The fall didn't end in impact.
It ended in silence.
Argon's body drifted through black weightlessness, Selene clutched against his chest. Her blood stained his arms, her shadows flickering weakly like dying embers. For a moment, he thought they were suspended outside of existence, floating between heartbeat and void.
Then the abyss opened.
The darkness peeled back to reveal a cavern vast and endless, a cathedral carved from bone and flesh. Monolithic pillars of rib-like structures rose high into the black sky, each vein pulsing faintly with crimson light. The ground beneath was a mosaic of skulls and twisted faces, mouths frozen in screams.
It wasn't merely a place. It was a tomb. A shrine. A heart.
And it was alive.
Selene's Fading Flame
Argon lowered Selene gently onto the bone-laden floor. She shivered violently, her lips pale, her wound spilling fresh blood that hissed against the ground as though the place itself drank it.
Her hand found his, weak but determined. "I… don't know how much longer…"
"No." His voice was hoarse, defiant. "You don't get to say that. Not yet. Not here."
He tore strips of his own tattered shirt, pressing them hard against her wound, his crimson eyes blazing in desperation.
But the shadows around her flickered weaker with every breath, fading into the suffocating dark.
Selene's gaze softened, almost apologetic. "You jumped for me… and now you're trapped with me."
"Shut up," he snapped, though his hands trembled. "I'll cut through anything. This place, that thing, even fate itself if I have to."
Her lips curved faintly. "That's… very you."
Vanessa's Descent
The ground split open above, crimson light spilling down like blood.
Vanessa emerged, her form haloed in power, her dress torn, her nails dripping with black ichor. She landed gracefully on the bone floor, her eyes blazing with fury and hunger.
Her gaze swept over them—Argon kneeling over Selene, blood-soaked, trembling with rage and desperation.
Jealousy burned through her.
"You'd rather bleed yourself dry for her?" Vanessa's voice dripped venom. "For her?"
Argon raised his head, crimson eyes locking with hers. "You don't get to decide who I am."
She laughed, sharp and brittle. "No, darling. I get to remind you what you already are. A monster. A beast. You belong to the labyrinth—whether you kneel to me or to it."
Her chains coiled at her sides, eager to strike.
The Hidden Heart Stirs
But before she could attack, the cavern itself groaned.
The rib-like pillars pulsed faster, veins glowing brighter, as if blood surged through them. The floor trembled, skulls cracking, faces twisting.
And then—at the far end of the cathedral—a colossal figure stirred.
Not the abyss. Not Vanessa. Something older.
A throne of flesh and bone loomed in the shadows, and upon it sat a figure vast and unmoving. Its body was wrapped in chains thicker than towers, its face obscured by a mask of fused skulls. The very air trembled at its presence, as if reality bowed beneath its weight.
The labyrinth's heart.
The source of the Game.
The will that fed on every sacrifice.
Its voice didn't thunder. It whispered. And yet, it drowned everything.
"Argon…"
The Name Spoken
Argon froze. His crimson eyes widened, his breath catching in his throat.
It knew him.
Not as "vessel." Not as "player." Not as "survivor."
By name.
Selene stirred weakly, her fingers tightening on his wrist. "What… what is that…?"
Vanessa's smile cracked, fury twisting her features. "No. No, no, no! It cannot—he is mine! Do you hear me? Mine!"
The voice whispered again, softer yet heavier, sinking into his bones.
"You bleed for her. You defy me. And yet… you are exactly what I have waited for."
The chains rattled around the colossal figure, as though straining to hold it down. The cathedral pulsed like a beating heart, each thrum shaking Argon's body.
The Pull
Argon staggered to his feet, hacksaw clutched tightly, though it shook in his grip. The black veins across his body spread further, pulsing with the rhythm of the chained giant's whispers.
Selene's weak voice reached him, trembling but insistent. "Don't… let it in…"
Vanessa stepped forward, fury and desperation blazing in her eyes. "Darling, listen to me—don't let that thing steal you. You're mine. You swore it with your blood when you killed for me!"
The whispers grew louder, wrapping around his mind like a lover's embrace.
"No chains. No masters. Become me. End the Game."
Cliffhanger
The ground cracked open, fissures of crimson light splitting the cathedral floor. Selene collapsed again, coughing blood, shadows slipping through her fingers like water.
Vanessa raised her chains, ready to strike Selene down if it meant keeping Argon.
And the chained giant began to rise, its mask of skulls turning slowly toward Argon, its voice caressing him like fate itself:
"Choose, Argon. Her. Her. Or me."
The world trembled—balanced on the edge of his decision.
Next Chapter Preview
The chained will of the labyrinth rises, demanding Argon's allegiance. Vanessa fights to claim him, Selene bleeds at his feet, and the cathedral heart begins to collapse. Argon's next choice won't just decide who lives—it will decide what he becomes.