Abyssal Awakening

"I\'m home!" Carter called out with a smile as the door opened up to show a young boy who was barely half his size. Like Carter, the boy had blonde hair and stared at Alice and Ria curiously.

"They\'re my benefactors. They saved me when a large beast appeared." Carter explained.

"How was mother today?"

"She\'s okay. Mother worried about your safety." The boy replied, running back into the house.

"You can set the parts of the beast to the side by the shed. I\'ll clean it up and prepare it later. Please take a seat inside the house. I won\'t take too long." Carter offered as Alice nodded her head.

Entering through the door, Alice was about to continue when Ria grabbed her arm.

"You should probably take off your boots first." Ria suggested since she didn\'t want them to drag dirt into the houses.

"Eh? Why?"

"Because it\'s going to be dirty if you don\'t. Unlike the inn, this house seems well maintained so let\'s not be the ones to change that." Ria explained while taking off her own shoes.

Still confused by this, Alice only shrugged and took off her shoes.

Entering the house, they could see picture frames of what seems to be Carter\'s family when he was young. It showed his father and mother standing next to each other while Carter held his baby brother when he was just a child.

To their right was the kitchen and dining room while the left had the living room that was connected to the sunroom and a porch.

Alice could see Carter\'s younger brother sitting on the sofa and playing with some wooden figures that had been hand carved. Sitting next to him was an old woman with greying hair wearing a dark green attire with a blanket over her shoulders.

"Pardon the intrusion." Ria bowed slightly as the woman smiled.

"I heard that you\'re Carter\'s benefactors, can I get you something to drink or eat while you wait?" She offered but Ria shook her head.

"No, it\'s fine thank you. We\'re just taking a small break." Ria scratched her cheek as she felt rather awkward intruding in someone else\'s home without warning.

Meanwhile, Alice simply found a spare seat and sat down before leaning back.

Her eyes darted around the home curiously while seeing the pictures and small items placed on the walls of this home.

"Sorry for my friend." Ria apologised.

"Wait sorry for what?" Alice tilted her head in confusion as she was simply doing what she was told.

"It\'s a bit rude to just walk in and sit down without saying anything." Ria sighed, causing Alice to furrow her brows before standing up.

"Erm… Your son said we can sit down so we\'ll be resting for a little bit. We won\'t be long since he\'s just sorting out the beast meat outside."

Watching Alice sit back down again after her statement, Ria felt the urge to facepalm but decided to hold it in for now as the old lady chuckled at her antics.

"Oh it\'s fine. Please, make yourself feel at home. If you need anything to eat, you can find it in the kitchen." She smiled.

"See?" Alice shrugged while glancing at Ria. She wasn\'t sure why Ria was so concerned as they had already allowed them to relax.

Speechless, Ria could only sigh as she sat down and waited patiently.

Now that they were in a house and not living in the wild, they didn\'t need to worry about the dangers and were able to relax their nerves.

Alice was doing the same as she leaned back and closed her eyes.

During their travel, they had always ensured that one of them was always awake in case of an attack.

Even though they were strong enough to kill four star beasts, even weaker beasts could pose a danger in the right circumstances as Alice had learnt after her encounter in the forest where she first met Ria.

It reminded Alice that even though she could see the names above the beast\'s head, she still needed to learn about their habits and powers from the library or else just seeing their names wasn\'t going to be enough.

Knowledge is power and it eliminates the danger of the unknown.

While thinking about how knowledge was useful, Alice couldn\'t help but wonder about Nalem who had gifted her the weapon when she was back in Zadash. He had mentioned that he was going to close the store for a while after hearing about the White Death but the circumstances are unknown to her still.

\'Does he have a deeper connection to the Abyss like Allura and Kaden? I know Allura mentioned that the White Death was unnatural.\' Alice mused to herself since she too was an anomaly to the Abyss.

Her understanding of the Abyss is rudimentary at best due to what little education she received before she was locked away.

Hearing the door open, Alice opened her eyes and glanced towards the sound. Seeing that Carter seemed to be done with his preparations, Alice stood up.

"Are we leaving now?" Alice asked as Carter nodded his head.

"It\'s a little earlier than usual for me but it\'s a good time to sell the meat of the beast along with the other parts of its body." Stepping into the house, he explained the situation to his mother and brother as it\'ll take around 4 to 5 days before he gets home due to the distance needed.

In the meantime, his mother and brother will be staying at the house waiting for his return.

For him, it was always nerve wracking to leave for this long and it was the same for his family but it was necessary.

With Carter saying goodbye to his family, Alice and Ria took this time to sit down in the carriage and noticed that he had place several logs of wood along with other items to sell.

"Is this how normal people live?" Alice asked curiously since she had only known two lifestyles. The first as a prisoner of her family. The second as a Hunter who hunts beasts, either eating them or selling them to the Guild.

"Pretty much. Though most would be living in the city and wouldn\'t need to travel that far." Ria shrugged. She couldn\'t comment much on the topic as she was in a similar situation, only having known two kinds of lifestyles, one of which is being a Hunter.

"Sorry for the wait, saying goodbye is always hard when I have to travel this far. We\'ll be camping out at night but I don\'t think that\'ll be an issue for you two ahaha." Carter smiled as he climbed into the driver seat and grabbed the reins.

"Don\'t worry about it. Once night falls, you can sleep since me and Alice will be keeping watch." Ria waved her hand as Carter nodded and gently whipped the beast.

As the beast pulled the carriage, they made their way through the forest and Alice took this time to rest by laying down on the carriage seats.

"So where were you two originally from?" Carter asked curiously since they had a two day journey ahead of them.

"Slaughter Docks. Was a slave there." Alice replied bluntly. Strictly speaking, the Slaughter Docks was the closest place of origin as she didn\'t know where the Zenia family was located on the surface. She just knew that she was held within the prison.

"I came from Varesa then I went travelling across the Abyss with my grandfather and mentor." Ria followed up.

"Woah, isn\'t Varesa on the other side of the continent? You must\'ve been travelling for a long time then." Carter remarked as they were currently located in the southern part of the continent while Varesa was located in the northwest.

"Been travelling for quite a few years now. Never really had a place to settle down. Plus, we\'re Hunters, we don\'t usually settle down in one place." Ria chuckled. She was a fan of the travelling life as it doesn\'t feel stagnant. To her, life should be like a rushing current, full of energy and excitement as she travelled from place to place.

"I see… Sounds like an interesting life. Doesn\'t fighting every day scare you though? I hate to admit it but I\'m quite fearful of pain. I can\'t imagine myself brawling or fighting with powerful beasts on a daily basis. The ones I hunt for food are animals if you ignore a few strange properties they carry."

"I mean you get used to it. Right Alice?" Ria shrugged as she turned to Alice.

Out of the two of them, Alice was the most fearless one due to her past of being mistreated by her family. She didn\'t know the full details but the fact that she could stare death in the face and laugh was a clear sign that she was used to extreme scenarios.

"Mnm. If you get stabbed in the gut a few times you won\'t be scared since its nothing you haven\'t felt before. It\'s kinda like walking into a dark room with a bunch of beast traps on the floor. If you can\'t see them, you\'re scared and you take your time moving through the room.

But if the room is lit up and you can see where they all are, you just walk through." Alice explained as her past experience in the Zenia family, when paired with her training with Allura, made it so that she wasn\'t afraid of fights in general nor was she afraid of pain.

It was simply something she had to do to survive so she may as well take pleasure in the action of doing so.

"Euff, a rough example but it pretty much sums it up. But you have to remember that Alice isn\'t exactly normal so her view is a little skewed. Most Hunters get used to the fighting but it\'s a barrier not everyone can surpass." Ria chuckled.

Time passed by quickly as the beasts were taken out easily with Ria guarding the carriage. Alice spent most of her time resting while Ria talked with Carter and soon, they arrived at the city surrounding Blackrock Castle.