Passing through the Tree of Life, Death falls into a hidden world called the Shadow Lands, where he encounters the Mad Smith — an Undead Maker imprisoned for eons. Mistaking Death for an assassin, the Smith attacks before buying his life with information: he was sealed inside the void alongside his greatest creation, the Abyssal Forge — a sentient forge powered by the Abyss that has spent eons building an army of Abyss-fueled constructs capable of spreading its influence to other worlds. Death gathers Chaos Ore for the Smith, who crafts the Mad Smith's Device to let Death cross the toxic waters surrounding the Forge's lair. Confronting the construct, Death hears its ambitions firsthand before destroying it — and leaves the Mad Smith with a warning not to test the mercy just extended to him.