Cillian opened his eyes and looked down from above the bottom of the Endless Abyss.
What he saw surprised him.
The soul of the [First Fallen] was no longer just a fragment of what he had torn from himself. Back then, when Cillian had used his divine fire to break off a piece of his soul, it was nothing more than the most basic form,something like a faint echo of self-awareness, a flicker with only the barest sense of perception. According to textbook classifications, such a fragment wasn't even a proper soul, rather it was classified as just a ripple.
Normally, without a strong enough environment to support it, that soul fragment would have quickly dissolved into the void, vanishing into nothing.
But this time was different.
The Endless Abyss, still in its embryonic state, had hungrily latched onto that fragment. It welcomed it and Shaped it.
And from that moment forward, the [First Fallen] no longer belonged to Cillian alone,it belonged to the Abyss.
"…Did it work?" Cillian muttered to himself, hovering in thought.
He watched the soul of the [First Fallen] float alone at the bottom of the world he had crafted. And for a moment, he felt strangely conflicted.
He had always wondered why the Abyss,across all worlds and records,was able to so consistently pull in broken, twisted souls and forge them into monsters. Before he came to this world, he'd seen it up close,he had felt the Abyss pull at him.
Back then, he thought it was just the nature of souls,that they drifted to the Abyss by choice, drawn by their own darkness.
But now, having created a replica of it himself, Cillian realized the truth.
"It's not that souls want to fall into the Abyss…" he whispered. His voice shook. "It's the Abyss that's pulling them in."
The moment this world was born, even in its incomplete state, the Endless Abyss had instinctively started reaching out,grabbing at wandering souls, dragging them into its depths.
At the bottom of the Abyss, the [First Fallen] opened its eyes.
But it wasn't a creature,not yet. It had no body. It was pure soul, molded by the will of the Abyss itself. And even though it was alone, it was already beginning to grow stronger.
The reason? The entire world,the layers of the Abyss, the rules and formulas, even the chaotic power that governed its reality,was feeding it.
This nourishment wasn't food or air. It was authority over reality as we know it.
And the [First Fallen] was beginning to take hold of it.
"It's starting…" Cillian said.
He reached out with his mind, planting his own soul imprint into the growing consciousness of the [First Fallen]. He had to stay in control. Without his guidance, the chaotic nature of the Abyss might twist the creature into something truly uncontrollable.
But this imprint had another purpose too.
It would allow Cillian to take full control of the world,through the soul he had given birth to.
And just as he made contact, something unexpected happened elsewhere.
In the observation chamber of Grimstone, Vice Principal Warren and the other instructors were stunned.
They stared at the projection of Cillian's world, not moving, not speaking.
Until someone gasped.
"…His divine fire is dropping?"
Warren's brow furrowed. "What?"
He turned his attention to the fire-value tracking system.
Sure enough, the number representing Cillian Carter's divine fire was plummeting.
Fast.
"This isn't normal," one of the mentors muttered. "He's not under attack. His world isn't being damaged. So why is it…?"
Another tutor pointed at the screen. "It's still dropping!"
Now the entire room was in a panic.
Warren's face darkened. "Is his world collapsing? Did he make a mistake?"
But Cillian didn't panic.
He knew exactly what was happening.
The divine fire wasn't disappearing.
It was being fed to the [First Fallen].
The fire was fuel,sacrificed willingly to allow the creature to grow faster, to grasp the rules of the world, to claim its own authority.
This was the price of control.
"The transformation is working," Cillian said, opening his eyes.
Now, he wasn't just watching from above.
He was seeing through the [First Fallen].
From its perspective, he could feel the divine fire burning in its core. He could feel it digesting the rules of the world, adapting to them, turning abstract systems into usable power.
Normally, no creature in a divine world could fully grasp such rules. The moment a being took hold of something like time or space, it essentially became part of the world's structure.
A god.
And gods, by definition, were a threat to their creators.
Which is why worldbuilders never allowed it.
But Cillian was different.
He wanted this being to grow. Because he was its source. He had already marked its soul. He would always have control, at least in theory.
"Power… complete."
Cillian smiled faintly as the [First Fallen] held in its hands the essence of hundreds of rules and abilities.
"Now," he said, "it's time to create the rest."
The [First Fallen] looked upward, from the bottom of the Abyss.
It began to expand,its soul and its body morphing together.
As the only creature in existence, the entire world poured energy into it.
A pulsing, twisted mass of flesh appeared,shifting constantly, changing shape from one second to the next. Eyes, mouths, fangs, tentacles, spikes. Then arms, heads, scales. Then none of those.
It became a beast, a worm, a fungus, a shadow.
A plant.
It twisted into every possible form. Each transformation meant it had adapted to a part of the Abyss. Each form represented mastery over a new power.
Then, when it could grow no more…
Cillian gave the final command.
"Shatter."
The [First Fallen] screamed as it burst apart—soul and flesh scattering in all directions.
The pieces of its soul flew into every layer of the Abyss. Some landed in realms of poison and mist. Others hit icy tundras, or lava-choked lands, or places of pure darkness.
And in each place, a new form of life began to grow.
The Abyss had begun to evolve.
Creatures fought for survival, rising from the fallen's flesh and soul. Some were devoured. Others devoured back. A few, barely, survived long enough to grow.
But something was strange.
At the very bottom of the Abyss, no new creatures were born.
That place remained empty.
Silent.
Because it belonged to only one being.
The [First Fallen].
The one who would return, and become the Will of the Endless Abyss.