While Berserkrios tore through hordes of Caused, deep within the echoes of his throne, hiding in the false void of Gira’s throne, in the dark behind a pitch-black blanket that was draped over an impromptu pillow fort, we find Vaal. He lay on his side, staring at a small square box that displayed an array of messy images. Alien vistas, people, a smiling woman, food, and places far-flung and warm compared to his dark hideout.

  His golden eyes stared soullessly, his pupils heavy as they dragged down upon him as he began to fall into weightless slumber.

  Bzzzzt—!

  His eye twitched, snapping away from the display. “Hmm?”

  Bzzzzt…!

  He dragged his legs into himself as he sat up, looking around, trying to find the source of the brief surges of electrifying energy that were sputtering around him.

  BZZZZZTT!

  Panic sparked in his eyes. He fumbled his way out of the pillow fort, tangled in the decorative blanket as he tried to escape. Peeking over the blanket wall, he looked over towards the crimson red furniture of the throne.

  “Oh @#$#%!” he shouted some incoherent garble of words as he ran over. His eyes were lost in a display above, his body tensed, and his mouth parted in terror as he stared at the crimson, shattered wound splitting the void.

  He ran over to the collection of couches, tripping slightly on a passed-out Savagrios. He caught himself on a couch, which he frantically clambered onto. Sliding into place, he clamped his eyes shut and joined Berserkrios and Gira.

  Blood.

  The stench flared through Vaal’s senses as his mind became one with the Coarseblood.

  Berserkrios had two Caused by the throats, his armor crumbling as he smashed the two into one another before he dug his fangs into the mess of splintered teeth and bone.

  “What are you two idiots doing?!” Vaal growled into their minds.

  Vaal? Berserkrios flinched within. What do you want?

  “To not die?! You idiots are killing me—us—you know what I mean!”

  Gira/Berserkrios growled as he jumped out of the incoming strike of another Caused, his tail stabbing into its chest as he slammed the beast down before stomping on its skull. “I KNOW!” he roared.

  “Then what the hell are you doing? You idiots drained all of our Kyyr!” Vaal hissed, “Fighting these things is pointless—can’t you feel it? They’re everywhere. Hundreds. Undying. We’ll never kill them all in time.”

  We’re well fucking aware you pissed-eye twat… Berserkrios growled back, but we cannot stop! He growled defiantly.

  Vaal clenched his teeth.

  Gira/Berserkrios caught a Caused’s swipe and deflected it with a bone-sharp parry. His knuckles slammed into its jaw, caving in the skull mid-spin and launching the body into the dark. “THERE ARE PEOPLE I MUST PROTECT!” he roared, pulsing his Kyyr, catching a faint whiff of people far above.

  Vaal was taken aback. “HUH? Why do we care?” he snapped, his voice echoing through the throne’s interior. He twisted toward Berserkrios, seething. “You!” he directed his enmity toward Berserkrios. “Your shitty personality’s leaking into the thieving rat!”

  Berserkrios raised an internal brow. “What the fuck are you on about?”

  Vaal’s eyes twitched. Shit—I need to watch my tongue. But this behavior… it’s definitely his. Is he remembering? No—if he were we’d be thriving against those filthy things… He turned his focus back to Gira. “Thieving rat! Why do you care?”

  Gira/Berserkrios launched himself from the third floor, crashing down on a lone Caused on the opposite floor below. He reached into its spine, ripping it out before shoving the bony matter down his throat. “BECAUSE I HAVE TO!” he bellowed, his voice melding with his rumbling roar.

  Within the throne, Vaal’s face creased. “Huh?” What? The thought lanced through him—back to the moment he had gained awareness of the world beyond the memory he’d been confined to. He’s nothing but a monster to them. They’ve treated him like some fucked-up pet… They only see him for what he is. So why? Is he that naive? Is he ignorant of the distance between him and them?

  Vaal directed his spite toward Gira. “You know you’re nothing but a monster to them! I know you do! It doesn’t make sense! You must’ve felt it—how they hover around you, unnerved, afraid you might lash out. They’ve never considered you to be a fucking person. You’re just a monster!”

  Berserkrios shook his internal head. Vaal, since you still have your memories, it might confuse you. But to Gira here—

  Gira/Berserkrios charged into a cluster of Caused, smashing them through a glass wall and into a clothing store, where he violently smashed his fists into them, his shoulder plates cracking, his body heaving from the recoil from his animalistic strikes.

  Those people above, Berserkrios continued, watching the faint flickers of souls a few floors higher. They’re his entire world. Berserkrios, said with a painful whisper. It’s all we have.

  Gira/Berserkrios dug his jaws into the Caused, breaking through its jaws as his fangs ripped its spine out of its body.

  Vaal caught a faint glimpse of their body reflected against one of the mirrors within the store. His bony armor was all but gone. Deep, pulsing gashes split the exposed flesh. His teeth were broken and splintered, his tail cut short. He was in far worse shape than Vaal had realized.

  “But if I—we die... they’ll die anyway!” Vaal snapped, panic breaking through his arrogance. “You can’t die here! I can’t die here—NOT ON THIS FUCKING BACKWATER PLANET!”

  Gira/Berserkrios stood tall over the mangled remains. With what little Kyyr he had left, he forced it through his body, mending his wounds. Ivory growths crept over torn flesh, sealing gashes in fragile, splintering layers. He turned back toward the atrium—and caught a fleeting glimpse. A Caused, already halfway up the floors, climbing fast.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “I WON’T DIE. I CANNOT DIE—” he dropped to all fours, rushing through shattered glass, exploding with emotion he jumped up towards the Caused, slamming into its spine. “—UNTIL THEY’RE SAFE!”

  Vaal tensed his body, but he couldn’t defy Gira.

  Trapped within the throne, not crossing over. Unable to escape their destiny, he felt their body grind against itself. They kicked off the Caused, flipping backward into the atrium’s darkness. As they plummeted, Vaal’s golden glare caught sight below—a sea of writhing Caused, growing ever closer, rising like a tide of feral insanity.

  Above, Xizu’s group had reached the eighth floor, ascending the stairwell along the atrium’s right flank. They emerged into the open floor once more, a haze of dust settling around them. The group coughed as they stepped forward, squinting through the dim light, trying to piece together what Gira had done.

  Serfet’s eyes saw something. “Aria?”

  Through the haze, across the floor, he spotted Aria and Lisk’Ha standing in a store opposite them.

  “Sis, look!” Serfet said, gesturing across the atrium—awkwardly using Alice’s head to point.

  Xizu raised a brow at the odd motion but followed his gaze. Then her expression softened. “Thank the Symbols… they’re alright,” she breathed, relief washing over her.

  The group then began heading toward the connecting bridge that led to another set of elevators. But just like the ones below, they were also wrapped in spiraling flesh.

  Across from them Lisk’Ha looked around Aria, noticing the movement. “Aria, look!” she said, nudging her and pointing past her shoulder.

  Aria turned her face, lighting up. Without pause, she ran towards them, the echo of the Coarseblood permeating through the Atrium as the two groups met in front of the elevators.

  “Mom!” Aria cried out as she awkwardly hugged Xizu and the unconscious Holly.

  “Aria... you’re okay,” Xizu said, her voice trembling as they did an awkward side-hug—mindful of the unconscious Holly.

  Aria pulled back slightly, her smile fading as she noticed the bloodstained bandages around Holly’s waist. “What... what happened to her?”

  “I’m not sure,” Xizu said quietly, her eyes flicking toward the base of the atrium where Caused screeched in agony. “But Gira saved her.”

  Lisk’Ha stepped up beside Aria, her voice brisk. “We should fall back to the store.” She pointed back toward the store they’d come from.

  Serfet looked at her confused, “But the elevators are right here?”

  “They’re down—the Cetarro Unit’s working on getting them back online.”

  “Did the growths mess with something?” Serfet asked, “Or did something happen on the higher floors?”

  “The tow—” Lisk’Ha cut off as a deafening roar tore through the air. A Caused hurtled past them, slamming into the ninth floor with a bone-shattering crash that echoed through the atrium. “Let’s get to safety first!” she said, gesturing for the group to follow.

  The group followed but Vidrago lingered in the back, his silver eyes lost in the abyss that was forming below, his expression cold and neutral. Black water streaked past his glare through the void, flickering lights catching the rising water in faint flashes.

  “What’s wrong?” Mera asked the mesmerized Vidrago.

  Vidrago, still staring at the rising water, frowned for once. “Do you feel that?” he whispered.

  Mera peered over the railing, but it was dark and among the writhing tendrils and debris moving, she could hardly discern much of anything. She looked back at Vidrago, who was now staring towards the far end of the plaza. She squinted hard, but there was only shadow. She felt a miserable chill as the rising water before them—

  Fell.

  Her eyes grew wide when—

  RUMBLE!

  The tower suddenly shifted, the floor they were standing on tilting forward as they caught themselves on the railings. Xizu fell to her knees, cradling Holly tightly. Serfet’s Kyyr flashed as he dug his heels in place, balancing himself against the change as he made sure to keep Alice’s head protected. Lisk’Ha used her Kyyr ability to melt partially into the ground as she caught Aria by the hand as clothing racks shuddered, with a couple tumbling to their sides.

  Mera held tight, her guts suddenly rising as gravity dragged the tower. The whole building groaned, the old structure creaking under the pull of something beyond its walls.

  Vidrago held strong as he stared into the darkness below, his ears perking up to the sound of violent waves as the thrum of crashing water echoed from below.

  A mix of shock, excitement, and emotion he’d long cast away filled him.

  Fear.

  Vidrago could not fathom the surprising sensation of tightening echoes grappling at his body as he shuddered, his keen Kyyr echoing back the faded reflection of something in the abyss.

  Mera coalesced a Kyyr retina in her hands, pressing it against her face; a familiar terror ripped through her, the memories of that vile forest crossing her mind. As she saw the flickering soul of a true terror of the Abyss. She let out a quiet whimper, her body shivering helplessly against the dusty railing. Water rising once more, black streaks cutting through the air.

  “It’s here…” she muttered.

  As the waves retracted into the shadows, spilling back into the Inverted Sea. Revealing three figures that stood at the edge of the darkness.

  Berserkrios’s senses flared from within a store on the 6th floor where he’d been cast by the shifting tower. His rostrum filled with the dreadful Kyyr of the things below.

  Vaal drank the peculiarly vile Kyyr, his golden glare shuddering. The Abyssal Schrade?! Here? No. No. It can’t be. Fuck! I’m dead. We’re fucking dead… Father… No! He shook his head within the throne. FUCK! Why now?

  “Rats! Please! PLEASE, PLEASE! Let’s run! They’re going to kill us!” He cried out into the void of their mind.

  Berserkrios groaned, Gira… This might be it.

  Gira/Berserkrios growled, pulling himself off the pile of clothes he’d landed onto. “No. I can keep going…” he hissed.

  Vaal’s eyes twitched within. “That’s not the problem here, you brainless SHITHEAD! This is Abyssal Kyyr with conscious intent! We’re dealing with an Abyssal Schrade member! Damn it! How could I fail to recognize that stench?” But wait? These other slimy things lack the tact of the Schrade… A fledgling? An Abyssal prince? No—they’re like us…. They wouldn’t get involved…

  Before Vaal could further ponder, he felt their body rise and weakly wobble out of the store.

  Their bony armor was now practically gone; tattered white flesh clung to his body, his body worn to the limit. One of their auricular organs was gone, and two fingers on his right hand were missing. Yet the Coarseblood stood tall, mustering as much Kyyr as he could to repair his bony frame.

  The Caused in the plaza turned to face the encroaching shadows, their jaws receding back into their heads as they cowered in the presence of the three.

  A Caused lay pinned beneath a mound of rubble near the leading beast. It thrashed wildly, panic setting in as the debris held it tight. Flesh tore against jagged stone as it fought to free itself—desperate to escape the encroaching Cerberus.

  CRRRRRRK!

  The Cerberus tore the Caused free from the rubble, its claws clamped tight around the writhing body. Black tendrils slithered from its black shroud, coiling around the lesser spawn and consuming it in shadow. The Caused struggled in the dark, but then there was silence before the tendrils receded as a pile of bones clattered to the floor. The Cerberus chittered in amusement as it stomped on the remains.

  Gira watched from above, baffled by the cannibalistic display.

  The Cerberus suddenly snapped its head upward—locked onto him.

  Eyeless abyss met eyeless Calamity.

  The other two Cerberus emerged from the largest flanks.

  Berserkrios and Vaal watched in tense agony as the stage was set.

  The storm beyond thundered ominously.

  Coarseblood and Cerberus—finally together.

  I’ve got a bit of a confession to make: this arc was never supposed to be this long.

  In the original draft, it still took place in M?ry’Plu—but the Cetarro Tower didn’t even exist. The focus was almost entirely on Gira/Berserkrios, without Borren, the Parabellum Onryō, Vidrago, or the Inverted Sea. I had always planned to introduce the Retrocosmic Intrusions, but they were originally slotted for the arc after Steel Dragon. Still, one thing led to another, and this ended up feeling like the perfect moment to amp up the Abyss.

  Especially with the Cerberus and the secondary strain, which I’ve only lightly teased so far. Funny enough, the Cerberus were actually in the original outline—but they were smaller, more numerous, and with less brain power. They went from B-list enemy to the deadliest Abyssal Anomaly I’ve introduced so far.

  Fun fact: for about a day or so, Cerberus was actually the cover monster for the novel—before I switched it to Savagrios.

  Extra fun fact: the Cerberus is one of the oldest monsters I’ve ever created. They’re now well over 13 years old... and oh wow, I'm not getting younger, that's for freaking sure...

  -L. Osric