THEY THREW ME INTO THE ABYSS, SO I DEVOURED EVERYTHING

CLIMBING THE CRYPT

The damp chill of the stone stairs bit into Felix’s feet, but the heat pulsing in his scaled right arm kept the rest of his body warm. He kept his hips low, rising silent as smoke from step to step, his purple-tinged vision cutting cleanly through the gloom.

Above him, the yellow light of an oil lamp cast long, jittery shadows against the damp granite. The two wardens were still talking, their voices carrying clearly down the narrow staircase.

"I am telling you, Julian Vane paid the High Priest a fortune for this," the older warden grunted, leaning his iron pike against his shoulder. "He walked out of the hall with the family seal before the blood was even dry on the floor."

"What about the girl?" the younger guard asked, pulling a silver flask from his coat to take a quick pull. "The one from the Northern Reaches?"

"Sarah?" The older man snorted, rubbing his red nose. "She did not even look at the body. A girl like that only cares about gold and griffins. The coreless fool never had a chance."

Felix felt a cold twitch in his right cheek. The black scales along his forearm tightened, interlocking like polished armor plates.

"They think I am dead," Felix whispered under his breath.

"A convenient lie," the Void Sovereign murmured inside his mind. "Let us make their belief permanent."

A draft of freezing wind suddenly blew up the stairwell, whistling through the cracks in the masonry and causing the oil lamp to flicker violently. The younger guard paused, his flask frozen halfway to his mouth. He turned his head slowly, his eyes squinting into the pitch darkness below the landing.

"Did you feel that?" he muttered, setting his flask on the ledge. "The air just dropped ten degrees."

"It is a pit, simpleton," the older guard grunted, shaking his head. "It blows cold air out of the bottom every time the tide turns."

"No, look at the lamp," the younger guard insisted, taking three hesitant steps toward the edge of the stairs. He unclipped a short sword from his hip with a loud metallic click. "Something is coming up from the bottom."

Felix stood in the shadow cast by a protruding wall pillar, barely five feet away. The guard’s boots stopped right beside him. Felix did not draw a weapon. He took a single, quiet breath and let the shadow of the pillar swallow him whole.

Using the shadow-stepping skill absorbed from the pit crawlers, his physical form bled seamlessly into the dark stone wall.

"See?" the older warden called out, yawning loudly from the table. "Nothing there but dust and old bones. Get back here and finish your drink."

"I could have sworn..." the younger guard began, relaxing his shoulders as he turned back toward the table.

Felix stepped out from the flat wall directly behind him.

Before the guard could finish his sentence, Felix reached out with his scaled right hand, clamping his thick, claw-like fingers around the warden's throat. The iron-hard grip crushed the man’s windpipe in a fraction of a second, cutting off his scream into a wet, frantic gasp.

The guard thrashed, kicking his heels wildly against the stone, but Felix held him aloft with one arm. Three thin black tendrils shot out from Felix’s palm, driving straight through the leather armor into the guard's spine.

"What are you..." the guard choked out, his eyes rolling back as the bright blue mana core in his chest flared bright gold before dimming to gray.

The energy hit Felix like a cold splash of river water. His muscles tightened with fresh strength, and his mind felt razor-sharp. Within five seconds, the guard’s body went limp and shriveled into a light, hollow husk that Felix dropped silently onto the stone floor.

"Garrett?" the older warden called out, setting his wooden cup down on the table with a dull thud. "Stop fooling around out there. What was that noise?"

When no answer came, the older warden swore under his breath and picked up his heavy iron pike. He rounded the corner of the pillar with his weapon raised high, only to freeze in his tracks.

His eyes fell on the shriveled leather uniform lying empty on the stone floor, then traveled slowly up to Felix’s face.

"By the gods," the warden gasped, his face turning paper-white. "You..."

Felix lunged forward before the man could raise his pike. He slammed the warden shoulder-first into the cold stone wall, pinning his arms to his sides with a heavy, bone-crushing impact. The pike clattered uselessly onto the stairs, rolling down into the dark.

"Speak quietly," Felix said, his thumb pressing hard against the man's jawline until his head tilted back. "Or you will end up lighter than your friend."

"You are supposed to be dead!" the warden whimpered, his eyes wide with unadulterated terror as he stared at the black scales running up Felix’s throat. "The Maw eats everyone! No one comes back up!"

"I came back," Felix said flatly. "Tell me where the exit leads."

"The... the main tunnel goes straight to the lower docks!" the man babbled, his legs shaking violently against the floor. "There is a guard post at the top, but they only check incoming cargo! They do not expect anyone coming up from the crypts!"

"Where is Julian?" Felix asked, his voice dropping an octave.

"At the Vane manor!" the warden cried out, tears of pain leaking from his eyes. "He called a meeting with the estate merchants for midnight! He is taking the family crest tonight!"

Felix stared at the man for a long, quiet second. The warden’s heart was hammering like a trapped bird behind his ribs, blue mana pulsing weakly inside his chest.

"Please," the warden sobbed. "I have a family in the lower city. I was just taking the night shift. I never did anything to you!"

"You watched them throw me in," Felix said softly.

The Void Sovereign’s laughter echoed in his mind as the black tendrils burst from Felix’s chest, driving deep into the warden’s sternum. The man gave one violent shudder, his eyes turning gray before his body dissolved into a pile of fine ash that drifted across the wet floor.

Felix stood alone on the quiet landing, his breathing slow and even. The blue energy absorbed from both guards settled deep in his stomach, strengthening his bones and refining the dark scales on his arm.

He walked over to the wooden bench by the table, picked up a heavy, dark woolen cloak belonging to the guards, and swung it over his shoulders. He pulled the deep hood low over his face, hiding his glowing purple eyes and the sharp black scales creeping up his jawline.

Walking past the guard table, Felix pushed open the heavy oak door leading out of the subterranean outpost.

Cold rain immediately hit his face as he stepped out into a dark, narrow alleyway in the city’s lower district. The smell of wet horse manure, ocean salt, and chimney smoke filled his nose. Above the dirty stone rooftops of the slums, high up on the central hill, the magnificent Vane manor sat lit up like a golden crown against the stormy night sky.

Felix pulled his cloak tight around his chest, feeling the black mark throbbing beneath his clothes like an impatient drum.

"Let us go home," Felix said to the dark.