The abyss is a reversal spell carried by Thalena, who was known as Helena in her youth. It can return a limited area to an earlier state, undoing injuries and deaths and restoring people's positions. Its blue strands form an immense hourglass, accompanied by gongs and ticking as the surrounding colors drain away.
Effects and limits
People within the spell's reach become unable to move or speak before the reversal completes. Its reach has a finite boundary. Beyond it, events continue normally, so reversing one part of a battlefield does not reset everything around it.
Most people return without remembering the previous attempt. Thalion and Tianlei retained their memories, allowing them to recognize repeated events and change their actions. Zero gradually recognized the repetition as well. These memories could leave Thalion disoriented and struggling to distinguish one attempt from another.
Helena's death released the abyss, and danger to people she loved could trigger it too. At Jazarel, she died shielding Zero from the rising volcano. The battle repeatedly returned to an earlier point as Thalion tried to save her and defeat the guardians. Keeping Helena alive eventually stopped the loop, but the spell did not protect everyone: Mia's death was insufficient to cause another reset.
Trying to explain the abyss could also release it. When Thalion attempted to tell the Order what had happened, the hourglass formed above Helena and the conversation returned to an earlier point. This was separate from the spell that prevented him from speaking Oktlix's name.
Inheritance and mastery
Aurelia stole copied power from Abraxas and carried it while her body failed. She sought Ozaith and bore Helena, who inherited the copied magic. Aurelia lost that power to her child.
Helena's early reversals were uncontrolled, but Thalena later mastered the abyss. Her private record stated that she had gained control, and she deliberately used it after Cassian discovered her concealed history. Blue strands rose from her, the room froze, and Cassian returned to an earlier moment without remembering their conversation.
Essence reversal, commonly called the abyss, is a spell that returns Essence within a limited area to an earlier state. It can undo injuries and deaths and restore positions within its reach. Abraxas used it himself; Aurelia copied the spell and passed it to her daughter, Helena.
Effects and limits
Blue strands rise from the caster to form an immense hourglass-shaped spell. Gongs and ticking accompany the casting, colors drain away, and people within range freeze before the reversal completes. Its effect weakens near the boundary. Beyond that boundary, events continue without being reset.
The amount of essence present limits the reversal. Abraxas can move slightly inside it because he carries very little essence. In an essence-poor place it can reverse much farther; in Valrindor, essence fills the world and constrains it. Reversal works differently from ordinary temporal magic and cannot simply open the timerifts needed for time travel.
Memories do not return equally. Thalion and Tianlei retained memories across Helena's repeated reversals, while others recovered fragments or suffered headaches and disorientation. During his fight with Abraxas, Ozaith remembered by retreating to the God Realm before the reset. His spent essence did not return with him, so he could not repeat this indefinitely.
The casting can also be interrupted. At the Battle of Valalav, Thalena began releasing the abyss to save an exhausted Deylin. Eliona's red spellblaster projectile continued moving while the essence-rich surroundings froze. It hit before the reversal completed, leaving foreign particles in Thalena's body and spellwork. She had to separate them from her own essence to survive.
Inheritance and control
The Oracles of Eternity reserved the reversal spell for the Keeper of Prophecies. Abraxas trained Aurelia in copy magic, but she secretly copied part of the complex spell from cave murals near Lake Eternity. She escaped using copied temporal magic. The stolen spell damaged her body, forcing her to heal herself continually while seeking a child powerful enough to inherit it. Helena, her daughter with Ozaith, received the copied magic; Aurelia lost it to her child.
Helena initially had little control over the abyss. Her death or fatal danger to someone she loved could release it, and trying to explain the spell could trigger a reset. At Jazarel, repeated reversals let Thalion change his actions until Helena survived, but they did not save everyone. Mia's death was insufficient to start another reversal.
Thalion tested the spell's triggers and range, and Helena learned to summon it deliberately. As Thalena, she produced a small controlled reversal, remembering it without immediate ill effects. She also erased Cassian's discovery of her concealed history. During the Thalassai battle, she chose against casting: the wider fight or the God Realm could remain beyond its reach.
After a prolonged stay in the void, Thalena's group had become too unstable to pass through a gate. She planned to use the abyss and a black hole to restore them. When she rejoined the group, the abyss was no longer within her. They were subsequently pulled out through the Chronasis gate.
Essence reversal, commonly called the abyss, is an origin magic spell that returns Essence within a limited area to an earlier state. It can undo injuries and deaths and restore positions inside its reach, while activity outside the affected area continues. Abraxas used it himself; Aurelia copied the spell and passed it to her daughter, Helena.
Effects and limits
Blue strands rise from the caster and form an immense hourglass-shaped spell. Gongs and ticking accompany the casting, colors drain away, and people caught within its reach freeze before the reversal completes. The effect weakens toward its boundary. A local reset can leave an enemy or a battle beyond that boundary unchanged.
The amount of essence present constrains the reversal. Abraxas can move slightly within the abyss because he carries very little essence. In an essence-poor place, the spell can reverse much farther; in Valrindor, essence fills the world and limits it. This works differently from ordinary temporal magic and cannot simply open the timerifts needed to travel through time.
Memory is also uneven. Thalion and Tianlei retained memories across Helena's repeated reversals, while others recovered fragments or suffered headaches and disorientation. During his fight with Abraxas, Ozaith kept his memories by withdrawing to the God Realm before each reset. The escape did not renew the essence he spent, so repeated attempts could exhaust him.
Reversal can be interrupted. At the Battle of Valalav, Thalena began releasing the abyss to save an exhausted Deylin. Eliona's red spellblaster projectile kept moving while the essence-rich surroundings froze. It struck before the spell completed and contaminated Thalena's magic and body with foreign particles, which she had to separate from her own essence to survive.
Inheritance and control
The Oracles of Eternity reserved the reversal spell for the Keeper of Prophecies. Abraxas trained Aurelia in copy magic, but she secretly copied part of the complex spell from cave murals near Lake Eternity and escaped using copied temporal magic. Carrying the stolen spell damaged her body. She continually healed herself, then sought a child powerful enough to inherit it. Helena, her daughter with Ozaith, received the copied magic; Aurelia lost it to her child.
Ordinary and origin magic can fight for control inside the same body. Inheriting origin magic sometimes bypasses the restriction on learning both, but many children with the mixed powers die. Xarion thought Helena's half-god parentage and shard had likely helped her survive; Ozaith confirmed that half-gods are stronger from birth. Her survival does not make the inheritance safe for others.
Helena initially had little control over the abyss. It erupted when she died or when someone she loved faced death; trying to explain the spell could also trigger it. At Jazarel, the repeated resets let Thalion change his actions until Helena survived, but they did not save everyone. A death alone was insufficient: Mia's death did not produce another reversal.
Thalion later tested its triggers and range, and Helena learned deliberate control. As Thalena, she summoned a small, stable reversal and retained the experience without immediate ill effects. She also used it to erase Cassian's discovery of her concealed history. Control did not remove its limited reach: during the Thalassai battle, she chose against casting because it might leave the wider battle and the God Realm outside the reset.
Loss of Thalena's abyss
After three years in the void, Thalena's group had become too insubstantial to pass through a gate. She used a partial black hole to hold them together and released the abyss, hoping to restore forms solid enough to escape. With so little essence around them, the reversal continued beyond its usual limit. When it ended, both the black hole and her abyss were gone. The group remained hollow. They subsequently escaped when Hadrian and Astryx pulled them through the Chronasis gate; the rescue did not return her abyss.
Technological forms
The Malverand Intergalactic Empire developed nanotechnology that copies and alters ancient spells into its own versions. Imperial analysis identified altered reflective nanites in Thalena's copied spell. Isandro demonstrated a related hourglass-shaped spell that froze those around him while he remained able to move and recall it. While discussing possible loops and void routes, he also demonstrated a minor local reversal: his surroundings froze briefly while researchers shown on his wrist screen kept moving.