Abyssal Awakening

Now that they were journeying on their own, Ria stretched her body before letting out a sigh.

"Right then, is there anywhere you want to go? We\'re free to go anywhere now." Ria asked as she laid out the map.

"I don\'t really have a place in mind. Weren\'t we going to go straight to your friend, Luke?" Alice tilted her head since she wasn\'t familiar with the Abyss nor did she have a destination in mind.

Her only goal right now was to get stronger and erase her old family. To her, the destination did not matter so long as she could train and get more Sigils.

"Hmm… Okay! Luke is attending an Academy pretty far away from us so we\'ll need to take a few rests on the way there. The first stop will be Valentia, it\'s a pretty religious city for the Church of the Moon. However, they have good Hunter requests there where we can earn some travel funds.

It\'s mostly to do with bringing beasts to the Church and they give you some good rewards for them." Ria suggested as Alice was slightly on the fence about this.

With Church of the Moon and the Zenia being close to one another, there was a chance that the Zenia\'s could be there and they run into each other.

"Is there a place… less religious and possibly not tied to my old family?" Alice asked meekly as she felt a bit awkward saying no to Ria\'s suggestion.

"Ah right, sorry I completely forgot about that." Ria apologised as she slapped her own head, realising the issue with the first destination.

"Alright let me see hmm… If we travel north bound towards the mainland, we can go to the free city of Isilvaria instead. Like Zadash, it\'s a Hunter orientated city but all three Churches appear there.

However, it has one of the biggest free markets without going to the mainland so we can get some equipment and supplies there without issue." Ria suggested, pointing at Isilvaria which was located on the map.

"Free market?"

"Basically, it means the city lord doesn\'t intervene with the market. All of the prices, wares and so on are dictated by the merchants. If you\'re not careful you can be scammed but there are hidden gems there." Ria nodded her head with a smile.

Hearing this, Alice thought for a moment before agreeing.

"Do you think they\'ll be able to fix these gauntlets? It took a bit of damage and the mechanism is making noises that it shouldn\'t." Alice asked, pointing at her arm.

Her gauntlet had taken some damage during the fight against the Champion when she held onto to thread and hadn\'t been fixed since then. While it\'s been holding on well, Alice didn\'t want to push it if she could help it.

"Probably. There are a bunch of blacksmiths there that can have a look at the thing. You might want to hide the thread and your bracelet though, if the wrong kind of people see it, they might try to steal them from you." Ria warned.

"I know, don\'t worry." Alice reassured.

"Anyways, that doesn\'t change the fact that we still have to travel by foot for quite a while. We can probably get some food by killing some beasts and draining their blood carefully. Thankfully, grandfather has already taught me how to do it so we\'ll be fine." Ria reassured as Alice felt a little uneasy but nodded her head.

Even though Ria\'s directional sense was bad, she was here to cover for that weakness. On the other hand, Alice was clueless on surviving in the wild but Ria had the knowledge.

With the two of them working together, making their way to Isilvaria shouldn\'t be too difficult.

\'Cayla hasn\'t responded to anything yet… Maybe she\'ll wake up when I get my third Sigil. Then again, Allura mentioned that she didn\'t want Cayla waking up too soon.\' Alice sighed as she grabbed her version of the map and tried to pinpoint their location as well as what direction they were facing using the landmark.

With only the knowledge that they were on a cliff with the Abyss Waters behind her, it took them quite a while to find their location. And once this was known, the two set off through the forest in front of them to get back to the main roads.

###

"Still sad that she\'s going on her own now?" Allura smiled as Gin had wanted to watch over her one last time before leaving.

"Hush it. As someone who\'s been looking after her ever since I rescued her from the clutches of the Cult, it\'s hard not to worry about her safety no matter how strong she is. Even if she was to become an Abyss Lord in the future, I would still worry." Gin sighed deeply as his gaze lingered on Ria.

"Just how parental figures are I suppose." Allura shrugged with a smirk but Gin only rolled his eyes.

"You\'re no better. In fact, you\'re more sentimental than me despite having lived longer!" He retorted since he could clearly see her reluctance. She was just better at hiding it.

The fact that she had given Alice a life saving amulet infused with so much of her power proves that point.

Acting as though she didn\'t hear anything, Allura started to fly away from the area.

She knew that Gin was right. Even though it was brief, the time she had spent with Alice was enjoyable for her. A lost child in the Abyss abandoned by her own family.

A girl whose heart was fragile like glass and desperately fought to keep her feelings bottled up inside. Her wariness against the world that harmed her so.

And yet despite this, Alice decided to trust her, sharing her deepest secrets and exposing herself entirely.

It would be easy to recluse herself from the world, hiding in some unknown corner and not letting anyone approach her. Yet she took that step.

Allura saw this girl as family and not just one of the many that she would meet over the course of these long years. To her, Alice was irreplaceable, and she wished all the happiness in the world for her.

\'*sigh…* I\'m not even a mother and I feel like I\'m watching a daughter leave the house.\' Allura thought to herself. Alice was like a daughter to her rather than a disciple.

Shaking her head, she focused on the task at hand and that was to eliminate the hidden dangers that might be gunning after Alice due to her possession of the Eye. However, she had to be careful with her actions since one wrong move and it\'ll inform her enemies regarding the situation in the Abyss.

"So where are we going first?" Gin asked curiously.

"We\'ll be going to the frontlines. You know how battles are being waged between the three big religions with some powerful kingdoms trying to intervene. We\'ll be allying ourselves with the kingdoms as having the Churches get more powerful only spells disaster for everyone." Allura narrowed her eyes.

"The Church of the Sun\'s ultimate goal is to preserve the current world order but with them being in the centre. The Moon aims to have everyone worship the Goddess of the Moon in an eternal slumber where their physical bodies perish yet the mind and spirit lived on. The Cult wishes to plunge this world into constant bloodshed as a tribute to their lord.

If any of these three come out on top it\'ll become very difficult to stop them from doing whatever they want.

"The only reason why they haven\'t done so is because the God\'s Apostles are keeping each other in check. Having one being injured or fall in battle spells doom for the Church and if things get really bad, even the God themselves."

Hearing this, Gin furrowed his brows since this was the first time he had heard of such a thing.

"What do you mean?"

"When a God designates Apostles, they share a portion of their power to the follower. Should they fall, that power is forever lost. Apostles gain power for their Gods through belief and if your Church was to appear weak then the God loses power. If a God grows too weak, others can take advantage." Allura explained since she had personally seen Gods die in battle.

In the forgotten era, it was a constant war between the religions along with the outer Gods peering in, trying to invade the two realms that had merged as a result of the war.

Each religion wanted to become the dominant force yet the Sun, Moon and Eclipse were tied in power. The other religions fell short and so did their Gods.

Had it not been for the threat the outer Gods possessed, the three Religions would\'ve fought until only one remained.

\'I can\'t let that happen. Not again, I can\'t let such a battle break out while Alice and Ria are still weak.\' Allura bit her lip as she knew such a battle was inevitable.

The Churches were growing their power precisely for this reason. Once they are strong enough to contend against the outer Gods while keeping the others at bay, all hell would break loose.

"Well, I\'ll be damned. Guess there\'s no room for Abyss Lords like us to interfere when Gods are on the playing field." Gin sighed since he knew his strengths and weaknesses. He had already seen a glimpse of the chaotic era to come after the White Death.

Soon, he too would become a relic of the past, old and broken.

"Which is why we need to even it out first before things escalate beyond our control." Allura chuckled.

She had to slow down the growth of the Churches so that Alice and Ria get the time they need to develop their own powers to survive an all out battle between religions.