The Abyss

Even the walls trembled with the flow; the air itself felt like it wanted to rip them in half. Lucian could hardly stand; his body still refused to listen to his mind. His heart was so heavy she could hear it, over the creak of the floor, over the dark that rushed to swallow them. And the air here was diabolical — it had fangs — just waiting to get a good scab.

Serena jumped away from him, aghast, horrified by what she had become, clutching Lucian’s wrist half beseechingly, half panic stricken. “What do we do?” her voice shaking with the calm she was attempting to project.

That thing, the thing from the shadows, the thing that towered over all of them like some damned dark god, Lucian could not even gather his thoughts, much less answer. What he had presumed was dead, up and gone, buried and dusted, had found its way to him and just that arrival set him a panic, ripples inside his chest.

The figure — no, the creature — smiled once more, that same treasonous smirk stretched across its face. And then it stepped further; and the convictions slithered toward it like pliable myrmidons. As it disappeared from his sight, Lucian understood that one thousand times eviler, a darker force was awakening. He didn’t know how he knew this, but he knew the other thing — worse than whatever this thing was.”

“This is a fight you will not win,” a figure said in a deep, gravelly voice. “You are already too late. The world has changed already.” “You are in war, and there is nothing to stop.

To Lucian, sheer magnitude of it was staggering. And now it all meant jack shit these days, after everything they fought for, everything they stood for, too. More than the Elders, more than anything they’d known. But with all that power, Lucian never let up.

“No,” Lucian said, gritting his teeth. “We’re not done yet.”

The creature’s grin widened. “You truly believe that?” it asked, almost amused. “You take destiny itself its own destiny?” Everything here is real, time and something you cannot interrupt, everything is a breather. This world is like a burnt coal in the dark and you all are like ants crawling beneath it.”

And yet she was not alone on this trip, fear was crawling in her stomach. “But we’re not going to lie down and die,” she says, angrily. “We have fought worse than you and we will fight again.”

The creature cocked its head as if to inspect her like an interesting specimen. “You really believe you can confront this thing? Do you think you can stop that which has already started to happen?” It laughed, but darkly, and the sound dribbled ice-like down Lucian’s spine. “The war is here, and you’re not going to win it your shifts. This world is doomed.”

Wait! Elias, who had been silent at the back of the room, suddenly straightened up, the look on his face one of grim determination. “You think you have defeated us,” he said, struggling to control his voice, “but you are mistaken. “We are still here and we are not going down without a fight.”

The creature’s eyes narrowed. “A fight? You still don’t know what it means. it wrote, giving the word theatrical poisonous slur. “This is no ordinary battle. You have no idea what you’re up against. “You’re not going to shoot or strengthen or will this into decimation.” It is the original force of the universe. And you... you are nothing.”

After the implications of what the creature’s words meant. He had wanted an escape, some small glimmer. But this — this is worse than he thinks. The Elders wouldn't be the only enemies they'd have. No — this was something older and more powerful. Nothing that could overshadow all the things.

In the darkness around them, it hung like a throbbing, living thing. The darks became darker and wrigglier, like rummaging through space. They heard the ground rumbling again beneath them, though the movement wouldn’t stop this time. The travertine on the ground increased, and a cold wind started to shriek in the room, pulling their garments, their hair, their being. It was a fitting kind of doom that loomed.

“What is this?” Serena, she said, her voice nearly swallowed by wind that was starting to pick up. She winced at that then, and clung more tightly to Lucian’s arm. “What’s happening?”

Lucian didn’t have an answer. What was happening, he didn’t know, but he knew this: Time was running out. “What they were given was just the starter.” The darkness it had promised was falling on her, and they didn’t know how to get it to stop.”

The creature’s laughter boomed across the confusion around them, heavy as the ripples of a stone dropped in a pond. “You don’t get it, do you?” its eyes glistening with some meaningless and empty other. “The world you knew is gone. This was inevitable. The so-called prophesy was blind to them. A game. But now … now the real war begins.”

Lucian clenched his eyes shut, and attempted to observe the form of the chamber. The shadows drank the whole thing, it laughed with deception thin around his space, stretched at the ends of nightmare, behind little person but make sure there wasn’t a little person. The creature’s words had punched him like an anvil and snatched the breath.

But within the tumult of war there was one bright spot. They couldn’t give up. They needed to get out front of this thing.’

“We’re not done here,” Lucian said, the voice low but this time steady. “You think you might have won, but you didn’t. We’re still standing. And while we’re here, we’re going to shoot.”

Some steely sensation moved in Serena as she slid up beside him, swallowing. “We’ve survived hell before. We’ll be fine on this too.” ”

The creature’s smile flickered for a split second and then widened back up again. “You think you can defeat me? “You think you can stop what’s a-comin’?” Itec laughed, a sound that echoed out into the air. “The darkness is inevitable. And you … you are just the last pieces of the puzzle.”

A well of the abyss opened below the floor, yearning for them to its maw (if it had one). But Lucian was not going to give up.

“No,” he shouted, but this time louder. “We’re not dying out here, you hear me?

The monster’s grin broke, crinkling its eyes as it backed away. “You don’t know,” it said, its voice an icicle. “They’re not pushing back on it, really. It is inevitable. It is the end.”

He sensed the blackened shadows swirling around them, drawing the very air from their lungs and it felt as though his heart was inching up his ribcage, beating against his chest with every strangled breath they took. He glanced between Serena and Elias, and down at the beast. This wasn’t the end. They were not going to be left out.”

They had to.

And that’s where something inside Lucian snapped. And that purpose shined bright in this murky world like an ember. No, he could not let the darkness consume them. Not without a fight.

“Then let’s turn this into a fight you’ll never forget,” Lucian said, his voice firm, commanding.

And with that they got ready to meet the darkness mane, they would stand united, regardless of what was coming.