The sky hung low and heavy, like a blade that had yet to fall.
Chains bit into Raen Tiberis's wrists, forged from sunsteel—rare, blessed, and cruel. They hissed faintly, steam rising from where metal met flesh, a punishment meant not just to bind, but to burn memory into bone.
The square was silent.
Not from mercy.
But from awe.
This was the man who had brought nations to their knees, who once rode dragons into battle with a smile carved like a curse. The war hero. The traitor. The monster.
Now, he knelt before the execution block, broken only in body. His back remained straight. His eyes—storm-gray, sharp as winter wind—scanned the crowd with something between amusement and disgust.
"Any last words, General?" the High Magister asked, his voice crisp with fear he tried to mask as duty.
Raen looked past him. Toward the palace balcony, where the Emperor watched from behind a veil of gold and silence. Toward the nobles who once toasted his victories, now pretending they hadn't.
"Tell your Emperor," Raen said, voice hoarse but clear, "that the monsters he created never stay dead for long."
The executioner hesitated. Just for a heartbeat. Then the axe rose—
—and the world went dark.
---
It was not the silence of death that greeted Raen.
It was the breath of something older.
He fell—not through air, but through shadow. Through centuries of regret and echoes. Through a place where light forgot how to reach.
When Raen landed, the ground pulsed beneath him like it was alive.
He groaned, rolled onto his back. Above him, the sky was wrong—swirls of starlight nested within pitch-dark clouds, constellations shifting like they had never been named.
[You Have Died. Rebirth Initiated.]
[Realm: Abyss Layer One – "Forsaken Wake"]
[System Integration: Complete.]
[Abyssal Bonding System Activated.]
He sat up slowly, memories swirling like ash. The scent of iron still clung to him, and beneath that—a new, biting chill that wasn't physical.
Around him, the world lay twisted. Trees wept black sap. Stones whispered names that weren't his. A wind moved sideways.
And ahead—a growl.
It came low and steady, echoing through the crooked woods. Raen turned toward the sound, heart steady, hands empty.
A creature emerged.
Larger than a horse. Blacker than shadow. Fur like smoke, rippling with spectral flame. Eyes like twin moons dimmed with mourning.
The beast didn't attack.
It watched him.
And then—bowed.
[First Bonding Candidate Detected. Designation: Hollowfang]
[Required Emotion: Will to Survive]
Raen stared. A part of him—a soldier's instinct—wanted to run.
But something deeper… didn't.
This beast didn't feel foreign. It felt familiar, like the echo of every command he gave in war, every burden he carried and never mourned.
He stepped forward.
One breath. One motion.
He laid a hand on the beast's head.
Pain lanced through him. Not physical. Emotional.
He saw battlefields he'd buried. Faces of men he'd failed. Screams of children he couldn't save. It all poured into him like floodwater through shattered gates.
[Bond Accepted. Chainmark Initiated. Soul State: Fragmented → Stabilizing... 12% → 31%]
Raen staggered, fell to one knee.
Hollowfang remained still beside him, breathing like thunder muffled in velvet.
A mark glowed faintly on Raen's palm—a chained sigil, alive with flame and sorrow.
He looked at the beast.
"I'm not afraid," he whispered.
The beast didn't answer.
But it didn't need to.
They understood each other.
---
Raen stood again, slowly. The Abyss did not feel like death.
It felt like a second sentence.
But not one he would run from.
He looked at his mark. At Hollowfang.
The System voice chimed again.
[Note: The Abyss is Alive. Layer Two Awaits.]
A breeze stirred the blood-colored trees.
And far in the distance… something wept.