It was not anger that filled the voice. But it was some kind of expectation.
"Do you seem to claim what I have lost?"
The pressure intensified l, the sheer force of the words threatening to crush him beneath their weight.
But he did not break. Something with him pushed back. A defiance that was not born from arrogance, but from something deeper. Something that had driven him since the moment he had awoken in the abyss.
He did not know who this presence was did not know what it had been once. But he surely knows one thing.
He would not kneel. Not to a king. Not to a god. Not to anything.
The moment this thought formed inside him. The darkness around him shifted.
A sound, deep and resonant, echoed through the void.
Laughter. Cold, hollow laughter. The laughter shook the whole space. And then, the presence receded.
The pressure vanished. The weight lifted. And with it, came words, that were no longer a demand, but an invitation.
"Very well. Then take it, little one. Take what remains of my throne…and let us see if you can hold it."
The world snapped back into place.
He gasped as reality returned, his body trembling, his lungs heaving for air. The cavern was still there. The blood. The bodies. The silence. Everything is the same. But something was different.
He looked down at his hands. The core was gone. And in its place, something burned inside him
A fire that was not his own. A power that did not belong to him, and yet now it was his to weld.
A slow grin spread across his lips. The Abyss had given him another gift. And he would make sure to let it know. The price of this gift.
The cavern pulsed with silent energy, and unseen rhythm woven into the very walls, carried by the Whispers of the Abyss.
He could feel it now, an invisible current threading through the darkness, binding the creatures that lurked within.
It was not simply power that he had taken from the fragment of the forgotten king. It was something else. It is called dominion.
His body still trembled from the remnants of the awakening. The power had not settled yet, still raw, unrefined.
It is still foreign energy to him. His veins burned with the lingering essence of the ancient, something that had once commanded the very abyss itself.
He had felt its presence, had heard its laughter. And now. It lingered within him, watching, waiting.
He clenched his fist, and the sensation of an unseen current shifted, tightening around him like a coil.
He could feel the cavern in ways he had never before, every breath, every movement, every presence lurking in the shadows.
That includes the creature kneeling before him. The last remaining Maw Crawler.
Its chitinous form trembling in place, head bowed low, its mandibles clicking in nervous anticipation. It was waiting for him to give it some command.
Something inside him stirred, a whisper of instinct that had not been there before. A ruler commands. A king does not ask.
He took a step forward, his voice steady. "Rise."
The Maw Crawler obeyed instantly, its segmented legs shifting beneath it as if straightened. Its pitch-black eyes fixated on him.
It no longer looked at him with endless hunger or anything. It looked at him with recognition. It knew who was stronger now.
He exhaled, his breath steady despite the unfamiliar weight pressing against his consciousness.
The Voice of the Abyss had been silent since his awakening, but he could feel its presence. It will always be there in his head
As he was thinking. It spoke.
[New authority detected: Dominion.]
Then it paused for a second.
[Initialising system integration.]
A sharp pulse shot through his skull, not painful, but intrusive, as if something had just rooted itself deeper with him.
He grits his teeth as slowly the pain intensifies, his vision begins to blur. After a few moments, the sensation slowly settled down. And then, a stream of information flooded his mind. New data means new possibilities.
The Maw Crawler was no longer just another creature of the Abyss to him. It was something he claimed. And with that claim came control.
He could feel its mind now, not as a conscious entity, but as something open to him, waiting for guidance, waiting for orders.
And in that moment, he understood. That this was not mere subjugation. This was not the primitive pack hierarchy of beasts. This is something way older
Something that built into the very foundation of the Abyss itself.
[Dominion allows the claimant to exert control over creatures of lower Abyssal Resonance. Strength of command is proportional to the difference in dominance rating]
His fingers curled slightly, and the Maw Crawler reached immediately, shifting in place, its body instinctively mirroring his intent before he had even spoken a single word. It was subtle, but undeniable.
This was more than just forcing submission. This was an extension of his will. Seeing the results. A weird grin spread across his lips.
"Interesting."
The cavern is still long. He only traveled a little distance till now, who knows how long it is. The cavern before him is more darker than he had seen before.
He had spent his time in the abyss alone, fighting, devouring, evolving. Every battle had been a struggle for survival, every victory had earned him something. But now.
Now, he was not alone, and the abyss was no longer just an enemy, it would become his territory.
He turned his face outward, scanning the endless tunnels. He knew the dangers that lurked in the depths, there are many monsters stronger than him.
But it will be different this time. He would not walk blindly into the dark. He had just got a new tool for that.
He looked at the Maw Crawler again. It stood motionless, waiting for instructions.
"Scout ahead."
It did not hesitate. The moment the command left his lips, the creature scuttled forward, its elongated form blending into the shadows as it disappeared into the next tunnel.