Chapter 18:

Chapter 18: "A Universe Beyond Comprehension"

Abandoned by God: I Will Uncover the Truth About This World to Avenge Myself.


The next morning, we departed toward The Abyss of the Forsaken Faiths as soon as it dawned. After what had happened, we wanted to escape that village, to forget about it.

To arrive faster, we rented an ebony beast: a giant moth with emerald-green eyes and a dark hide. These were friendly animals, easy to ride even for those with no experience.

Even though they possess the ability to fly, this type of creature does not rise very high.

"Are you okay?" I asked Zera, uneasy. Her expression looked crestfallen.

“Yes. I was thinking that when I see my parents, I’ll have a lot of questions for them,” Zera said as she rode the moth.

Since I met Zera, I had always seen her happy and smiling. Now, I feel as if I am beside a different person—emaciated by the injustices of the world.

“And I’ll be by your side,” I said.

I reckon that since I first arrived in this world, she is the first person I can truly trust.

“You seem to have a burn on your forehead. Looks serious. Yesterday you didn’t have it. Did you hurt yourself?” she asked as we moved away from Eryndor. I did not answer.

It must be The Sore of the Consumed Penance. What does this mean? Then… did I see Zenith at the lagoon? It wasn’t a vision?

The Sores are curses laid by gods on deserters. If their bearer is unable to obtain divine forgiveness, the curse will expand over time, transforming into a severe lesion that leads to death.

The only way to treat it is through redemption before the resentful god, though the method varies depending on the divinity. Knowing Zenith, it must be through the Penance. Nonetheless, what does that mean exactly?

*******************************

After many hours of traveling on the moth, we arrived at the zone surrounding the Abyss. Above, a grey cloud hid the sun, submerging the place in oppressive gloom.

It gives me the feeling that it was corrupted millennia ago, existing even before the creation of the universe.

The land was desolate: thousands of thick, white roots tangled themselves across the ground. Between them were open black holes whose depths were impossible to calculate.

“Are we getting closer?” Zera asked, intimidated by the landscape.

“Yes.”

There wasn’t a single trace of life for miles, just dead roots. The silence was dismal and frightening.

In the distance, an infinite blackness stretched across the horizon. The closer we got to the Abyss, the more tangled the roots became, as if inviting us to turn back.

This place looks like hell.

Standing on the edge of the Abyss, we looked downward. It was so profound and gloomy that it devoured every bit of light that entered it. Its interior was indecipherable, hidden like a forbidden secret.

“If we jump, we’ll reach the bottom quickly,” said Zera, her characteristic mocking tone cutting through the silence as she balanced on the root that edged the darkness.

From the pit emanated a disastrous presence, an invisible weight that pressed down on me, sending shivers across my skin, as if something veiled and expectant was waiting inside.

Inside lies The Feather of the Late Beginning. If I manage to get it, I’ll know more about Zenith. It could be a powerful weapon. Why didn’t she retrieve it before?

“Eternal Whisper, I know you are there. Appear!” I shouted into the oppressive void. “You showed us the way here, eager for us to arrive. Now, show us how to reach the bottom.”

The ground shook violently, so much that Zera lost her balance, teetering dangerously close to the edge of the pit. The essence of darkness concentrated in one spot. From there, a familiar figure emerged. This time, however, its height was colossal.

It created a bridge of purple roots before us. Then, it extended its arms, letting a black mantle fall, and made a gesture with its head, inviting us to enter its form.

As I stepped inside, I felt my insides rot.

Is this how it feels to be inside him? Is this what the Eternal Whisper bears?

“Darek, that thing scares me. Its presence frightens me. I don’t want to do this. I’ve endured it because he’s your friend or something, but entering him gives me shivers,” she said, panic and insecurity eating at her from within.

This is the first time I’ve seen her courage betray her.

“Wherever we’ve gone, we’ve always come out alive, haven’t we? Today is no exception. I trust the Eternal Whisper,” I lied. “Do you trust me?”

How did this place originate? What waits for us down there? What was the presence I felt before? I want to keep going and find the Feather.

Her doubts dissipated, and together, we walked into the interior of the Eternal Whisper.

Blinded by darkness, in an instant, our bodies levitated in the nothingness.

It’s like floating in outer space. How relaxing.

“So this is what flying feels like!” Zera yelled, excited. “It’s complete lunacy!”

“Yes!” I answered, infected by her enthusiasm. “And you’ve never been thrown to the top of a mountain!” I added, recalling our encounter with the Knight in the Garden of Thorns.

Suddenly, darkness turned into radiance: a new world unfolded around us. Over our heads, we saw a hole in the sky—it was the end of the Abyss, the point where the Eternal Whisper had released us and vanished.

The bastard freed us—I knew I shouldn’t trust him.

The innocent joy we had felt turned into panic: we were falling on our backs, hundreds of meters toward the ground.

Thousands of crates full of magma devoured the earth below. The sky was split into multiple colors. Titanic vertebrae decorated every crane—remains of ancestral creatures.

There were spikes shaped like tilted towers everywhere. Are they monoliths? And in the distance… are those lakes? What kind of place is this?!

Storms of snow, dirt, and ash swirled around us. Mountains collided with one another, green valleys fused with corrosive black.

The word chaos falls short to describe this disaster.

“Darek, look at that!” Zera said, pointing toward the horizon.

Two colossal creatures, the size of cities, were fighting. Their bodies were abstract but distinguishable: ethereal beings whose forms surpassed human comprehension.

Its head is tiny. Why is an ear emerging from its nape? Is that an eye on its inside? There were countless mouths—one supported by four pairs of arms sprouting from its thorax, while the rest floated around it.

The other monster had the form of a fleshy, hairy worm. Its hide bore craters releasing cyan smoke. Two antlers made of twisted trees jutted from its face, alongside tongues coiling around the arms of the other creature.

“Why is that thing wearing a mask?” Zera asked, pointing at a small accessory on the worm’s jaws.

I don’t know and I don’t care, the ground is getting closer by the second! What do we do?

Minutes later, we crashed into that apocalypse—miraculously without sustaining damage.

“Are you okay, Zera?”

What just happened? What is this place?

“Yes, though it shouldn’t surprise you. I told you: I’m very strong.”

“Even strong enough to resist such a fall? Nonsense,” I said, joking at her side.

It had been a long time since I had joked with someone… The melancholy crept in, reminding me of friends from my past life.

As I remembered them, my smile twisted, and hatred began to consume me.

In front of us rose a monumental cage, made of… light and shadows? Inside, a figure composed of black threads and petrified wings sat motionless. Floating above its head was an eye without eyelids, its pupil an absolute abyss.

The swirling combination of black, white, and purple within the eye disorient me—it is as if existence itself had blurred within it.

“Welcome to The Creation,” it said in an ominous voice.