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| “ | You think you know her better than I do? I have seen the depths of her soul! The darkness within is similar to my own! She has received the legacy of Evil!! | „ |
| ~ Abyss' delusion about Ténébris. |
Abyss is a major villain in the French comic book series Les Légendaires (The Legendaries). He is an extremely powerful and intelligent parasite created by Darkhell, who regards the Dark Sorcerer as his father and strives to pursue his goal of taking over the world of Alysia. He first tried to rule the kingdom of Orchidia through his “sister” Ténébris, Darkhell's daughter, and returns in the World Without Cycle along his resurrected "father".
Abyss is the main antagonist of the World Without Cycle, wich is the last arc of the main series.
Nature[]
Abyss is a parasite who needs to take over a body to interact with the world. When he takes control of a body, he instantly kills and replaces his host. Though he can possess them and leave them alive, under his complete control.
When posing as his host Abyss' looks perfectly normal, though he was noted for his overwhelming aura of evil. But revealing his true nature turns his skin chalk-white and his eyes red.
Although initially genderless, he takes the gender of his host. He can also mutate his host to the point of erasing all trace of humanity in them. Killing his host body is not enough to slay him, the parasite must be destroyed before he can assimilate someone else.
Powers and Abilities[]
In his basic state, Abyss can only possess a host to replace it or to control it. Even then, he is deceptively fast and strong, and can use his tendrils like weapons, but his physical form makes him vulnerable to conventional harm.
Once he gains a human shell, he can use his incredible magic powers and vast knowledge of magic. He can also syphon power and knowledge from his host, to add to his own.
His most dangerous power is his ability to spawn smaller parasites through which he can take complete control of those who swallow them.
He has proved able to bewitch objects to affect people at contact or to brew potions, among others. Moreover, he perfectly masters Darkhell's Maginetic, the technique of genetic mutation through magic. He uses it able to mutate corpses into mighty monsters in a few seconds.
Abyss fights by hurling huge bolts of black and red energy, which he can distort and move at will, and send underground for sneak attacks. He also uses them as "hands" to seize his foes. He is able to create shields of black and red energy and displays great strength and durability.
After parasiting the mighty, sentient Gamera Tree, Abyss gains a huge boost of power, strength and speed, but he needs to drain her regularly. He flies by turning his hair to wings, uses his tail-spike as a weapon with great skill, and fires green lightning, fire, beams and blasts. He can infuse his claws with energy, or create energy barriers. He has total control over the Tree, moving and shaping her frame as he likes, and uses her roots to syphon energy.
Personality[]
Abyss is cruel, selfish, scornful, and overproud. He ruthlessly kills and manipulates anyone he sees fit and proves a very sore loser, refusing to back down until those who thwarted him are dead. In his own twisted way, he considers himself an orphan who wants to reunite with his siblings and pursue the works of his father. Except than said father was Alysia's most evil mage, and the offspring is arguably even worse. Darkhell's daughter Ténébris states that she could pity Abyss, but she is far too disgusted by his crimes to bother and fiercely loathes him.
Abyss regards having been left in his bottle by Darkhell as parental neglect, and strives to prove worthy of him, by taking over Alysia in his name. In the same way, he regards Ténébris as his sister and wants to keep her forever by his side no matter the cost. However, Abyss' fraternal love is extremely twisted and disturbing, verging on an incestuous infatuation (although they are technically not related).
Abyss is delusionally persuaded that Ténébris is as evil as he is, even after her redemption, and that brainwashing her would merely turn her back into what she always should have been. As such, he thinks that she and him belong together, and cannot fathom her hatred for him. After he returns, though he rescues Darkhell right after learning that he is alive in this reality and obeys him, he lies that Ténébris is not his daughter, and takes the lead more often than not, annoying his "father". He now regards Ténébris rejection as treason and wants revenge.
Abyss is extremely intelligent, devious and cunning, being able to devise complex plans, to adapt them to circumstances, and to understand the situation from very small details. He is a master manipulator, who played everyone like a fiddle, and uses lies and half-truth to fit his narrative. Moreover, he has all of his hosts' memories, knowledge and skills, with which he can impersonate them flawlessly.
Background[]
Abyss was created by the dreaded Darkhell prior to the start of the series. It is said that he is the result of a failed experiment to create an heir of sorts to the Dark Sorcerer, left in his bottle for being unsuitable. What Darkhell planned to do with him is not known.
Professor Kalisto Vangelis.
Sometime after the Legendaries killed the God Anathos, or perhaps even before, Abyss was accidentally released by Professor Kalisto Vangelis, the royal medic of Orchidia Kingdom, who was secretly in love with Queen Adeyrid. ("A des rides" being French for "has wrinkles".)
The queen was fated to die within months due to a case of the incurable Lerdamer disease, and Vangelis could not bear to let her die. As such, he sought the Darkhell's knowledge, who had collaborated with the kingdom in a time of need.
Thirty years before the start of the story, Queen Adeyrid, unable to bear children after an accident, made a secret pact with Darkhell to provide an heiress to Orchidia's line of Mage Queens. Assisted by Vangelis, Darkhell had her magically give birth to a daughter. (In fact, Kalandre arranged this bargain from behind the scenes.)
However, Darkhell wanted the child for him alone and abducted her as she was born, raising her and naming her Ténébris. A few years later, Vangelis used his notes to replicate the spell with alterations, to give birth to Princess Jadina, who would later be part of the Legendaries.
With that in mind, Vangelis entered the ruins of Casthell, Darkhell's castle, in spite of the many monsters still living here, and took as many things as he could from the late Dark Sorcerer's laboratory. (Darkhell having been defeated in battle years prior by the Legendaries, with the divine Stone of Jovenia being broken, turning everyone in Alysia into children.)
Alas this proved his undoing, as the bottle containing Abyss was one of the artefacts he found in Casthell. As soon as he made the mistake of opening it, his corpse served as the parasite's new skin...
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Abyss' new skin.
Crisis in Orchidia[]
Search for the Emeraudia[]
As the Legendaries (the mage princess Jadina, the beastman Gryf, the Elementary Elf Shimy, the Barbarian Razzia and Darkhell's redeemed daughter Ténébris) are partying in a tavern to celebrate the death of the God Anathos, who destroyed a huge part of the world of Alysia, they are attacked by soldiers from Jadina's home-country of Orchidia.
It turns out to be a misunderstanding however, as Jadina's father figure Professor Vangelis reveals that Queen Adeyrid merely requested Jadina and the Legendaries to visit her.
On their way, the Legendaries learn that the kingdom of Orchidia owes its prosperity to the gigantic Gamera Tree that towers over it, whose sap can be turned into a highly valuable magic-amplifying jade when extracted. (However, the jade is extracted by mutilating the tree's roots on a large scale.)
There, Queen Adeyrid reveals the secret behind Ténébris' and Jadina's birth and gives them one day to decide which one of them will become queen after she dies. If they both refuse the throne, it would be given to Jadina's tyrannical cousin Count Kasino (who contrary to them is overjoyed by this prospect) marking the end of the Magician Queens.
Jadina later reveals that she travelled into the deepest pits of the Gamera Mines in order to search for a jade powerful enough to be used against the God of Evil. There, she made a fall that would have killed her had she not landed in the Emeraudia, the magical substance which sustains the Gamera Tree and gives it its power. It fully healed Jadina and granted her the healing factor and power boost which puzzled her companions during the battle against Anathos. She resolves to go back there and use the Emeraudia to cure Queen Adeyrid from her disease.
Professor Vangelis notices that Jadina bears no scar from the wound inflicted by Anathos or the surgery he performed to save her life back then, and decides to go with the Legendaries to perform tests on the Emeraudia. However, Count Kasino's bodyguards spied on them and the corrupt aristocrat resolves to follow them into the mines to kill them and make it pass as an accident, to be the only heir left to the throne.
Struggles in the mines[]
The following day, Ténébris enters Professor Vangelis's lab to tell him that the Legendaries are about to venture into the mines. She accidentally hits Vangelis when he creeps behind her to pull a prank. As the Legendaries enter the mines, Jadina warns them that they cannot use their powers, as the magic-amplifying power of the Gamera Tree would react to them and cause a disastrous overload.
Professor Vangelis then sprays a mixture of his invention on their eyes to enable them to see in darkness as clearly as in daytime. (He does not use it on Shimy, who is blind and uses magic brooches to see, and Amy, Razzia's demonic prosthetic arm, who goes into slumber. However, he warns Shimy never to use her Aura Vision to avoid a magic overload.) Meanwhile, Queen Adeyrid gets mysteriously poisoned after reading a letter in which Vangelis reveals that he suspects Jadina to be an imposter.
One night, as Vangelis is comforting Ténébris, who laments the fact that the mother she wanted to meet never displays parental affection, telling her that his own father also let him down. Kasino and his bodyguards blow up a cliff to make it collapse on the dorm where the Legendaries are sleeping. Ténébris manages to protect the building, but the mines are too vast to track down the culprit. Later, Jadina starts behaving strangely and carnivorous plants erupt from the roots to disperse the Legendaries. Vangelis then tells the Legendaries that the Jadina who travelled with them is a clone. (He noticed that she lacks the real Jadina's birthmark when she showed them that all her injuries were healed.)
Count Kasino and his female bodyguards.
Before they can do anything, they run into Count Kasino who attacks them with his bodyguards. The two highly skilled assassins battle the Legendaries in perfect synchronization and prove to be a match for them. Shimy then makes the mistake to use her elementary power over earth, and the ensuing magic overload causes a cave in. Razzia and Gryf only owe their lives to Amy's intervention, while Kasino's bodyguards are not so lucky.
As they rush to Vangelis' rescue, they watch the fake Jadina kill Count Kasino with her bare hand and try to rush after her, but Vangelis is so scared that he accidentally prevents them from pursuing her. The group then finds a shell-shocked Shimy, who just discovered the corpse of the real Jadina. The grieving Legendaries confront the fake Jadina, who is too powerful to be subdued, until Vangelis injects her with an anti-magic serum that renders her powerless and she gets captured.
Ténébris's rule[]
Queen Ténébris and First Advisor Vangelis, with a sinister shadow behind.
Jadina's Clone is held captive as the primary suspect in Queen Adeyrid's poisoning, being injected with the anti-magic serum daily. But she does not know who she is herself and expresses concern for the Queen's wellbeing. Real Jadina or not, the Legendaries cannot bring themselves to believe that the one who fought by their side against Anathos could be evil.
They later learn that the members of the Royal Council of Orchidia were arrested, as evidence proving their responsibility in the coup d'état were discovered; that Vangelis was named First Advisor; and that Ténébris decided to become Queen of Orchidia.
She reasons that with Danaël (the former leader of the Legendaries who got possessed by Anathos and died alongside him) and Jadina dead, their group has lost all meaning and that they must now find another way to help the world. However, the Legendaries are not convinced by Ténébris' and Vangelis' sudden change in personality, and start to investigate.
Vangelis' awful evil aura.
Gryf learns that Count Kasino was killed with a metallic blade instead of Jadina's Clone hand as they thought, while Shimy ventures into Vangelis' laboratory and discover a bottle wrapped in Darkhell's banner imbued with a frightening evil aura. As for Razzia, he begins to think that it was Ténébris who killed Kasino, something that Amy confirms. (She tried to warn him immediately but he refused to listen in the heat of the moment.)
The Legendaries realize that they saw Jadina instead of Ténébris due to an illusion caused by Vangelis' mixture to see in the dark, and start suspecting him. Suspicion later confirmed when Shimy senses the bottle's overwhelming evil aura coming from Vangelis, and from within Ténébris' body albeit much weaker.
Shimy and Razzia ambush Ténébris, allowing Razzia to extract the parasite that was controlling her with Amy's powers. Meanwhile, Gryf infiltrates the public execution of Jadina's Clone intending to save the one whom the Legendaries still regard as a comrade.
The parasite controlling Ténébris.
However, Razzia makes the mistake of squishing the parasite despite Ténébris' warnings, with Vangelis sensing his creature's destruction and figuring out that the Legendaries know too much.
The three rush to the arena where Jadina's Clone is about to be executed to help Gryf, who has just freed the clone and is taking her to safety. However, Vangelis activates a trap he devised to prevent any escape which knocks Gryf out with a powerful energy blast.
Confronting Abyss[]
| “ | With Ténébris no longer under my control, I figured out that the Legendaries have understood my plan, or part of it. But I refuse to escape without the compensation of your death! | „ |
| ~ Abyss to Jadina's Clone. |
Enraged, "Vangelis" restrains Jadina's Clone with a spear, cursing the Legendaries for ruining his schemes. He gleefully reveals to a shocked Jadina (who was practically raised by Vangelis) that he is not who he appears to be. Abyss took profit from the succession crisis and devised an intricate plan to put Ténébris on the throne of Orchidia as a puppet-queen, likely planning to use its military might to invade the rest of the world afterwards.
- Pretexting to take care of the health of the royal family, of which Ténébris was now officially part, he had her drink a medicine in which he hid a parasite to control her.
- He then left a bewitched letter denouncing Jadina, which would poison Queen Adeyrid upon contact to get her out of the way and create a country-wide panic.
- Abyss initially planned to frame Count Kasino and dispose of Jadina, leaving only Ténébris as an heir to the throne; but upon realizing that "Jadina" was not the real one, he decided that she would make a better scapegoat and changed his plan.
- He followed the Legendaries' expedition pretexting scientific studies on the Emeraudia, and used his illusion-inducing mixture to make them see Jadina instead of Ténébris when she would kill Kasino. He did not expect them to discover the real Jadina's corpse, but he took profit of this to give more credit to his accusations.
- With both heirs dead, he planted false evidence framing the Royal Council for high-treason and get rid of them. Finally, when a brainwashed Ténébris was appointed Queen of Orchidia, he had her name him First Advisor to rule by her side. Vangelis being an old friend of the royals, the promotion would not raise many eyebrows.
It now becomes clear that Abyss crept behind Ténébris in his laboratory pretexting a bad joke to prevent her from discovering the bottle in which he was created. In the same way, he forbade Shimy to use her Aura Vision in the mines, pretexting the danger of a magic overload to prevent her from discovering his true nature. Finally, he feigned fright to prevent the Legendaries from catching Kasino's murderer to maintain his charade. Also, when he told Ténébris about how he wanted to make his late father proud, he was referring to Darkhell.
However, Abyss did not bother keeping a facade of benevolence after gaining power and neglected the fact that the Legendaries would try to investigate further; and like many other evil masterminds, his overconfidence proved his undoing.
- You're gonna suffer for what you did to Ténébris!
- What did I do except giving her the greatness she deserves?
Just before he can kill Jadina's Clone, the Legendaries barge in and Shimy knocks him away with a giant stony hand, while Ténébris orders the evacuation of the arena. Alas, Abyss captures her and easily dispatches the Legendaries, who make the mistake of attacking him one after another.
Jadina's Clone then enters the fray and kisses Abyss on the mouth, injecting him with anti-magic serum through her saliva to weaken him. This is not enough to block all his power but enough to weaken his grasp over Ténébris, who breaks free and angrily knocks him out. Just as she is about to finish him off in spite of Jadina's Clone's pleas, giant roots suddenly erupt from the ground and seize the villain, crushing him into a bloody pulp.
It appears that the Gamera Tree is a sentient being with incredible magic power, and she can no longer stand the mutilation she suffers from the people of Orchidia whom she had been protecting during millennia. Gamera reveals that when Jadina died falling into her cavern, she used her blood to grow a half-human half-vegetal clone, much more powerful that she ever was and virtually immortal, in which she transferred Jadina's soul. As such, the present-day Jadina is both a clone and the real one at the same time. Gamera resurrected the princess hoping to gain an emissary and make the mutilations stop, but Jadina's priority was to defeat Anathos and she sealed away the memories of her rebirth.
Having watched Jadina's battles to save the world through her, Gamera understood that Alysia needs her "daughter" more than she does. As such, she decided to leave the world until mankind would become more responsible with nature; but not before granting Jadina's wish of curing Queen Adeyrid from both the Lerdamer Disease and Abyss' poison.
Gamera then flies away; leaving the Legendaries to reveal the truth about Abyss' schemes while Queen Adeyrid takes back the throne. Adeyrid wishes to mend her relationship with her daughters, which she strained by favouring her royal duties to the point that Jadina hardly knows her mother better than Ténébris does.
However, Jadina knows that Professor Vangelis' love for her mother was requited, and she cannot accept that knowing first-hand the suffering of a marriage of interest, she willingly destined her daughter to another with Prince Halan of Sabledoray (a pun on "sable doré", French for "golden sand"). As she departs, Gamera is seen in space orbiting around Alysia, and Abyss' hand emerging from her roots clenches into a fist, foretelling his eventual return.
World Witout[]
After the Legendaries sacrifices their lives to destroy Kalandre, the Dynaméïs and the remaining Divine Stones that the sorceress stole, reality itself was unravelled into a world where the Legendaries never were. They exist as normal mortals and their victories against Darkhell, Skroa and Anathos were done by the obnoxious writer Artémus del Conquisador ("con qui s'adore" being French for "self-adoring moron" and a pun on Conquistador), who witnessed their last battle and told their story as a tribute, in a series of best-selling novels that made him extremely wealthy.
It is later revealed that Artemus himself wrote the new reality, thanks to splinters of the Divine Stones embedded in his notebook, and that only him can do this, having a splinter in his skull. Six times, he wrote reality as it has been, six times he saw the Legendaries die gruesome death without being able to help. Because of this, he reasoned that the only way to give them the happy, peaceful lives they deserve, was to rewrite them away from heroics.
Artémus is the only one remembering the former world. He meets Danaël and Shimy, now married human farmers, and enrols them in his quest to retrieve Anathos' sword that was stolen. Despite all this, the former Legendaries experience flashbacks of their previous existence, having their former abilities unlocked in dire situations.
Abyss parasiting Gamera
It appears that the reality rewrite only affected the surface of Alysia and the Elven World of Astria, which means that the Gamera Tree and Abyss were spared. Abyss left Vangelis' mangled corpse and infected Gamera herself, draining her power. He left her under the control of a spawn, departing for Alysia in a chunk of its root, which is slowly closing on the surface as a meteor.
As a passer-by named Katanka approaches the site of the meteor crash, he is killed and possessed by Abyss, who swears that revenge against the Legendaries draws near.
Abyss discovers the new Alysia to his surprise, setting out to learn everything he can about this new reality. Notably that Count Kasino and his mother Invidia rule Orchidia, or that this world's Vangelis, plotted to seduce Princess Shun-Day and rule through her, not unlike what he did.
Abyss learns that Darkhell is held in the dreaded Prison Barek, which he storms to set his "father" free, slaughtering guards and killing Kasino (who was visiting) on his wake. He tells the Dark Sorcerer about the real world and the Legendaries, but deliberately lies about being his only family, and that a Legendary pretends to be his daughter.
Tracking down Artémus, Abyss senses Anathos' sword, which was stolen by the Fabulous, a group of heroes in the real world and here a group of thieves. He and Darkhell slaughter the group, killing two and severely wounding their leader Samaël the Indomitable. Darkhell prevents Abyss from finishing them off and they depart with the sword. Later, they destroy Artémus' hometown and kill everybody, hoping to attract his attention but in vain.
As the truth about the World Without starts spreading, King Larbosa of the Larbos Kingdom gathers every monarch to discuss the matter in his castle. Abyss crashes the Gamera Tree on the castle, killing King Larbosa and extorting intel from Princess Shun-Day. He then uses the Gamera roots as loudspeakers, magically sending a message throughout Alysia, to bring him Artemus and the Legendaries, lest he executes the monarchs.
One of Abyss' monstrous creations
The Legendaries barge in on an airship with a decoy of Artémus. Still, Abyss deduces from their uncharacteristic compliance that this is but a trap. He and Darkhell retaliate by killing the elite knights Silver Falcons, save from their leader Captain Shamira.
Noticing that some Legendaries are missing, he deduces that they are trying to save the monarchs. He absorbs the mage princess Jadina's magic blast powered from Gamera, destroys their ship, and turns the Silver Falcons' dead mounts into monsters, which he sends after them.
Annoyed by his creation's demands, Darkhell still agrees to rush after the mage princess Jadina, fearing that she intends to destroy Gamera, while she save her from the parasite and defeats the Dark Sorcerer.
Abyss is defeated at last.
Even with all their allies, the Legendaries are no match for Abyss, who damages Danaël's magic Golden Sword. Even deprived from his energy source and with his "father" dead, he retains enough power to crush them all.
He angrily berates Ténébris for betraying her "family", but she rejects his twisted vision preferring her family of choice. Livid, he prepares to make her share his pain of losing a loved one.
Abyss crushes all his foes, but Danaël rushes at him hidden in Jadina’s magic blast. Abyss is then subdued from behind by Darkhell of all people, enabling Danaël to stab him. Astonished, Abyss demands why, learning that. Darkhell's defeat unlocked his memories of the previous reality, reminding him of the good man he once was, and he dies calling himself Galen.
Abyss is destroyed at last
Abyss leaves his host trying to possess another, but Shun-Day catches and crushes him, ending him once and for all. Alas, the princess went mad remembering. She uses his power to destroy this "fake world" forcing Artémus to sacrifice himself, lifting the Jovenia effect with his last breath.
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 Villains
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Main Antagonist The Hellions Origins Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3 Volume 4 Volume 5 Abyss World Without | ||