CHAPTER 306: THE FUEL AND THE FIRE

Ossian settled his massive form more comfortably, the bony spurs along his skull catching the faint blue light from the relic.

"Very well. Let me begin with what you must understand first: the Great Convergence was not a war we chose to fight. It was a catastrophe we brought upon ourselves."

He gestured with one skeletal claw, and the shadows seemed to dance in response.

"In the years before the Convergence, the world had reached heights of resonance unseen before or since. We had mastered the elements, bent space and time to our will, and even began to peer beyond the veil of our own reality. But knowledge... knowledge without wisdom is perhaps the most dangerous weapon of all."

His violet eyes dimmed slightly, as if looking into the distant past.

"It was probably around that time when the signs of other realms were first discovered. A group of the most brilliant minds of that era—they called themselves the Circle of Infinite Pursuit—believed they had found a vast, untapped source of power and knowledge - a realm that was closer to ours than any other."

Ossian paused, and a dry, humorless growl rattled in his chest. "If I were to describe them myself, I would say they were obsessed fools. Arrogant maniacs who never stopped to consider the consequences of their actions."

"Because what they found," I finished for him, the pieces clicking into place, "was not a source of knowledge. It was... the Abyss."

Ossian’s great skull inclined in a slow, grave nod. "Precisely. That was when the Abyss first made contact with our world. When the first tear formed."

He paused, as if sifting through ancient memories.

"Unfortunately, I don’t remember the exact details of the incident, but that was undoubtedly the trigger for the great catastrophe that soon followed."

Zephyr, who had been listening with intense focus, finally spoke. "Did the Abyss attack our world directly or...?"

"Yes, they did," Ossian nodded. "But not openly. At least, that’s what I remember. Their methods were far more insidious than any conventional assault."

I tilted my head, studying him deeply. "Did those people die? The Circle, I mean. Or..."

Ossian nodded approvingly at me as if reading my thoughts. "That’s right, young friend. They were the first victims of the Abyss and its corruption. Their ’brilliant minds’, so open and eager, became the perfect vessels for the abyss to spread its influence to the rest of the world."

"They corrupted more and more individuals, spreading like a plague through the very hearts of our civilizations."

He paused, his voice growing heavy with the weight of what he was about to reveal.

"And that’s when the Convergence truly began..."

The silence stretched between us, thick with anticipation and dread.

"As time passed, those corrupted ’great minds’ began to propose ’grand’ ideas to the world. They announced their discoveries and spoke of ’merging realms’ to create a perfect, unified existence. They believed they would be the pioneers, the rulers of this new world order."

Ossian’s skeletal fingers clicked against the bone floor. "And perhaps most tragically, their ideas raised the curiosity and greed of others. People began supporting these concepts enthusiastically. The ironic thing was... they weren’t even corrupted by the Abyss yet."

I somehow expected this. The fault lies in ourselves, wasn’t it?

Of course, I nodded slowly, turning the scenario in my mind. It’s always the same pattern. The classic ’evil from within’ scenario. The monster doesn’t need to break down the door when the inhabitants invite it in themselves.

The Abyss was just fuel to the fire, too.

The people were already corrupted to begin with: by their greed, their ambitions, their desperate hunger for power and control. The Abyss didn’t create those flaws; it simply amplified what was already there. It whispered sweet promises to ears that were already eager to hear them.

How convenient it must have been for the Abyss. Why waste energy forcing its way into a resistant world when it could simply offer people what they already wanted? Land, wealth, power, knowledge - all wrapped up in pretty words about ’unity’ and ’progress’.

The truly terrifying part wasn’t that Abyss corrupted them. It was that it barely had to try.

"Their experiments," Ossian continued, "gradually weakened the barriers between the worlds. Each attempt to ’merge the realms’ thinned reality itself, creating fractures that grew wider with every ritual."

"And that was how the Fall truly began. That was when the first dimensional scars were torn across the existence itself, bleeding corruption into our world drop by poisonous drop."

He paused, his eyes glinting dangerously. I guessed he really hated those fools.

"That’s how those ’great minds’ became the Architects of The Fall, though they never got to know it themselves."

Zephyr furrowed his brows. "Why? What happened to them?"

Ossian shrugged. "That’s one of the things I don’t know and remember, unfortunately. All I remember is that some of them died, while others... completely disappeared. Whether they were consumed by their own corruption or fled to hide their shame, I cannot say."

"I see," Zephyr muttered, then asked again, probably comparing Ossian’s words with knowledge he’d gained from Virion. "Was it then when the Abyss attacked directly?"

"Yeah, around a couple of thousand years later," Ossian replied, "when the dimensional tears had grown large enough and corruption had reached a critical degree, was when the Abyss launched its first direct assault. The western continent was overtaken by half, and gradually, over the following ages..."

He trailed off, his violet eyes growing distant.

"That is how much I know until our own war with the Abyss began. And even that knowledge is fragmented." He paused, his voice taking a different tone. "Aside from the things I told you at the beginning, I only remember that there was one particularly powerful individual from the Abyss who appeared on our battlefield."

His skeletal form seemed to tense, as if remembering an old wound.

"He was... cunning beyond measure. Where other Abyssal forces relied on brute strength, weird powers, or overwhelming corruption, this one fought with his mind. He could turn our greatest heroes against us with nothing but words, make our most trusted allies doubt their own cause. I watched him corrupt entire battalions not through force, but through promises that seemed almost... reasonable."

Ossian’s voice grew quieter, more reflective.

"We didn’t know his true name, but everyone called him the..."