"The abyss… once the corruption took hold, everything changed," the ancient elder's voice whispered through the dim psychic space.
"Creatures twisted into demons. Races that once coexisted began slaughtering one another. Later, even kin turned on kin. If allowed to continue, the abyss would have become nothing but a grave."
The blue silhouette flickered faintly, like an old memory struggling to stay alight.
"After countless ages, some abyssal beings finally awakened. They realized the evil was not born from their nature but forced upon them."
"So they tried~ oh, how they tried, to defy it. Some succeeded in small ways, suppressing their own brutality. But none could cleanse the root."
Her voice dipped, heavy with remembrance.
"And then came the War of the Fallen."
The darkness around Soren trembled as she spoke, as though the memory itself was too massive to recount.
"The pioneers, those few who possessed strength beyond ordinary demons, rose up. They marched on the very origin of the abyss plane, determined to destroy the corruption festering within it."
A sorrowful hum echoed through the void.
"But the origin is the heart of the plane. When they attacked it, the abyss shook. Its laws wavered, its continents cracked, its sky nearly collapsed."
"The pioneers were mighty… yet not mighty enough. The origin resisted and lashed out. It killed them by the thousands."
The elder's form dimmed, becoming translucent.
"The pioneers failed and in failing, they broke the origin. The corrupted breath inside was released and seeped through the world, becoming what you know as the Fallen Land. Not a single demon can enter it and survive."
She paused, a tremor crossing her glowing outline.
"And when my own life's flame guttered low, I used what remained of my power to peer into the future. There, I saw one hope… just one."
"A human who commands both time and space. A traveler from beyond the abyss."
Her voice softened. "He will come to cleanse the corruption and restore the abyss."
The psychic space began to crack. Thin fractures of darkness split open around Soren.
"I speak now with the last remnants of my power," She whispered, her spiritual form flickering like a candle in a storm. "On behalf of all abyssal races… I beg you."
"Help us."
Before Soren could even open his mouth, the entire space shattered like brittle glass.
The darkness fell away.
And he stood once more in the ancient stone chamber, scroll in hand…
He felt her regret in the final instant, the centuries she had waited.
The desperation that lingered even in death and the aching sorrow of never hearing his answer.
He exhaled slowly.
"Soren," the present-day grand elder called softly. "Did… did you see her? What happened in there?"
She had felt the psychic disturbance but could not enter the memory-space. Her expression held anticipation and something like… dread.
Soren didn't hide the truth. Step by step, he recounted everything, the abyss's corruption, the War of the Fallen, the ancient elder's prophecy, her final plea.
As he spoke, the grand elder's face changed. Awe. Pain. And finally… a deep, solemn grief.
This was the history even her own race had nearly forgotten, the burden their greatest ancestor carried, and the reason she sacrificed everything.
"So that's it… this is the root cause? But why? We've done nothing wrong!"
The Great Elder's voice trembled. The revelation hit her… her people, her plane, tainted at the source. It was something she had always believed impossible.
Soren stood by, unsure how to ease her grief. He'd already watched the blue silhouette's history, even the ancient pioneers those terrifying beings who once shook the abyssal plane itself refused to approach the Fallen Land.
If they feared the corruption lurking there, what hope did anyone else have?
If he were truly exposed to that plane-corrupting aura… even he didn't know if he could claw his way out.
He inhaled slowly, then he said the thing she didn't want to hear.
"Grand Elder… I think there might be a flaw in your clan's prophecy. I'm strong… but facing the origin of a plane? That's basically asking one man to oppose an entire world-will."
"That's not something I can guarantee… I'll survive."
The Great Elder's eyes widened in disbelief. "You… refuse? You, the one foretold? How can you say that?"
Panic, fear, desperation… everything she had suppressed for decades resurfaced at once. This prophecy wasn't just a story to her. It was the last lifeline for every creature surviving in the Abyss.
Soren rubbed his forehead, feeling the weight of her gaze.
He wanted to comfort her, truly but he couldn't lie. One wrong step and he'd be swallowed whole by whatever cursed essence was devouring the plane's core.
He opened his mouth to speak…. and the world convulsed.
Not just the succubus territory.
Not just their cavern or temple.
The entire Abyss shuddered.
A deep tremor rolled through existence itself, far stronger than when he and Mephisto had torn open the skies earlier. This vibration was deeper and it carried a stench that made even Soren's skin crawl.
That aura erupted, a tidal wave of foul corrupted power surging from the Fallen Land. It spread with horrifying speed, radiating outward until it touched every corner of the Abyss.
Wherever it flowed, demons changed.
Low-level demons twisted grotesquely spines jutting out, limbs lengthening, eyes turning void-black. Their bodies strengthened as if injected with raw hatred, but their minds shattered, leaving only the instinct to kill and devour anything nearby.
Even high-ranking demons staggered when the aura brushed their souls.
Vision blurred, thoughts dissolved into static, and a vicious hunger boiled up from their depths.
The Great Elder gasped, her face drained of all color.
"It's the Fallen Land! This is its breath, its corruption escaping!"
And for the first time since becoming the doctor Everlife, Soren felt something he hadn't in a very, very long time…
A chill of genuine danger sliding down his spine.