Echoes of the Abyssal Blade: Path to Free Will-Chapter 93: Breaking the Throne

The sealed chamber fell silent, it was lit only by the dim glow of the fractured orb Jonan held, and the air was tight with dread; even breath seemed to echo in the sealed space.

Jonan approached the throne again, with the shard in hand, and he was trying to sense the direction of the voice, and it was then he noticed sockets on the throne.

He placed his shard into a socket beneath the throne’s armrest, and it clicked into place with a soft chime, light ran like blood through veins across the floor, connecting to unseen runes along the walls.

Raerin stepped forward, his face was grim, and his spear was lowered in reverence. "It feels as if we are being tested," he said. "And we will have to use our wits to get out of this situation."

Kedes nodded, gaze shifting between the orb shard and the throne. "Just what is this throne room, and whose throne is that?" he murmured. "It feels more like a seal placed on us, without any reasoning behind."

Jonan’s hands trembled slightly as he turned to the others. "We need to find where the other two shards go, maybe they’ll unlock something, and I feel like using our strength alone would not help us in this situation."

They then split up, carefully searching the chamber’s edges, where shadows danced in crystalline reflection, and moss grew in symbols along the pillars, many mirroring the ones on the orb.

A young scout found a small depression on the wall behind the throne, shaped exactly like one of the fragments, Kedes fit his shard into the slot, and again, light blazed outward, threading up the walls like lightning vines.

Jonan felt the orb fragment in his hand pulse in rhythm with the growing hum in the chamber, it was rustling with intense shock.

The final shard still hovered above the throne’s head, Raerin walked beneath it, reached up, and it drifted down, lodging itself into a niche carved in the stone above.

A deafening silence fell, then a deep, resonant tone rang like a bell tolling beneath the world, the throne cracked, not from impact, but from within, lines glowing like fire under black ice.

The obsidian groaned as pieces fell away, revealing not emptiness, but a vast circular mechanism beneath, it rotated slowly, grinding gears, revealing a spiral staircase plunging below the earth.

Everyone stood stunned, then Raerin motioned forward, his voice was calm but firm. "What must we make of this?"

It was not only Raerin, but even others could not understand the gears, only Jonan who had seen similar gears used to lock doors in Dreavows, understood a bit, while they looked similar, this one was a bit large.

After twisting the gear, it shook, and the chamber door behind it opened, letting the natives breathe a sigh of relief.

Raerin was grateful to take Jonan with him to this perilous journey with him, or else who knows how many casualties could have occurred without him.

They descended in a single file, the steps were slick with condensation, the walls breathing warmth and frost in turns, strange glyphs glowed softly, depicting beings tall and cloaked in flame, holding spheres like Jonan’s.

They showed a war not of nations, but of layers, between light above and something unnamable beneath.

At the bottom, the air was thick with apprehension, and the ceiling pulsed with a heart-like rhythm.

A voice spoke, not aloud, but in their minds. "You who come here, why do you descend below?"

Raerin stepped forward, he also had some knowledge about this mentioned to him by his ancestors, if the voice asked a question, he had to be truthful; he could not lie, because these voices were traps set up by his ancestors for their enemies, who will then be blasted if they answer wrong.

"I don’t know," he said truthfully. "But we will see to it that we fulfill our long lost purpose."

The chamber responded by moving and shifting walls, the passage was changing, and another gate was opened for them to go inside.

"You walk paths of your ancestors, do remember it," the voice said, almost mournful. "But memory fades. What remains is choice. Will you mend, or will you be buried alongside others?"

Raerin spoke up, gripping his spear tight, "This time, we will fulfill our ancestral purpose without pause, even if it means our demise."

A door opened at the far end of the room, revealing a bridge of pale bone across a chasm of stars, it led to a floating monolith, pulsing with the same rhythm as Jonan’s shard.

The natives crossed it cautiously, the floor beneath them semi-transparent, revealing infinite tunnels below, at the monolith’s base stood a console carved in silver flame, awaiting activation.

Jonan placed the glowing shard into its center, and energy surged, lifting the entire chamber like a rising tide, and above them, the scene was as if the stars shifted, rearranging themselves into sigils.

It looked similar to the map of the Underrealms.

The voice returned, but gentler this time, "Three seals remain. One broken. Two must be earned."

The floor split open beneath them, revealing another spiral descending even deeper.

Raerin turned to the colony. "We are almost on our way to reach the first layer, let’s work hard and pray to safely enter the first layer for now."

They followed the path downward, gravity was shifting with every turn, and by the time they reached deeper, all of them started feeling disoriented; their stomachs churned, and their legs felt weak.

Here, the ground felt liquid, but it was solid underfoot, and at the center of this place stood a crystal obelisk, cracked and humming with restrained energy, it was surrounded by statues of different shapes.

They did not speak but extended their hands toward Jonan, beckoning him forward. He stepped up, but he also felt feelings of heaviness wash over him; his chest was heaving, and his mind was spinning in confusion.

He staggered, falling to his knees, until a hand gripped his, it was Kedes; he was as steady as a stone. "You’re not alone," Kedes said. "All of us will walk with you." With that, Jonan nodded and started to walk towards the obelisk.

There, he started touching the glowing glyphs present in the obelisk, thankfully he had already learned the native’s language, due to which he was able to arrange the words present in it.

Another path opened, this one was vertical, a shaft of blue flame descending into a lake of shadow.

Raerin nodded. "One more seal, and then we can descend to the first layer."

At the bottom, they found a hall lined with statues of beings with faces veiled, hands raised in surrender.

Here, the voice was loudest, and the sorrow in it was unbearable.

"We gave our lives to hold back what should not be. Will you open the last gate?"

Raerin stepped forward and showed both shards. "I will, but only if you let us, so let us choose."

The voice wept, not in sound, but in vibration. "Then pass, and remember, light is not always good, and shadow not always evil."

The final shard formed in Jonan’s hand, and all three fused into a single key of radiant dusk.

He placed it in the altar before him, and the entire world trembled.

The wall split open to reveal a broken city buried in silence, glowing spires, floating ruins, rivers of light, and in the center, a tower pulsing with life, crowned in silver flame.

They stepped through, in hopes that they had finally reached the first layer.

But what they witnessed, was something entirely different, the city received them in eerie stillness, not a soul visible, yet the streets pulsed with lingering presence.

Structures defied gravity, some hung sideways, others hovered midair, draped in veils of silver fire.

The Natives moved slowly, reverently, awed by the majesty and silence. Jonan felt the key hum in his palm, growing warmer as they neared the central tower.

Raerin led the way, his expression was unreadable, though his knuckles were white on his spear.

With a solemn expression etched into his face, he said, "This place is not recorded in the records, nor any city like this was told to us by our ancestors."

Jonan and Kedes flinched upon hearing the chief say this, they thought this was the first layer.

Raerin muttered, "This place...The cities are only present in the fifth layer, except for the fifth layer, no place has a city, plus it should not be so quiet."

Halfway up, the walls turned into open sky, stars swirling in impossible constellations.

They were walking through the ancient city, which seemed to be frozen in awe and regret.

The path narrowed at the peak, ending at a great circular platform open to the void.

In its center, a pedestal, and behind it, a vast eye-shaped mirror, dark and waiting.

Jonan approached the pedestal and held the key above it, uncertain what would happen.

Raerin placed a hand on his shoulder. "Whatever comes next, we face it together."

The moment the key touched the pedestal, the mirror flared to life—colors surged, bending reality.

The mirror showed the Underrealms, but it looked entirely different form what all of them had imagined.

And then, a figure appeared within: not flesh, not shadow, but both a being wrapped in memory and mourning, as if that it will be its last.