Chapter 59: THE STILLNESS BEFORE THE STORM
The air hummed with tension as Kaito and Nyra cut across the treacherous terrain.
The wind howled, wailing across the cliffs and broken ground, but the earth itself was still—eerily so. Neither the vulture squawk nor the crawling unseen vermin disturbed the stillness as they moved by. The world held its breath.
And maybe it was.
The events of the previous night haunted Kaito’s mind like ghostly murmurs. The meeting with the herald of the Abyss—twisted and aged—had unsettled him in a way no war ever had.
The monster had not tried to kill them. It had spoken, cautioned, pleaded almost in a voice that had no right sounding so human. Its warning was not threat. It was prophecy.
The Abyss is within you.
Kaito wiped his forehead with the heel of his palm, where sweat and grime mixed down his face, but the grime didn’t bother him. It was the heaviness in his chest—the growing weight of fear that he couldn’t shake.
The world around them was colorless, noisy, and dull. Each step grew heavier than the last.
He preceded Nyra with the same determined urgency he always possessed, but he could feel the strain in her shoulders. Her stance was stiff, coiled like a bowstring.
Even her characteristic swift glances had become more frequent, her eyes scanning not just for foes, but for indications. The stoic serenity she had adopted as a mask had fissured, if only a little bit.
Kaito’s voice was barely above a whisper. "The creature’s words..."