CHAPTER 34: THE FORGOTTEN CITY OF KARETH’ZUL

The fractured halo behind Noctis shimmered, casting jagged purple light across the black stone of the throne room. When he spoke again, his voice seemed to press the very walls inward.

"Vessels of the Death Gods... and the ones who command them," he began, "your games, your killings, and your alliances, all of them are threads in a far greater design. A design most of you will never see."

The oppressive stillness deepened. Even the ever-present hum of soul energy seemed to fade, as though the Mansion itself was holding its breath.

"I did not summon you here to speak of who is winning or losing," Noctis continued. "The tournament will decide that soon enough. I summoned you because we are... altering the conditions."

Anna Mary’s eyes narrowed. "What kind of alterations?"

"You may have noticed," Noctis said, "that some players have been called here already knowing the faces beside them, those in alliances were summoned together. As for the rest..." His gaze swept the hall like a cold tide. "I have chosen for them. Random selections, forced into teams."

Stephan glanced at Yennefer, then at Anna Mary. They exchanged a look, weighing the irony. "We don’t make a bad team," Stephan muttered under his breath.

"This arrangement," Noctis said, "is temporary. But where you are going, you will need each other, or you will not last long. You are being sent into a survival dimension. The rules there are... not merciful."

The fractured halo behind Noctis dimmed, and the purple light spilling across the throne room’s black stone took on a deeper, almost bloody hue.

"The realm I will send you to," he said, his voice slow, "is not part of your world... nor the next. It is a creation of mine.....and of other Death Gods who, like me, take no side in your endless games. We call it... The Soul Maw."

The air seemed to grow heavier with the name, as if the words themselves carried weight.

"It is a place that breathes hunger," Noctis continued. "Broken lands adrift in an endless void, stitched together only by the screams of the devoured. Its skies are black and endless, but the ground beneath your feet will not remain where it is for long. Whole islands vanish. New ones are born. All of it... shifting."

Anna Mary frowned. "And what lives there?"

Noctis’s gaze slid to her, and for a moment his eyes shimmered like a dying star.

"Everything there is a predator. The air, the shadows... the Soul Eaters. Low-born ones will come in swarms, tearing at you until nothing remains. High-born ones... will not rush. They will stalk you and watch you. They will speak to you before they feed. If you are clever, or fortunate, you may reap their souls before they reap yours. You will need to. Starvation in the Maw... is not hunger as you know it. It is your soul unraveling thread by thread."

Stephan scowled. "So we just have to... survive?"

"Yes," Noctis said, leaning back in his throne. "Survive thirty days in the Maw. In your world’s measure... thirty hours. When the time ends, the realm will collapse and cast out whoever remains breathing."

"And these alliances?" Yennefer asked.

"Temporary," Noctis said. "Break them or keep them as you wish. Kill your allies if it serves you and aid them if it serves you more. The Maw does not care for loyalty....only survival."

The silence after his words was suffocating, broken only by the slow creak of his throne as he shifted forward. "Remember this, vessels, the Maw does not judge. Neither do I. But it remembers. And when you stand before me again... I will know how you survived."

"As I am speaking," Noctis went on, his tone flat as if discussing the weather, "we have recorded nineteen deaths... which means nineteen players have already been eliminated."

Well, somebody got themselves killed really early, Stephan thought, a corner of his mouth twitching. I’ll be doing a lot of killing myself inside that Soul Maw. My turn is coming soon.

"This brings the number of remaining players to eighty-one," Noctis continued, his gaze sweeping across the unseen room, meeting each presence though none could see the others. "With that number, you’ve been grouped into teams of three... which brings the total to twenty-seven teams."

Yennefer looked at Stephan uneasily. Stephan felt her eyes on him but ignored her. She wasn’t a problem.

"I would like to let you know," Noctis said, his voice rumbling like distant thunder, "that there’s a massive rank gap among you all. Some of you are still F-rank... whilst others have already reached S-rank."

"You’ve got to be fucking kidding me," Anna Mary blurted, startled. "S-rank, really?"

The fractured halo behind Noctis shimmered faintly, as though amused.

Yennefer kept quiet, searching for the right words for what felt like a bomb dropped in her lap.

Stephan remained calm as ever, slipping his hands into his pockets, a faint, knowing smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Rank will matter," Noctis added, "but it will not decide your survival. The Soul Maw devours arrogance and fear alike. Even an S-rank can be torn apart if they hesitate."

"Could he be an S-rank?" Anna Mary asked.

"Who?" Yennefer said.

"The mystery man from Stephan’s room."

"Doesn’t matter," Stephan said calmly. "He’s gonna get his ass handed to him if he comes for me."

Anna Mary and Yennefer exchanged uneasy glances. If they’d already been shaken by Gabuzar and Salimi, A and B-rank respectively, how could they possibly stand against an S-rank? They were both E-ranks, Grief was probably a high E, and Stephan was only D-rank. Facing an S-rank wasn’t a fight. It was suicide.

"Prepare yourselves," Noctis said. His halo flared, jagged light cutting across the black walls. "I now send you into the Soul Maw Dimension."

The floor beneath their feet rippled like ink disturbed by a stone. The cold air turned sharp, and a sensation like falling sideways seized their bodies. Soul energy roared in their ears, and the world dissolved into a violet-black vortex.

When the spinning stopped, the stench hit first, burnt ozone mixed with the sour tang of rot.

Stephan’s boots crunched against something brittle. Bone fragments scattered at his step. The air was heavy, thick with dampness, and carried an unnatural chill that seemed to seep into their bones.

They stood at the mouth of a massive street,if it could still be called that. Jagged ruins of black stone loomed on both sides, their towering structures cracked and leaning at impossible angles. Far above, the "sky" was a churning dome of black clouds, pulsing faintly with veins of silver light, like the ceiling of some colossal, cursed arena.

Twisted spires clawed upward, their silhouettes broken by collapsed bridges and skeletal remnants of once-proud towers. Between them, the city yawned open into alleys and half-buried plazas littered with debris.

"This is... huge," Anna Mary whispered, her voice barely carrying in the oppressive stillness.Stephan didn’t answer. His gaze traced the horizon, where the tallest tower stabbed into the black sky like a spear. He could feel it, somewhere in this city, the Maw was watching. And it was hungry.

DING!

[SYSTEM ALERT]

[WARNING: UNREGISTERED DOMAIN DETECTED]

[You have entered (The Soul Maw)]

[Designation: Forgotten City of Kareth’Zul]

[Environmental Status: Unknown]

[Atmospheric Analysis:]

• Artificial Sky – Non-natural celestial dome detected.

•Air composition: Contaminated with necrosporic particles (unidentifiable by current database).

• Structural Integrity: City collapse at 72% – unstable pathways ahead.

• Hostile Presence: Indeterminate. Multiple entities outside recognition parameters.

[System Protocols:]

• Mapping functions DISABLED (interference detected).

•Threat identification DISABLED (entities exceed system classification).

• Skill efficiency reduced by 19% (environmental corruption).

[Caution: This zone is alien to all known system frameworks. Interaction risks are unknown. Survival probability will fluctuate without warning.]

[Proceed at your own peril.]

Huh? Stephan blinked. The system finally decides to show up,after leaving me hanging in the Void Mansion? Wow. Really, Lucidas?

He was torn between mild relief and deep irritation. The notification had appeared, sure, but with gaping holes in its usual data. No early warning of threats. No tactical readouts. Nothing but vague nonsense. Apparently, this place was so foreign even the system was disoriented.

And seriously, what in the hell was the Forgotten City of Kareth’Zul?

"Okay... this is new," Anna Mary said, scanning their surroundings with wide eyes. "It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before."

"This is like being dropped into the middle of nowhere," Yennefer murmured, her voice low.

"Where do we start?" Stephan asked, cutting through their daze.

Anna Mary turned to him slowly, incredulous. "I’m sorry....what?"

"We can’t just stand here and wait for something to happen," Stephan said, his tone firm.

"So what are you suggesting?" Yennefer shot back. "March straight into an alien city we know nothing about?"

"We can’t sit here until other players find us first," Stephan countered. "That would put us at a disadvantage...."

"And we can’t wander aimlessly and walk right into their hands," Yennefer interrupted.

Stephan’s eyes narrowed. "The other players are just like us, no one knows a damn thing about this place. They’re probably as blind as we are. But I’m not staying here, whether you like it or not. You work for me, remember?"

"I could just refuse," Yennefer said, voice icy.

"Then I could just kill you," Stephan warned, his voice colder still.

"Enough!" Anna Mary cut in. "You’re doing exactly what the other players would want, fighting among ourselves." She exhaled sharply, then glanced at Stephan. "I’m afraid I have to side with him. We can’t stay he...."

Her words were swallowed by a sound that froze the air. A howl,deep and unnatural that rolled through the streets. It wasn’t wolf or a dog. It was something outside of the human world. The creatures of the Soul Maw had taken notice. Their first challenge was here.