The echoes of the past no longer sleep. They walk beside him now.
---
The Outer Wilds – Three Hours Later
The world beyond Gravehold had changed.
What was once a scarred battlefield now resembled a bleeding wound. The trees were warped, their bark veined with crimson lines that pulsed with slow, heartbeat-like rhythm. The soil whispered to itself. The air was heavy with dread. Not fear—dread. The kind that settled into your bones and gnawed.
The party advanced in silence.
Adexander led, the Bloodborne Fangblade now strapped at his hip, twitching slightly every time they passed a corrupted corpse or shattered beast. It was feeding. Slowly. Hungrily.
> [System Notice: You are approaching a Rift-Tethered Zone.]
> [Danger Class: S+]
> [Recommended Party Level: 85+]
> [Current Average Party Level: 41]
Kaien groaned. "You know, I'm starting to think the system wants us dead."
Raik adjusted his gauntlet, eyeing the glowing sky above. "Or it wants to see what he'll become under pressure."
Velessia didn't speak. Her silver eyes were locked ahead, wings faintly glowing as though preparing for battle.
> "It's not testing me," Adexander muttered. "It's accelerating me."
He stopped.
Before them stood a canyon of black stone—a rip in the world that hadn't been there a day before. The chasm pulsated with faint red mist, and within it, the shapes of broken towers and floating islands could be glimpsed—an entire realm twisted into ruin.
> [System Notice: Rift Domain Identified — The Abyssal Crown.]
> [Entry Condition: Host must possess a Blood-Key.]
> [Blood-Key Detected: Activating…]
The air screamed.
A seal of crimson light formed beneath Adexander's boots, and the ground shattered. Energy surged outward, snapping trees and burning the sky for miles. One by one, the party was pulled inward—dragged by unseen chains into the tear in reality.
---
Rift Domain: Abyssal Crown – Unknown Time
They landed in silence. No sky. No stars. Only a shifting void above, and a broken palace ahead.
The world was wrong here. Gravity pulsed. Time stuttered. The very space around them bent in subtle, nauseating ways.
Kaien picked himself up, groaning. "This place sucks."
Raik spat blood. "Understatement."
Velessia stared at the floating spires above. "This… was once a throne."
Adexander didn't move. His eyes were locked on the structure ahead—the Abyssal Crown. Once, long ago, he had ruled from there.
Not as Adexander.
As something else.
> [Memory Sync—Bloodforge Core Resonance: 39%]
> [Fragment Recovered: The Pale Coronation]
Suddenly, his vision flickered.
---
—Flashback—
He stood at the center of the broken palace, cloaked in shadow. A thousand kneeling figures below him, their heads bowed, their faces blurred.
A crown of living bone was pressed to his brow.
A voice whispered behind him: "Do you accept the Abyss?"
He did not speak.
He only looked down—and watched himself draw the same blade he now carried, and strike down the first of his loyal knights.
Blood. Applause. The coronation began with a slaughter.
---
—Now—
Adexander stumbled slightly, the Fangblade humming with violent hunger.
Kaien reached for him, but Velessia stopped him. "Don't. It's syncing."
Raik raised an eyebrow. "With what?"
> "With himself," she said.
The palace gates groaned open on their own. A pathway of blackened stone led forward, lit by pillars of floating crimson flame.
> [Dungeon Objective: Ascend the Throne.]
> [Warning: The Forgotten Guard Awaits.]
From within the palace, a roar shook the realm. Something massive stirred.
Kaien sighed. "So, boss, just a thought—when exactly do we get to fight something small again?"
Adexander stepped forward, eyes burning.
> "When we stop aiming high."
> "Until then—"
He lifted the Fangblade.
> "We kill kings."