The next morning we packed up whatever belongings we had. There wasn’t much that we had brought, so it didn’t take very long. A few of the villagers that we had gotten close to see us off at the exit. Kurumi herself had seen to my departure.

“Before you go,” she approached me, tapping me on the forehead. “Close your eyes.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

And so I listened to her. I could feel magic, but nothing dangerous.

“You can look now.”

Nothing had changed. I didn’t feel any different either.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“That marking that your kitsune left on you. It’s wearing off. I just ensured that it’ll last longer, in case another one of my kind finds you.”

“So you had to replace it?” I wished that she had told me this earlier. It might be the only thing I had left of Kasumi.

“No,” Kurumi shook her head. “I wouldn’t dare to replace it. I simply poured some magic into it. Strengthen it so that it’s more recognizable. A kitsune’s mark is quite distinct, I wouldn’t dream of interfering with one that’s already branded.

“I’m going to lose this body many more times,” I shook my head. “I’m sure it won’t matter.”

“No. A kitsune’s mark brands the soul, not the body. No matter which body you possess, no matter where your mind lies, it’ll be with you. You might not ever be able to feel it, but it’ll be with you. And someday, it’ll help you.”

Our eyes met, and she waved her hand.

“Oh my,” she laughed. “I’ve kept you busy for far too long. Thank you for everything, Magnus. I hope to see you again… under happier circumstances.”

I left her under the tree, and joined everyone else as they waited for me.

“Enjoy your farewell?” Rachel asked me. Already before the journey had begun, she looked tired already. Probably from all the men that had tried to court her.

“It was quiet and simple,” I shrugged. I had kept to myself mostly. I doubt that most of them would ever recognize me again.

“Leon’s going to miss his friends,” Celeste elbowed him. Leon shrugged, smiling.

“It’s not like we’re never gonna see them again,” he laughed heartily.

And together, we embarked on another journey.

The next few days were spent in the woods and planes. We camped out without much concern since we were certain we had lost our pursuers. Instead of having to be careful with campfires to avoid attracting attention, we spent these nights in relative comfort. We weren’t so strict with patrolling anymore.

Leon and I continued to spar since the two of us woke up earlier than Celeste and Rachel. He was extremely good with the sword. In fact, I had started to believe that he was hiding more tactics and skills up his sleeves.

Celeste hadn’t said much after that night. It was hard to evaluate exactly how she felt, but I knew that like Leon she didn’t want to harm or hate me. It just so happened that I was reminded of something painful. She had returned to her playful self. Always dragging Rachel to go fishing and swimming, while telling Leon and me that we weren’t allowed to peek.

It was peaceful.

And a few days later, we finally arrived at our destination. We had entered a massive forest, and upon entering I had felt that we were being watched by people, but I couldn’t pinpoint their exact locations.

“It’s just up ahead,” Rachel announced. But there was a certain hesitation behind her voice.

Just as she said, up ahead were a series of long walls that was just hidden by the tall trees that surrounded us. Wherever we were, it was in a deep part of the forest. A majestic silver gate stood before us, closed. Up on the high walls were elves, armed with bows aimed at us.

“Halt,” a voice spoke up.

“Are you sure we can find refuge here?” I asked Rachel. Something didn’t seem right to me.

“Yes,” she looked at me, but stepped away. “I ensured it.”

“Rachel Lightwood, last of her name,” the same voice roared from atop the walls. “Two hundred years ago, you were exiled from Elisier, the City of Glass. You were summoned fifty years into your exile, but chose to avoid our call. Now you have returned, and have offered yourself in exchange for protection of your friends.”

“What?” I shouted. I looked at Rachel. She turned away, walking defenselessly towards the city gates as it swung open. It was as if the city grounds itself was infused with mana, and a certain glow surrounded the area inside.

Just as the gates had opened, hundreds of archers had lined the trees and the walls. They had been following us from the very beginning and had had hundreds of bows drawn, all aimed towards the three of us. These were elves, experts marksmen. If I made any sudden moves, I knew that a hundred arrows would fly through me.

A large group of elves armored in glass-like armor exited from the gated, armed with curved daggers and swords. I could tell that for whatever reason, they were taking this very seriously.

“Rachel!” Leon and Celeste shouted. “What’re you doing?”

“Why?” I shouted. “Why’re you doing this?”

“You guys will be safe here,” she turned around, just for a moment. “You need their help. I simply made sure that you would receive it.”

“And do you really think that this is what we wanted?” I was angry.

She didn’t respond, but walked away. There must have been another reason why she was doing this, but I couldn’t think of anything on the spot.

“You will be escorted inside shortly,” one of the guards told me. “After she’s taken her to her quarters.”

“You’ve returned, Rachel,” I saw a guard tell her. He was dressed differently from the others, perhaps a more important figure.

“Not by choice,” I could hear her answer. “By necessity.”

“Your father summoned you back many years ago, but you denied his summons. And where has fate taken you? All the way back here.”

Behind, I saw another set of guards put shackles on Rachel.

“What’re you doing?” my voice turned quiet. “What are you doing to her.”

“Mind your own business, human.”

I tried to push past the guards, only to be met with raised swords.

“Any further and we will strike you where you stand,” I was warned.

But in my mind their words were meaningless. I watched as Rachel was put in chains and taken away, her back turned to me. I remembered the last time that the world had taken someone away from me. And I remembered how much it hurt to be unable to do nothing. The same feeling haunted me now, as I watched her walk away.

History was doomed to repeat if I allowed it.

“Leon, Celeste,” I called out without looking at them. “I’m sorry. But I’m about to do something very reckless.”

They must have understood what I meant.

“Go wild,” I heard Leon encourage me.

A dark rift opened before me, and I walked through. I had an idea where I would end up, but I wasn’t certain that it would work. But fortunately I ended up exactly where I had intended to go. I entered the Abyss.

Voluntarily.

Before me stood Asura, who sat down on his lonely throne.

“You seem different,” he commented as I approached him. “Something’s changed.”

“Yeah.”

“You’ve finally decided,” he smiled. “After all this time.”

“Yes. Yes I have.”

“The Abyss has chosen. It’s chosen its next master, and I can do little but watch and spectate from this prison I made for myself.”

“Why?” I asked. “All this time, why have you chosen to hide here?”

“You’ll come to understand one day. At the very end of this journey, you’ll understand exactly why you were chosen. I told you already.”

“And you’re willing to give yourself up for it?”

“Myself?” he almost snickered. “From the very beginning I knew what had to be done. I simply needed to bide my time and wait for the perfect moment. For the perfect vessel.”

“And you won’t tell me anything more?”

“All in due time,” he responded as he always did. “After all, the story you began for yourself… it’s started moving forward once again.”

I had just one last question for him. A strange one, that I had never thought of asking.

“Do you hate me?” I tilted my head.

Asura looked taken back, but not too surprised.

“Of course I do.”

“Why?”

“Imagine dedicating your whole life to a single cause and belief. A single goal that you thought only you could perform. Yet you find out that you are but a stepping stone in order for another figure to rise. Not even one of your own kind, but a human.” He said it with scorn. “You. Don’t worry, Magnus. I may not be corporeal but I am exactly what I claim to be. A demon. And you never have to doubt that I loathe you, from the very bottom of my heart.”

I nodded. I understood. It was just a curiosity of mine exactly how he felt. If he even felt anything, that was.

I walked past him, towards the glaring bloch of darkness that looked like it was ready to consume everything within its path.

And I embraced it.

Peering into the memories of the Abyss, I saw a story unfold. How up above among the stars, a single entity shined brighter than any other. How it collapsed onto the grounds of Elysium, where Viesreal now stood. And from its death it granted life to a power that even the gods feared. A power crafted to oppose the greater powers of the world, not by overpowering it but by replicating it. I saw it grant power from demon to demon, and at the very end I saw Asura at the end of his journey. I watched him at his race’s end, as emotionless as when I first met him. And then he was trapped in a prison made of the Abyss, where he would be locked from the natural laws of the world, even time. And then I saw myself, my birth in the chambers of one of the castle’s rooms. I couldn’t see my true mother’s face, and even until now I had no clue who she could have been. It could have been a common whore or a highborn noble, but I assumed that I would neve find out. I saw my real father. Malvin Morgenstern, bloated and fat like the pig that he was. I wonder why a human like me had inherited the Abyss. If the Abyss was a making of the demons, then why had it fallen into human hands? And of all humans, a descendent of one of the four heroes that defeated the demon race. Finally everything spurred to the present. I was in the Abyss, where it all began. In an ancient world that was colder than death, where I sought salvation.

I didn’t need this version of me anymore. No, that wasn’t what the world needed. The world needed the cruel, merciless and ruthless soldier that had led the rebellion against the throne. The world needed the person that I used to be.

I didn’t want to kill anymore.

But if I had to, I will.

I’m sorry Kasumi.

You were wrong.

And so I weaved myself back into reality, a single tear in reality appearing right in front of Rachel. She stood, stunned as I appeared before her in a blast of black flame, sending the nearby guards flying away.

“You need their help,” she shouted. “They won’t give it to you now! If you want a way to control your powers, they’ll know. They’re the oldest civilization in this world, if you can’t get their help then-”

“If the cost of their knowledge and aid is you… then I’ll find someway else to fix this,” I looked her dead in the eyes. “You were the one that told me that if you have to protect what you cherish.”

The skin on the left side of my body turned a black that absorbed all colors around it. The flesh on my arm separated as blood dripped down, and slowly the Abyss began to spread from my left arm to the rest of my body. My blood came to a boil and black smoke spread across the air.

“Stop your magic, mage!” more and more guards poured out of the gates behind me. I turned around, facing them. There were hundreds, and the numbers were only increasing. We were completely surrounded.

“If you let us walk away,” I shouted. “We can stop this here. Nobody will have to die.”

“You’re acting cocky for someone that’s completely surrounded.”

“That’s right,” I whispered. “That’s right.”

I plunged my sword into the ground and I saw through the eyes of the Abyss, the world that laid beyond ours. In an instant, I shattered the borders between our worlds and suddenly reality fractured where I stood. Like a broken mirror broken pieces of the world fell to my feet as the blood of the Abyss streamed down my legs and my arms, digging into the ground beneath me. I could feel the blood as it seeped through the ground, looking for anything to consume, entering the roots of the nearby trees and eating the insects that laid under the ground.

“Walk,” I commanded. “Protect me, and be my shield.”

Suddenly the ground burst open, branches spiraling out of the ground. These weren’t branches or pillars that I had tried to mimic. These were tree branches that I had corrupted and made my own, by giving the Abyss a corporeal vessel to remain in this world. I watched as the trees by the sides of the city walls began to uproot themselves out of the ground, leaving nothing but tremor and dust in their wake. Dark blood flowed upwards on the trees as the blood of the Abyss crawled inside of the tree, and I saw through its eyes. And there entered the domain of power which only god should have possessed - the creation of life.

Dozens of giant trees walked upright, all of them slow and sluggish. The elves were no longer aiming their weapons at me, but panicking as the colossal beings that had once been a part of their home had turned into monsters that they no longer understood. Now they were the ones surrounded by my newly created monsters.

One of the trees walked towards me, blocking a single arrow that had been fired at me. The tree turned to retaliate, but I commanded it to stay.

“Don’t do anything,” I commanded. “Stay near the archers, prevent them from firing. Do not kill a single one, or I’ll send you back to the Abyss myself.”

I could feel their reluctance in listening to me, but they did. I felt like there was a certain degree of obedience that they owed me for creating them.

The skin and flesh circling around my eyes began to crack. I could feel blood drip down my eyelids as the pain shot right above my skull. I looked at myself in the reflection of my sword. The left side of my face was turning black, while my sword had turned pitch white. The two colors that Asura told me were a reflection of my mindset. A darkness that reminded me of what kind of place the world was.

And a light that ensured that I wouldn’t drown in my own sorrows.

My insanity and my delusions.

My hope and my dreams.

Two sides of the same coin.

A lord half dark and half bright.

I walked towards the group that was in the middle, who had chosen to direct their attention to the creatures that had appeared. Before they had a chance to make a choice, a wave of sharp bloodlust washed over them. In their eyes everything had turned black and white, the world had been bled of its colors. They had been robbed of their senses, and they couldn’t help but fall onto the ground on their knees, as if begging. As if gravity itself had become so powerful that they could no longer stand, they could only feel the oppressive and dominating spirit of the one before them, and fear. A fear so primal that they could do nothing but kneel, instinctively begging for mercy. From them, I had taken their will to oppose me.

I walked among them, silently as the archers on the walls had started panicking. There was someone within the crowd of guards that had caught my attention. The one that had addressed Rachel specifically, as if he was the one in charge. I picked him up, black spirals crawling up my arm and strengthening me.

“What are you?” the elf shuddered.

“Nobody,” I whispered. “I’m just another man.”

“Whatever or whoever you are, you’ve attacked our kind. We will remember you, and come for you.”

I tilted my head, I could feel the blood of the Abyss within me, wanting to move into him to eat him. But I restrained it, controlling it.

“Tell your leaders that Rachel will not be returning as your prisoner or as your guest. Tell your kingdom that if you pursue us, then I will bring war to your city.”

“You’re only one man,” he snickered.

“I’ve burnt cities to the ground,” I hissed. “You’re only another civilization.”

I could hear the sound of light armor scratching stone heading towards me. I dropped the elf back onto the ground as another platoon of elves arrived from within the city. Unlike the others they were dressed in glass armor that revealed a tint of yellow and magenta.

The trees walked to my side slowly, giants that had woken up from millenia of slumber. The trees waited, not doing anything but watching. I could hear the thoughts of the life within and the whispers of the Abyss within my head, all clumping together and slowly driving me mad.

And from above, I heard a gentle clapping. Up on the walls was a single figure dressed not in armor but elegant light green robes. On his head was a crown of autumn leaves and branches of gold that gleamed under the sun.

He disappeared and appeared back on the ground before me. He was extremely fast, but not enough to faze me. He was taller than me by a head, looking down upon me, but not with the same condescending look that most have with their advantage. He smiled, and even slightly bowed.

“Old friend,” I heard Asura at the back of my head. “We meet once again.”

“My king!” the elf on the ground shouted.

“I don’t remember giving you permission to threaten my daughter,” the new figure said softly. “Nor to attack our esteemed guest.”

The elves on the walls put down their weapons, bowing. I could feel hesitation from the trees. Their natural instinct was to turn away, instead of protecting me now.

Strange.

“It’s not as if,” he continued. “You could ever defeat him.”

“There’s no way that an elf would lose to a human,” the guard shouted.

“And that is why you would lose. You think he is human, but he is of an older kind. One that is no longer with us today,” his eyes turned to mine, looking straight at me. His eyes were the exact same as Rachel’s, green. The pattern of his eye was the same as well. “I welcome you, my esteemed friend. My, you are a sight for sore eyes.”

“You know me?” I whispered.

“No,” he smiled. “But I know the one named Asura. The last time we spoke he said that he would return, in the most unexpected way. I waited, and long since then I thought that whatever he had planned would never come to pass. But now you’ve arrived.”

“Who are you?” I asked, wondering how old this elf was.

He smiled. I hadn’t detected any mana from him. Wait… that couldn’t be possible. All elves had the same dense aura inside of them when I tried to look. All the elves on the wall, and even Rachel shared that same trait. So why couldn’t I peer into him like I could the rest?

“Since the end of the first divine war between man and demon, I have been waiting. I am the first elf, birthed by the gods themselves and molded by their hands. I know the secrets and have visited every corner of this world. I know exactly what and who you are. I was there to witness the birth and the death of the demons, yet after all this time even I am curious as to what future you will create with your hands. My name is Eleandorr Lightwood, first of his name. Lord of the elves, and I myself welcome you into the city of glass, Elisier.”

He raised his hands, and behind him hundreds of elves came marching out but not dressed in armor and armed with weapons but simple cloaks and garbs as they gathered the soldiers on the ground and made way for us to enter.

“And now, may I ask who you are?” Elandorr asked, lowering his head slightly. I could tell that the elves around him didn’t like it, the amount of respect that he had granted me. Only he had acknowledged who I was.

The trees behind me began walking back, leaving the elves alone. The stomping stopped as the blood of the Abyss left their body, returning to me. The trees rooted themselves back into the ground, and although it was clear that the ground had been disturbed it looked as if the trees had never been awoken their whole lives.

“My name,” the colors around my face receded and I returned to my normal self. “Is Magnus Morgenstern. Heir to the black throne of the Southern Kingdom, Visereal. I was the harbinger of Asura, and inheritor to the Abyss. Now, I am the Abysswalker, and if you threaten those I care for I will bring war to your city.”

A smile grew on the elf king’s face.

“I would have it no other way,” Elandorr sounded interested.

I went over to Rachel’s side. As we entered we all could feel the different gazes of the elves. Interest, disgust, intrigue. Too many to list out.

The city itself was gorgeous with white bricks and homes that had been carved out of the land itself. As far as I could see everything was either white, green or white. There was a certain richness and depth to the architecture that was inherently different from human design.

Everything looked foreign and alien to us. The people, the environment, even the air smelled different. We were no longer on human soil, and we were surrounded by people who we didn’t completely trust. A risk I had chosen for Leon, Celeste and Rachel. No matter what, if something were to happen then I would have to hold responsibility.

The story that I had begun was once put into motion.

But I was no longer the same man as before.

In fact, I was no longer human.