The air had grown colder.
Kael and Taren sat in uneasy silence beside the still-glowing runes that had just imprisoned the Bound One. For the first time since his fall into the Abyss, Kael felt something strange ripple in the air—like a whisper from another world.
> [System Alert: External Contact Detected]
[Incoming Message: Origin – Surface Realm]
Kael stood. "What...?"
Taren looked over. "You hear it too?"
The air around Kael shimmered. A small sphere of light emerged from the void, pulsing softly. Then, without warning, it spoke.
A voice—feminine, urgent, and hauntingly familiar.
> "Kael... if you can hear this, you're still alive. I don't know how, but—listen to me. You must not trust the Abyss. They lied to all of us. The Council is using you."
Kael's breath caught. He knew that voice.
> "Lyria...?"
The light flickered.
> "They're trying to bring the Abyss to the surface. You're the key. They sent you down to unlock it. But it's not too late. There's still a way back—through the Gate of Origin, deep in the Ninth Rift. I'll find you... if they don't find me first."
> [Transmission Ended]
[Location Unlocked: Ninth Rift – Gate of Origin]
Kael stood frozen. Lyria was alive—and trying to reach him. But her message raised more questions than it answered.
Taren broke the silence.
> "The Ninth Rift? That place is cursed beyond even this layer."
Kael turned to him. "You've heard of it?"
Taren nodded slowly. "Only in whispers. They say the Ninth Rift isn't a place—it's a prison. For something older than the Abyss."
Kael clenched his fist.
> "Then that's where I'm going."
---
Later, as Kael prepared to move, the system whispered again.
> [New Quest: The Origin Gate]
"Reach the Ninth Rift. Unlock the truth. Survive what was never meant to be found."
As he and Taren stepped into the shadow path, something shifted deep within Kael.
A memory. A voice. A scream.
A flash of golden eyes—eyes like Lyria's—but twisted, corrupted, staring at him from a throne of bone.
> "You're not who you think you are..." the voice whispered.
> "You never were."
---