Abyssal Awakening

Alice frowned.

She felt a portion of her soul stir.

A sudden chill, a sudden realisation. But she couldn't pinpoint the source.

It was… strange.

The moment when you leave, realising you had forgotten something but not sure what you had forgotten.

And, if you had forgotten it, how did you remember?

Her brows creased.

On top of this strange feeling, her three relics trembled.

Something major connected to the Abyss had just happened.

[I know, just give me a second.] Cayla spoke up before Alice could even request anything.

Nodding her head, Alice closed her right eye and activated Cayla's power.

The seal loosened momentarily and the world divided into two views.

And to give Cayla some assistance, Alice injected energy into the Vision array. A halo spun behind her and she was plunged into a world of information.

Countless strands carrying myriad information flowed past her as Alice focused her mind.

[Hmm… Something in the north. A portion of the Abyss has just… retreated?] Cayla creased her brows.

The Abyss had always been expanding thanks to the Will's interference. But in recent years, it had slowed.

Yet now… a portion retreated?

It didn't seem to be through the Will's commands either. Moreso forced into retreat.

'Isn't the north…'

[Yeah.] Cayla nodded.

Alice took a deep breath and sighed.

She wanted to look on the bright side of things.

Before leaving, Gwen had told Alice to leave everything to her when it came to the north.

With that in mind, Alice decided to trust in her friend.

Deactivating her skill, Alice shook her head and shielded her eyes.

Her next goal was to travel south towards Extalia, to see what's going on with the Zenia family and even end them.

But travelling through the surface was a little rough.

With so many people out to look for her, venturing the Abyss was her safest option unironically.

Even with all of these anomalies walking around.

'Now that we learned a bit more about souls, do you think I'll be able to pull off what the Will did with Arwen? Find the contract within the library and revoke it.' Alice asked curiously.

'I don't see why we wouldn't be able to. With our Sixth Sigil and even the forced level up, it should let us freely navigate the library. The only issue…' Alyss folded her arms.

[Duration. We can't keep the skill on for long since it'll force you out of commission if we do. At that point, it's dangerous for both you and the person you're trying to help.] Cayla sighed.

The biggest issue with Alice's Vision was duration. And even after consulting Griselda, they couldn't find an answer.

Therefore, Alice decided to keep things as they are for now. Any further without proper preparation might make things far worse than what they already are.

'No point overthinking things. For now, let's go to the closest city or town and find our bearings.' Alice suggested.

Cayla nodded her head.

Since she was collecting information anyways, she might as well see if she could find anything through the strands.

Due to the nature of the Abyss and Surface, they couldn't exactly travel south and expect to come out south. Certain… gateways may send them to opposite directions.

Some might send them back north, some might send them east.

Unless it's an established and guarded gateway, one usually can't tell where it might lead.

That's of course if you're a normal Hunter looking for passage.

But for Cayla, this was an easy task.

[Keep going roughly south east from now.]

###

"Oh? Ohya~ Well that's interesting~" Astrelya narrowed her eyes, looking up at the sky.

Subconsciously, she licked her lips as ideas flashed through her mind.

*Pant~

"What… What's interesting?" Ria panted heavily while submerged in a pool of water.

Transparent tendrils latched onto her body draining her of energy. She wanted to get out but she couldn't.

Trapped in a trap she didn't expect.

"You want to know? I suppose I can spare a few words while you get sucked dry by that jelly fish." Astrelya laughed, hovering near Ria on a cloud of stars.

"Are you perhaps aware of the Cog theory?" Astrelya asked as Ria tilted her head.

"I'm not familiar." Ria shook her head, twitching and more energy was sucked away.

The moment she tried to retaliate through a skill, what little energy she built out would dissipate.

"Long ago, in the past, there's a genius who proposed such a theory. The Cog theory. One where our world is made up of invisible cogs. Countless tiny mechanical circles that represented an event.

"And one that transform the fate of our world are called the Cogs of Fate. Just trying to turn that cog isn't easy. You need multiple events to occur, linking up to one another before the Cog of Fate spins." Astrelya explained, transforming her stars into the shape of a Cog.

"When I met her, did you know what she called me?"

Ria couldn't respond, her body turning number. Only her eyes wandered towards Astrelya.

"She called me a blood thirsty monkey who only knows how to chase after a high. Unintelligent, ugly and a slave to my baser instincts. Pft~ And she meant every word. Even if I could kill her, she wasn't the kind to hide her true thoughts." Astrelya laughed, recalling her meeting long ago.

"She called me a loose Cog destined to crumble. Not one of fate no… Such a reward was too good for a monkey like me.

"Even now, I recall that she spoke something to me back then, perhaps a prophecy traced from the Cogs of this world. Yet strangely I do not remember it. All I remember is what she said afterwards." She sighed.

"O' transient Lord of stars, foolish and desperate. My eyes mock thee with a gaze of pity. May you find the crimson string hidden within the maze of stone."

"Nothing more, nothing less. And believe it or not, I was not even the Abyss Lord of Stars back then. It is only when presented by the choice of said title, did I realise she had foreseen where I would end up.

"As the one who could see Cogs, perhaps she skipped ahead and saw that lies at the end. Don't you think?"

To see the end of the story before it even began. What would the reader do?

Would they change the events? To try and rewrite their own end? Or would they simply observe?

"Ah~ but I'm getting off topic. You see, earlier, I felt a stir. One of the Cogs she spoke about had just come true. And the consequences of such can be felt by all who… have a certain affinity with that woman." Astrelya winked.

"And when one Cog of Fate turns, you are sure that the others will follow."

Flicking her finger, motes of star light sunk into the pool of water as crackles of energy followed.

The tendrils latching onto Ria's body let go of her as the main body was burned away in an instant.

Looking at the unconscious Ria, Astrelya sighed and pulled her out of the pool.

"How long would it take your Cog to turn? Assuming you have one."

Tossing Ria onto the ground, Astrelya took out a blade and made a cut along her arm.

Forcing Ria's mouth open, Astrelya fed Ria her blood as Ria's wounds began to heal.

###

". . ."

"Are you feeling unwell?" A girl with white hair asked curiously, looking up at the man holding her hand.

"No. Simply something unexpected." Nyer patted the girl's head before glancing back at the wounded man following behind him.

Even without his core, he was still damaged to this extent.

As expected of the Lord of Destruction. The ultimate spear as well as the ultimate shield.

"Did I not ask you to take things slowly when it comes to experimenting with the new prototypes?" Nyer asked as the Doctor creased his brows and shrugged his shoulders.

"When the opportunity presents itself, can you really blame a man for taking the plunge? But even with the results, I have gotten some much needed data. And did I not complete the task you assigned as per our agreement?"

"No, no you did not." Nyer shook his head, surprising the Doctor.

"Huh?"

"The northern side has been completely cleansed. Everything you did was wasted effort. All that you gained was some data and the loss of precious prototypes." Nyer frowned.

The new Hybrid prototypes, while impressive, were a far cry from the miracle that was Alice.

A false recreation of her blood to create new soldiers.

But this blood… the ingredients to create such horrendous knock offs was far too costly.

The performance to cost ratio was not worth it. They needed something better.

"Give me the research and have Luthor send me some of the prototypes. I'll take a look at it myself. And in return, have the Zenia family carry out these orders." Nyer tossed over a small pouch containing the orders and some samples of blood.

Catching it hastily, the Doctor handed over the some research notes and left.

The girl next to him climbed onto his back and looked the document curiously.

"Interested?" Nyer smiled, patting her head.

"A little. What are they doing?"

"They're trying to recreate your sister's blood. Even for me, there were variables that I couldn't control. She's a one of one with no one else like her." Nyer explained as the girl frowned.

She knew how much difficulty Nyer had gone through to create her. So seeing the attempts of these people, terrible attempts, felt like a mockery to Nyer.

"Stop frowning, creases will form. They can try all they want but they'll never be able to succeed. The cheap knockoffs traded too much for the power of regeneration. They're tools, weapons, not even remotely close to a living 'person'." Nyer smiled, tugging at the girl's cheeks.

There were more important things for him to think about than the failed experiments of the Zenia family.