Falling into the Abyss

In the beginning, the cave where nonhumans were held was where the horned people used to detain criminals and living sacrifices, but now it was filled with the strong scent of blood and excrement. There were not many nonhuman corpses left since the huge worms that came out of the ground penetrated this deep and secretive cave and ate everyone inside, both the horned people and the nonhumans, leaving only a few limbs and broken arms behind. But strangely, they had never bothered Typhoeus and Cavin, and they never hurt Samuel and Derek, who escaped from the altar.

It was as if everyone Ethan knew had escaped the disaster.

Ethan held the long tentacle behind him as he slowly moved towards the depths of the cave. He was surrounded by darkness. He didn’t know how but he could see everything clearly without his glasses. There were actually so many beautiful colors within the dark. The vivid colors he had never seen before were twirling around on the ground, between the bloodstains and flesh. After smelling the fishy scent of blood for a long time, it began to smell extraordinarily sweet, and his stomach grew hungry.

He hadn’t left the cave for three days. The outside world scared him, but the silence inside also caused him to despair. When he opened his pair of green eyes in the darkness, it was as though he could see his humble life flash before his eyes. He was also afraid of sleeping. In his dreams, he would return to the huge ancient city, and his body would be lifted in the air by countless massive tentacles. In the distance, beyond the boundaries of the city, he could see an endless black ocean containing huge black shadows appearing like octopus heads. In the opposite direction, he could see an endless desert. A yellow figure as tall as a heavenly pillar loomed among the wind and sand, and spiders hundreds of stories high trudged up and down through the city’s debris. Hard boulders crumbled to ashes at the pillar’s feet. There were disgusting toads with their bodies covered with hair, opening their huge stinky mouths to face the emerald sun.

Countless species of ancient insects, more intelligent than humans, crawled throughout the streets of the city, hissing and screaming at the feet of those giant monsters. However, they are all crushed beneath their feet. Their different colored mucus caused the strange and crazy buildings to appear colorful and magnificent. Instead of escaping, the insects kept worshiping the huge conical temple in the center of the city. The ground under Ethan’s feet began to shake rhythmically, as though there was an invisible hand beating the drums. Harsh music flowed into his ears, akin to the sound of someone using their fingernails to scratch a blackboard.

It was the craziest nightmare, but in the dream, Ethan felt at ease. He was obsessed with the black pyramid. Something surged in his body, urging him to move forward……forward……

Then, the black man would appear and stand a few steps away from him, giving him a strange yet evil smile while holding onto what appeared to be a black book in his hand.

“Eternity is coming to an end, and the sleeping king is about to awake,” he sang in a beautiful low voice, and a crazy whirlpool appeared in his golden eyes. “Sacrificial lambs, get ready for the last carnival!”

At this time, Ethan’s nightmare would suddenly morph into the blue lake. There were ancient trees with heart-shaped leaves towering over him and the shadows of fish swimming below his feet. The wind blew the white silk tapestries hanging among the branches, causing light ripples to emerge in the water. Ethan had never seen Tanisiel here again, but it was filled with the smell of Tanisiel. After the terrifying tentacles disappeared, he would lie in the water and allow the wind to gently blow on his face. It was only then that he could catch a little breather and know that he was not crazy.

But how far was he from going crazy? His appearance had already turned into……

Since he was afraid of falling asleep, Ethan began to hallucinate when he was awake. In his hallucinations, he saw his father come in from outside the cave and look down at him with a kind of cold and disgusted expression.

He felt as though his heart had split, but he could only curl up his dirty body.

That was, if that love had ever truly existed.

He clearly remembered how after he was sentenced, in the open hall of the court of ethics, his father had looked at him with the cold expression he only had when facing strangers and said to him faintly, “In the future, don’t tell others that you are my son.”

If his father saw him now, would he regret ever having a son like him, or would he run away with disgust and fear like the others?

Ethan felt hungry again, and one of his tentacles seemed to reach out subconsciously, devouring a corpse that had not completely rotted in the corner. The chewing was the only sound he could hear in the dark. Ethan was numb and at a loss.

One day, he heard a voice coming from the mouth of the cave. He thought it was another hallucination, but he was also worried about whether some horned people would come in. When he raised his body, he saw a beam of light seeping into the airtight darkness, which made his eyes ache. He reached out to block the light source, but the faint smell of bitter sandalwood suddenly entered his nose. His heart began to beat violently, and his cat-like pupils gathered into a thin slit.

He heard the fast-approaching footsteps turn a corner. He knew that he had already been exposed to the intruder holding the light source that was far too bright.

He heard the sound of breathing. Then, the breathing stopped, as if they had forgotten how to breathe.

Ethan suddenly felt very ashamed. He crawled back, trying to cover his body and face with his tentacles.

The visitor did not speak but silently turned off the light source in his hand that was too dazzling, leaving only a little weak blue light glowing gently in the stone cave. Tanisiel’s beautiful dusty appearance appeared hazier under the light, capable of causing people to yearn for him. Ethan looked at him through the gaps between his tentacles before reaching out to try and touch him. He longed for the feeling of being touched and hugged, but at the same time, he didn’t dare to receive it.

He could not see any disgust or fear in Tanisiel’s gray eyes, just deep heartache. It was different from the compassion that often hung on the priest’s face in the past and was a very humane feeling of sadness, unable to bear seeing him this way. As Tanisiel drew increasingly closer, he didn’t seem to care that his white robes were being stained by the blood on the ground. He squatted down in front of Ethan and reached out to touch the intertwined and wriggling tentacles wrapped around Ethan.

Tanisiel’s touch caused Ethan to shrink back like he was scalded, revealing his green eyes that were full of anxiety and doubt. The touch felt so real that Ethan realized he was not dreaming. Tanisiel was really in front of him.

“Ethan, come out,” Tanisiel coaxed him with a tone he would use to persuade a little kid, “Aren’t I already here.”

The dark tentacles wriggled again like countless twisting black pythons. After a while, a face with thin black lines emerged from the tentacles.

Ethan’s eyes were akin to those of monstrous cats. He didn’t dare to look at Tanisiel even after a long time.

The priest sighed and touched Ethan’s cheek with a faint smile. “I like what you look like now. You’re beautiful.”

Ethan quickly raised his gaze, his lips trembling. He found that he was at a loss for words.

He never thought that the priest would say that he was beautiful in this state.

Was it to comfort him? Why was Tanisiel being so gentle with him? Ethan had never felt like crying since he mutated, even when he was abandoned in the dark cave by Samuel and the others. He didn’t know why his eyes had been so dry, but now, he suddenly felt his nose growing sore, and thousands of unspeakable grievances and fears poured into his heart.

“I killed a lot of people……” Ethan could barely recognize the hoarse voice that came out of his mouth. “I’m a monster.”

“No matter how cruel it is, what you did for the sake of survival is not considered evil.”

“Isn’t this appearance evil? Do you know how many people I killed? I almost killed Samuel!” Ethan suddenly yelled, “I know I should die! But I’m afraid of death!”

The Beta’s screams sounded like a beast crying out in despair. Tanisiel’s deeply buried heart suddenly trembled after hearing him.

He had never seen a living human mutate so successfully in his life. His body was not that strong, yet it could carry the power of an evil beyond human imagination. Tanisiel wiped the tears from the corner of Ethan’s eyes with his thumb and said, “Fool, didn’t I tell you not to keep anyone alive? If the news of your mutation gets out, you’ll be in danger.”

Ethan chuckled sadly. He wanted to say, wasn’t it necessary for him to hide what he had become? Anyway, he was already in this state. Unless he rotted to death in this cave, he would never be found.

He even regretted that he didn’t hide just now and regretted being greedy for Tanisiel’s warmth. If he had quietly died in the dark, then at least Tanisiel would not come to know how ugly he had become.

However, when he saw Tanisiel taking out three syringes containing a blue liquid, his breath stopped for a moment.

Was the priest being serious? The situation had become like this, so could the God of Order’s egg still be useful?

As if sensing Ethan’s doubts, Tanisiel said, “It’s true that the chance of success is small. It will be very painful, at least ten times more painful than before. Would you still like to try?”

Ethan stared at the syringe in his hand. So long as there was a glimmer of hope for him to return to normal, he was willing to endure the pain. He nodded vigorously as though he was afraid that Tanisiel would regret his decision.

“Then come out. I need to see your neck.”

Countless black tentacles stretched out, revealing Ethan’s body that was full of fine black lines. Tanisiel drew closer, his white hand tracing the winding lines that stretched downward. Then, he reached behind Ethan’s neck and felt for the tentacles crowding around, stretching and shrinking behind him.

Ethan hesitantly grabbed Tanisiel’s hand as though he didn’t want the other person to touch those disgusting things. However, the priest didn’t appear disgusted, and his gaze contained an almost intoxicated glimmer. His actions were as careful as though he was touching a work of art.

”You don’t know how beautiful you are. It’s a pity that you can’t keep walking around on the planet like this.” Once he spit these words out, the three syringes suddenly penetrated Ethan’s shoulder and neck, and the blue liquid was soon pushed into his black bloodstream.

Then, Ethan experienced true hell.

The author has something to say:

I was constantly dozing off……I hope there won’t be many bugs_(:з」∠)_

T/N: Thank you VBaby for your kofi !

I would also like to thank everyone as well, for your kind support of ABYSS!

It’s the last week of the semester for me, and I have a lot of assignments to hand in. Hence, the chapter releases may be released late in the night this week. Sorry