August 8th 1888

Bethyinine woke up, stretched, and dusted the sand off her scales. She smiled and noticed that a storm was on the horizon, which meant that it would be raining soon. She chuckled before walking over to the water’s edge and staring out at the eclipse on the horizon.

”Wait a minute… something isn’t right, that shouldn’t be here?” She told herself.

Bethyinine blinked a couple times, hoping that the eclipse would disappear. Yet when she opened her eyes, nothing changed for the orange ring of the eclipse was still visible on the horizon.

”James, I swear that I will personally tear you limb from limb.” Bethyinine hissed.

”Really? Why exactly would you do that?” Silas answered.

Bethyinine turned around to see her brother materialize in front of her as a portal closed behind him. A wicked grin overtook her face as Bethyinine pounced on top of Silas.

”Would you mind looking at the horizon!?” She growled.

“I would, if you weren’t pinned on top of me right now.” Silas chided.

”Oh, you can’t see it from here now, can you? Well then, let me help you with that!” Bethyinine roared.

She then proceeded to coil her tail around Silas and lifted him up into the air. Silas smiled as the eclipse entered his field of view.

”Oh, now I know what you mean, and honestly that does look pretty bad.” Silas insisted.

”Good, now tell me just what you did for this to happen.” Bethyinine demanded.

”I killed a man, well he wasn’t exactly a man, more of a reaper than anything else.” Silas recalled.

”Well, who exactly did you kill then?” Bethyinine giggled.

“Does the name Ayir Halak ring any bells to you?” Silas inquired.

”No, but should it?” Bethyinine mused.

“Knowing you, it more than likely shouldn’t, given you have no real connection to Finality’s Reaper.” Silas answered.

”Finality’s Reaper, so that’s who you killed, Death itself. Well, it’s no wonder then as to why this is happening.” Bethyinine groaned.

”Well… Death’s still alive, she’s not dead, Xyun is still alive.” Silas stuttered.

”Ah, so my niece took up the position of Death, good for her!” Bethyinine chuckled.

”Sorry to ruin the mood, but what exactly are we going to do about that?” Silas asked, pointing to the eclipse on the horizon.

”I thought you would have an answer for that, given all of the contingencies you’ve made.” Bethyinine playfully scolded.

”Look, I just formulate the possible answers for all my contingencies. It’s all hypothetical, I’m basing all of it off of extrapolated data for Nadahr’s sake!” Silas hissed.

Bethyinine sighed and sat down on the shore, watching the tide roll in. Silas walked over to her and focused his attention on the eclipse. There were no sigils on it, the seal had finally been broken. He squinted his eyes and noticed that a small iris had started to form in the center of the eclipse. He panicked and quickly tapped Bethyinine on the shoulder.

”It’s growing!” Silas shouted.

”What do you mean, it’s not alive for Pete’s sake!” Bethyinine hissed in response.

”It’s starting to grow an eye.” Silas whispered as a chill ran down his spine.

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Bethyinine gazed out at the eclipse and felt something staring back at her. She blinked and panicked as a massive eye was now staring back at her.

”Well then, this entire situation just got a whole lot worse.” Bethyinine declared.

”No kidding, I just wonder how mankind is going to react to this.” Silas chuckled.

Bethyinine screamed a little before diving headfirst into the ocean. Silas shrugged and opened up a portal, hoping to find the nearest patch of solid ground. He stepped through the portal and found himself at the center of a small village. Surprisingly there were no civilians running around screaming for their lives. He chuckled and walked from house to house noticing that the windows were shut, and all the lights were off.

Silas made his way to the beach just as Bethyinine exited the water. He looked at her and smiled as the two of them walked back into town together. Silas followed his sister to the town square before the pair split up to cover more ground. Bethyinine went left towards the market while James went to the right and walked right into the tavern. The place was mostly empty, save for the bartender sitting behind the counter. He smiled upon seeing Silas entering his establishment.

”Ah Mr Mori, you finally returned from your little “vacation” I take it?” The bartender asked.

“Actually, I’ve been back for a while now, thank you very much.” Silas chuckled.

Silas went and pulled up a seat in front of the counter before placing his revolver next to him.

”Would you like to know why you aren’t getting any customers today?” Silas asked.

”Sure, go ahead and give me the bad news you pathetic bastard!” The bartender smiled.

”Let’s just say that my kin have decided to pay you a visit, ok?” Silas whispered.

The bartender nodded and looked out the window, just barely noticing the eclipse on the horizon. Its eye swiveled around and stared directly at him. The bartender simply waved back at it and the eye seemed to “smile” in reply.

”You’re not fazed by it? Not one bit?” Silas spat.

”Nope, not at all, it’s just an eye for Ra’s sake. Why then should I be scared of it?” The bartender mused.

Silas nodded, picked up his revolver, and turned to leave. The moment he left the comfort of the tavern rain began to fall on him. He smiled and made his way towards the fountain of which his sister was currently sitting on. Silas chuckled and sat down next to her as the rain continued to fall.

”They’re not answering I take it?” Silas asked.

”No, when I tried to speak to some of them, they didn’t answer. All their doors are locked, they’re afraid of us, afraid of me.” Bethyinine lamented.

“Take it easy, at least we know that they’re safe.” Silas patted his sister on the head.

”Yet this isn’t all of them, just the people that I keep watch over.” Bethyinine chided.

”True, but Josephine could keep watch over the rest of them, can’t she?” Silas chuckled.

”I guess she can, but last time I checked she rarely ever leaves her house.” Bethyinine joked.

”Well then, guess I’ll have to help you if that’s the case.” Silas smiled.

Bethyinine looked at her brother and smiled. The two of them walked back into the sea together and journeyed back towards Bethyinine’s domain. As they strode beneath the waves, the eye on the horizon stared at them in delight.

The Abyss, Sector 7

Cassius stared up at the eclipse and noticed as the eye began to form. It looked at him almost in disgust before turning its attention to the spire. The eye’s pupil dilated as the remaining eight rings detached themselves from the spire. The rings shot towards the eye and opened fire on it, binding it in thousands of chains. Cassius smiled as the eye was now chained in place.

It let out an abhorrent growl and struggled against the chains. For every time it struggled against them, its prison only grew tighter and tighter. Cassius focused his attention on the chains which held the eye in stasis. They were latched onto almost invisible points in space. Franky for him to call them invisible would be for Cassius to lie to himself. For the points which the chains had attached themselves to were limbs. Countless hideous, insect-like, limbs all writhing in collective agony.

Cassius stared up at the eye once again only to be met with thousands upon thousands of eyes staring back at him. They all blinked in unison as the creature fixed its gaze towards him. Cassius felt something pierce his mind and he began to run towards the spire. The creature slowly began to break free from its chains and let out a grotesque roar. Cassius gazed back at the creature as the first chain broke.

“Why are you running?” The creature’s voice echoed inside his head.

”I would like to ask you a better question. Why shouldn’t I?” Cassius retorted.

The creature immediately fell silent and continued to free itself. By the time the second chain had been broken, Cassius had reached the spire. He stopped in the doorway to catch his breath before sitting down on a nearby bench. Finally, he was safe, well at least that was the case for the time being.

500 miles off the coast of Singapore

Silas stared down the eclipse as darkness slowly passed over the horizon. He could just barely hear a couple of faint whispers emanating from it. They were calling out to him, begging for him to join them. So, he shut his ears so as to deafen their cries. For the while the words of the living can be ignored, those of the dead are like the call of a siren. Once you hear the voices of the damned and restless, one cannot help but obey their orders.

The last thing Silas heard before the silence enveloped him was a sickening cacophony of voices.

”Join us…” They hissed.

”So that we may all be united together in the bottomless Abyss.”