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The dawn broke across the valley like a sigh… pale light spilling over distant peaks, stretching fingers of gold through the gloom. I stood at the edge of the cliff, cloak drawn tight around my shoulders, watching the world awaken. The abyss inside me stirred… four fragments glowing faintly beneath my skin, each beat a reminder of what I carried.
I took a breath of the cool air, tasting earth and stone and smoke from distant fires. The valley below was alive… mist drifting among ancient trees, winding rivers gleaming silver in the new light. Birds called softly… a melody of hope that felt foreign to me. I closed my eyes… and let the silence of my chosen path fill my mind.
---
The light found me first.
Not sunlight… but a shining column of radiance that cut through the morning like a blade of justice. I opened my eyes to see a pillar of golden energy descending behind me, illuminating the cliff in a divine glow. The ground vibrated with its approach… not violently… but insistently, as though it would not be ignored.
I stepped back from the edge. The pillar touched the rock, its base widening into a circle of burnished glyphs. The stones hummed… ancient runes flaring with power as though welcoming a long-absent guest. I watched, heart drumming, as the light formed a portal… a window into Heaven's grace.
For a moment… I felt the pull.
Memories flickered at the edges of my mind… the testing platform, the Elders' robes, the laughter of those who passed before me. A warmth swept through me… the promise of acceptance, of belonging to something greater than pain. I lifted my hand, palm outward, fingers trembling. The abyss within roared… a tidal force resisting the light's lullaby.
I lowered my hand.
And the light recoiled.
---
A voice came.
Not mine… not the abyss… but distant and echoing, like thunder trapped beneath clouds.
> "Jin… you have been called."
It was an invitation… or a command. I stood firm, cloak billowing in the wind, darkness clinging to my silhouette.
> "Return to Heaven's Path… renounce your bond with the abyss… and be cleansed."
I felt the weight of a thousand eyes. The heavens themselves watching, waiting for my answer.
> "Choose now… before the light fades."
I exhaled slowly. My breath misted in the chill air. Around my palm, the fragments pulsed once… four lights joined in a soft crescendo.
> "I have nothing to return."
My voice was calm, but my heart thundered. The golden portal flickered. Beams of light bent away as though repelled.
> "You were abandoned… by design."
The voice wavered with sorrow.
> "Yet you defy the very sky."
> "What remains… when light is gone?"
Silence followed. The pillar of light wavered… then collapsed inward, folding like paper into a single point before vanishing entirely. The golden glyphs dimmed to black… the wind settled… and the cliff was once more bathed in simple sunlight.
---
I stood alone.
The light had left me… but its echo lingered in my bones. I felt hollow… not empty… but aware of all that I lacked. The absence of Heaven's embrace was a weight I could neither bear nor cast aside. I pressed my hand to the rock, feeling the smooth stone beneath my palm. The fragments flared… a spark of promise in the vast uncertainty.
I turned and walked away from the cliff's edge, descending the narrow path into the valley. Each step felt distant… as though the earth moved slower beneath my boots. The world carried on around me… birds flitting through branches, insects humming across wildflowers. Life bloomed even as divine light retreated.
I remembered the figure in white… the one who told me the abyss saw what Heaven could not. I wondered if they had watched the portal's collapse… if they stood hidden, waiting to guide me. But I had seen no trace. Only the valley… and the abyss inside me.
---
By midday, I found the site of the old shrine I had once touched. The basin lay cracked… ash still clinging to its sides. I knelt and let my fingers trace the old carvings, worn smooth by rain and wind. I pressed my palm into the ash-filled basin again. The fragments glowed… a fierce pulse that shot through my arm, rattling my bones with power.
Visions came.
Not the dream-fragments of the temple… but something new. I saw a figure crawling from fire… a shape draped in light that refused to burn. A child with eyes of ruby… bleeding chains that forged their path through shadow. The abyssal chain, severed… still pulsing beneath soil.
I gasped, stumbling back. My chest heaved. My vision blurred with sweat and ash. The shrine trembled… a final echo of the forgotten power. Then it was still. The fragments dimmed. Not gone… just waiting.
---
I stumbled to my feet, shaken. My cloak stuck to damp skin. I wiped my palm on my robe, smudging ash across fabric. I did not regret the vision… but I feared its weight. I had tasted the memory of those who came before… and their pain had become my own.
I pressed on.
The valley floor stretched before me… narrowing into a canyon of grey stone. I entered its mouth, feeling the walls close around me, silence pressing in like breath. The abyss within whispered… curiosity, caution, hunger. I listened.
A narrow path wound along a river of black water, glassy and still. Pale mist rose from its surface, swirling into columns that clung to the rocks. I knelt and touched the water. It held no reflection. Just darkness. I felt the abyss respond… a throat catching… a whisper of acknowledgment.
> "You walk where balance fails," it said.
I did not reply.
I filled my cloak with water to drink later. I pressed my palm against the river's edge, feeling its chill seep into my skin. The fragments flickered… four lights dancing like fireflies.
---
By afternoon… I reached the mouth of an ancient grotto. Vines draped its entrance. Stalagmites and stalactites formed shapes like silent sentinels. A stale wind exhaled from within… carrying echoes of old incantations.
I paused.
The grotto beckoned… promised answers. A chance to understand the fragments… the chain… the broken seal. I stepped inside.
Darkness swallowed me. My boots clacked on wet stone. My breath echoed. I drew a circle of ash on the ground… a ward I had learned instinctively. Not to trap… but to protect.
Within that circle, I knelt and pressed both palms to the floor. I closed my eyes. The abyss flared. Fragments pulsed… one, two, three, four… then a fifth spark ignited deep within.
The pain was sudden. A dagger of cold light through my chest. My vision swam. The cave walls bent… shadows twisting into shapes. Chains coiled around my heart… not to bind, but to cradle.
And then… a presence stood before me. Not made of flesh or stone… but of light and darkness fused. No face. Just an aura of truth. Two eyes that had seen eternity. They waited.
> "You have taken the first toll," they said. Voice like rain on rock.
> "Your fragments grow… but so does your price."
I gasped for breath. The ward crumbled under my knees. The cavern floor trembled. I opened my eyes.
> "Why do you test me?" I whispered.
> "To remind you," they replied. "That power is not a gift… but a choice and a burden."
I looked down at my hands. Four fragments glowed faintly… the fifth flickering out like a candle burned too fast. My chest ached… not from weakness, but from awareness.
> "I choose it," I said.
> "Then walk on."
The presence faded. The fragments dimmed to rest.
---
I crawled from the grotto as dusk fell… battered, heavier, but more resolved. The fragments stung with memory… each spark a reminder of price paid. Yet I felt… something more. A fire lit beneath the abyss's quiet… a promise that each fragment would shape me, forge me.
Outside, the sky burned with evening light. The cliffs glowed gold. The valley sighed in shadow. I stood, cloak torn and dirt stained, tears unbidden in my eyes.
I pressed a hand to my chest. The mark lay beneath skin, scars within scars. I whispered into the twilight:
> "What remains when light is gone?"
Silence answered.
Then… a pulse.
A sixth fragment sparked, faint and hopeful.
And I walked on.
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