The word "More" was a ghost in the silence.
But the feeling was not. It was a fire in my veins. A cold, sharp fire that burned away the weakness, the pain, the girl I used to be. I stood on the ledge, whole and strong, and felt the Abyss breathe around me. It was not a grave. It was a cradle.
And I was its hungriest child.
My new eyes saw the world in shades of life and death. The glowing fungi were faint candles. The bones were dead embers. But deeper in the shadows, something pulsed with a warmer, stronger light. A life force that was not just instinct, but something more. It was a flicker of malice. Of cunning.
That was the one I wanted.
I moved. The viper's instincts were a whisper in my soul, guiding my feet. I didn't walk; I flowed. My body was a shadow given form, melting into the crevices of the rock, becoming one with the darkness. I was no longer just Xia Lin. I was the Abyss itself, and I was hunting.
I found it in a small cavern, feasting on a carcass. It was a **Gloom Stalker**, a panther-like beast with fur that seemed to drink the light and eyes that glowed with a dim, intelligent red. It was stronger than the viper. Smarter.
It sensed me before I saw it. Its head snapped up, a low growl rumbling in its chest. It abandoned its meal and bared its teeth, its body coiling to strike.
I did not coil to strike. I stood my ground.
The Stalker lunged. It was a blur of darkness and claws, a killing blow aimed at my throat.
I didn't dodge.
I raised my hand.
The hunger inside me stirred. It was not a question. It was a demand. *Devour.*
The Stalker froze mid-air, its claws an inch from my face. Its eyes went wide with a terror no beast should ever know. A stream of black and red energy, its life and its malice, was torn from its body and funneled into my outstretched palm. It was a violent, agonizing thing. I felt its fear, its hunger, its memories of the hunt. And then, it was over.
The Gloom Stalker's body turned to ash and drifted to the floor.
A new power settled in my mind. Not a skill. A memory. A fragment of the Stalker's consciousness. The knowledge of how to move without a sound, how to kill without hesitation. It was not a skill I had learned. It was a skill I had *lived*.
The hunger in my gut was sated, replaced by a new, colder feeling. Clarity.
I turned my attention to the carcass the Stalker had been eating. It was a man. He wore the familiar blue and white robes of the Azure Sky Sect.
My stomach tightened. Not with hunger. With hate.
I knelt beside the body. His face was frozen in a mask of terror, his eyes wide and staring at the cavern ceiling. He had died badly. One of his hands was clutched tight around something. I pried his cold, stiff fingers open.
It was a small, wooden token. A death marker.
Every disciple who enters the Abyss carries one. If they die, a fellow disciple recovers the token and returns it to the Sect. It's proof. A record of a fallen warrior.
I turned the token over. On one side was the Azure Sky Sect's crest. A dragon coiled around a sword.
On the other side, carved with rough, angry strokes, was not the dead man's name.
It was mine.
**Xia Lin.**
The world went silent. The cold fire in my veins turned to ice.
This wasn't just a death. It was a message. A setup. They had already started erasing me. They were using my name as a curse, a symbol of failure, a bad omen to be left on the bodies of the dead.
Liang Wei. Mei Lian. Elder Shen.
They hadn't just thrown me away. They were making sure my name was dragged through the mud, even after I was gone. They were ensuring that the very memory of Xia Lin would be spat on.
I looked down at the token in my hand. My name. A tool for their lies.
Then I looked at the dead man. His eyes were still open. Staring. Accusing.
A slow, dangerous smile touched my lips. It was not a smile of joy. It was the smile of a predator that has finally found its true prey.
They wanted to use my name?
Fine.
I closed my fingers around the token, the wood digging into my palm. I would take it back. I would take back my name. And I would carve it into their skin so they could never forget it.
I was not going to die in this pit.
I was going to climb out. And when I did, I would bring the Abyss with me.