Ren sat beside his mother’s bed.
Mara slept poorly. Her chest rose and fell unevenly, and her skin carried a pale tone far too fragile for someone so young. The candles around the room cast trembling shadows, dancing along the walls.
Kael stood near the door, silent.
The Sealer medic closed his small metallic case and exhaled slowly.
“We found no poison, no common curse, no illness recorded in the kingdoms,” he said. “What affects your mother… does not belong to this world as we know it.”
Ren felt his stomach sink.
“So… there’s no cure?” he asked quietly.
The Sealer hesitated.
“Not a known cure. But… we have seen something similar in ancient records. It was always linked to those who touched the Abyss… even before birth.”
Ren’s heart pounded.
“The Abyss…?”
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“Yes. There are resonances within it. Fragments of power, forgotten echoes, relics that should not exist. In rare cases, they have been used to delay this kind of condition.”
“Delay…” Ren repeated, feeling a thread of hope ignite.
“Buy time,” the Sealer completed. “I cannot promise more than that.”
The room fell silent.
Ren looked at his mother, remembering when she smiled while teaching him how to hold a sword — even when he was weak, even when he was afraid.
He clenched his fists.
“Where are these fragments?” he asked.
The Sealer looked at him, surprised.
“Within Abysses. Some emerge in ruins, others in abandoned cities. Each one is different. Each one… tries to destroy you.”
Kael stepped forward.
“So that’s it,” he murmured. “That’s why everything started with us.”
Ren stood.
“If there’s a chance… I’ll find it.”
The Sealer nodded slowly.
“When you enter an Abyss, something changes. You do not return the same.”He paused.“Think carefully before choosing that path.”
Ren did not answer immediately.
He looked out the window, toward Halverin’s colorless sky.
That night, the world pretended nothing had happened.
But Ren felt it.
Something was calling him.
Kael stood beside him.
“Then… we go in together?”
Ren took a deep breath.
“We do.”
The nearest candle went out on its own.
And for the first time, Ren did not dream of monsters.
He dreamed of doors opening.
Every great journey begins with a door.
Some are opened by fear.
Others… by love.
The Abyss awaits.