Abyssal Awakening

"What now???" Alice asked, wondering if she heard her wrong.

"Will you be mine? Live with me, work with me and so on. You\'re the first person who ever understood what I was trying to say." Caera clarified with excitement. She could already envision their future together as countless ideas flooded into her mind.

"Erm… This… I\'ll have to pass." Alice forced a smile. She wasn\'t going to be here for long in the first place as this was just a memory.

She couldn\'t exactly help her out in the long run.

\'Stupid. She meant marriage. I\'m pretty sure she wants you to marry her so that you can help her daily.\' [Alice] smirked as Alice choked at the realisation.

Before Caera could continue, one of her assistants grabbed her from behind and pulled her away from Alice.

"I\'m sorry about this, Sir. She\'s not usually this like." The assistant apologised towards Kaden.

"It\'s. . . Fine." Kaden shook his head while Caera was trying to break out of the grip to reach Alice.

"I think we\'re done here for now though. Unless there\'s something else you wanted to ask?" Kaden asked, turning to Alice who had a blush on her face after [Alice] explained what Caera was talking about.

"Huh!? Ah no, that\'s everything." Alice coughed while waving her hand.

Seeing the embarrassment on Alice\'s face, Kaden couldn\'t help but wonder what\'s going on. Reality of the situation was that [Alice] was explaining what happens during a marriage. The exercises in the bed and so on. As someone who never focused on this stuff, Alice was taken by surprise.

"Noo!! Don\'t take her from me! I just found someone who understood me!" Caera called out but she was being restrained.

Quickly escaping the building, Alice felt a shiver down her spine after seeing the enthusiasm behind Caera who was attempting to break out from her assistant\'s grip.

As they left the building, Alice noticed a strange veil manifesting in the skies of Ayr.

A web of energy weaving with one another to form a protective barrier. Each component, packed to the brim with glyphs and what seemed to be ritualistic components.

"What\'s going on?" Alice asked curiously.

Glancing back at Kaden and Allura, both had serious expressions on their face.

"Master has put Ayr on lockdown. This is the strongest protective barrier in the city." Allura explained as Kaden flicked his finger and created a portal to the top of the castle.

As the three of them stepped through, they saw Velouria with her hands clasped together while deploying this barrier.

"Ah you\'re here." Velouria glanced back with a smile.

"I\'m just putting some precautions before we move out since the other Gods are ready. Has Nyer contacted you yet?"

Hearing this, both Kaden and Allura glanced at one another before shaking their head.

"The commander hasn\'t contacted us yet. Should we try to find him?"

"Hmm… Leave it be for now. I\'m sure he\'s sorting something out on his end of things. He\'ll reach out to us when he\'s done. He doesn\'t seem to be in any danger so I\'m not worried." Velouria contemplated for a moment before shaking her head.

Cayla was also missing so Velouria could only assume the two were together right now.

\'Are they exploring the Void?\' She wondered to herself. Knowing Cayla, Velouria was sure that she wouldn\'t stay away for this long unless something unexpected happened.

Nyer always had her best interest at heart so she wasn\'t concerned about him either.

"Kaden, Lua, I want you two to establish a defensive line around Ayr just in case the other Gods try to pull something while we\'re dealing with the Will. You two won\'t be staying behind though so make sure the defences are satisfactory." Velouria ordered while adjusting the barrier around Ayr.

Heeding her command, the two left the castle while Alice wondered what she should do in the meantime.

"Alice, do you recall why the Gods are dealing with the Will?" Velouria asked with a smile.

"Because it\'s expanding right? And that it\'s stronger than all of them so they\'re on guard against it." Alice replied without pause.

"Yes, they\'re on guard against the Will because of its rapid expansion and power. The Gods seek safety in their own domains, but the expansion of the Abyss makes this impossible. Knowing them and the fear they hold towards the Divinity granted by the Will, they will no doubt go after me and Ayr once they achieve their original goal.

"However, I can confidently say that things won\'t happen like it did in history. Do you want to know why?" Velouria chuckled.

"It\'s because of me, right?"

"The Will has chosen this memory for a good reason. It\'s even gone as far as to replicate the sentience, power and thought process of everyone involved to near perfection. Even now, it\'s watching our every move. As beings connected to the Abyss, the Will has countless ways to observe us.

"You hold a great importance to the Will but not irreplaceable. So you need to be wary. When the fight breaks out, there\'s only one thing I want you to do. And that is to stay safe while reaping as many rewards as you can. Avoid the fights between the Lord level beings and Apostles." Velouria warned as Alice furrowed her brows.

"I know it doesn\'t feel good but it\'s too dangerous for now. Right now, my guess is that the Will only has one goal for you and that\'s to shape you into a worthy vessel for it to gain a perfected Divinity. There are three main \'objects\' given to the successor.

"The Crown, The Eyes and The Heart. You\'ve gotten two out of the three. The Will has fixed the crown while the Eyes still slumber. I can no longer feel the connection to the heart but I can sense its existence. And with each passing moment, it continues to grow stronger." Velouria narrowed her eyes.

"The Heart is the most beneficial \'object\' the Will can grant to you. But at the same time, it\'s the most dangerous. The Heart allows you to control the flow of power into your body. It lets you consume pieces of others and store it before utilising it at will. The Crown grants you status, the Eyes grant you Knowledge and the Heart grants you power."

Upon hearing this, Alice froze up and so did [Alice]. Both of them glanced at one another in the mental realm before Alice handed over the controls.

Sensing that something was wrong, Velouria glanced back and saw her chains manifesting across Alice\'s body.

Wondering if it was her failsafe having issues, she was about to say something when [Alice] opened her eyes.

"This Heart. Is it similar to what I can do right now?" She asked, replacing Alice\'s first Sigil with the power of Tiamat. Watching the foreign Sigil manifest itself across Alice\'s body, disguising her contract and replacing the details, Velouria was silent.

A wave of confusion assaulted her mind as for the first time, she was completely stumped. She had no clues nor guesses. Simply observing the change within Alice\'s body was enough to surprise her.

"What… No… How? That\'s impossible…" Velouria muttered in shock.

Stumbling back by a few steps, she furrowed her brows while trying to think of an answer.

"Is something wrong?" [Alice] asked, worried by Velouria\'s reaction.

Turning back to [Alice] Velouria took a deep breath before sighing.

"Just a little. But considering that you\'re not Alice, I must ask you one question." Velouria revealed a fatigued smile, surprising [Alice] since she hadn\'t told Velouria yet.

But it wasn\'t surprising for her to know considering these chains belong to her.

"I\'ll… Answer as best as I can."

Hesitating for a moment, Velouria bit her lip before opening her mouth.

"When you overlay the powers of those you\'ve taken from, what does it feel like? What kind of connection do you make? Do you establish a connection between you and the Abyss?" Velouria asked.

Thinking about it for a moment, [Alice] shook her head.

Every time she\'s established a connection to manifest a Sigil, it had always been with a beast she\'s consumed before. A mass of beasts attached to her, Alice\'s Spiritual Heart. There was no connection made to the Abyss that Velouria is speaking of.

Explaining the rough process to her, [Alice] watched as Velouria sighed in relief.

"Things are still bad but they\'re better than what I had expected. We can still salvage this."

"What can you still salvage?" [Alice] frowned, confused by Velouria\'s cryptic words while Alice was the same.

"Listen to me. You share similar properties to the Heart of the Abyss yet at the same time completely different. I don\'t know how you came across this power but that\'s no longer important. What\'s important is the fact that the three core objects are now within Alice\'s body. When Alice first arrived and I met her, there was a small yet feint connection to the Heart.

"That hasn\'t changed meaning the Will hasn\'t succeeded yet. However, the fact that you\'re able to display a similar power means the Will may not need the real heart in the end. I\'m glad that you don\'t feel the connection to the Abyss since that means you\'re not a replacement for the real heart either.

"The only conclusion I can come up with right now is that there are now two Hearts of the Abyss. One is incomplete and disconnected from the Abyss, you, while the other is missing yet barely connected to Alice. Which then begs my biggest question and worry." Velouria frowned while massaging her eyes.

"Who made the second Heart?"