The Free Abyss
The fall...
Had become irrelevant.
No one remembered the sensation of plummeting anymore.
The betrayal had erased it.
What lingered wasn't the abyss beneath their feet, but the image burned into Jack's mind—the desperate hand that had tightened around his...
...only to let go.
That single moment echoed louder than gravity itself.
The Free Abyss welcomed them.
Not with impact.
Not with pain.
But with separation.
The pit was never truly a pit.
It had no walls.
No floor.
No sky.
No measurable shape.
It was a labyrinth constructed from despair itself, where reality abandoned logic in favor of psychological torment. Every direction looked identical. Every path felt wrong. Distance meant nothing. Time became meaningless.
The darkness wasn't merely black.
It breathed.
Crimson veins pulsed through the void like exposed nerves, illuminating fragments of nothingness before disappearing once more. No wind blew. No creatures cried. No echoes answered.
Only silence.
The kind of silence that became louder the longer one listened.
---
Osei stumbled forward.
His breathing remained steady—not because he wasn't frightened, but because instinct demanded observation before panic.
His eyes darted around endlessly.
Nothing.
No landmarks.
No vibrations.
No movement.
No familiar presence.
He closed his eyes.
His instincts reached outward, searching for traces of life.
Searching for Jack.
Searching for Charles.
Searching for Yyvone.
Searching for...
Anyone.
Nothing answered.
For someone whose instincts constantly interpreted the world around him...
This place was unbearable.
It offered nothing to interpret.
Nothing to predict.
Nothing to anchor himself to.
As an autistic boy who relied on patterns and consistency to understand his surroundings...
This wasn't merely isolation.
It was hell.
His voice finally shattered the silence.
"Where's everyone?!"
He turned desperately.
"Jack!"
No reply.
"Yyvone!"
Silence.
"Charles!"
Still nothing.
"N-No..."
His breathing became uneven.
"No... no... no..."
The darkness continued staring back.
Then...
Something moved.
A figure.
Tall.
Far taller than any ordinary person.
Long black hair dragged across the ground behind her like living vines.
Strings hung from every strand, swaying despite the complete absence of wind.
She carried a kitchen knife.
Its blade dripped fresh blood.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Then Osei noticed her neck.
A deep wound stretched from one side to the other.
Blood poured endlessly from it, flowing down her clothes without ever stopping.
His heart froze.
"...M..."
His lips trembled.
"...Mom?"
The figure slowly raised her head.
Her face...
His mother's.
The same eyes.
The same smile.
Only wrong.
Horribly wrong.
Her lips curled wider than any human smile should.
She began walking toward him.
One step.
Then another.
Then faster.
Memories crashed into him all at once.
The arguments.
The misunderstandings.
The frustration.
Wanting friends who accepted him.
Feeling that his own mother never truly understood him.
The guilt.
Then her death.
The one he'd spent years blaming himself for.
He knew the truth.
The ghouls had killed her.
He knew that.
He had already confronted this wound before.
He had resisted corruption.
He had faced versions of himself that abandoned Avia.
He had survived every temptation.
Yet...
Seeing her...
His instincts failed him.
Every logical conclusion collapsed beneath the weight of grief.
The creature smiled.
Its voice echoed with impossible sweetness.
"Yes..."
"My son..."
A giggle escaped her torn throat.
"It's your fault."
Osei's pupils shrank.
"No..."
"You killed me."
She took another step.
"You were selfish."
Another.
"You chased people who never truly cared..."
Another.
"...instead of the mother who loved you."
Osei stumbled backward.
His breathing became frantic.
"No..."
Her smile widened.
"You always thought I didn't understand you."
Blood continued pouring from her neck.
"You were right."
She laughed.
"But your autism..."
Her voice dropped into a cruel whisper.
"...is a curse."
"It was always an excuse."
Another step.
"Come here, Jerry..."
The knife lifted.
"Come apologize to your mother."
Osei's entire body shook.
"No..."
His legs refused to obey.
"No..."
His voice cracked.
"Stay back..."
She lunged.
"STAY BACK!"
CLANG!
A radiant barrier exploded between them.
The knife struck shimmering Avian energy instead.
The impact sent sparks cascading through the darkness.
Before the monster could react—
A fist slammed into its chest.
"AVIAN PUNCH!"
BOOM!
White-gold force detonated through the abyss.
The creature was launched backward like a broken puppet, crashing into the darkness until it vanished from sight.
Osei remained frozen.
Someone stood in front of him.
Shield raised.
Breathing heavily.
Yyvone.
Her barrier slowly dissolved as she turned toward him.
"Osei..."
She exhaled.
"...Are you okay?"
He couldn't answer.
His mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
His entire body trembled uncontrollably.
Yyvone stepped closer.
Without hesitation, she gently placed her forehead against his.
A quiet gesture.
A grounding gesture.
A reminder that someone was truly there.
Her voice softened.
"Hey..."
"Listen to me."
She looked directly into his eyes.
"It's not your fault."
She gave him a reassuring smile.
"Alright?"
"It isn't—"
Something moved.
Neither of them saw it coming.
A massive crimson-black tentacle erupted from the darkness behind her.
WHAM!
It wrapped around Yyvone's waist with terrifying speed.
"Osei!"
She barely had time to cry out.
The force ripped her away instantly.
She disappeared into the endless darkness before he could even reach for her.
"YYVONE!!"
His scream echoed...
For the first time since entering the Free Abyss.
Then...
Silence reclaimed everything.
Osei stood alone once more.
Hands trembling.
Heart racing.
The only proof Yyvone had ever been there...
Was the fading warmth that lingered where their foreheads had touched.
The Free Abyss had done exactly what it wanted.
It had given him hope.
Only to tear it away.
"You are such a naive boy Osei, you really thought you were over this, this is only just the beginning, Your mom will always be with you, remember that"
The voice echoed from a distance he didn't know..
Osei, hands behind his neck.. screaming.
"Shut up, shut up, shut it, I won't fall for your tricks ghoul, this is about Jack not me, you only want us distracted don't you, where is he huh!..... you son of a..."
And then, a ghoul appeared...Jeen