I looked at the others, their faces calm and distant as we watched Vaelix’s body being dragged toward the beast.
He let out a deep roar, and a pink ball of light burst out from his chest, the word ’Memories’ glowing faintly over it.
His speed dropped, but he was still moving faster than us. Then, without hesitation, another ball of light, white this time, emerged from him with the words ’Levels -30’ written across it.
The Feran had sacrificed his own levels. His body slowed and then finally stopped beside ours.
The serpent’s red eyes began to fade, their glow dimming until the void was left bathed only in the light of the distant burning sun.
A strange weight settled over me, my body suddenly heavy, my thoughts blurring. Sleep pressed against my mind, and before I could resist, the darkness swallowed everything.
When I opened my eyes again, the endless void was gone. I was back in the abyss, the cold ground beneath my palms, the air heavy and still. The second stele stood before me, its golden glow slowly fading back into the stone.
For a few seconds, I just lay there, breathing. My mind felt quiet in a way that didn’t feel natural. Then, the memories came rushing back, the pull of the serpent’s maw, the roar that shook my soul, and the choices we had made. The Essence I gave up. The fragments of my childhood I let go. And finally, the emotion of fear itself.
I ran a hand over my face and tried to feel something. Fear of death. Fear of never finding my parents’ souls. The familiar ache that had always been there, deep in my chest, it was gone.
I remembered what those fears felt like, but I couldn’t feel them anymore. It was like remembering pain without being able to hurt.
Steve, North, and Primus were lying nearby, slowly stirring. The chains were gone again. The only sound was our breathing and the faint flickering of fire in the lamps.
I looked up at the stele one last time. The word "Sacrifice" was already fading. But its meaning... it stayed.
The word faded away, and with a low rumble, the stele sank back into the ground. Only one remained now, the last stele, its golden letters still unreadable.
I let out a slow breath and pushed myself up to my feet. The others followed, silent and unsteady. Even Vaelix rose, his gaze locked on the final stele as if nothing else existed.
No one said a word. We just walked forward together, step by step, our movements slightly out of sync. The air around us felt heavy, filled with exhaustion and something close to resignation. It wasn’t strength that kept us moving, it was will, stubborn and raw.
The circle in front of the last stele began to glow, waiting for us. And the moment all of us stepped into it, the carvings across the stone started to shift and clear.
When the final word appeared, it surprised us all.
Judgement.
The circle beneath my feet started glowing with golden light. I felt the faint tremors of space twisting around us, the air tightening before bursting open. It wasn’t hard to guess what it was, a teleportation circle.
Before I could even warn the others, the world folded in on itself. A rush of air, a blinding flash and everything went still.
When the light faded, I found myself standing on top of a massive stone pillar. Four more pillars surrounded me at a distance, each with one of us on it, Steve, North, Primus, and Vaelix. Between us was nothing but an endless abyss.
I lifted my gaze.
Two red suns burned in the sky, their light mixing with the black haze below. I spread my perception, feeling the shape of the place.
Beneath us stretched a bottomless abyss filled with thousands of chained beings, beasts, humanoids, creatures I couldn’t even name. Their chains rattled faintly, like whispers waiting to turn into screams.
And then they did.
A wave of screams rose from the abyss, shaking the air. One by one, the creatures turned their heads upward, their red eyes glowing like burning coals. It was like being stared at by every sin imaginable.
Then, the voice returned.
"To judge is to choose which truth must die. In the eyes of eternity, judgment knows no scale—only will."
Its echo carried across the abyss, filling the silence after the screams.
At that moment, three bright blue gates appeared far ahead in the sky.
Three paths extended from them, stretching down toward us like bridges of light. Each of our pillars had a road leading forward but instead of five reaching the gates, they all merged together before the end, splitting again into three.
Only three paths. Only three gates.
The message was clear.
A low rumble followed.
The abyss below churned, and the chained beings started moving. Their massive bodies strained, pulling their shackles tight, trying to reach upward. Then came the crash, a massive creature slammed against an invisible barrier around us, claws scraping the shield with a horrible sound.
More followed. Dozens, then hundreds. The ground shook with every impact.
"Stay sharp!" Steve shouted, drawing his sword.
I spread my perception across the golden shield encasing our pillars and the paths stretching outward. It wasn’t just Essence, it carried traces of law interwoven through it.
Outside each of our pillars, a massive chained beast waited. Four thick, muscled legs dug into the stone as they shifted restlessly. Their heads were shaped like lions but covered in hard crimson scales, and from their backs rose chains like living tentacles, writhing and striking at the air.
The creatures let out roars that shook the abyss. They slammed their heads against the glowing shields, the impact ringing like thunder, blending with the endless screams echoing from the depths below.
Vaelix moved first.
The golden shield around his pillar shimmered as he sprinted toward the path that stretched out ahead of him.
He had crossed some distance when the shield around his pillar rippled violently. A thunderous crack followed, and the massive lion-headed monster broke through.
Its crimson-scaled face pushed past the barrier, shattering pieces of Essence light into the air. Then, as if alive, the golden shield mended itself, trapping the beast inside with him.
Chains burst from the creature’s back like serpents, twisting through the air and snapping toward Vaelix from behind.
He stopped running and turned around to face the chains.
Slowly, he spread his arms wide. The air around him trembled, pulsing with golden energy. Then his palms clapped together.
The impact sent a shockwave tearing down the path, a deafening sonic blast that smashed into the five incoming chains, flinging them back into the air. The sound echoed across the abyss, shaking even the pillars beneath our feet.
Before the monster could recover, Vaelix’s body flashed forward. He blurred into a streak of light, appearing right before the creature’s massive head. With a fierce roar of his own, he twisted midair and drove a spinning kick into its skull.
The force sent the monster’s head crashing into the stone path, shattering it with a deep, echoing boom. Dust and fragments scattered outward as the beast roared in pain, the chains on its back writhing wildly.
But Vaelix didn’t stop there. The moment the creature’s head hit the stone, he leapt high into the air, landing squarely on its back.