We descended in silence.
Victor led the way with slow, reverent steps, like every inch of the crumbling cathedral beneath his feet was sacred. His shovel of bone tapped against the stone stairs like a slow metronome—Tick.Tick.Tick.
The air got colder.The light dimmer.Even the cultists behind me… were afraid.
And that's when I saw it.
Not a room.
Not a crypt.
A shaft — wide as a temple and deep enough to swallow sound. The stairs spiraled down the edge like a helix carved by giants.
At the bottom: the Choir.
They weren't people.
Not anymore.
Bodies stitched together at the ribs and spines, hands joined like a chain of bones. Heads bowed. Mouths sewn shut. Dozens of them. Maybe hundreds. Kneeling in a circle around a hole that breathed.
Every few seconds, a sound escaped from it.Not a scream.Not a word.
A song.
Low. Dissonant. Like sobbing underwater.
It hurt just to hear it.
⚠️ [You are in the presence of the Choir Below.]
Fusion Class: Mass Remnant Cluster – Stable (Barely)
Warning: Too many souls bound together. Will collapse if disrupted.
Effect: Sanity Drain -2 per minute
Victor Pale knelt beside the pit.
His empty eyes locked onto me.
"Bury your fear," he said, "or it will bury you."
He raised his hands, and the choir responded.
Mouths didn't open.But voices poured out.
My name.Over and over.
"Kashan Idris. Kashan Idris. Kashan Idris."
They knew me.
Maren's voice cut through the noise:"They're trying to fracture your mind. They've buried your soul without digging a grave."
[Crisis Triggered – Soul Fracture Attempt Detected]
Immediate Action Required:
[Dig In] – Anchor your soul using Maren's presence
[Break Away] – Interrupt the ritual and expose yourself
[Feed It] – Offer the Pit a buried memory to appease it
My hands trembled. The chant grew louder.
Kashan Idris.
Each echo chipped something off my mind.I could feel my thoughts bleeding.
I looked at Victor.
And I chose.
[Dig In – Soul Anchor Activated]
Maren's soul flared in my chest. Cold. Fierce. Human.
The whispers faltered.The names slipped.The Choir shuddered.
And for a split second—I saw their faces.
Each one.
Each twisted, stitched, suffering soul.
They weren't singing.
They were screaming.
The ritual collapsed.
The Choir broke into coughing silence. The chains rattled.The pit… growled.
Victor didn't flinch.
He turned toward me with calm, cracked lips.
"You're stronger than I thought," he said.
"Maybe strong enough to dig what we've been trying to reach for years."
He pointed to the breathing hole.
"Tomorrow night, you'll go down. Alone."
[Main Quest Updated: Descent]
Objective: Enter the pit beneath the Choir.
Time Limit: 24 hours
Reward: ???
Penalty: Failure results in forced soul fusion.
And as I turned away, Maren whispered inside me:
"Whatever they buried down there… it's still alive."