The Abyss Walker...?

The abyss walker once again flows on the river of souls leading to the bottom of the abyss. The realm could barely contain itself anymore. Without most of the rulers, it started to fall apart. Once vast lands now become crumbling, floating islands. The creatures run around in panic as their world starts to feel the beginning of its end.

He lands on one of the massive chunks of land left. He checks himself for his wounds, a big stab mark on his chest can be seen. He sits on the ground, he starts to doubt his abilities. He knows Godfrey was not truly defeated in that battle. He did not see the conclusion nor the fate that befell the kingdom of Hozran. He only hopes his mentor and friend is safe.

"Stop sulking around." The spirit demands of him.

Jervaintus shakes his head and lets out a sigh,

"Let me rest for a moment to recollect myself."

The spirit is having none of his bickering,

"The last time we did, three months had passed. We must find the way out now or else all is lost." She pleads.

Jervaintus immediately gets up and gets up to a high area of the island. The abyss is floating upon a nearly endless sea of souls. The occasional demon can be seen drowning in it. The realm is dying, he must find a way out now.

He wanders endlessly, his body is heavy from exhaustion from the fight. He struggles to keep balance. The spirit voices her concern,

"Is something wrong, boy?" She asks.

Jervaintus places his hand on a wall and catches his breath,

"I never fully recovered from that stab in my chest. He was lightning up like a star before I died. I was guessing he exploded." He concludes.

The spirits speaks but stops before she could utter a single word, then she continues,

"The demigod is weakened. If we could find him soon, you can finish what he started."

Jervaintus shakes his head,

"It will be finished when the god of the abyss is defeated by my hand. Are there any other rulers left before him?" He asks.

The spirit remained silent.

"Spirit? Are you there?" Jervaintus asks in a concerning tone.

She lets out a long sigh,

"The last ruler before facing the god of the abyss remains. It is the emperor."

Jervaintus nods at that statement,

"Good. I can wait no longer to fight him. I am going to enjoy killing him." He gets eager and regains his strength.

"Yes…very good." She encourages him.

He approaches another big area in the abyss. It is a field of scattered weapons and armor. A glint in the green dirt catches his eye, he moves toward that object. He kneels down and grabs it from the ground. He holds it toward the pale green skies of the abyss. It is a dark, emerald gemstone. Deep inside of it, is a swirling gas that circulates inside. He takes his sword and places it near the gem.

Both it and the sword starts glowing at the same time, with the same intensity. The gas inside the gem starts circulating fast. Jervaintus nods at this,

"No wonder why it's effective against these demons. Impressive isn't it, spirit?"

She stops responding.

"Hello? Spirit? Are you there?" Jervaintus calls out to her.

He shrugs it off and take both items closer to each other, the sword's guard opens up on its side, like a gaping mouth. It makes clear that it wants to be with the gem. He inserts the stone inside the sword and a new power awakens within it. It emits a loud sword that draws many of the nearby demons to it. Jervaintus laughs at this situation,

"Now, we're talking. Come and get it you fleeing cunts!" He taunts them and loosens himself up.

They all charge at him at the same time, wailing and flailing like lost children. He easily dodges each and every one of their attacks. Something is off. Jervaintus gets pissed at this,

"Fight like you mean it, you pieces of trash!" He toys with them.

The demons start losing it and retreat after a short skirmish. Something is very wrong in this realm. The field is empty once more. Jervaintus wonders to himself,

"Did they collectively lose their balls or something? Heh." He scoffs.

He continues searching for an exit amid the growing chaos within the Abyss. He calls out to the spirit,

"Spirit? Are you done giving me the cold shoulder?"

Once more, no response from the spirit. Jervaintus scratches his head, he continues forward. He finds a path coils like a snake toward plenty of broken off islands. The floating rock bridges are nearly unstable, meaning it would be hard to go back. The best course of action is to pick one path and commit to it. Navigating this is going to be challenging, Jervaintus thinks to himself. Without any guidance from the spirit, he must trudge through this alone. He picks the path towards his left. The bridge on that path is the longest and he reckons that is his best bet on finding the gatekeeper, if he is still there.

The path is longer than he expected, he was walking on it for what seemed like hours. However, his wounds start to finally heal and much of his former strength returns to his being. He decides to quicken his pace, he seems desperate now to escape this place. As he is in mid stride, he feels great pain in his mind. It causes him to stop and drops to the ground.

The visions that the lord of sorrow comes back to haunt him and now a new vision comes to him. He sees an image of Valorfell, now a burning ruin. Much of the soldiers lay dead there. He sees deep inside the nearby mountains civilians, scared little children and their mothers comforting them. A few men stand guard, the are shaken as they cannot fully have a balanced grip on their weapons. Now, he sees the valleys near the Agnaum capital city, Pirhya, starting to get overwhelmed with Abyss demons. The dark forces are immense. In the city, inside the castle, he sees Whittham and General Durkins plan out the defence for the city. They don't realize the threat looming from the mountains. The world grows darker every day.

The roar from a wyvern snaps Jervaintus from his trance. He looks around and sees the winged beast circling around him. He regains himself and hesitates from drawing his weapon. The beast's mannerisms and body language indicates to him that he does not want battle.

The wyvern flies towards the direction Jervaintus is headed slowly, as if wanting him to follow it. He has no choice and does so, he runs along with the wyvern until they reach another island at the end of the bridge.

The wyvern lands and attempts to speak in a low and submissive tone. Jervaintus processes this and slowly approaches it. The wyvern bows its head down but still maintains eye contact with the abyss walker. He examines the beast closely and recognizes an emblem on its forehead. That same symbol was on Hatrenum's armor as well. This creature was his pet or perhaps slave judging by the way it looks malnourished and its numerous scars across its body.

Jervaintus assumes a commanding position,

"Do you know the way out of this realm, wyvern?" He says in a calming voice.

The wyvern makes a short grunt and turns to a direction. Jervaintus mounts on the wyvern's neck near its head. They fly off high into the skies. This gives him a better situation of this dying realm. The island that he was previously on, had now been destroyed, much of it now consumed by the sea of souls. He comments on this,

"The spirits are growing restless and yet the one in my head is more dead than a rock."

He sees the gatekeeper's figure in the corner of his eye, he is one step closer to getting out. He points it out to the wyvern but refuses to change direction. Jervaintus tilts his head in confusion,

"What is wrong, creature? The exit is right over there." He points once more.

The wyvern refuses his order once again and starts flying faster to its destination. Jervaintus taps on the beast's head and leans over to speak,

"The gatekeeper is our key out of here, why are you heading elsewhere?"

Before the beast could respond, they are shot down by a beam of energy. They both crash land at the island below, into a lake. Jervaintus scrambles to get up and scans his surroundings.

He sees another knight behind him. He draws his sword in front of the figure. Upon further examination, their armor is of the same origin. This strikes him, he approaches slowly,

"Who are you?" He keeps his blade steady.

The knight returns his gaze,

"Look at my boy, all grown up." A woman's voice escapes from her helm.

Jervaintus gets flashbacks of that dream, of where he is in this exact situation but something bothered him. He takes a second look,

"You…sound like the spirit." He lets his guard down.

The knight nods,

"I am." She responds.

Jervaintus shakes his head in anger, feeling betrayed by his senses,

"WHO ARE YOU?!" He screams.

"I am the Abyss Walker." She stands firm.

He takes a few steps back, not content from this,

"Who. Are. You." His voice trembles with rage.

The knight removes her helmet, her white hair unfurls onto her back. Jervaintus eyes widen in horror, she possesses the same pale green eyes he has. Her mouth opens to speak,

"I…am your mother."