Abyssal Awakening

Before her was a mountain range with two colossal peaks piercing into the sky. The sheer size and height was far bigger than anything she had ever seen, yet the way the mountain bent towards a singularity that lay in between these peaks defied the laws of nature.

A swirling orb of darkness that radiated violet lights and consumed everything around it. Absorbing the realm into a chasm of oblivion and distorting the very fabric of space surrounding this orb. This distortion created an inverted world where the skies and land have swapped places.

Staring at this orb from afar, it almost looked like an eye belonging to an unspeakable demon that peered into their realm while the residents were ignorant of its existence.

Embedded into the valley itself were countless buildings and towers. Their architecture blended seamlessly with the natural surroundings and invoked a sense of mysteriousness when paired with the vibrant purple motes of light that danced in the air.

Each mote is akin to a celestial firefly, radiating an ephemeral glow upon the land and with the extinction of a mote, another would appear to replace it.

From the heart of the singularity was a cascade of water that poured forth ceaselessly. Its crystalline streams flowed down to the river between the twin peaks and weaved towards the city below the mountains.

Similar to the strange waters that Ria submerged herself into when choosing a bounty, this river shimmered with a strange, otherworldly light that reflected a myriad of colours that danced from the inverted world around the orb.

But that was just what normal people saw.

Through the gaze of Cayla, Alice observed the invisible reality of energy. Swirling currents of Abyssal energy that was being drawn inexorably towards the heart. A mesmerizing kaleidoscope of colours that pulsed and shifted to the rhythm of a beating heart.

It was a sight that filled her with a mixture of wonder and trepidation, for she did not know what this kind of phenomenon represented. Was the Abyss Lord dead? Are they still alive? Will this orb collapse in on itself?

Countless questions floated past her mind as within that swirling vortex lay countless secrets that defied comprehension.

However, on an instinctual level, Alice felt as though she could sense the emotions of the Abyss itself as its energy surrounded the orb.

Mourning.

\'The Abyss… is mourning the Abyss Lord? Why? All of the Abyss Lords of old were sealed and doomed to repent their sins apparently... How come the Abyss is mourning this one? Or was it mourning the others and I simply wasn\'t privy to that information?\' Alice thought to herself as the airship came to a stop at the port.

"Oh gods we\'re here… urg… I\'m feeling nervous now." Ria lamented as she bit her lips while hiding behind Alice.

It was quite the comical sight considering the fact that Alice was a head shorter than Ria.

"I mean it\'s now or never. Didn\'t you send a message to him that you were going to arrive? Though if you want to stand him up we can just sneak out and try not to bump into him." Alice chuckled seeing Ria feeling nervous.

She who wouldn\'t even flinch in the face of a beast was now nervous at what her friend thought regarding her outfit.

"Look, if you want, you can use me as a cover. Point out where your friend is and I\'ll walk you there then you can step out when you\'re ready. How does that sound?" She offered.

Nodding her head without hesitation, Ria took a deep breath and hid behind Alice as the two of them stepped down from the deck and made their way through the docks in search of Ria\'s friend.

###

\'Where\'s Ria? The ship\'s been docked for a while now but she\'s nowhere to be seen…\' Luke sighed as he was currently sitting on a bench by the entrance of the docks.

Seeing the masses of people leave the ship, he couldn\'t help but feel more worried as time went on.

\'Did… Did she get lost? Surely not… Right? Ria\'s not that directionally challenged that she can\'t find a ship. Or is she? Sh*t.\' Sighing in anxiousness, Luke bounced his right leg up and down as the seconds passed by.

Yet there was no sign of Ria.

It wasn\'t until the final passenger had stepped off the ship did he prepare to leave.

However, he noticed a strange girl walking towards him.

She had split hair with one side being white while the other being a dark purple. A pair of curious eyes tinged with a hint of helplessness.

Luke wondered if her eye and hair were the results of Abyss Blood intake or something else since side effects are usually more… pronounced depending on the blood you drank. Rarely would it look harmless like this.

Naturally, he didn\'t know the effects she was suffering from but for all he knew she could be blind in the right eye.

"Sorry to be a bother but are you perhaps Luke?" Alice called out with a small smile as the man in front of him blinked his eyes in confusion before nodding his head.

Seeing the height comparison, Alice couldn\'t help but complain inwardly as everyone in the Abyss seemed abnormally tall, especially Allura while she herself was a meagre 5 foot 2 in comparison.

Squinting her eyes in displeasure, she hid her inner thoughts before carrying the usual smile.

"Yes I am. And you are?" Luke nodded his head.

"Alice Agnelia. A pleasure to meet you. Ria has told me much about you but…"

"Did that girl get lost again? Please don\'t tell me she got lost and missed the airship. If that\'s the case then I\'ll have to commission some people to look for her." Luke sighed as he took off his glasses and massaged his eyes.

"Well… I can guarantee that she didn\'t get lost." Alice smiled awkwardly as she noticed Ria trembling in annoyance while hiding behind some cover.

\'When is she even going to come out.\' She chuckled before turning back to Luke.

"Oh? She didn\'t get lost? Impossible. If she didn\'t get lost then where is she?" He asked, looking around the port but couldn\'t spot anyone that would match the description of Ria.

"You\'re quite certain that she got lost huh?"

"I\'m not sure if you know this but her sense of direction is pretty abysmal. I\'m not talking about standard forgetfulness no. I\'m talking about she\'ll leave the house and never come back because she mistook someone else\'s house as her own and forgot her way back." Luke explained before standing up.

"I\'ll have you know my sense of direction has improved dipsh*t!"

Unable to hold herself back anymore, Ria stepped out of her hiding spot and stormed towards her long-time friend in annoyance.

Hearing the familiar voice, a smile appeared on Luke\'s face as he prepared to recount a few tales regarding her sense of direction. Yet the moment he turned towards her, his smile froze.

She wore a delicate white dress, the fabric billowing around her slender frame with each movement. Silver embroidery traced intricate patterns along the hem of the dress in the design of flowers. The dress itself was modest in length, almost reaching her knees while revealing her slender legs.

Frilled sleeves adorned her arms, giving her an almost vulnerable aura.

On her feet, she wore a pair of silver coloured shoes to match her accessories.

But despite all of this, her language broke the illusion of a frail girl.

"The f*ck do you mean my directional sense is abysmal? If anything same could be said for you when you forgot to eat for 3 days and had to have me kick down your damn door and force-feed you so you didn\'t f*cking die!" Ria raged, forgetting her original goal of making Luke speechless.

Granted, she achieved her goal as Luke was indeed speechless but she hadn\'t noticed.

"Well?" Ria pouted seeing no reaction.

"You… Did you get your head kicked in by an Abyss Beast? I knew you were insane but at least you dressed the part back then. The hell is all this?" Luke asked as he recovered his composure.

"!?!?!" Widening her eyes, Ria felt the urge to smack him in the arm as they had spent quite a lot of time choosing this outfit yet all he had to say was to ask her if she got her head kicked by a beast?!

"I don\'t know about you two but I\'d rather not walk around with suitcases in tow. Perhaps we can find a inn to stay at for now before we continue to argue?" Alice asked, gesturing to the people who were turning their heads towards the trio.

After all, they didn\'t control their voices at all so everyone could hear what they were talking about.

Realising that she was still out in public, Ria felt a little embarrassed but recovered her composure.

"Ah sorry about that. Please, let me show you the way to the Inn. How long will you be staying in Silverwind Valley?" Luke asked curiously as he offered to carry their suitcases.

Without hesitation, Ria threw her suitcase towards him since she wanted to get a bit of revenge while Alice rejected the offer.

"We\'ll be staying here for a while. Me and Alice will be enrolling for a short period and see what we can get from it. We still need to travel to the mainland after this." Ria explained while walking ahead of the two.

"You? Wanting to study?"

"Ha- Ha- very funny jackass." Ria rolled her eyes while giving him the middle finger.

Shaking his head with a smile, Luke walked on ahead and showed them to a relatively cheap Inn that they could afford without any issues.