The wind howled like a thousand screaming mouths.
Raen stood at the edge of a black ravine, flanked by three beasts—each more broken than the last. Hollowfang paced like a restless shadow. Despair Maw drooled, its breath fogging the air with grief. And the Jester Wyrm spun lazy loops in the sky, humming off-key.
Below them stretched the entrance to a chasm carved into the Abyss itself. A jagged gateway of obsidian fangs jutted out from the ground like a maw poised to swallow the unworthy.
Etched above the threshold, half-eroded words glowed faintly:
"Only those bound by pain may pass."
Raen didn't flinch.
[System Notification: Optional Dungeon — Trial of Chains][Reward: Soul Link Upgrade / Beast Slot Expansion / Unknown Relic][Warning: Failure results in temporary soul fracture. Recovery period: 3 days.]
He narrowed his eyes. "Soul fracture?"
[Translation: Pain. Lots of it. Physically. Emotionally. Existentially.]
Raen rolled his shoulders. "Good. I'm getting used to it."
With a nod, he descended.
Inside the chasm, light vanished. The world narrowed to cold breath, distant groans, and the echo of his own heartbeat. The ground was not stone—it was made of bones, pressed flat and fused together.
Hollowfang whimpered, hackles raised.
[System Update: Trial Initiated.][Objective: Face three specters — one for each bonded beast. Defeat or accept them.]
Raen's voice was low. "Specters?"
[Emotional remnants. The beasts' worst memories. Made real.]
The torches lining the walls lit themselves—one by one—casting eerie, green-blue fire along the corridor ahead.
And then, it began.
A growl echoed from the dark.
From the mist, a wolf emerged—not Hollowfang, but something older, larger, with pristine silver fur and glowing gold eyes. It was regal. Proud. Untouched by scars.
Hollowfang growled back, shrinking in size. His ears lowered.
The regal wolf snarled. "You were meant to lead. You let them die."
Hollowfang whimpered.
Raen stepped forward. "He survived."
"He watched us burn. Watched them butcher our kin. And ran."
Raen didn't argue. He dropped to one knee beside Hollowfang and placed a hand on his head.
"He didn't run because he was weak," Raen murmured. "He ran because he wasn't ready. But now, he's mine. And I don't keep cowards."
Hollowfang growled again—and lunged at the specter.
Their forms collided, but this time, the specter did not resist. It howled, then merged, sinking into Hollowfang's body like smoke. The wolf shuddered, then stood taller.
[Hollowfang evolved: Trait Unlocked — Ghostfang Step: Temporarily vanish from the battlefield for 3 seconds.]
Raen smirked. "Good boy."
The second corridor was colder.
Raen's breath frosted midair. Despair Maw whimpered before even seeing what approached.
And then… a sound. A child's voice.
"Why didn't you help me?"
From the dark crawled a tiny, pale version of Despair Maw. Its eyes were round and human. Its body shook with sobs.
It looked at Raen.
"I waited," it whispered. "I waited in the cage. I begged. No one came."
Raen's chest tightened.
The beast's agony was palpable. This wasn't rage. It was abandonment made flesh.
Despair Maw turned away.
It couldn't look.
Raen walked up to the creature, knelt, and placed a hand gently on its head.
"I don't have forgiveness to give," he said quietly. "But I will give you a purpose."
The childlike specter dissolved in a burst of grey light—into Despair Maw, who let out a low, aching howl.
[Despair Maw evolved: Trait Unlocked — Grief Pulse: Weakens enemy morale, causing 20% drop in attack speed for 10 seconds.]
The final door pulsed with color—pink, yellow, violet. Chaotic. Vibrating.
The air buzzed with laughter.
"Oh no," Raen muttered.
The Jester Wyrm twirled nervously. "I think I remember this part. Or maybe I dreamed it. Hard to tell."
A stage formed.
Red curtains parted.
And there… stood the Wyrm's specter—taller, twisted into a monstrous caricature of itself, with mouths where eyes should be, and bells that dripped blood.
It grinned wide. "Knock knock."
The real Wyrm cringed. "Please no."
"Who's there?" the specter asked.
"…No one," Raen replied.
"Exactly!" the specter shouted, voice booming. "Just like when you cried in the pit!"
The Jester Wyrm whispered, "I don't want to laugh anymore."
The specter's laughter turned cruel. "You're nothing without the jokes. If you stop laughing, you break."
Raen's eyes darkened. "So let him break."
The Jester Wyrm looked at him. "What?"
"Break. Cry. Mourn," Raen said. "But you'll do it with me. And then we build something better."
The Jester Wyrm's three heads shuddered—and screamed.
A burst of rainbow flame erupted around them. The stage burned.
And the specter collapsed into dust.
[Jester Wyrm evolved: Trait Unlocked — Split Focus: Each head can cast a different ability once every 5 minutes.]
[All beasts passed the Trial.]
[Bond Level Increased.]
[Reward Gained: Beast Slot +1, Soul Anchor Token, and Unidentified Abyssal Relic.]
Back outside, Raen stood once more beneath the howling sky.
His beasts were quiet—but stronger. Their eyes clearer. Their breathing steady.
The Jester Wyrm floated beside him, silent for once.
"I didn't think I could survive remembering that," the Wyrm whispered.
Raen looked ahead.
"I didn't survive my past either. I'm just learning to wear it better."
The wind shifted.
In the distance, something massive stirred.
Raen felt it. A presence. Watching.
[New Quest: Beast King's Echo — Investigate the Ruins of Layer Six.]
He turned to his beasts.
"We're not done."
And the Abyss answered with silence.