I took a deep breath, "There is something else inside the Abyss, something… an entity, and it's trying to break through?—"
"An entity?" Xandros scoffed, and I winced again. I couldn't fault him for his disbelief.
"I know, I realize how incredible this sounds," I shook my head, wishing Dravok was here for more reasons than just to be able to explain this. But he wasn't. Because of the Abyss or the Harrowed One or whatever it was inside. Anger overcame me. A deep-rooted fury.Ithad done this to him. It was now on me to convince Xandros and Ashley not to kill Dravok, to believe me, and to fight for him. It seemed like an impossible task, but renewed resolve fueled me. I had to do this. "I know I'm asking a lot from you. Most of it I don't understand myself yet, nor do the Arkhevari—although they think they do." A wry smile twisted my lips at that. I wouldn't have been me had I not felt a certain amount of power and pride that I was figuring things out that even gods hadn't quite understood. "We don't know if thisbeinghas always been in the Dark Abyss, or if it was something that evolved with the arrival of the Arkhevari, but I do know that ifitgets out, it'll be devastating for the entire universe."
Xandros and Ashley exchanged a look, one that made me think they wanted to lock me up like they had done to Dravok. Hell, part of me wished they would. Then it would be out of my hands. Then I could say,well, I tried.
Anger still fueled me, and a new emotion grew inside me: revenge. I had never been a vengeful person in my life, had avoided conflict wherever possible, because there was always, logically, a better, more acceptable solution—it helped that most of my life I had been surrounded bysane, reasonablepeople. I had skipped grades and had gone to the most prestigious schools, where other kids were asnerdyas I was. There had never been a pecking order. This was new territory to me. It started when the Cryons came, and it had simmered inside me ever since. Suddenly, Iwantedblood. I wanted to fight, which scared me. So being locked up and rendered unconscious seemed like a good solutionnotto deal with reality.
"Okay," Ashley said at last, taking me off guard.
"Okay?"
Xandros nodded, "If there is even the slightest possibility that what you're saying is true, this danger to the universe needs to be dealt with. Now."
"What do you want to do? What is the plan? You do have one, right?" Ashley threw out before I could respond.
Did I?
To my surprise, I sounded like I did. " We should take Dravok to the other Arkhevari, to the Dark Abyss. They will know what to do."
"Do you think that's a good idea?" Xandros queried. "According to you, theHarrowed Oneis strongest there. If whateverhasDravok is there," he shuddered, likely not at the thought of Dravok being hurt or killed, but at the idea of somethingcontrollingDravok.
I gave that a moment of thought.
"It sounds counterintuitive," I agreed slowly. "I know. Bringing him closer to the source of what's hurting him feels like the worst possible decision." I rubbed my hands together, grounding myself. "But everything we've seen so far suggests that proximity changes things. Power isn't constant across environments. It's contextual." Xandros watched me carefully now, not interrupting. "The Arkhevari don't exist in a vacuum," I went on. "Neither do the things they're connected to. Whatever rules govern Nox Eternum don't apply cleanly out here." I hesitated, then added, "And that includes the Mmuhr'Rhong."
I looked up at them. "What you've fought—what you'vekilled—may not be what they truly are."
That was the thought that finally tipped everything into place.
"I haven't encountered them myself," I admitted. "Not directly. But from Nythor's fragments, from what Dravok told me—and from the way the Arkhevari change inside NoxEternum—I don't think the Mmuhr'Rhong outside the Abyss are what they once were."
Ashley's eyes narrowed. "You're saying they degrade."
"Yes," I nodded. "Just like the Arkhevari do." I drew in a slow breath, feeling the pieces click together as I spoke. "Outside the Abyss, Arkhevari lose power. They stabilize. They become… less. More contained." I swallowed. "I think the same thing happens to the Mmuhr'Rhong. What you've fought are echoes. Stripped-down versions."
"And inside?" Xandros asked.
"Inside, they're closer to what they were meant to be."
Silence settled again.
"The balance worked," I continued. "Abyss, Mmuhr'Rhong, entropy, release. Worlds lived. Worlds ended. Nothing carried forward that couldn't rest."
"And then the Arkhevari interfered," Ashley nodded.
"Yes," I agreed. "They didn't just interrupt the Abyss; they disrupted the entire cycle. By absorbing the worlds' stories, histories, and identities, they removed the very thing the Mmuhr'Rhong existed to break down."
"So you think the…Harrowed One," Ashley didn't make the finger air quotation marks; she didn't need to. Her tone said it all. "Has or is adapting?"
"Yes."
"Then we need to stop it," Xandros agreed.
A sigh escaped me. For now, at least, they would help me—help Dravok. Whatever Xandros and Ashley ultimately decided, we were moving him closer to Nox Eternum. Closer to the place where he might remember who he was, where his power could realign instead of fracture.
It was a risk. I knew that. Because we might be walking him straight into the grasp of the Abyss—playing directly intothe hands of the thing that wanted him broken, isolated, and claimed.
