Abyssal Awakening

Hearing this, Alice nodded her head as he was indeed correct. There was no need to rush things for now.

With the Inverted World bringing her to the past or perhaps a \'recording\' of the history in the Abyss, it was a perfect chance for her to learn more about herself.

Keeping this in mind, Alice had 3 main objectives she wanted to complete.

First: The origin of her blood.

Second: Can she stop people from turning into a beast?

Third: What are the restrictions around her blood? What can or can\'t affect her and the limits of her resistance?

If she could accomplish these three objectives, she\'ll be able to utilize her blood to a much higher degree than before. Whether that be making medicine for Ria so that she can drink blood without worry or helping those who have begun their transformation into a beast.

After collecting enough samples for Nalem to work with, Alice drank another vial of healing blood and slumped in her seat.

Seeing Alice in this state, Allura shuffled a bit closer and patted her head.

"Why do you two like to pat my head so much. There\'s a crown floating there. Honestly, it\'s more of a hassle to try pat it than anything else." Alice grumbled but didn\'t have the energy to move her head away.

"Why not? You\'re small and cute. How often is it that I get to pat someone with two different hair colours?" Allura chuckled while playing around with Alice\'s hair.

"I\'m average height. You\'re just too damn tall. Same goes for Kaden. If you look at Nalem, you can see we\'re both similar heights but he\'s a bit taller." Alice furrowed her brows.

"Regardless, you\'re still small for me." Allura chuckled.

"Everyone\'s small compared to you."

Meanwhile, Kaden simply watched with a smile on his face. Now that he had verified that Allura is Alice\'s adoptive mother in the future, seeing this interaction between the two of them made him smile. Perhaps it was destined after seeing how Allura treats Alice.

With the samples now collected, Nalem excused himself since he had a lot of work to do if he wanted to figure out the origin and properties of Alice\'s blood.

After Nalem left, it was just Alice, Kaden and Allura left in the library.

"Say… I\'ve been meaning to ask but is there mead here?" Alice asked curiously.

With everything going on, she hadn\'t been able to inquire about the holy water. The mead of a long forgotten and destroyed city, what kind of drink would that be?

"Mead? We have mead but why do you ask?" Allura blinked her eyes in confusion.

"I wanna drink it obviously. I want to taste what kind of mead is available in Ayr hehe~" Alice grinned while rubbing her hands excitedly.

She had her flask at the ready but since she didn\'t know how long she was going to be here, she didn\'t want to go through all of her supplies. Plus, it doesn\'t hold as much as her original flask so she couldn\'t continue her rate of drinking.

However, if Ayr had mead of its own then there was no better supply.

"Do you want to go get some or shall I?" Allura glanced over to Kaden who had already returned with mead in hand.

"Damn… I should get a teleporting Sigil, that sh*t is too handy." Alice muttered as she jumped up and looked at the mead that Kaden has brought.

Just the smell alone was enough to make her fantasize about the taste.

But before she could even take a sip, a wave of lethargy washed over her as Alice felt her vision blurring.

Stumbling back, she held her head as she reached out for the drink. Her vision turned dark as she felt herself collapsing back into her seat. She could hear the muffled cries of Allura and Kaden but their voices continued to grow feint.

###

Snapping her eyes open, Alice immediately entered a defensive stance as she found herself floating in an empty void. Around her, a strange flow of darkness with strands of light surrounded her.

The light felt both near and far, within reach but her hand could never touch it.

Surveying her surroundings, Alice sensed a familiarity to this space but she couldn\'t quite put her finger to it.

\'What\'s going on?\' Alice frowned.

Sensing a gaze linger on her back, she jumped forward before twisting her body.

It was at this moment that Alice found out the source of the familiarity.

A pair of eyes stared down at her from above.

"Cayla?!" Alice widened her eyes in surprise. The Cayla in her mind only revealed one eye yet there was two here.

[So you do know of me. Master\'s assumption is correct then, you\'ve come from a time beyond ours.] An unfamiliar voice rang out as strands of light manifested into a woman\'s body.

But unlike before, Cayla didn\'t mimic the Goddess\'s form nor did she mimic Alice\'s. Instead, it was her own body.

Standing before Alice, Cayla narrowed her gaze while scanning Alice from head to toe.

"I suppose if Kaden and Allura noticed me then it\'s only natural for the Goddess to know as well." Alice forced a smile as she could feel a sense of hostility from Cayla. It wasn\'t quite the to the point of killing intent but more so displeasure and annoyance.

\'I\'m guessing Cayla doesn\'t like the fact that I\'m her new master…\' It didn\'t surprise Alice.

After all, how could one be compared to a Goddess?

[Can I… Talk to \'me\'? Or is she unavailable right now?] Cayla asked as her energy felt faint within Alice\'s body.

Like a fire that\'s almost put out yet held on persistently.

"Unavailable sorry. You fall asleep quite often." Alice shook her head as Cayla simply sighed.

[Then I shall talk to you, my future Master.]

Snapping her fingers, Cayla changed their surroundings into a garden with a single table and two seats.

Sitting down, she hugged one of her knees while the other foot helped balance her.

[Future master, if I am in your body, do you know what happened to Ayr?] Cayla asked without beating around the bush.

She wanted to know if her home was still around or if it had fallen to ruin.

Seeing the seriousness in Cayla\'s eyes, Alice understood that this was a very important question to Cayla.

Hesitating for a moment, Alice furrowed her brows before opening her mouth.

"Ayr no longer exists. I only heard about it from Allura by coincidence. If it wasn\'t for that, I doubt Allura would\'ve told me."

Alice decided to be truthful towards Cayla. If she already knew that she was from the future, then a half assed lie wouldn\'t work. In fact, it\'ll even work against her and harm the chances of having a peaceful talk.

Upon hearing Alice\'s answer, Cayla\'s gaze trembled as she clenched her fist and bit her lip. A myriad of emotions swirled within her as every part of her being wanted to deny this truth.

[And the Goddess?]

"Passed on. I talked with a \'residual spirit\' of the Goddess once. She said that she was no longer around and Allura confirmed this." Alice shook her head.

Staying silent, Cayla closed her eyes as she took several deep breaths to calm her mental state. If Alice\'s words are to be trusted then her beloved home was gone and her master, dead.

[How much do you know of Ayr\'s final fate? What happened during its final days?]

"Sorry… I don\'t know much about Ayr. I don\'t even know how I got here but I\'m trying to learn as much as I can."

[I guess that\'s to be expected… Thank you for telling me.] Cayla muttered.

Her displeasure towards Alice had disappeared but all that remained was sadness over the discovery of Ayr and her Master\'s fate.

Alice couldn\'t find the right words to comfort Cayla as the two sat in silence.

[Master will want to see you at some point. All things considered, you are her successor. I\'m sure there are plenty of things she wants to learn from you and vice versa.]

"I\'m not sure how easy it is to arrange a meeting with a Goddess. Plus, isn\'t there a meeting coming up?"

[It\'ll be no hassle. Just let Kaden and Allura know that you want to see her and I\'m sure they\'ll take you to her after some convincing. It\'s not like Master rejects visits in the first place, people are just too intimidated to ask for one.] Cayla shrugged.

To them, the Goddess is a figure that\'s outside of mortal comprehension. They believe she should be looked at from afar but that was no the case at all. In fact, she welcomes people to talk to her.

In a way, the Goddess of the Abyss was a lonely figure who tries her hardest for her citizens and followers.

Without waiting for Alice\'s reply, Cayla cut the connection between the two of them as she sat silently in this realm alone.

Tears began to fall as her shoulders trembled.

Was the destruction truly unavoidable? Could she not change her Master\'s fate?

Cayla didn\'t know.