He could still feel it, even as the distance between them grew, its presence got back to his mind like a string stretching through the dark. He could sense its movements, its direction, even the faint things which it perceived.
A direct connection. Like a network.
His grin widened. This was power. But he was not yet satisfied. He needs more than this.
The voice of the Abyss spoke again as if sensing his thoughts.
[Dominion progression: 1 entity claimed. Expansion potential: unlocked.]
As he stepped forward, his body still humming with residual energy. One creature was starting. But he would need more. He would need a whole army. And the Abyss was full of things waiting to be claimed.
The abyss was never silent. Even in the absence of battle, the walls seemed to breathe, the tunnels groaned as if shifting in unseen movements, and the Whispers of it never stopped.
Faint murmurs slithered through the void, brushing against the edges of his mind like unseen hands tracing over his thoughts.
But now, the Whispers were changing. They were no longer just meaningless echoes of the damned. They carried some kind of intention.
And at their center was it. The voice of the Abyss.
It has been with him since the moment he had awakened in the darkness, guiding him, informing him and adapting.
Yet, it had always felt distant, like an automated function of the Abyss itself, devoid of true sentience. But that had changed
Ever since he had absorbed the fragment of the forgotten king, the voice had begun to shit.
It doesn't feel like an external system, that just provides analysis and information about things.
It was becoming something else. And now, as he sat at the edge of a jagged outcrop overlooking the chasm below. He could feel it stirring once more.
[Dominion expanding. Current bound entities: 1.]
It paused for a second.
[Insufficient for large-scale influence. Further assimilation is recommended.]
Hearing this his lips curled. "Tch. You are getting talkative."
[System adaptation In progress. The Abyssal voice must evolve to accommodate new parameters]
His fingers tapped idly against the stone beside him. The maw crawler he had claimed was still moving ahead, scouting the path through the lower tunnels.
He could feel its presence, like a second pair of eyes woven into his perception. It was efficient.
But what he needed was more than efficiency. What he needed was certainty.
He moved forward slightly, gazing into the void below. The chasm stretched infinitely downward, a sea of blackness that no mortal eye could penetrate.
Even with his enhanced vision struggled against the sheer depth of it. But his instincts told him that something was waiting down there.
Something watching. The Abyss was not just a place. It was alive. And it knew…
"What exactly are you evolving into?" He mused, more to himself than anything.
But a voice answered.
[Clarifying.]
A brief silence.
Then..
[The Abyss is not a single entity. It is a convergence. A living ecosystem built upon the remnants of devoured worlds. It does not have true consciousness of its own, only the echoes of those it has consumed.]
He first looked around conforming it is not another entity that is playing with his mind again. Found no one. He thought it was the voice of the Abyss. He frowned. As the tone of the voice is different
"Then what does that make you?"
Another pause. Then, a response that sent a cold shiver down his spine.
[An adaptation. A reflection of what is necessary for survival.]
His grip tightened.
"You mean me."
"correct."
For the first time, he felt something unnatural about the voice. Not in the way it had always been. Detached, clinic, informative. No, this was different.
There was a shift in its tone, a subtle change that spoke of something more than mere system automation.
It was learning. And the worse, it was personalizing itself to him. He exhaled slowly, his mind racing.
This wasn't just a tool the Abyss had given him. It was becoming an entity in its own right. One that was adapting alongside him, growing with each battle, each evolution.
And if it was evolving….then what was its end goal?
A distant vibration echoed through his connection with the Maw Crawler. He snapped his attention back to the present, his awareness shifting to the creature's perception.
It had stopped moving. Something was ahead of it.
His body tensed as he closed his eyes, focusing on the connection between them, pushing his mind deeper into the connection. The world blurred for a moment, his vision darkening as he saw through the eyes of the creature.
A cavern. Larger than any he had encountered before. The Maw Crawler has a very low vantage point, which only gives him a partial view.
But even that was enough to recognize the scale of the space. Towering pillars of jagged rock, jutted from the floor and ceiling, their surfaces etched with markings, not natural erosion, but someone or something purposefully did that.
And at the far end of the chamber, partially buried beneath layers of decay and debris..there was a corpse.
No. It is not just a corpse. A throne. His heart pounded. Seeing the throne.
The Maw Crawler hesitated, its instincts warring against the unfamiliar thing. He could feel its discomfort, the creeping dread clawing at its primitive mind. But he didn't let it flee.
"Move forward."
The creature was very afraid to move. But because of his control, it obeyed his command, skittering towards the throne. With every step. The tension in the air grew thicker, the weight of unseen eyes pressing down from all sides.
Then..
The darkness shifted. A ripple, very subtle yet undeniable. Something has woken up.
His mind snapped back to his own body just as a deafening boom echoed through the cavern. The ground trembled beneath him, dust cascading from the ceiling in thin streams.
The Abyssal voice surged in response.
[Warning! Warning: Anomaly detected.]