chains crumpled into dust.

Kahless's grin flickered.

Raen drew closer, each step measured, deliberate. "You mistake me. My beasts aren't puppets."

"Oh?" Kahless tilted his head, one pale eyebrow arching. "Then let us see whose truths run deeper."

He slammed the butt of his staff against the ground.

The entire square convulsed. Spires erupted from beneath, each one formed from jagged panels of mirror, rising like skeletal fingers. They curved overhead, locking together into a loose cage. Inside each panel danced scenes—Raen slaughtering innocents on a battlefield, laughing over a pile of bodies. Another showed Ember Vow kneeling, weeping, while he turned away.

Hollowfang flinched. Despair Maw's breath stuttered.

Kahless's voice curled around them, a caress made of needles. "This domain obeys my desires. My fears. My appetites. It shows what I command. Look at them, Raen—see how easily your beasts tremble when confronted with visions of what you might become."

Raen didn't let his heart speed up. He pressed his palm to Hollowfang's flank, feeling the shudder under thick shadow-fur. With his other hand, he touched Despair Maw's cold, slick hide.

"They already know what I am," Raen said softly. "That's why they stay."

He closed his eyes and pulled. Memoryweaver didn't just dredge up old victories this time. It found the first tremors of fear Hollowfang had felt as a pup under Raen's discipline. The agony Despair Maw had experienced realizing it could never sate its hunger. He didn't erase those memories. He wove them together with threads of quiet acceptance. The knowledge that even monsters could belong.

Hollowfang's shoulders rolled back. Its eyes found Raen's, steady and wild. A low, eager growl rippled through its chest.

Despair Maw lifted its head higher. The gaping maw stretched, then closed with a final click, rows of teeth folding inward like petals. It settled at Raen's side, vast and silent, a promise of ruin waiting only for his word.

Kahless's expression fractured. For a heartbeat, the illusions around them quivered—battles freezing mid-slaughter, Ember Vow's tears slowing to gleaming droplets.

"You have no right," Kahless hissed, voice suddenly layered with something raw. "No right to make beasts feel anything but the cold truth of this place."

Raen opened his eyes. "Maybe that's why it chose me."

He lifted his blade.

"Now come down off your throne of hollow nightmares. Face me properly."

The mirrors shattered.

With a howl that sounded almost relieved, Hollowfang leapt. Despair Maw surged forward, the air imploding around it as its massive form distorted the very space.

Kahless screamed—not in fear, but in pure vicious joy—and flung his staff out. The mirrors shards swirling around it transformed into spears, streaking toward Raen like meteors.

Raen moved to meet them head on. His blade sang through the first spear, Memoryweaver humming under his skin as the shattered illusions burst into tiny motes of guilt and regret. Each one struck his mind, but he let them pass, refusing to clutch at pain that wasn't his anymore.

[Combat Synchronization: 83%]

[Authority Clash — Domain Stability Falling]

The square began to splinter, entire sections peeling away to reveal pits of endless dark. Beasts roared in unison, shadows exploded into violent color, and Kahless's laughter echoed over it all.

Raen pressed forward. Closer, step by savage step, until Kahless was within striking range. Their eyes met—mirror black against a shade only slightly lighter—and both swung at once.

Steel met fractured glass. The Abyss itself seemed to scream.

—

When the light faded, Raen stood panting, blade still humming with stored resonance. Across from him, Kahless had staggered back, a thin line of black ichor trailing from one corner of his mouth.

Kahless spat, then grinned, teeth stained with shadow. "Good. Let's see how far you're willing to break to become a god."

Then he vanished into a spiral of mirrors, gone before Raen could raise his blade again.

Silence fell. Ember Vow approached, laying her hand lightly on Raen's shoulder. The beasts circled them, restless but uninjured.

"He'll be back," she murmured.

Raen let out a breath that tasted of old ashes. "I know. And next time, he'll bring the full weight of whatever court he's built here."

His hand tightened on the hilt.

"Then we'll tear it down. Thread by lying thread."