The group reassembled.
Barely a word between them.
Each wore a different look—fatigue, confusion… something else. Awakening.
Sayos broke the silence first. "I'm just gonna say it—this temple sucks."
Rika gave him a sideways glance. "Took you that long?"
Mizu leaned on the wall, silent.
Honkai paced, then stopped.
"Do you feel that?"
A low rumble echoed from deep below.
Then a voice. Cold. Old. Inside their heads.
"You are not yet whole."
The walls cracked.
Mist hissed through.
A shape emerged—shifting, shadowed, impossible to fully see.
Sayos backed up. "I don't like that. I really don't like that."
The voice continued: "Face the abyss… or become it."
Then—the floor collapsed.
📖 Chapter 18 – The Depths Beneath Truth
They fell.
Not through space—but through memory.
Each saw fragments of their past.
Rika's burning village.
Sayos standing alone in a storm.
Honkai watching lightning dance across a ruined city.
Mizu in water, always water.
Then—
They hit the ground.
Black stone. Warm.
But breathing.
They stood in a vast chamber. Crystals lined the walls—corrupted ones, leaking violet energy.
Then came the screech.
A creature pulled itself forward.
Humanoid.
Twisted.
A corrupted Elemental, crystal stabbed into its chest.
"Kill it!" Sayos yelled.
They attacked together—but nothing worked.
Flames faded.
Lightning scattered.
Only Mizu's water hit true.
It shrieked—and lunged for him.
He didn't run.
He whispered: "I've seen worse."
And let the wave loose.
The crystal cracked.
It fell apart—screaming.
Then silence.
And a door appeared.