The Weakest Tidecaller at the Abyssal Academy

Chapter 9: The Man Laughing Inside Me

“Ethan, wake up!”

Milo’s voice reached Ethan from what felt like a great distance, almost swallowed by the unsettling laughter echoing inside his skull. Ethan tried to answer, but his mouth refused to cooperate. The black mark on his palm had spread across his wrist again, and every beat of his heart sent a wave of freezing pain through his arm.

Across the shattered corridor, Chancellor Voss shouted orders while the security officers struggled to restore the containment field. Professor Thorne remained motionless beside the ancient door, staring at Ethan with the horrified expression of a man who had just watched his worst nightmare come to life.

Before anyone could move, the floor split open.

A jagged crack raced between Ethan and Milo, releasing a powerful gust of freezing air from the darkness below. Milo stumbled backward and grabbed Ethan by the arm, pulling him away from the widening gap as chunks of stone broke loose and disappeared into the seemingly endless pit.

“Can somebody explain why this school has a bottomless pit beneath practically every room?” Milo shouted.

Nobody bothered to answer him.

The laughter inside Ethan grew louder, spreading through his thoughts until he could barely distinguish it from his own breathing.

They are frightened of you, the voice whispered. And they should be.

Ethan clenched his teeth and forced himself to concentrate on Milo’s face. His friend looked terrified, but he had not released his grip on Ethan’s arm, even as the ground continued trembling beneath their feet.

“Listen to me,” Milo said, trying to keep his voice steady. “You are going to stand up, and we are going to get out of here. After that, we will find someone who knows how to remove whatever has crawled inside your head.”

Ethan swallowed painfully before answering.

“What if it isn't inside my head?”

Milo’s expression changed, and the brief hesitation in his eyes told Ethan that his friend had considered the same possibility.

Ethan immediately regretted asking the question. The truth was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore because the presence no longer felt like an intruder forcing its way into his mind. Instead, it resembled a locked room hidden somewhere inside him, sealed so thoroughly that he had mistaken its walls for his own thoughts.

Before Milo could respond, Chancellor Voss raised his weapon.

“Separate them immediately!”

Two security officers rushed toward Ethan, their weapons glowing as they activated their suppression spells. Ethan's Abyssal Sight awakened involuntarily, revealing the intricate magical threads woven through the weapons. The spells had been designed to immobilize dangerous targets without causing permanent injuries, but something beneath their carefully constructed patterns caught his attention.

Both spells contained the same black knot that had appeared beneath his palm.

Someone had tampered with the weapons.

“Don't activate them!” Ethan shouted.

The officers ignored his warning.

Blue energy erupted from their weapons and struck the floor around Ethan. Blinding light filled the corridor as a circular cage of magical barriers rose from the stone, its glowing walls closing around him.

Ethan felt the prison trying to imprison him, but before the cage could complete its formation, the presence inside him moved.

The entire structure collapsed inward with a deafening crash.

The backlash hurled both officers against the walls, and their weapons disintegrated into showers of sparks. Chancellor Voss staggered backward, while Professor Thorne shielded his face from the violent burst of energy.

Ethan remained standing in the middle of the destroyed cage, barely understanding what had happened.

He had not cast a spell or even raised his hand, yet the entire corridor had responded to his presence as though he possessed absolute authority over its magic.

Milo slowly released Ethan’s arm, staring at him with wide, frightened eyes.

“Ethan,” he whispered, “what did you just do?”

“I don't know.”

The honesty of his answer frightened him more than the destruction surrounding them.

A deep vibration travelled through the floor, and the remaining chains behind the ancient door began to groan under an unseen strain. Nerissa, who had been watching the confrontation with growing interest, abruptly turned toward the darkness beneath the academy.

“The prison is reacting to the awakening,” she warned. “If you remain here, it will consume the academy.”

Voss recovered enough to point his weapon at her.

“Get back behind the door!”

Nerissa regarded him with open contempt, as though his command had amused her.

“You have spent centuries pretending those chains were built to protect humanity,” she said. “In truth, they were built to protect humanity from the truth.”

“Silence!” Voss barked.

“You know what lies beneath this academy, Chancellor. You know why the first seal was weakened, and you know who authorized the transfer of the boy’s records.”

The chancellor’s expression changed for the briefest moment, but Ethan noticed the flicker of fear in his eyes.

Voss was not merely afraid of Nerissa’s power. He was afraid of what she might reveal.

“Thorne,” he ordered, “take the boy to the isolation chamber.”

The professor remained where he stood, his attention fixed on the chancellor.

“Professor!” Voss shouted.

“I will not take him anywhere until you explain why the emergency containment sequence was modified,” Thorne replied firmly.

“The academy’s survival is more important than your questions.”

“And what about Ethan’s life?”

Voss’s jaw tightened before he delivered his answer.

“His life has always been secondary.”

The words struck Ethan harder than the freezing pain in his arm.

He stared at the man who had controlled his admission, restricted his movements, and ordered his capture. For several seconds, he struggled to find the anger necessary to respond. He had entered Abyssal Crown Academy hoping to prove that even a weak Tidecaller deserved a place among the gifted.

Now he understood that someone had permitted his admission for an entirely different reason.

He had never been merely a student to them.

He was a component in a machine.

“Why did you admit me?” Ethan demanded.

Voss turned toward him without showing any visible remorse.

“Because the seals were failing.”

“That isn't an answer.”

“It is the only one you need.”

Ethan curled his hand into a fist, and the black mark burned beneath his skin. The laughter returned, softer this time, as though the presence had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to speak.

Ask him about the night your mother died.

Ethan’s anger sharpened into something colder.

“What happened to my mother?”

Voss’s expression became unreadable.

“Your mother died in a containment incident.”

“That is what the records say,” Ethan replied, struggling to keep his voice steady. “But Professor Thorne was there when I was born, and Nerissa claims my mother sealed her away. You also knew about the mark before I ever entered this academy.”

“I knew enough to understand the danger you represented.”

“Then tell me the truth!”

Voss stepped closer, his weapon still raised between them.

“The truth is that your mother attempted to destroy the prison, and thousands of people would have died if we had allowed her to succeed.”

Thorne abruptly turned toward the chancellor.

“That isn't what happened.”

Voss swung his weapon toward the professor.

“Choose your next words carefully.”

Thorne's expression hardened as he met the chancellor's gaze.

“I was there, Voss. I saw what happened inside the chamber. Your mother was trying to save her child.”

“And in doing so, she nearly unleashed the very thing threatening us now!”

The black water behind Nerissa surged violently, spreading across the broken stones like a living tide. She raised both hands, and the remaining chains tightened around her wrists with a metallic shriek.

“Enough,” she commanded. “You are wasting time arguing over the dead while the living prepare to destroy themselves.”

A deafening alarm erupted throughout the corridor, interrupting the argument. Red symbols flashed across the walls while an automated announcement echoed through the damaged academy.

CONTAINMENT NETWORK FAILURE.

THIRD SEAL DESTABILIZATION DETECTED.

ESTIMATED STRUCTURAL COLLAPSE: TWELVE MINUTES.

Milo stared at the warning displayed above them.

“Twelve minutes until what collapses?”

Nobody answered before the floor tilted violently beneath their feet.

A tremendous force struck the academy from below, throwing Ethan against Milo. Somewhere overhead, metal screamed as the foundations shifted, and dust rained from the ceiling. The ancient door began closing, but the black water resisted, stretching into long, trembling strands that struggled to remain connected to the chamber beyond.

Nerissa’s expression tightened.

“The third seal is connected to the academy’s central power system,” she explained. “If it fails, the entire structure will sink into the ocean.”

Ethan stared at her, forcing himself to think beyond his fear.

“Can we repair it?”

“Yes.”

“Then tell me how.”

Nerissa lowered her gaze toward the black mark on his hand.

“You must enter the central chamber and restore the original binding.”

Thorne immediately shook his head.

“No. Absolutely not.”

Ethan turned toward him. “Why?”

“Because the central chamber was designed for the First Witness,” Thorne explained. “Anyone who enters without the correct authorization risks having their consciousness absorbed by the containment network.”

Ethan examined the mark spreading across his palm.

“And I have the authorization.”

“You have something much worse,” Thorne replied. “You possess the authority to change the entire system.”

Chancellor Voss gradually lowered his weapon. For the first time since the corridor began collapsing, he seemed to consider Ethan not simply a threat to be contained, but an instrument that could still serve his purposes.

“You will enter the chamber,” Voss ordered.

“No.”

The refusal surprised even Ethan, but the word had escaped before he could reconsider it.

Voss narrowed his eyes.

“You do not understand the consequences of refusing.”

“I understand that every time someone tells me to obey, another part of my life disappears,” Ethan answered. “My mother died, my memories are being stolen, and something inside me is trying to take control of my body. I am finished following orders from people who refuse to tell me the truth.”

Milo stepped forward until he stood beside Ethan.

“Then he won't be going alone.”

Ethan glanced at his friend, alarmed by the decision.

“Milo, you don't have to—”

“I know,” Milo interrupted. He swallowed nervously before forcing a crooked smile onto his face. “Unfortunately, I have terrible judgment when it comes to friends.”

Despite the danger surrounding them, Ethan almost laughed.

That small moment of normality steadied him more effectively than any magical spell could have. Whatever he was becoming and whatever the prison wanted from him, Milo still saw the same boy who had struggled through the entrance examinations with almost no mana.

Ethan refused to let the darkness take that away.

“Tell us how to reach the chamber,” he said to Thorne.

The professor hesitated before reaching inside his uniform and removing a small silver disc. Its surface was etched with delicate symbols that seemed to shift whenever the emergency lights flickered across them.

“Take this. It will open the maintenance passage beneath the eastern foundation. That passage leads to the central chamber, but the route is unstable, and the containment network may attack anything it identifies as foreign.”

Ethan accepted the disc cautiously.

“Why are you helping us now?”

Thorne’s eyes briefly shifted toward Chancellor Voss before returning to Ethan.

“Because I made a promise to your mother, and I have spent too many years failing to keep it.”

Before Ethan could demand an explanation, Voss lunged forward and seized Thorne’s wrist.

The professor’s fingers opened involuntarily, sending the silver disc tumbling toward the broken floor. Ethan caught it before it struck the ground.

The moment his skin touched the metal, his Abyssal Sight activated.

A hidden image unfolded across the disc’s surface, revealing a detailed map of the academy’s foundations. Three routes appeared in glowing silver lines. One led toward the central chamber, while another ended at the location marked as the seventh seal.

The third route led to a room identified by a designation that made Ethan’s stomach tighten.

ORIGINAL HOST ARCHIVE.

Beneath the label, ancient writing appeared one symbol at a time.

SUBJECT ZERO: STATUS—ALIVE.

Ethan’s breath caught in his throat.

“Subject Zero?”

Thorne’s face drained of color.

“Where did you see that?”

“On the disc. What is Subject Zero?”

The laughter inside Ethan’s mind abruptly stopped.

For several seconds, the presence remained completely silent, leaving Ethan alone with the terrible uncertainty growing inside him. When the voice finally returned, its amusement had vanished.

Do not open that archive.

Ethan tightened his grip on the disc.

“Why?”

The presence offered no explanation.

Instead, the map changed, and a fresh line of text appeared beneath the archive’s designation.

ORIGINAL HOST: ETHAN VALE.

Ethan stared at the words, struggling to understand their meaning. He had been told that the prison existed inside him and that his mother had placed ancient authority within his body to keep him alive. However, the new revelation suggested something far more disturbing.

The prison might have existed before he did.

His identity might have been constructed around it.

“Professor,” Ethan whispered, “was I born, or was I created?”

Thorne opened his mouth, but a sharp crack interrupted him.

The silver disc split down the middle, and a voice emerged from its broken surface. It was the same voice Ethan had heard inside his mind, yet this time everyone in the corridor heard it clearly.

“Neither.”

The security officers immediately backed away. Chancellor Voss raised his weapon once more, although his trembling hands betrayed the fear he was struggling to conceal.

The voice continued, speaking with the cold certainty of someone explaining a fact that had never been meant to become public.

“Ethan Vale was the name given to the body. The original consciousness was never meant to survive.”

Ethan felt as though the floor had vanished beneath him. Milo caught his arm before he could fall, but Ethan barely registered the contact as the revelation tore through everything he believed about himself.

He could hear his heartbeat growing slower and heavier while the voice continued speaking.

“Your mother did not imprison a monster inside you, Ethan.”

The black mark spread across Ethan’s palm and climbed toward his elbow, its dark branches twisting beneath his skin.

“She imprisoned you inside the monster.”

The corridor plunged into darkness.

When the emergency lights flickered back to life, Professor Thorne was kneeling on the floor with tears gathering in his eyes. He looked at Ethan as though he were seeing both a child he had failed to protect and a catastrophe he had helped create.

“I am sorry,” he whispered. “We were supposed to erase your memories before you awakened.”

Ethan stumbled backward, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Who is we?”

Thorne lifted his head, but before he could answer, the floor beneath the group shattered.

The broken stone collapsed into a vast chamber hidden beneath the academy. Ethan, Milo, Thorne, and the remaining officers scrambled toward the edges as dust and fragments rained into the darkness. Below them, rows of glass tanks hung suspended from enormous mechanical structures, each one filled with a motionless human body.

Ethan leaned forward, his heart pounding as he examined the faces behind the glass.

Then he stopped breathing.

Every person inside those tanks looked exactly like him.

Each body possessed his dark hair, his facial features, and the same seven-chain mark that now covered his hand. Some appeared younger, while others seemed older, but their resemblance to Ethan was unmistakable.

At the far end of the chamber stood a single empty tank, its glass walls covered in fresh cracks. A label glowed above its entrance, illuminating the darkness with a sickly silver light.

SUBJECT ZERO — ORIGINAL CONSCIOUSNESS TRANSFERRED.

Before Ethan could move closer, the empty tank’s door opened by itself.

A cold breeze swept through the chamber, carrying a familiar presence that made the black mark on Ethan’s arm throb painfully.

From somewhere deep inside the darkness, Ethan heard his own voice whisper.

“Finally. Now I can take my body back.”