(Ahria)

The sun rose timidly on the horizon, bathing the camp in a cold, pale light.

"Good morning, everyone! Wake up, we need to make the most of the light!" Flamescion yelled, her energetic voice cutting through the quiet forest as she banged the base of her axe against a tree trunk to rouse the wagons.

The villagers stretched and began packing everything up. The days that followed that morning were surprisingly peaceful. They walked along dirt roads under a clear sky. Along the way, the girls foraged wild fruits and mushrooms on the edges of the woods. The children rode in the wagons, laughing and eating the berries Flora handed them, and the remaining Primordials walked on the periphery of the group, ensuring their safety. They saw more of the earthly world, its hidden waterfalls and peculiar flora. All in all, the journey was calm, almost a balm for the trauma they had left behind.

But peace for fallen goddesses has its days numbered.

One afternoon, as the sun was already starting to dip, Flamescion approached the front of the caravan. "Is it still going to take long to reach the capital?" she asked the village leader, wiping sweat from her forehead.

The elder consulted the distant mountains. "If we keep this pace, it should still take about a week, my lady."

Flamescion sighed, impatient. "We need to be faster. The wounded need proper care and the wagons are getting heavy. Is there no shorter path?"

The leader hesitated, scratching his gray beard. "Well... there is the Whispering Gorge. Cuts the trip in half. But... we avoid going through there."

Fauna, walking nearby with her bow slung over her shoulder, tilted her head. "Why is it called that?"

"Over the years, there are many accounts of travelers going mad inside," the villager explained, lowering his voice as if he feared the mountains might hear him. "They say there are voices. Whispers that try to influence and disturb anyone who passes through those stones."

Flamescion let out a mocking laugh and tapped her hand against the breastplate of her armor. "A voice never killed anyone, elder. We protect the wagons. Change the route to the gorge."

The leader didn't dare contradict the fiery-haired Lady. As the wagon changed direction, a freezing breeze blew against Ahria's neck. Amidst the wind, she heard a distinct murmur brush against her ear: "Careful..."

Ahria stopped dead in her tracks. She looked around, apprehensive, her eyes sweeping the trees, but there was nothing besides dry leaves. She shook her head and brushed it off. After everything they had been through, trauma was just playing tricks on her mind.

A few hours later, they reached the entrance of the gorge. The scenery changed drastically. The green, living forest was left behind, replaced by colossal walls of solid black stone that rose high enough to hide the sun. It was entirely rocky, barren, and claustrophobic terrain.

Flora stopped walking, hugging her own arms. "Is there any way we can turn back? The earth here... feels dead."

"Now that we're already here, we're not turning back," Flamescion decreed, taking the lead of the group and delving into the stony path.

They followed the gorge. Everything began to grow darker, gloomier, and incredibly cold. The sound of the wagon wheels echoed distortedly against the smooth walls.

"I don't like this one bit," Gigroth growled, looking suspiciously at the rocks above them.

Flora, despite being scared, couldn't hold back an ironic smile. "That is highly ironic, Gigroth. Considering you're the goddess of stone."

Flamescion laughed sarcastically up ahead, a sound that echoed spookily. They ventured deeper into the ravine. As they walked, a dense, creeping fog began to swallow their ankles, growing thicker and colder with every step.

Suddenly, Flamescion slammed on the brakes at the vanguard. She slipped on the wet stones, windmilling her arms in the air, and managed to stop in the last millisecond. "Get back!" she yelled.

They ran up to her, and what they saw froze their blood. The path was torn in half by a colossal black rift. It wasn't a natural hole. The darkness inside was so dense it seemed to absorb the little light left in the gorge.

The shadows at the edge of the rock writhed, and Tenebris appeared beside them, her eyes locked on the rift with rare intensity.

"What is this?" Fauna asked, her voice trembling, taking a step back.

"It's an Abyssal Rift," Tenebris replied in a deadly serious tone. "I heard the gods of Hyperion mention it in the private halls before we fell."

"And what is an Abyssal Rift?" Ahria demanded to know, her analytical posture fighting the irrational panic radiating from that hole.

"It's a crack in the mystical border that separates Primitia from the demon realm," the Lady of Shadows explained. "If there's a rift of this magnitude here, gaping wide open to the naked eye... it won't be long before they start coming through. The border is collapsing."

Flamescion drew both axes from her back. "Then we'd better hurry up and get these people out of here."

"How can we close it?" Flora asked, desperate, staring into the depths.

Tenebris shook her head. "We can't. At least not right now. I have absolutely no idea how you seal a tear in space, and even if I did, we wouldn't have the magical means or the vital Essence required to close it right now."

"Then we really better hurry," Ahria agreed, feeling the sting of the lack of plant life on that ground. "Let's carefully skirt the edge."

The villagers started guiding the wagons with extreme caution along the narrow rocky margin that still bypassed the rift. The silence was terrifying.

That was when Ahria heard it. "Ahria!"

She stopped dead in her tracks. The voice wasn't a distant echo; it was clear, full of pain and urgency. It was Neiva's voice calling her. She whipped around immediately, searching for her friend's blue hair in the fog.

"Neiva?" she called out.

A wet, gurgling sound answered her. The air turned rotten. From the black rift, two giant hands with razor-sharp claws gripped the stone edges. The earth shook violently. A monstrous figure emerged from the depths, completely blocking out the light of the gorge.

It was four times their size. The creature's skin was a putrid, grotesque shade of gray, covered in sharp spikes that tore through the very fog. Four glowing, soulless purple eyes locked onto the group. Twisted horns jutted from its broad skull, and when it unhinged its jaw, rows of sword-sharp teeth dripped an acidic drool that melted the stone where it landed. It was a terrifying, disturbing, and purely demonic sight.

"LOOK OUT!" Ahria screamed at the top of her lungs.

The demon opened its massive mouth. A purple light flared in its throat, and in the next second, a colossal blast of corrosive black energy shot toward the wagons. Ahria thrust both hands forward, ignoring the pain in her lungs. She manipulated the cold air currents of the gorge, creating a vortex of wind in front of the caravan. The demon's energy slammed into the air shield and was violently redirected against the side rocks.

The explosion pulverized the granite. A massive cloud of dust and debris kicked up, mixing with the fog and turning the air nearly opaque. The entire gorge suddenly echoed with distorted laughter and hundreds of frantic whispers calling out the deities' names.

Flamescion stepped to the front line, the blades of her axes glowing with the fire she conjured from her own meager Essence. "Flora! Fauna! Escort the survivors and get the wagons out of here! We'll hold the freak off!" she ordered.

The twins didn't hesitate. They ran to the wagons, shouting at the horses and shoving the wood to appease the terrified civilians, forcing the march away from the danger.

The demon didn't wait. Despite its absurd size, it wasn't slow. It was horrifyingly fast and agile.

It leaped at the group, making the earth quake when its feet landed. Gigroth charged forward with her war hammer. "Get back in your hole!" she roared.

Because they were surrounded by pure stone, Gigroth had the advantage. She pulled on the ravine's mineral essence and delivered a strike that erected granite spikes from the ground, trying to impale the beast. But the demon spun in the air with sickening agility, dodged the spikes, and delivered a brutal kick to the warrior's chest. The blow was so fast that Gigroth only had time to cross her thick arms. The impact dragged her several yards backward, tearing up the ground with her iron boots.

Flamescion seized the opening and jumped, bringing her fire axes down against the creature's neck. The demon raised one of its spiked arms, using its own biology as a shield. The incandescent blades cut into the gray flesh, but the beast's skin was as hard as steel.

"Ahria, now!" Flamescion yelled, locked in close combat with the beast.

Ahria raised her hands, forged blades of pressurized air, and fired them at the creature's four purple eyes. The invisible blades slashed the demon's face. It howled in pain, a high-pitched sound that pierced their eardrums, and turned its blind fury onto Flamescion.

The battle turned into a frantic, chaotic whirlwind. Blow after blow, they attacked and it defended with surgical precision, counter-attacking with claws that sliced through the very fog. Their magical exhaustion began to weigh on them, while it seemed to have no limits.

In an explosive movement, the demon spun its massive body. Its spiked tail, camouflaged in the smoke, swept the ground at sonic speed.

Gigroth realized the attack was going to hit Flamescion square in the back, and further beyond, the path where the wagons were trying to escape. The Lady of Stone ran and punched the stone floor with both bare hands.

"HURRY UP!" she bellowed, burning all the Essence of the ravine.

A colossal, thick, and impenetrable stone wall rose from the earth, separating the group from the escape path and shielding her friends from the tail swipe. But the demon's impact against the wall was cataclysmic. The shockwave shattered the rock. Gigroth bore the magical backlash directly in her own body. She spat blood, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed unconscious on the stone floor, completely incapacitated.

"GIGROTH!" Flamescion screamed, blinded by fury at seeing her friend fall.

Losing what little tactical reason she had, the fire warrior abandoned any defensive stance. She charged the demon, flames burning intensely around her body, delivering suicidal strikes. "Die, you filthy nightmare!"

The demon parried an axe with its horns and grabbed Flamescion's left wrist with one of its colossal hands. It lifted her into the air as if she were a mere ragdoll.

"Drop her!" Ahria bellowed, gathering the rest of her energy to launch a slicing breeze.

But the demon smiled, bearing its rotten teeth. With a cruel motion, it hurled Flamescion straight backward. Toward the void.

Time seemed to stop. Ahria saw Flamescion's body arc through the air. She tried to twist her body, but had nothing to grab onto.

"AHRIA!" The fire goddess's scream was lost in the darkness as her flaming body plunged to the bottom of the Abyssal Rift, until she disappeared completely.

Despair ripped the last drop of rationality from Ahria. "NOOOO!" she roared, sprinting toward the tear.

But she never reached the rift. The demon turned to her. Before Ahria could mount any defense, the creature unleashed a shockwave of black energy just by roaring. The force of the blow hit her chest like a moving mountain. She was thrown brutally through the air, flying backwards for dozens of yards, slamming violently against the upper rocks of the gorge.

The air left Ahria's lungs. The sound of her own bones cracking was the last thing she heard. Her vision went black. She only had time to glimpse, out of the corner of her eye, the creature smiling one last time before diving headfirst into the Abyssal Rift, disappearing into the darkness where Flamescion had fallen.

After that, the world plunged into silence and darkness.