The underworld of Nihil was more crowded than its surface. But those who lived here did not breathe; they rotted.
Kaelen and Rico waded through a warm, greenish sludge that reached their knees. This was the Waste Zone. The final drain where all the city's chemical refuse, failed experiments, and the corpses of the executed were dumped.
The stench was unbearable. Sulfur, methane, and the sickly-sweet scent of death burned their throats.
Rico held his small lantern with trembling hands. The beam of light illuminated massive cockroaches dancing on the damp tunnel walls and strange, fleshy fungi clinging to the stone.
Giant... Rico whispered, his voice echoing through the tunnel. Are you sure there is a way out? This place isn't on the maps. This is... where the map ends.
Kaelen did not answer. He could not.
For his mind had turned into its own battlefield.
Verrick's medicine had completely worn off, leaving Kaelen's nerve endings exposed. There were no longer any walls to block the whispers of Grief. Even though the sword remained in its sheath, it constantly pumped images into Kaelen's mind.
With every step, he saw the agony of another.
One step: A sewer worker. Choking on gas. Lungs burning.
Another step: A woman trying to escape. Shot in the back by guards. Falling into the water.
Another step: Ren. That final smile. Save me...
Shut up! Kaelen suddenly shouted.
Rico jumped, nearly dropping the lantern. I... I didn't say anything!
Kaelen stopped, breathless. His right eye glowed like a purple ember in the darkness. He pressed his hand to his temple.
Not you, he growled. Them... They won't be silent. The dead won't be silent, Rico.
Rico looked at Kaelen with fear. The Giant was walking on the edge of madness.
Maybe we should rest for a bit?
If we rest, we die, Kaelen said.
Just then, there was movement beneath the water.
Bubbles rose. Then, a massive air pocket burst.
Kaelen gripped the hilt of Grief. The sword grew warm the moment it sensed danger. The random images in his mind ceased, replaced by a pure instinct to kill.
Three silhouettes rose from the water.
These were the Deformed. Once human, but mutated by alchemical waste, they now possessed fish-like gills and claws. They had no eyes; only mouths filled with teeth.
They hissed, the sound like water boiling.
Rico screamed as he shone the lantern on them. Get back! Get back!
The creatures lunged.
Kaelen drew Grief from its sheath.
The metal flashed like purple lightning in the green darkness of the tunnel.
The first creature leapt at him. Kaelen swung the blade downward.
SHRED.
The creature was split in two mid-air. Black blood and green bile mixed with the water.
But Kaelen did not stop. The second creature had turned toward Rico. Kaelen slid through the water, interposing himself, and slammed the back of the blade against the creature's head. Its skull shattered against the wall.
The third creature tried to flee. But Grief was hungry. It swung Kaelen's arm forward of its own volition. The sword plunged into the back of the fleeing monster.
And then came the inevitable moment.
THE VISION
Darkness. Cold.
Kaelen was now that creature. His name was Tolus.
He had once been a baker in the Rust District. But he could not pay his debts. The Inquisition had thrown him down here as a "voluntary cleaner."
For years in this darkness, he had tried to clean the poisoned waters. His skin peeled away. He went blind. He went mad with hunger. Eventually, he began to wonder what human flesh tasted like...
And now... he was dying. But he was not afraid. He was only... cold.
Warm... the creature thought with its last breath. As warm as the bread oven...
Kaelen knelt over the carcass of the creature.
The memory of Tolus the Baker was driven into his mind like a nail. He had experienced that scent of fresh bread, that despair, and the process of losing his humanity second by second.
God... Kaelen whispered. I can't... I can't carry them all...
His mind was on the verge of splintering. So many deaths, so many stories... A human mind could not endure this.
Just as he stood at the edge of the abyss, that familiar, soft voice came.
...Kaelen... Focus on me...
Elara.
Her voice was like a lighthouse in the middle of the storm in his mind. It drowned out the screams of Tolus, Ren, and the others.
...Do not carry their burden. Carry only their peace. Grief is not a curse; it is an archive. You are their final witness. Bear witness and move on...
I can't take it, Elara, Kaelen said, looking into the water. They are so heavy.
...I know. But you are not alone. I am here. Above. Waiting for you. Do not let that black eye swallow you. Remember me. Remember the laboratory. Remember the promise I made to you...
I will not leave you.
Kaelen took a deep breath. Despite the foul stench filling his lungs, he felt a sense of relief within him.
He stood up. Rico was cowering in the corner, looking at him with fear.
Giant? Your eyes... They went away and came back again.
I'm fine, Kaelen said. He sheathed Grief without cleaning it. The sword was sated. It was calm for now. We must continue, Rico.
Rico raised the lantern. Where? The tunnel ends here.
Indeed, there was a massive wall before them.
But Kaelen opened his right eye. The Void Eye scanned not the structure of the wall, but its energy. And behind that wall, he saw a massive, vibrating crimson aura.
This was not the aura of a human or a mutant. This was the aura of something much larger, much more ancient.
Not a wall, Kaelen said. A door.
Kaelen hooked the hilt of Grief into a rusted wheel on the wall and pulled with all his might.
Creaking and groaning as if it hadn't been opened for centuries, the massive stone block moved.
And into the opening, a warm, humid, and dense wind blew.
Before them was where the sewers ended. A massive cavern resembling a cathedral, opening into a giant underground lake.
In the middle of the lake was an island throne made of waste, bones, and shipwrecks.
And upon that island, sitting within the shadows, was a colossal silhouette.
Rico's lantern was not enough to illuminate its size. But Kaelen's right eye saw the two red points within the darkness.
...Be careful... Elara's voice said, panicking. ...He was waiting for you...
Kaelen took his first step into the cavern.
The Sewer King, Rico whispered, remembering the legend. It was real...
The waters of the lake trembled.
From within the darkness, a voice thundered, not like a human voice but like the echo of thousands of pipes:
THE ALCHEMIST'S DOG... AND HIS LITTLE FLEA... WELCOME TO MY HOME.
Kaelen drew his sword. Grief glowed this time not in purple, but in a blood-red color that signaled danger.
This would be no ordinary fight. This would be the final test of Kaelen's humanity.
Because the thing before him was not just a monster; it was the combined manifestation of all the city's sins.