Abyssal Awakening

'Are we there yet?'

'No.'

'Are we there yet?'

'No.'

'Are you sure we aren't there yet?'

'For the love of- NO!- wait…'

'So we're there now?'

'NO!' Alyss felt like she was losing her mind as Alice was bored.

It's only been two days but she's been asking this over and over again without stop. If they could train and experiment, it wouldn't be bad but the boat they were on couldn't exactly handle their experiments.

One wrong move and they'll all go sinking into the sea.

Cursed with relaxing and doing nothing for three days, Alice resorted to playing around with a ball of blood.

Throwing it up, catching it and so on.

Cayla was keeping herself busy with research and updating the old information that she had.

As the Eye of the Abyss, she had to make sure her information was correct after all.

Alyss was using this time to try and figure out the key workings behind her strange vision but was struggling as well since there were no one to test it against.

Of course, Alice asking her if they were there yet didn't help at all.

On the first day, there was a leviathan preparing to attack the ship which got Alice excited. But the crew dissuaded the beast from approaching even before it could attack.

It was only natural since they can't expect passengers to give them a hand. They needed ways to deal with it themselves.

Naturally, this left Alice disappointed and wanting more.

There were no attacks, no hidden plots, no assassinations, no nothing. Simply peaceful as they travelled the sea.

'I bored!' Alice threw a tantrum as Alyss smacked her on the head.

'I know! Stop saying it every second!'

Clutching her head out of pain, Alice pouted and glared at Alyss before sighing.

###

"FREE!!!! DOM!!!!!!!" Alice shouted out with her arms in the air.

She didn't care what the others were thinking staring at her. She was simply revelling in the joy of being free from the boring torment that was waiting on a ship.

She breathed in the eastern air with a huge smile on her face.

After three days, she finally arrived at the port in Jejin. Compared to the north and even the slaughter docks, the style of the port was a lot different than what she had seen before.

Not only that, but it seemed like red was a prevalent colour in Jejin considering how most of the buildings were covered in it.

The key detail of the port was that the city was rather… vertical in comparison to the other cities. Tall pagodas reached high into the skies with bridges connecting between the buildings.

Golden lanterns hung from the edges of buildings, banners waving in the wind, the shouts of vendors and people mixing into one, boats with dragon designs drifting through the man made rivers through the city. Find more chapters on empire

Everything was different from what Alice was used to and frankly, she loved the scenery.

Far in the distance, giant mountain peaks hidden by clouds could be seen as tiny ant like silhouettes climbed up the colossal stair case.

Strangely, Alice could even see people sitting on what she could only assume to be weapons and other strange items to… fly?

A couple standing on a large green leaf flying through the city, young men posing on swords and even a woman sitting on a lotus.

Just as how the streets were bustling, the air was also filled with people.

If Alice was to jump, there would be a high chance that she collides with someone.

Regardless, there was one thing that Alice wanted sort out immediately.

Outfits!

There was an array of different outfits and Alice couldn't wait to try them all out!

'Ah~ What kind of outfit do I want? Something sexy? Something cute? Something modest?' Alice giggled with a skip in her steps.

It took her a while but Alice soon found the clothing store and it was already packed with customers.

A few of them were whispering to one another about Alice's hair but Alice ignored it and didn't care.

She was here for the clothes not the approval of random people who judge others by how they look.

"Welcome~ Oh my, we got a cutie to visit us today." A seductive voice echoed out from above as Alice glanced towards the source.

She could see a tall woman smiling at her while smoking a long pipe.

She had long white hair with hints of red near the edges, a pair of fox ears, golden eyes and several white fox tails swaying behind her.

She wore an elegant off shoulder red and brown dress with golden flowers, tassels and red highlights.

However, she didn't wear any shoes and simply had a pair of anklets on her ankles.

Tapping her pipe against the railings, a gust of scented incense drifted down as she appeared behind Alice, touching her hair.

"It's rare I see someone with hair like yours so let the owner serve you today. How may I help the esteemed guest?" She asked with a smile.

Seeing the owner take the initiative to greet the customer, the other staff members focused on their own tasks again.

"I want to find something that suits me. What do you think will match my flare?" Alice asked.

She wanted to see what the owner would pick.

"Quite an interesting question. The go to procedure would be to match contrasts. Dark hair with light clothing, light hair with dark clothing. Naturally single colour themes are also acceptable but you have a split of both. Are you looking for something with colour or do you wish to play into the black and white more?" She asked, lifting Alice's fringe and saw the scar.

Before she could observe further, Alice flicked the owner's hand away and covered her right eye again.

"Preferably something that doesn't bring attention to my scar."

"Of course. An unfortunate situation but not one we can't resolve." Tapping her chin, the owner curved her lips into a smile.

"I have the perfect outfit for you my dear."

Waving her hand, she wrapped Alice in her tails as she transported the two of them out of the place and arrived in a different part of the store.

Just as she was about to stay something, her ears jerked up.

"Dear guest… Can I ask that you don't touch my tails inappropriately please?" She asked with a twitching smile.

"Ah!" Alice blinked her eyes and noticed that she was practically bear hugging all of her tails.

She was taken by surprise when the owner wrapped them around her but more so when she felt the fluffiness.

It was a sudden urge that overwhelmed her that she couldn't control.

"Sorry!" Alice apologized as the owner forgave her.

"Now before we begin, allow me to ask dear guests about your budget. After all, I wish to provide you the best service and outfits possible."

"How much do you think I should spend? I'm a woman who likes my outfits. During my stay in the east, I will be changing clothes quite often. Should I spend a lot of money on the outfit you're going to get me or should I buy more to suit my needs of fashion?" Alice replied with a question of her own.

Thinking about it for a moment, the owner smiled.

"I'll let the guest decide once you have seen what I can do."

Snapping her fingers, crimson thread dropped down from above as different cabinets appeared.

Countless assortments of fabrics, accessories and jewels revealed themselves as the owner got to work.

There were several avenues that she could go down to match Alice's appearance and aura.

She could take advantage of the strange spider lily pattern in her eye, the split hair or even her sporadic personality.

With so many options laid out before her, ideas filled the owner's mind.

###

In the end, the owner decided to play into the dual nature of Alice's hair as the main focus.

The outfit she crafted was asymmetric. A delicate mix of whites, blacks and purples into one attire. The white came from the right side of her hair, the black from the left and the purple from the faint hues that appeared from certain angles.

The left side of the outfit was fitted with a layer of white fabric to contrast the black hair, wrapping from the shoulders to the waist. Layered on top was a black jacket with a long black sleeve. Silver embroidery in the form of spider lilies decorated the edges of the sleeve and would shimmer with purple at the right angle.

Beneath the white fabric was an off shoulder black dress that wrapped to the right.

Rather than a sleeve, the right arm had black gloves that reached the bicep with silver accessories on the wrist.

The jacket transitioned into a high slit skirt that flowed with a mix of both white and black fabric. Black belts with silver ornaments wrapped around Alice's waist with purple string hanging off them with silver coins and tassels.

Beneath the high slit skirt, Alice wore another black skirt to keep things a little modest and a pair of black stockings.

To pair with the asymmetrical sleeves, Alice's shoes were of different length. The left, to contrast the long sleeves only reached halfway to her knees while the right, to contrast the glove, reached past her knees.

Giving herself a twirl in front of the mirror, Alice couldn't help but curve her lips up into a smile.

She absolutely loved it and understood that the owner put a lot of work.

"Give me 20 more designs. I trust that each of them will be of the same quality as this one right?" Alice grinned.

This was why she worked so hard for Platina at the port.

All for this moment!