The Abyss Stares Back

Sen was inspecting the teeth of the recently slain mousekrat as he and Zulli walked through an open field of knee-high grass.

Mousekrat Teeth (Iron)

Teeth from a slain mousekrat. Holds the remnant power of a feverish affliction.

Crafting Material

“Question, Zulli.” Sen said.

“Hm? What’s up?”

“Can you feel my aura?”

“Not really. When you project it, I can feel the calm nature of it, but not normally, no, I usually just feel emptiness from you.”

“Emptiness?” Sen asked.

“Yeah. I can feel your emptiness. I can feel it all the time, at least when we're around each other. It's like there's something that supposed to be there, but theres just emptiness.”

Sen went silent. They walked a short way before Sen tried to feel Zulli’s aura. He could feel most auras he came across, though the more powerful auras were unreadable, as if they were locked behind a door he didn't have the key to. When he tried to sense something from Zulli, he couldn’t feel what he knew to be an aura, he felt something else. It’s like he could feel the immense energy that created her.

“I can’t feel your aura either.” Sen told her.

“I don’t have an aura power, so maybe you could if I did.”

Sen’s eyebrows rose and he nodded as he considered her point.

“Yeah you’ve basically just got special attacks, and that one magic ability. I wonder why I got an aura ability, rather than something I can use to fight monsters.” Sen said.

“Well, maybe monsters aren’t what you’re supposed to be fighting yet.” Zulli said.

Sen stopped walking and looked at Zulli, perplexed by her profound insight. His eyes squinted at her, considering her words. Zulli stopped as well, turning back to look at Sen. The sun was still high in the sky, and its light bounced off the rounded curves of her shadowy head and hands.

“Nah, I’m totally supposed to be fighting monsters.” Sen said, continuing his march in the tall grass, allowing the mousekrat teeth to dissolve into his voidspace.

The two had made their way far enough through the grassland around Vitesse to find themselves on another road leading to a different gate into the city. The walls still loomed over them, a promising goliath at their backs. They stopped on the road as they saw a group of people walking toward the city.

“An iron ranked weirdo with a normal? Are you guys lost? The big city is that way.” One voice in the group spoke up as they neared the pair of outworlders.

The group count was five, and they all wore combat gear and were outfitted with weapons of all kinds. From his distance, it looked to Sen like two humans, two elves, and a dragon-man in the back.

Since Sen had met Zulli, he was more conscious about averting his gaze from the incredible and audacious people he could find in this world. Zulli, herself, was usually more physically diverse than most that he came across. Elves fit in for the most part and were quite common. He had seen a certain race that was mostly blue with runes carved into their tough skin, though in the crowded streets of Vitesse he was unable to get a good look. This was not enough to prepare him for the giddiness he would feel when seeing a draconian for the first time. When attempting to scan him, Sen’s scanning power left much to be desired.

??? (Draconian)

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The group was walking from somewhere beyond the vast forestland and rolling hills beyond, and the two outworlder’s stood silently as they waited for the group’s approach.

“Seriously, you two, its dangerous out here. The guards warned you, right?” The same male voice spoke up, a short young elf not much older than eighteen, with tan skin and black hair.

“Leave ‘em.” The draconian sneered, showing his teeth as he turned up his long snout.

“No, Jalex.” A dark-skinned human woman said, standing in the middle of the group.

Jalex let out a grunt as he closed his mouth and set his snout low.

“Introduce yourself, then ask them their business.” The woman said, the command indicating she was the leader of the group.

The draconian let out an exaggerated, raspy sigh through his nostrils as he stared at Zulli.

“I am Jalexectrand Urbonticos. I’m a bronze rank adventurer with the Adventure Society. What business would an iron ranker and a normal human have outside the city without an escort?” Jalex asked, his cadence seeming forced as he strained to keep decorum in front of his team leader.

“We’re on our first adventure, I’m trying to find something to kill.” Zulli said to them matter-of-factly.

A couple people in the group couldn’t hold in their laughter, to include the young elf boy and the beefy human male standing next to Jalex, who let out a hearty belly laugh. Even the draconian held a smirk on his long face. The girl in the middle, however, a dark-skinned very handsome woman, trained her eyes upon the two, inspecting them.

“He’s a little too old to be playing adventurer.” The woman said, pointing at Sen. “What are you doing out here?”

Sen frowned, noticing how much younger they all looked than himself, though he didn’t consider himself old.

“We’re really out here having an adventure.” Zulli responded.

The woman separated herself from the group to walk closer to Zulli, inspecting her shiny, yet shadowy form.

“What ability turned your skin that color?” The woman asked Zulli skeptically.

“Its not an abi-“

“She’s not lying. We came from pretty far away, we’re just visiting the city, taking in the sights. Wanted to play adventurer.” Sen told the woman, interrupting Zulli.

The woman looked at Sen with a curious expression, then back at Zulli, then at the walls of the city, then back to her team, then back to Sen, looking at the stripe of blood that cascaded down his leg.

“Already found out what adventuring’s like, have you?” The woman said curiously, motioning her chin towards Sen’s bloodstained jeans.

“Mousekrat.” Sen said, slightly lifting up his shirt to show her his healed wound. “All better now, and stronger to fight the next one.”

The woman frowned, a sudden rage building up in her eyes. The beefy man put on a face of quiet appreciation.

“Who said they cleared the sewers?” The woman said under her breath, barely loud enough to hear.

“That was Evin’s job today.” The elven girl in the back spoke up. She was also tan-skinned much like the elven boy, Evin, and her long ears jutted out from auburn hair, which flowed freely down to her shoulders.

Evin, turning on the girl, then back to his team leader, looked like he had seen a ghost. He was almost a head shorter than the elven girl, who was already shorter than the rest of the group, leaving him to look almost like a child playing dress-up.

“Master Remore, you can’t expect I’d be able to get every single one.” The boy said, raising his hands in surrender.

A fleeting darkness passed through Master Remore’s eyes as she looked back to Sen.

“That essence you have must be a good one. Do not squander it.” She told Sen, then looked back at her team. “Let’s go, since Evin skimped on sewer duty, he can make up for it in the latrines at the marshalling yard.” She said to her team before looking back at the two outworlders. “Don’t stay out too late. The next patrol just set out, and they’re fresh now, but as the day goes on, complacency may come to them as it has to us.” She told the two before walking away.

Master Remore’s team followed, walking by them with confused faces, the draconian bumping into Sen as he walked past. Sen couldn’t help but gawk as the nine-foot-tall, scaled humanoid walked away from them and toward the city.

“Did you see that? That was a dragon-guy with wings. And that one girl was definitely an elf ranger.” Sen whispered to Zulli giddily.

***

“Reyna Remore.” August acknowledged as the handsome dark-skinned woman rounded the top of a spiral staircase set inside one of Vitesse’s many watchtowers. The towers didn’t stand much taller than the walls themselves, but they didn’t have to, the vantage was great enough that fair warning of any threats could be made with ample time to prepare no matter where any guard looked out from the ramparts.

“August Niles.” Reyna replied. “I thought I saw someone watching. Didn’t expect it to be you. Is this for the Adventure Society or for your extracurricular activities?”

August’s laser focus didn’t falter as he scanned the open areas.

“That’s none of your business. But both.” August told her.

“I knew there was more to this. There is something off about both of them.” Reyna said.

“They’re outworlders.” August said. His stare shifted to her for a moment before returning to look out from the tower. “Word will get around soon enough, but only a select few know, for now. Silver rank information.”

“Two Outworlders.” Reyna muttered. “And they let you in on it? I can keep a secret, but can you? You’re not leaking this to your friend are you?”

“He set up the contract.”

“So, Garrus has taken a liking to these two? He thinks they’re part of all the astral nonsense?”

“He’ll look into anything if it means getting closer to answers.” August said.

Reyna was first to affix her gaze down at a beam of white light emanating from one of the outworlders August was stalking. They were too far for a normal pair of eyes to see in much detail, but August was at the peak of bronze rank and Reyna was well into silver.

August grimaced when the beam of white light crossed his vision. In an instant, he conjured a steel spear in his hand and launched himself off the tower to the ground below.

***

“Zulli!?” Sen yelled. Zulli was sent a beam of light from her hand before the monster scored a hit on her. With one swipe of the monsters claws, Zulli let out a wail before being flung to the ground. Sen hadn’t even had enough time to scan it before it was upon them; it seemed it simply appeared out of thin air.

The monster was a bipedal feline and stood about five feet tall. It looked like a hairless cat standing on its back legs, with forelegs that ended in two serrated blades each. It used one set of these claws to strike Zulli to the ground. It all happened so fast the even Zulli’s iron rank reflexes couldn’t react fast enough to damage the enemy or get out of its way.

The monster’s attention turned from Zulli, who lied motionless on the ground, to Sen, who drew his sword.

Anger flowed through Sen, righteous fury steeling his resolve. He felt sorrow tickling the back of his neck as his eyes darted between the monster and Zulli’s lifeless body, but he shut out the feeling. He had no time for it.

Sen’s aura rushed from the air around his body, through him and into his sword. He felt the calm emptiness enshroud him. He felt the void, like it wanted to consume everything through him. The basic metallic luster of the sword turned a deep black from the tip of the blade to the pommel.

Sen braced to attack when the cat-monster disappeared.

Sen could see movement in the knee-high grass, odd swaying juxtaposed to the wind’s natural bellows. As fast as the thought could be produced, Sen gasped at the revelation: The monster could become invisible. He already felt outmatched. What was he supposed to do against something so fast and so untraceable? He wanted to get a better look at Zulli, but wouldn’t break the lock on the unnatural movement in the grass that he could only hope to be the creature. It moved in a clockwise circle around him, getting closer, a predatory dance between a hungry wolf and its next meal.

Sen heard a whizz come from behind him as a spear landed in the ground just a few feet in front of him. A shrill cry followed, and the cat-monster appeared again, showing itself to be impaled by the spear, skewered in place. A man then crashed into the ground, almost as quick as the spear, cleaving a two-handed axe cleanly through the cat-monster’s neck. Its head flew away as its body went limp, still held aloft by the steel spear stuck in the ground.

Sen recognized the dark leather armor inlaid with green chitin plates, but paid hardly any mind as he ran to Zulli. He checked her wounds, which didn’t seem to be bleeding, but Sen could see two deep gashes across her chest. Zulli was unresponsive, and the two silver stars Sen knew as her eyes were absent from her face. He fumbled in one of his leather pouches on his belt, pulling out the dark red potion he bought from the street alchemist.

Before he could flick the stopper of the vial, a hand reached down and snatched it from him, tossing it away as if it were poison.

“She needs-” Before he could finish, August was already handing him another potion, this one bright red, and it shimmered in the sunlight.

Sen flicked the stopper and put the rim of the vial to where he thought Zulli’s mouth was and tipped it back. Some dripped down her cheek, but most of it found its way home. As Sen held her head in his hand, his other hand felt her wounds as they closed. He was perplexed by the recovery power of the potion.

August stood over them, silent.

Zulli began coughing before the two silver stars came to her empty face once more.

“I was not ready for that kind of pain.” Zulli finally said as her hand felt her chest. “Did I kill it?” She asked.

“Not even close.” Sen said, almost with a chuckle.

Sen set Zulli ‘s head down on the soft grass and pulled away from her. He sat back on his butt with his feet flat on the ground, his elbows rested on his knees as he covered his face with his hands. He let out a deep breath, both in relief and in regret.

“You’re just going to hide your face in shame!?” August scorned Sen. “At least have the decency and humility to stand up straight and accept your downfalls.”

“This was your idea wasn’t it?” August dug in after Sen didn’t respond. “You wanted to come out here and have an adventure. Well guess what? This is adventuring. Your friends will get hurt. Your friends will die. And you will too.”

Sen dropped his hands from his face and looked up at August, his eyes glistened with tears that couldn’t fall.

“You thought this was just some game. Like you could try again if you failed.” August railed him. “What if I wasn’t here? Your story would be over.”

Sen shifted to kneel on one knee. He looked over at Zulli, who was looking at him. Their eyes met, and he wished he could read what was on her mind. She was characteristically silent while August berated him. He stood up, still too shameful to face August directly.

“My story was over a long time ago, August.” Sen told him. “I don’t know what I’m doing anymore or why I’m doing it. I don’t know what I’m doing here! In another world!?” Sen tightened his mouth shut before his expression became hysterical. Despite the emotion he wanted to feel, he couldn’t feel it. That feeling had left him long ago. The tears in his eyes refused to fall. In these moments, he felt closest to the void. He felt all its emptiness and loneliness. It wanted nothing from him, and it wanted everything, and it was always there.

“Damnit.” Sen said under his breath. He clenched his eyes shut.

Sen’s mouth shot open, along with his eyes, as his head jerked hard from being slapped by the palm of Zulli’s hand. The two tears building up in his eyes flew from his face and finally shot onto the ground.

“I don’t want to see you like this, Sen.” Zulli told him, more like a command than a request. She had sprung up from the ground with iron rank quickness and was standing in front of him, arm across her body, clutching her recently closed wounds. Her shirt was torn, but her wounds seemed completely healed. She fell to one knee, exhausted.

“Rest, Novabound.” August told her, and returned his attention to Sen, who was still frozen in shock.

Zulli fell back on her butt and laid back down in the lush grass. Her whole body felt like it was drained of magic, exhausted. “What kind of potion was that?” She asked.

August ignored her.

Sen felt his face with his hand before shaking his head. His hand lowered, and he clenched both of his fists.

Silence fell upon him. The wind swayed the tall grass back and forth, except for the immediate area around Sen, which was a still calm. He could hear nothing, and no one could hear him. He said several words, but August and Zulli couldn’t hear anything. Zulli, looking at the sky from her bed of plush grass, had no idea he said anything. August’s bronze rank perception could see Sen’s chest heaving as he let out a breathy statement, and also read Sen’s lips as he spoke. Sen unclenched his fists, and the silence and calm created by his aura receded.

“Then act like it.” August told him. “Stand up straight. What are you going to do?”

“Hold myself responsible.” Sen replied.

“Good.”

***

The cold reality of this dangerous world set into Sen’s psyche as he followed August back inside the walls of Vitesse. Zulli hung from him, hanging an arm around his neck. The moment Zulli was cut down played through his mind, over and over. He heard her yell in pain, the feeling of helplessness plaguing him again and again.

They walked through the streets of Vitesse for some time, Zulli finally regaining her strength and walking on her own. They found themselves walking through iron rod gates into a manor. They made their way up a few steps, and August opened the front door to the main house, holding the door for them as they walked inside.

“Wait here.” August told them, as they entered a parlor room past the foyer. He exited out the back door of the parlor into another room beyond.

The parlor was large, two stories tall, with staircases on both sides. The floor and stairs were built from a rich brown wood, the walls also brown, but made of some kind of plaster, with intricate texturing only possible with the help of magic. Plush, tasseled rugs covered the sitting area and walking paths.

Sen and Zulli found nice soft chairs and melted into them.

“I’m sorry, Zulli.”

“I wanted to go just as much as you did. I want to be an adventurer.” Zulli replied as if she was waiting for Sen to say it. “It’s not your weight to bear.”

“I want to bear it.” Sen said.

“Then you’re going to have to get strong enough to take it from me.”

“Senadin and Zulli.” The voice of an older, dignified gentleman rang throughout the parlor.

The man stepped through a doorway, August in tow. He was wearing a casual black suit, no tie, with the top two buttons of his white shirt unbuttoned. What was revealed underneath seemed solid, and the casual suit did not hide his broad shoulders. He had a cropped salt and pepper haircut with matching salt and pepper stubble on his face.

August himself had taken off his helmet, revealing long, wavy brown hair that flowed down past his jawline, which was revealed to be chiseled. He looked like a fantasy version of Rambo, only more handsome.

“I’m glad we can meet so early in your tenure with this world.” The man told them as he walked over to the bar on the side of the parlor, some fifteen feet away from their chairs.

“I’d have someone here to serve you, but our conversation is going to be delicate, I don’t want any distractions. Can I get you a drink?” The man asked.

Sen looked at Zulli, and they both looked at August.

“This is Garrus Carbon. He set up a questionable contract with the adventure society. I took the contract to see what he was up to.” August told them.

“Just like old times, August!” Garrus jested. He poured a short glass of brown liquor and pointed the bottle at the two expectantly. Zulli waved her hand in rejection and Sen did as well, after taking a moment to consider. Garrus poured two tall glasses of water instead, placed the drinks on a silver tray, and brought them over. They each took a glass from the tray as he held it out for them, then set the tray on a side table, before sitting down on the end of a couch facing them. He crossed one leg over the other as he sipped his drink in one hand.

“Continue, August.” Garrus said.

“The contract was meticulously worded just so a single adventurer would be dispatched to spy on two outworlders new to the city. I brought you here because despite his questionable activity in the city, he might be able to offer you the best deal to help you get your bearing. He is fair, and he expects compensation, like you Sen.” August explained.

Sen raised an eyebrow as his eyes went from August on one side of the room, to Garrus on the other.

“You’ve been acquainted with the magic society. And I assume you had a choice to make, am I right?” Garrus asked before taking another sip of his liquor.

Sen, after watching Garrus sip his drink, looked down at the glass of water in his hands, before taking a sip himself.

“A choice?” Zulli asked.

“There’s always choices, but this one would mold who you become in this world.” Garrus responded.

“The magic society or the adventuring society.” Sen interjected.

“I believe you can elaborate a little more than that.” Garrus mused.

“To sit and study this new world or go experience it ourselves.”

Garrus snapped his finger and pointed at Sen. “Very good, young man.”

“I’m not that young.” Sen said, training his eyes back onto Garrus.

“Do you think that choice was given to you, or was it just happenstance?” Garrus asked, playing the tip of his finger around the rim of his glass.

“Real questions.” Sen said.

Garrus grinned. “Real questions. You’ve thought about it. Who was behind the curtain, pulling the strings of your appearance in this world? It couldn’t have been just a random chance. But you don’t think it matters, do you? You don’t think much of anything matters.”

Sen’s face scrunched in affront. He looked at August, who stood as he had been, stone faced.

“Who are you?” Zulli asked. “You know things we don’t. More importantly, you seem to assume you know things about us that we don’t.”

“Moreso him than you, Zulli.” Garrus replied. “At first, I thought you were just a hitchhiker. But as it turns out, you two share a connection. One tied to your souls.”

Sen was at a loss for words. He had watched Zulli slashed near to death by a single swipe from a monster, and was now sitting in some rich man’s manor who was claiming to know things about his sudden existence in this world. The man could be playing a meticulous game of words, or he could be the answer to all of Sen’s questions.

After a few moments of silence, Garrus set down his drink on the side table and reached into his inner coat pocket. From it he produced a semi-translucent silver cube that emanated with bright light from the center. It was too large to not print through his jacket. He looked down at the cube cradled in his fingers.

“I want to give this to you, Senadin.” Garrus said, standing up from his couch. “But it does not come for free.”

Sen watched as Garrus walked over, holding the cube in front of him.

Sen touched the cube.

Item: Potent Essence [Epic]

Holds the power of pure potency, unlocking the user’s full potential.

You have 3 of 4 available essence slots.

You may not absorb an essence owned by someone else.

Sen’s hand recoiled from the essence.

“What do you want?” Sen asked.

“I want you to consume the essence. Then I want you to use an awakening stone with it. In return I want you to go on a quest for me. After that, you’re free to do whatever it is you want.”

“What kind of quest?”

“One that you will be able to handle, but not without hardship. And August will go with you.”

“Sen, we should talk about this.” Zulli said.

Sen took a moment to consider. “She’s right.” Sen said to Garrus. “This affects both of us.”

“Of course.” Garrus said, putting the essence back into his jacket. Despite its size, it made no print, as if it had disappeared. He smoothly walked back to his couch, picking up his glass and turning back to them. “If you wish, you may stay the night in my guest rooms. Talk it over between yourselves, and we can discuss your decision in the morning. I bet you’re both hungry. I’ll have some food sent up, August, could you show them upstairs?”

August nodded once.

“Senadin, Zulli. I want to be honest with you. I know you have no reason to believe me, but I think I can help you get acquainted with this world better than anyone else. I don’t want you to feel like you owe me, so a simple transaction is all I ask for. There will always be bad blood if either party is dissatisfied.” Garrus remarked.

Sen let out a heavy sigh in exhaustion. “Zulli, you cool with staying here tonight?”

Zulli was staring at Garrus, before she rested her attention on Sen. “I don’t know. I mean, we missed dinner at the cafeteria. I don’t even know how to get back from here. But I don’t know if I trust this guy.”

August finally moved from his stalwart position and walked over to the stairs on the other side of the room. “Just say yes you two. Garrus can be trusted. You have nothing that he already doesn’t have. I’ll take you up to the guest quarters. You can rest and talk it out.”

“I don’t think we have much to lose.” Sen told Zulli.

“Okay. We can talk it over. Show us the way, August.” She said, standing up from the chair, not having taken even a sip of her water.

Sen followed her, walking over to August, before looking back at Garrus.

Garrus was smiling at them, still standing in front of the couch. It was a happy, warm smile that Sen could feel.

He didn’t trust it.

“I’ll see you all in the morning.”