Kieran jerked awake, sweat clinging to his skin despite the cold. The stone beneath him felt alive—like it had been watching him sleep.
[Vital Check: Stable]
[Neural Interference Detected: External Source.]
He sat up fast. The Hunters were gone. Elias was gone.
No—he was nearby, sitting cross-legged at the edge of the tunnel, sharpening one of his blades. "You're up."
"I heard something," Kieran muttered. "In my head."
Elias didn't look up. "You're hearing the Abyss now."
"The what?"
He finally met Kieran's gaze. "The Abyss isn't just terrain. It's conscious. Old. Hungry."
[New System Prompt: Unknown Mental Signature Detected. Parsing…]
Kieran shivered. "Why me?"
Elias stood slowly. "Because you used Dominion. Because you refused to kill. Because you showed mercy."
"That's what attracted it?"
"No. That's what confused it." Elias sheathed the blade. "You're an anomaly now. And the Abyss notices anomalies."
Kieran blinked. "What does it want?"
A pause.
Elias turned his back. "It doesn't want. It consumes."
Suddenly the stone under Kieran's palm pulsed—like a heartbeat. And then he heard it.
A whisper. Faint, ancient, and in a language he didn't understand—but felt.
His name.
Kieran…
He stumbled backward.
Elias turned, his voice cold.
"You hear it now?"
Kieran nodded slowly.
Elias's expression darkened. "Then we move. Before it speaks again."