Chapter 864: The Dungeon of Abyss (part-3)
Orion’s grip tightened around Lyra’s wrist, veins bulging beneath the strain. Her knife hovered inches from her chest, trembling between her fingers.
"Let go!" she shouted, eyes blazing, not with fear, but desperation.
"Are you insane?! Tell me what’s going on!" he growled, yanking the blade from her hand and tossing it aside.
But Lyra didn’t answer. She just stared at the crystal prison. Her entire body trembled, as if the truth were a poison welling up inside her.
"She’s me," she whispered at last.
Orion frowned. "What?"
"The real me."
The silence that followed was deafening.
Lyra stepped toward the crystal, reaching out with a hand that shook more from memory than fear. Her fingertips hovered above the glass.
"When I was thrown into this dungeon, I was alone, and it messed up my mind," she said, voice distant, "I went crazy for a while and killed the masters that came to save me. So, I was captured and the dungeon master tried to ’fix’ me."
Her lips curled in a bitter smile.
"But they couldn’t. So, they imprisoned the real me and extracted the positive memories from her and created me, a weak girl who can empathize with others."
She looked down at her hands, then back at the sleeping girl. "They called it a mercy."
Orion took a step forward, his voice low. "And you think killing yourself will... what? Free her?"
Lyra nodded, letting out a sigh. "While they separated each of us, the soul was planted in this body. So, if I die, maybe the soul will return to her and become free." She then looked down, hopelessly shaking her head. "Also, I’m just a burden, Orion. I can’t even protect myself. You’ve seen it; without you, I would be dead. With me on your side, you will never get out of this dungeon." She then pointed at the crystal. "But she is strong. As long as I can unseal her, she can help you out."
Orion exhaled slowly, dragging a hand through his hair. "I don’t know how to react to that. From the moment we met, I knew that you carried secrets, but I didn’t care about them. And now, I couldn’t care less about it either." He then looked at her and grabbed her shoulders. "For me, you are not fake. You are as real as one can be."
He then stepped beside her, looking into the crystal. The girl within looked peaceful. Too peaceful. "Both of you are real," he continued, voice softer now. "If you die, even if she wakes up, she will not be whole. It will just be the evil person because your kindness dies with you, and if she is left in that state, you will not be complete either."
Taking a deep breath, he looked at her. "I am not strong enough to protect you, but my father is strong, Lyra. Let’s first get out of this dungeon and escape. I promise you that we will not leave her behind. I promise you that you will become your real self again." Taking another pause, he added. "And who said you are a burden. In fact, you helped me a lot of times. If not for you, I wouldn’t have come this far."
She blinked. "What...?"
"You disabled traps. Blocked attacks. You pulled me out of my own damn mind back there." His voice rose. "You think I didn’t notice you shielding me when I was fighting that copy of myself?"
She opened her mouth, but no words came.
"And even now," he continued, lowering his voice, "you were willing to die. Not because you were weak... but because you thought that was the only way to fix things."
He stepped toward the crystal, laying a hand flat against it.
"Then let’s fix it. Together."
Orion’s plan is to get out and use Azzy’s help to free the person, but then as soon as he said those words and his palm touched the glass, the violet key on the other pedestal began to hum. Light spilled from it, spiraling toward the crystal in radiant threads.
A new script lit the air, as if it were a part of dungeon trial.
Reintegration Possible. Will of Both Required.
Lyra stared. Then slowly, silently, she stepped beside Orion.
Together, they pressed their hands against the crystal.
The chamber trembled. Cracks raced through the crystal’s surface like lightning splitting a night sky.
A pulse of energy burst outward, hurling Orion and Lyra backward.
The girl within opened her eyes all of a sudden, but with golden irises.
Her mouth opened—but no sound came. Just a soft exhale, like the breath of waking.
Then she shattered into pieces, like mist dissolving in the wind.
The light swirled, collapsed inward, and struck Lyra in the chest.
She didn’t scream. But her eyes rolled back, and she dropped down to the floor, all of a sudden.
"Lyra!" Orion rushed to catch her.
She collapsed into his arms, unconscious, her body oddly still but no longer trembling, no longer unbalanced. A quiet, golden glow pulsed from her chest once, then faded.
Orion knelt there, holding her limp body against his chest. The warmth in her was fading too fast, the golden glow already dimmed. He brushed a hand across her forehead. "Come on... wake up..."
The chamber, for a long moment, remained quiet.
Then the torches lining the walls flared a cold, violet blue.
The ground shuddered as if there had been an earthquake.
And a voice echoed. "How touching."
Orion’s head snapped up toward the source.
From behind the pedestal, the masked man emerged again, this time walking calmly as though he were simply arriving for a conversation.
"You again," Orion growled.
"You’ve come far," the man said. "But the dungeon hasn’t been cleared yet."
He raised a hand.
And suddenly, Lyra’s body was wrenched from Orion’s grasp by an invisible force.
"No!" Orion lunged forward, but with a snap from the masked man, he was crushed to the ground on his knees. He couldn’t move.
Lyra floated midair, still unconscious, limbs slack. She hovered beside the violet key... and behind her, a new door appeared.
The masked man spoke, voice calm as ever. "Only one of you may leave this dungeon."
Orion froze. "What?"
"She is bound to the dungeon now. This chamber, the moment she became whole again, recognized her as its prisoner. To escape, someone else must take her place."
"No," Orion muttered. "No, that’s not... There has to be another way."
"There isn’t," the man said. "You must choose. Choose yourself. She will remain here. We will once again separate her evil self and return her to the chains. Or choose her and we will imprison you here, do the same, Your evil self will be extracted and kept in the crystal while your powerless but kind self will be chained for the next person to decide."
Lyra’s unconscious body trembled slightly, as if even in sleep she could feel the chains tightening again.
Orion looked down. His jaw clenched. Sweat mixed with dust on his brow. He didn’t question or try to rebel. "Fine," Orion said right away. "I’ll be your prisoner.
The masked man blinked. "You really want to give up your future for the sake of a stranger?" After a brief pause, he added. "Don’t think your dear father can save you. Cuz this place is cut off from the outside world. Only those I permit can enter here. And once she goes outside, she won’t remember anything that happened here. So, think again and make your choice."
Orion replied in a firm tone. "I already made it. I don’t care whether my father worries about me or not. And I don’t care whether she remembers me or not. I don’t do it for glory. I do it because I want to do it."
The masked man stared at him for a couple of seconds and nodded. "Alright.
With a wave of his hand, Lyra’s body drifted slowly toward the open doorway, bathed in light. She began to glow once more, golden lines appearing along her arms, her face. The runes on the door shifted.
Then—
She vanished, all of a sudden.
The light dispersed like dust in the wind and the door also disappeared into thin air.
Orion blinked. "W-What?"
He turned. "Where is she?! Where did she go?! Did she really escape?"
The man then let out a quiet sigh. "You passed, Orion Garcia."
"What?"
"Lyra was never truly here, Orion," the masked man said, turning fully to face him. "Not in the way you believed."
Orion stared, unblinking. "What do you mean?"
The man reached up and removed his mask.
He was older than Orion expected, looked young to borderline middle-aged aged perhaps, but His gaze was clear, piercing, not cruel.
Letting out a smile, the man said. "I’m Gideon. Gideon Crescent. Master of the Tower of Abel. And... an old friend of your father."
"A friend of my father?"