The Crucible was already teaching Kael how to survive. The Broken Earth had tested his instincts the Endless Maze had tested how he saw things and who he was and now the Abyssal Sea was waiting for him.
The Abyssal Sea was not a place like places. There were no beaches, no land and no horizon. It was just darkness, water that was blacker than anything and pressure that felt like it was squeezing his bones. Above him the sky. Or what he remembered of the sky. Just went on and on showing him nothing but emptiness.
Kael and the others had been traveling in silence. Lyras Phoenix flames were barely lighting the way making a glow that did not do much to cut through the darkness. The corridors under Kaels feet were like a rope that kept them from getting lost in the blackness.
Lyra asked softly "Why does it always get worse?" Her voice was almost swallowed up by the quiet.
Kael did not say anything. He just kept looking at the water ahead seeing small changes: waves that should not be there shadows under the water that moved on their own and big shapes that moved like they were alive.
Kael knew the Abyssal Sea was alive. It was maybe more alive than the Broken Earth or the Endless Maze. Here even the air seemed to remember him pushing in on him testing how he would react.
The first Leviathan came out of nowhere. It was not one creature but a big mass of tentacles and eyes that looked like empty space. Its roar was like water and metal shaking the ground and going into their chests. Kael reacted fast making his corridors snap into place under his feet moving the pressure of the waves around him like a rock in a river.
Lyra made a ring of fire around them. The Phoenixs flames burned the top of the water making steam and heat. It did not hurt the creature. The Leviathan did not need a body; it was made of dreams and its shape was always changing.
Drake Fenr showed up a moment later coming down from above like a shadow. His Devourer part met the Leviathan eating its tentacles. The creature pulled back then split reforming like it had eaten Drake.
Kael realized that just using force would not work here. They had to work and the Abyssal Sea wanted them to be one. Something they did not want to do.
Elias Grave was watching from above. His armor was like a skeleton shining a little in the light with shadows twisting around him like ink in water. He was talking to himself doing some kind of ritual to figure things out.
He thought, "They are strong but they are not together."
Elias sent creatures into the water things he had made to test Kael and Lyra without fighting them directly. Some of the creatures were eaten by the Leviathan. Others went crazy under the pressure of the Abyssal Sea their minds folding like paper.
Elias was taking notes. He was learning from every attack every time they survived and every time they failed. The Crucible was taking it in. He was taking it in through the Crucible. Knowing things was power and power was surviving.
He said to himself "The dragon-child is good at changing.. The Phoenix is not patient. They are interesting."
The Leviathan came back its tentacles smashing down changing the water and the dark sky like it was playing with reality. Kael made his corridors longer making paths and traps. The tentacles met the corridors bending, folding and sending the attacks back in loops that confused the creature.
Lyras flames followed the patterns hitting points that the corridors showed her. Each hit burned not the water but also the creatures twisted memory unraveling its shape a little at a time.
Drake jumped into the mass, clawing and tearing feeding his Devourer on pieces of the creature.. Every time he succeeded the Leviathan responded, almost pulling him into the abyss.
Kael reacted, snapping his corridors under Drakes feet pulling him free and twisting the environment to their advantage. For a moment they worked together. The Dragon, the Phoenix and the Fenrir. Kael realized that working together was the way to survive.
Even as they fought the Abyssal Sea was testing them in ways. Lyras Observer was showing her all the things that could go wrong: waves falling, corridors. Her friends dying in different timelines. Every vision was trying to overwhelm her.
Kael felt the Infinite Corridor stretching his mind trying to predict the Leviathans every move bending reality beforehand. He felt a pull from the horror part of him: Destroy everything. Eat. Kill. He resisted. He reminded himself that he needed balance, not control.
Drake was doing well in the chaos.. The Devourer was whispering to him promising him power if he gave in. For a moment he hesitated, thinking about the risk.. His instinct won and he kept going.
The Leviathan hit back hard. A wave of water full of memories crashed over them. Lyra was thrown into the deep. Kaels corridors snapped too late. Kael jumped, making a tunnel that looped the water pulling Lyra back into the air.. The force broke part of the Abyssal Sea. Reality tore open. From the tear came a smaller horror: a shadow person with eyes everywhere eating their fear.
It was not a Leviathan. It was something made by the Crucible learning from their battle.
Kael, Lyra and Drake had no choice. They fought it together combining fire, corridors and Devourer in a clash that changed the Abyss. Finally after a time the shadow disappeared absorbed back into the Abyssal Sea.
They were shaken,. Alive.
Lyra gasped, her flames weak. "This is why the Crucible exists " she whispered. "To push us to the edge."
Kael nodded. "Yes.. It will keep going.. We can survive. If we work together."
Drake, wet said, "You survive, but I'm not done." He had respect in his voice acknowledging that Kael and Lyra had passed the test of the Abyss.
For the time Kael let himself think: We might survive this. If we don't lose ourselves first.
Lucifer was watching from above in the Throne Void. He was drinking from a cup of something
He thought, "The dragon-child is changing the phoenix is balancing the wolf is testing instinct. The Abyssal Sea will break most of them. These three survived. The Crucible will teach them more. Soon the real lessons will start."
He leaned back his fingers tapping. The Crucible was getting ready for the layer the Tyrant Skies, where they would have to fight in the air with dragons and learn to be, in charge.
The Abyssal Sea had been survived,. Just barely.. Kael knew, with a cold feeling: the Crucible had only just started to get tougher.