“And here I thought things couldn’t get any weirder,” Amalyse muttered.

The Masked Avatar held a serene posture with his hands clasped together before him, surveying them from behind his ceramic mask that seemed to glow with a light of its own. For someone who had likely already been in the Abyss for a while, he looked perfectly fine. His black and green robe with its gleaming ivory buttons was a bit too resplendent.

“Ah, finally,” Appraiser said. “I thought I would never find you. Though…” It was difficult to tell under that mask, but it felt as though he was looking past Rieren at the others. “I was not expecting company.”

Shock and no small amount of fear for her own survival tried to war within Rieren, but she stomped on those initially impulsive feelings. One benefit of cultivating, even if she was channeling corrupted Essence, was that she could regain her inner harmony without a great deal of trouble.

“What have you done with Elder Olg?” Rieren asked.

The Avatar tutted behind his ceramic mask. Distantly, she wondered what the automatons would think of seeing the exact same material as their own construction adorning the face of a cultivator.

“I have no intention of humouring your questions, girl,” he said. “The thing that people of your kind depend on—one could even say addicted to­—is attention. You are not worth my attention. Not in the way you would wish to manipulate it. As such, all you will do is listen to me and obey, should you choose to leave this place alive.”

Amalyse stepped up from behind. Rieren had to fight another impulse this time—yelling at her friend to stay back and not get involved.

“The nerve of you!” Amalyse said, summoning the most arrogant glare she had picked up from her family. “To speak to me in that manner. You forget your place, you masked mutt.”

“Excuse yourself, Lady Arraihos, and you need not be harmed.”

“Harmed?” Amalyse seemed to blow up in anger. “The Emperor will hear of this!”

“The Emperor trusts us Avatars to take what action is needed at the time it is called for. That is why we are entrusted with his power and his authority. That is why what I say supersedes any notion of hierarchy you might possess, Arraihos. Stand before me, and you will feel the full might of the Emperor’s wrath.”

Before Amalyse could dig her own grave, Rieren took off the wriggling mass of viny growth around her neck. It had grown enough that it tried to tangle in some of her hair, but she was a bit vicious about it and pulled free some of her dark locks with it.

Then she handed it to Amalyse. “Take this, find Folend, and leave. You should be able to find the Abyss Rent among the other orbs too. Get to it and—”

“I am not leaving you.”

She turned away from Amalyse. “Avalien, you do it.”

He looked hesitant for a fraction of a second, then decided to put on the Malformed Root. With that in place, he began hurrying around and to try and collect all the orbs back together in one place. The other guard was simply standing there, mute and unresponsive.

Amalyse stepped up, apparently having no intention of going with Avalien. “What in the world do you expect to do here by yourself, Rieren?” she hissed, though still keeping her glare on their new guest. “That’s the Masked Avatar for crying out loud. Someone who wields the power of the Forborne Emperor. You can’t beat him.”

Rieren turned to face the Avatar as well. “Perhaps. But the Avatar does not know about the Abyss the way I do.”

If she was being honest, that was a bluff. While Rieren had great faith that she ought to have known more than the Masked Avatar, there were too many uncertainties about their current circumstance.

For instance, it was telling that he was standing before them without a Malformed Root or any other obvious external conduit for corrupted Essence. If there really was no such tool upon him, not even something hidden inside his robes, then it stood to reason that the Masked Avatar had deemed it necessary to channel Abyss-Aspected Essence directly.

One who could make such a decision was undoubtedly someone who had no fear of making any other frightening decisions.

“How will you even get out if we use the… whatever that thing is?” Amalyse asked.

At that, Rieren couldn’t help but smile. She pointed at the Masked Avatar. “I will simply sell his corpse to obtain a new one.”

Apparently, the Masked Avatar was not pleased by that. There was the minutest of shifts in his posture and suddenly, his Domain was active before any of them could react. A green-and-gold aura burst around them, and a tree materialized into being, covering their little pocket dimension in barely a breath, its bark green as jungle vines and its leaves and thorns gold as sunlight.

Rieren had no hope of counteracting the Avtar’s Domain with her own. Not only was it far faster at entrapping them all in moments, she had no obvious counter to it either. Nothing she used could beat a combination of wood and Divine Aspects. Not yet, at least.

This was why cultivating in the presence of other Aspects was so vital for her as soon as she found the time and opportunity to do so.

“That will be enough from the likes of you,” the Masked Avatar said.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Amalyse asked with a dangerous tilt to her voice.

The Avatar merely tutted. “Keeping children in their place. I gave you the opportunity to leave, Arraihos. You did not oblige my grace. The Emperor’s grace. Therefore, you will suffer the consequences of your choices.”

Rieren took a quick glance around. The entire landscape around them had changed. Instead of a plain filled with white sand, there was now a gigantic, treelike growth spread out over the land. Its green branches twisted around them like the dense undergrowth of an undisturbed forest that refused to let them pass.

But it wasn’t dark. All the golden leaves and thorns were each a brilliant source of light, many of them too difficult to look at. Rieren huffed. So much Essence. A stark reminder that the Avatar truly was filled with the power of the Forborne Emperor.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Except, it wasn’t just the Aspects Rieren had thought at first. Tiny tendrils of darkness twisted around and through the growth here and there, reminiscent of the Malformed Root Rieren had given away.

Of course. The corrupted Essence. She had been right in assuming that he was channeling Abyss-Aspected Essence without any compunction. But did he know that it had already infected his Domain?

That should have been impossible. With how much obvious Divine-Aspected Essence filled his Domain, the Abyss-Aspected Essence should have been naturally destroyed. The only way they could interact so freely had to be because the Avatar was making them interact on purpose.

He must have corrupted his Divine-Aspected Essence itself. That was the only way one could force such opposite Aspects to work together.

Just the thing Rieren could take advantage of.

“What do you intend to do by trapping us in this manner?” Amalyse asked, making her voice ring with all the authority she could muster.

“I do not need to bandy words with insignificances such as yourself,” the Avatar said. “Your prattling is a waste of time. I wield the force of the Emperor. Before him, you are to stay silent, listen, and most importantly, obey.”

“The Emperor would never act in this manner,” Rieren said.

The Avatar ignored her. True to his words, he had no intention of listening to her. “You will do as I say. Push aside your thoughts. They are more worthless than you are. Instead, you will bring me to the centre of the dungeon. You will take the Dungeon Core. And you will deliver it straight to me.”

Amalyse stared. “What?”

“Is that what all this was?” Rieren asked. “All this death and destruction? You caused the Sect’s demise just so we would be forced to put everything into tackling the dungeon. You manipulated us into attacking the dungeon and its Abyssals until we managed to obtain the Dungeon Core, which you would then relieve from us.”

For all his intention of not answering them, Rieren’s words still got his attention. “Did I not tell you that your thoughts are not worth my attention? Cease your nattering before I cease them for you.”

Before the Avatar could follow up on his threat, Amalyse took a step forward, anger riding her brow like a thunderstorm. “Not only did you attempt to kill my best friend, you also let the Sect itself be destroyed. You despicable monster. No wonder you’re also channeling corrupted Essence with no hesitation whatsoever. One so callous and thoughtless as yourself would endanger everyone, including the Emperor himself.”

And that burned through what restraint the Avatar might have held.

All the golden leaves and thorns flashed bright enough to blind Rieren. A heavy force landed on her shoulders, and she found herself on her knees, nearly pressed against the wooden ground.

“The only thing your accusations do credit to is your intelligence,” the Avatar said, quieter than ever before. A deadly quiet. “But I have had enough. It is time you learned your place.”

Rieren was about to summon her Domain. She could use of the same condition that had staggered the Shadeborns that had tried to drink her water—that corrupted Essence did not enjoy interacting with true Divine-Aspected Essence. But then, they had another intruder land upon them.

The Avatar’s treelike growth had pushed apart the tiny orbs that formed pathways between different pocket dimensions of the Abyss. Whether it was on purpose or a by-product of his Domain, Rieren never got to determine.

One of the orbs was growing and breaking apart. But before it shattered to reveal its occupant, Elder Olg’s voice washed over them.

“Avatar!” he said. “I have finally found you! And it seems you have discovered my precious disciples as well. Wonderful!”

Rieren wanted to think they were all rather too shocked to react, especially when Elder Olg physically came into being before them. The twisting orb finally broke apart to reveal him, just as the Masked Avatar himself had done.

He looked terrible. Patches of his wispy grey hair had been burned right off to leave ugly scars, his robes were torn in several places, and one of his eyes was dark as though he had been punched there. Worst of all, he was missing a limb entirely, though the Ashflame burning at the stump was slowly regenerating it to its original state.

Elder Olg bowed low to the Masked Avatar. “My relief knows no bounds at seeing you alive and well, honoured Avatar. Please, I hope I do not intrude on any important business, but I have desperately exciting news to impart to you.”

It took a second too long for the Avatar to form a reply. “I was not expecting to see you here, Elder.”

“Nor I you! But fate, it seems, has decided to smile upon me. Please, allow me a moment to speak my piece.”

“Speak.”

He pointed with a thumb over his shoulder. “I have been looking for an Abyss Rent that will take me directly to the centre of the dungeon, where lies the heart of all this madness we are dealing with. I suspect you are doing the same, as were my foolish but brave disciples there. Unfortunately, I was discovered by a rather powerful Abyssal.”

“And where is this Abyssal you speak of?”

He grimaced. “It is right behind me. Unfortunately, I was no match for it. Therefore—”

“You expect me to deal with it.”

“If you would be so kind. You see, it is safeguarding the orb that leads us through the exact Abyss Rent we need for the Dungeon Core’s room.”

“I see…”

Rieren was a little taken aback by the flood of information. They were attempting to settle in her brain properly, but it was slow going. Was it all a bluff, or was it the truth? Knowing Elder Olg, the whole thing was an unknowable mixture of both.

While it had looked like the Elder had infiltrated the Abyss Rent to rush after those who had been taken, it made sense that he had more important ulterior motives. Using the Abyss Rents to infiltrate directly into the dungeon’s central stronghold was a bold move that spoke exactly of how Elder Olg’s mind worked.

Her eyes were drawn to his regenerating arm. Of course. She had known he had the capability to sacrifice his body bit by bit to channel the corrupted Essence and manipulate the orbs. That way, the bit of him that got corrupted by Abyss-Aspected Essence could simply be excised off and regenerated, good as new.

A brilliant use of a rather painful ability.

Rieren’s muscles untensed by only a fraction. The others around her were no more mollified by the Elder’s appearance. Appraiser’s attention might have been drawn away, but none of them were about to trust that the Masked avatar’s antagonism had simply vanished.

“May I ask what these foolish youths have done to offend you, honoured Avatar?” Elder Olg asked.

Appraiser waved it off. “Do children need to do anything to be reminded of their place every so often?”

“Certainly not. I just found this a rather strange circumstance for something of that nature.”

“We must not lose the ways of our culture and civilization no matter the circumstance.”

Elder Olg gave him the Avatar his brightest smile. “True again!”

“But do tell me… what strange circumstances led you here?”

“I was merely following my lost companions, Avatar. Along the way, I came to an epiphany that since these Abyss Rents were practically everywhere, why not use their presence to our advantage? Thus began my search to find an Abyss Rent that would lead me where I wished to go.”

“And now your search has led you here.”

“Correct, honoured Avatar.”

Appraiser didn’t look satisfied with that answer. “I suppose you are unable to tell which orb it might be that this monster of yours might come from?”

“Hmm, that would benefit us, yes. But no, I do not know, sadly.”

They didn’t have to wonder for long. It was only a few moments later that the monster appeared to prove that the Elder had been speaking the truth.

In the distance, one of the orbs began acting up. As before with the previous two orbs, it began growing larger and its surface started twisting as though something from within was desperate to break out.

But unlike the other two, it didn’t simply stop growing once they reached human proportions. Instead, it kept increasing in size. Rieren’s eyes widened a little as it grew to at least three man-heights tall before the first cracks appeared on its exterior.

That was when the first clawed arm broke free.

“Yes, rather ugly is it not?” Elder said, rather conversationally as though he was commenting on someone’s overgrown rhododendron.

It wasn’t just ugly. What appeared before them, emerging from the orb like a monster being born from its egg, was an A-Grade Abyssal.

Now Rieren understood why Elder Olg had decided to run instead of fight.