The sky was gray that morning.

  Not stormy. Not calm. Just… heavy. Like even the heavens knew what was coming.

  Wren stood at the edge of the excavation site, staring down into the massive hole that had cracked open the earth. People called it The Abyssfall. A hundred meters wide, bottomless by appearance, and dark enough to swallow light whole.

  He couldn’t see the bottom. No one could.

  Around him, adventurers and scavengers bustled with excitement, murmurs of treasures, fame, and glory rising above the clatter of gear and clanging metal. Merchants lined the outer rim, already setting up makeshift stalls. It was becoming a city. A living machine fueled by greed and hope.

  Talin, a brawler Wren had met only a few days ago, nudged him with an elbow. “Still thinking of backing out?”

  Wren shook his head. “No. I just… I don’t know what I’m expecting down there.”

  “You and the rest of us,” Talin muttered, adjusting the massive axe on his back. “Still, if we’re lucky, we’ll hit Floor One, grab a few crystals, maybe a relic, and get out.”

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  “Yeah,” Wren said softly. “If we’re lucky.”

  Truth was, he hadn’t come here for luck. Or fame. Or riches.

  He came because something inside him needed to understand what this place was. A tug in his chest. A whisper he couldn’t explain. His parents had died in a mine collapse when he was six. He never forgot the silence that came afterward. This place felt like that silence.

  He didn’t know why, but the Abyssfall called to him.

  A loud horn echoed over the crater.

  “Gate Team One! Descent begins in five minutes!”

  Talin flashed Wren a grin. “You ready, dagger boy?”

  Wren took a deep breath, feeling the weight of his twin blades on his hips. The leather was worn, but familiar. Comforting.

  “Let’s go,” he said.

  They approached the tethering platform—thick metal cables anchored to massive cranes, each holding a reinforced lift that would lower them into the darkness. Wren stepped in, Talin beside him, and felt his heart pound as the platform jerked and began its descent.

  The sunlight vanished quickly, swallowed by the pit.

  Minute by minute, the light grew dimmer until it was replaced by a soft blue glow radiating from veins of crystal in the walls.

  Nobody spoke. Even the loud ones, the cocky ones, went silent. As if the weight of what they were doing finally hit them.

  They were entering a place no one had mapped. No one understood. A place older than memory.

  The platform touched down with a dull thud.

  Floor One.

  The gate officer barked orders, and the teams began to disperse down different tunnels, each leading to unknown sections of the first floor.

  Wren and Talin took the west tunnel—dark, wide, and breathing out a cold that felt unnatural.

  As they walked, Wren glanced at the walls. Strange symbols were carved into the stone. They pulsed faintly as he passed, as if reacting to his presence.

  He didn’t mention it to Talin.

  Something was waiting in the dark.

  And it already knew he was here.