Abyss System The Rise of the Lord-Chapter 115 Larden and Anuis conversation

Snow fell early over the frozen mountains. The wind howled between the peaks, echoing like the distant lament of some ancient being. Beneath thick layers of snow, inside a cave cut off from the world, there was silence within — while outside raged the merciless dominion of nature.

Inside the cave stood a stone table and two rough chairs. On the table, black tea with slowly rising steam. The light came from a small fire-crystal embedded in the wall, casting a dim yet steady glow.

Larden sat silently, cradling his cup in both palms.

Across from him — Anuis.

Both were old men.

Neither was an ordinary old man.

Anuis broke the silence first.

"You’ve been unable to hide your eyes for a long time now, Larden." He slowly turned his cup. "Let’s talk about the boy."

Larden remained quiet for a moment.

"He is not a boy."

Anuis gave a faint smile.

"Isn’t he five?"

"Age is only a shell," Larden said in a low voice. "What’s inside... is far older."

The wind sent a cold breath slipping through the cave mouth.

Anuis narrowed his eyes.

"A dragon, then?"

"Yes. A high dragon."

The words landed heavily inside the cave.

"But..." Larden continued, "...he bears no dragon form."

Anuis’s hand froze for an instant.

"Impossible."

"I thought the same."

Larden placed his fingers on the table.

"I couldn’t even determine which lineage of dragon he belongs to. His blood is not pure. There is a dark stratum flowing within it."

"A dark stratum?"

"The color of his blood has changed. Dragon blood does not look like that."

Anuis fell silent.

"Mixed lineage?"

"Possibly. Or something even worse."

Silence stretched.

The wind outside grew sharper.

Anuis spoke quietly:

"Are you suspecting him to be a Shadow Dragon?"

Larden gave the slightest nod.

"My instinct tells me so."

The fire-crystal flickered.

The name Shadow Dragon was not spoken lightly. They were rulers of shadow and silence. Unseen, traceless, inexplicable.

"But the probability is extremely low," Anuis said. "Especially among the elite of a high dragon clan — a child like that cannot be born."

"Yes. That’s exactly why the suspicion won’t leave me in peace."

Larden drew a deep breath.

"He is five. Yet the way he thinks... is like a being five hundred years old."

"Don’t exaggerate."

"I’m not."

He closed his eyes.

"He does not fear death."

This time Anuis grew serious.

"Fearlessness is not always courage. Sometimes it is the mark of an inner void."

"No," Larden said. "There is no void in him. There is purpose."

"What purpose?"

"Whether he chose it himself or was forced into it — I don’t know. But he will not turn from that path."

Anuis held his silence.

"And the sword?"

Larden lowered his gaze to the table.

"The black sword."

A heaviness settled in the air.

"It used to be yours, didn’t it?"

Larden nodded slowly.

"Before I renounced the affairs of this world."

Anuis’s eyes widened.

"One of the Seven Dreadful Nightmare weapons?"

"Yes."

For a moment the light in the cave dimmed, then returned.

"Do you know why it was given that name?" Larden asked.

Anuis nodded.

"When an enemy is struck by the blade, they feel themselves inside a dream. But it is not an ordinary dream. It is... real."

"Not real," Larden corrected, calm but firm. "It comes from a layer higher than imagination. A place even consciousness cannot fully comprehend."

Anuis remained silent for a long time.

"Does he know?"

"No."

"And you haven’t told him?"

"Not yet."

The wind howled again through the mouth of the cave.

"They once tried to destroy that weapon," Anuis said softly.

"Yes."

"But you eliminated them one by one. It was your favorite blade."

"And now I no longer need it."

This time the fire-crystal truly trembled.

"Classified as a natural-disaster-level threat."

Anuis closed his eyes.

"The Soul Chain was the same. Its previous owner razed twelve kingdoms in eight days. In the end the Order of Light in Darkness intervened — uselessly."

"I know. The Sun Dragon clan came in person and destroyed it."

Larden nodded slowly.

"A weapon that was annihilated a thousand years ago."

"And now it resides in a five-year-old child."

"Yes."

The only thing that interrupted the conversation of these two old men was silence.

"Do you understand, Larden?" Anuis said at last. "The black sword. The Soul Chain. Unknown dragon blood. And a five-year-old child."

"I understand."

"This is not coincidence."

"No."

Larden lifted his cup.

"He has no talent."

Anuis laughed.

"You call all of this ’no talent’?"

"Yes. He is not naturally gifted."

"Then how...?"

"Effort."

Larden opened his eyes.

"What a naturally gifted person grasps in one glance, he writes down. Repeats dozens of times. First he imprints it in his mind. Then in his body."

Anuis fell quiet.

"That... is extremely dangerous."

"Yes."

"Because natural talent has limits. Effort has none."

The wind howled once more.

"The most dangerous thing," Larden said in a low voice, "is that he does not think of himself as chosen."

"Then what does he think?"

"Even if someone forced him onto this path, he believes he chose it himself."

Anuis’s gaze sharpened.

"People who are forced fall into two categories."

"I know."

"They either kneel. Or they break the entire world."

Larden spoke softly:

"He will not kneel."

A long silence sank into the cave.

Outside, the snowstorm was intensifying.

Anuis finally asked:

"Can you stop him?"

Larden did not answer.

He gazed far away — beyond the snow-covered mountains. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"For now, yes. But one day... I don’t know."

Night deepened over the peaks.

Snowfall slowed, yet the wind remained alive — as though an invisible creature circled the summits, whispering ancient secrets.

Inside the cave, silence grew heavy.

Anuis placed his hand on the table.

"The Soul Chain..." he said, low but clear. "When I first heard its name I was still young."

Larden said nothing.

"There were legends about its destruction. I thought they were fairy tales."

"It was no fairy tale," Larden replied. "It was judgment."

The fire-crystal flickered again.

"Its previous owner..." Anuis’s voice deepened. "Did he truly destroy twelve kingdoms in eight days?"

"Eight days," Larden confirmed. "And each of those days was a separate tragedy."

He closed his eyes, sinking into memory.

"The Soul Chain did not strike the body. It struck the soul. A wound from a sword can heal. But a piece torn from the soul... never returns."

Anuis drew a deep breath.

"That is why the Order of the Sole Light in Darkness decided to eradicate it."

Larden nodded.

"They wanted to destroy not merely the weapon, but the very concept. Because that weapon touched a layer higher than power."

"What layer?"

"The layer of will."

"It is easy to kill a person," Larden continued. "But to sever their purpose... that is another level."

Anuis said slowly:

"And now that weapon is in the hands of a five-year-old."

"Yes."

The wind howled at the cave mouth.

"The most terrifying part," Anuis said, "is that he still does not know the true nature of the weapon."

"He does not know," Larden confirmed.

Anuis’s gaze sharpened.

Larden raised a hand into the air.

"When people see power, they try to explain it. They look for laws. They look for logic. But some powers do not fit into logic."

"Like this weapon?"

"Yes."

He paused for a moment.

"And like him."

Anuis looked down at the tea on the table.

"Tell me about his blood."

Larden took a deep breath.

"Dragon blood does not darken like that. It is pure, bright, warm."

"If he truly is a Shadow Dragon..." Anuis began.

"Then he was created to be hidden."

"And if he is of mixed blood?"

"Then he was born to shatter balance."

After a long silence Anuis asked:

"Is he chosen?"

Larden did not hurry to answer.

"He holds two weapons that millions of beings in this world would kill to possess — yet he does not even know how significant they are."

"You could have told him."

"I could. But carelessness might cause him to die far too quickly."

"Do you think he overestimates himself?"

"He already does. But he is cautious."

"It will be interesting to see what this child achieves in the future."

"I am curious too. Do you know what he saw in the Pool of Spiritual Punishment?"

"Illusions — like everyone else: happiness, or the greatest power they ever dreamed of."

"No. He saw himself possessing the pool. For two full hours. And the pool could not devour his soul."

"Are you serious? This isn’t a fairy tale?"

"It is the truth."

"Was his desire to possess the pool itself? And because it failed to devour him, can we link it to the Soul Chain?"

Larden narrowed his eyes.

"I think his desire is to take power from anything that can possibly give power. Even scholars cannot stop him. There is no mercy in him. If there were, the Soul Chain would not obey him."

"You are raising a monster."

"No. The world is raising him. And there is someone behind him — deliberately guiding these things toward him."

"Simply waiting for his death, Larden? How amusing amid all this complexity."

"For me as well."

Anuis spoke softly:

"Does he truly not fear death?"

"No."

"Why?"

Larden looked into the distance.

"I believe he thinks he has nothing left to lose. Just like me."

"At five years old? What could he possibly have lost at that age?"

"High dragons are born already possessing everything their people, their family, their supreme respect, their power — everything one could dream of. But he has none of it."

These words shocked Anuis. Hearing such things from his old friend was intriguing — yet the boy his friend spoke of carried catastrophic future potential.

"If he is not controlled..." Anuis said.

"He will become a natural calamity."

"That will happen within a century — but in the next decade he still cannot do much."

Larden drank from his cup.

"Yes. Whatever happens, the world no longer interests me. Let it destroy him if it wishes."

Anuis drew a deep breath.

"Do you still think of them? Even after three hundred years?"

The question was heavy.

Larden stayed silent for a long time.

"Not a single moment have I forgotten. Hatred that drips year after year eventually eats everything. I live in a small mountain village, unseen by anyone — you know why."

"It must have been hard. First a hero of the people, then a member of the Order of Light in Darkness, then an enemy of the heavens, and finally left alone with thoughts of everything you lost — it finished you."

"I don’t know. I think perhaps this boy can take revenge for me."

Anuis sighed.

"You haven’t changed at all."

Larden’s gaze turned cold.

"I never will. Soon the Elemental Core will appear. In four years I intend to give it to this boy — to accelerate him."

"If you accepted it yourself your life would lengthen, your level would rise."

"I no longer need life. Not after they took everything from me."

The cup in Larden’s hand shattered; tea splashed everywhere.

"If I cannot see their death," he said, "then perhaps this boy can."

Inside the cave only the two old men remained — and the heavy weight of an ancient decision.

Far beyond the distant mountains, a five-year-old boy stood in the night, black sword in hand.

He did not yet know.

That the sword had chosen him.

That the Soul Chain had awakened.

And that the world had already begun to hear his name.

The mountains were silent.

But silence always comes before the storm.

Friends, what do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comments. Don’t forget to add this novel to your library. Power Stones and Golden Tickets help Chapters come out faster and give me great motivation