Abyssal Awakening

Thanking Kaden, Alice watched as he jumped back into the shadows and disappeared from the location.

Looking at the set of double doors before her, Alice couldn\'t help but feel nervous.

The Goddess of the Abyss.

That\'s who she is going to meet. A Divine entity revered by Kaden and Allura and the one who made this city.

Swallowing her saliva, Alice prepared herself mentally and pushed open the doors.

Widening her eyes, Alice found herself engulfed by a display of vibrant energy. Within the room, the air was filled with countless strands of energy that danced as though it was underwater, casting a luminescent glow around the room.

Each strand pulsed and shimmered with its own distinctive hue that would shift between colours.

In the centre of this sea of colour, a single woman sat with a smile on her face. Her hands caressed the strands of energy.

Even though she didn\'t say anything, Alice knew that this was the Goddess. She didn\'t need Kaden to tell her beforehand as the energy radiating off her was far too different from anything Alice had seen before.

Each strand extended by the Abyss was connected to her. Her every movement, every breath felt like an extension of the Abyss.

"Would you like to have some snacks while we talk?" Her voice echoed out, gesturing towards an empty seat next to her.

"Ah erm… No thank you, your Highness." Alice snapped out of her stupor as she adjusted her posture.

Seeing this, the Goddess simply chuckled as she shook her head.

"No need to be polite with me. In fact, it makes things more awkward if you force yourself."

Awkwardly walking over to the seat, Alice sat down but was still unable to relax herself.

"Is this perhaps the first time we\'ve met? But considering you are my successor, you should have seen me before right? But then again, it\'s probably after I die." She chuckled, surprising Alice by her lack of reaction towards her own death.

"What\'s there to be surprised about? As the Goddess of the Abyss and someone who governs half of the Abyss, it\'s only natural that I know of my own deterioration and fate."

Flicking her hand, she gently pushed aside some of the strands so that she could get a better look at Alice.

"Ah… Seems like you only got half of Cayla. I don\'t suppose that means Cayla is currently asleep now, is she?" The Goddess asked while looking at Alice\'s right eye.

Not wanting to let the Goddess speak to herself during this \'conversation\', Alice opened her mouth.

"She\'s asleep. But why half? Is she supposed to take over both of my eyes?"

To Alice, Cayla had always been mentioned as the \'Eye\', singular. Even in her own mental space, there was only one eye that appeared in the space above.

She hadn\'t heard of Cayla being a pair.

"Of course. Cayla is also known as the Eyes of the Abyss. It\'s one of the blessings the Abyss gave me when I ascended as its Goddess. The Right Eye grants knowledge of the Abyss while the Left Eye grants control. But you only possess the Right Eye so either the Left Eye is given to someone else or Cayla has been wounded." The Goddess explained as she pointed to her own eyes.

"Aside from Cayla, you also possess a fragment of the Crown of the Abyss. But for it to be in such a state… I can only assume my passing is not a peaceful one." She chuckled while pointing at the markings around her neck.

Before Alice had activated the one Sigil resonance, the Crown had rested within her chest. She could only assume it was meant to manifest as a marking rather than a physical crown above her head.

"Aside from Cayla who\'s the Eye of the Abyss and the Crown, what other parts are there?" Alice asked after a brief pause.

"You don\'t know? Hm… Judging by the condition of Cayla and the Crown you were probably made into my Successor without proper explanation then. No matter. There are three key pieces." The Goddess smiled as she held up three fingers.

"First, the Crown of the Abyss. It serves as the Symbol of my rule, my Divinity. It acts as the foundation of my power and the channel in which the Abyss can funnel power into me.

"Second, the Eyes of the Abyss. Cayla acts similarly to a proxy. Through these eyes, I can see and control what goes on.

"Third, the Heart of the Abyss. I must ask, do you know what the Heart signifies in the Abyss?" She asked as Alice paused.

She recalled her talk with Cayla and the incident in Blackrock City.

"Cayla mentioned it before but it was cryptic. She simply said that the heart is the engine of the body and nothing else really. Other than that, she began to explain that after activating Sigils, a person\'s blood has already become Abyss Blood and how humans struggle to convert the power of others in a similar state."

"Ahaha, so Cayla didn\'t become better at explaining in the future. How fascinating. But while she is not wrong, she\'s not entirely correct either." The Goddess laughed softly as she snapped her finger and created a fake heart using the strands of energy around her.

"The heart that Cayla mentioned is not the heart that you\'re thinking about. But rather in this case, the Heart of your existence. The core of your being. When you make a contract with the Abyss to gain Sigils, you allow the Will to enter your body and tamper with your outline.

"Doing so, it reshapes you and moulds you into a vessel capable of accepting the power. With this in mind, you can say that the \'Heart\' is the closest channel a person has to the Abyss. A direct connection if you will.

"For Lua, the Authority I have granted her directly severs the connection of your \'Heart\'. While it is not powerful enough to completely destroy the connection permanently, it prevents the Abyss from further tampering with your outline."

Hearing this, Alice nodded her head. If she understood everything correctly, this \'Heart\' was the single thing that allowed connection to the Abyss.

"Wait… Then this barrier around the city and its surroundings…"

"Yes, your guess is correct. It blocks the connection to the Abyss and thus, unless you\'ve been granted permission, you cannot use Sigil Abilities." The Goddess nodded.

Which only served to further Alice\'s confusion.

Her flames could be manifested meaning they\'re not connected to the Abyss. Yet it was brought forward thanks to the abilities of her second Sigil.

Not only that, but she could also create a ritual with her flame to bring forth the strange draconic beast that she had seen when fighting Lyra back at the Academy.

However, it wasn\'t time to ask this question just yet. There was something else she wanted answering.

"Heart Blood. The purest blood that you can extract from a beast\'s body. Why? Is it connected to this other \'Heart\' you mentioned?" Alice asked curiously.

"Correct. While the Spiritual Heart and the physical heart are two separate things, they are also bound. While the Spiritual Heart serves as the medium to connect the person to the Abyss, the physical heart acts as the funnel to channel power from the Spiritual Heart.

That\'s why the blood that comes directly from the heart is the purest you can extract." The Goddess nodded before waving her hand and dismissing the strands of light.

While Alice was digesting this information, she took this moment to observe her successor.

The strange outline of her soul was rather alarming. But there was something far more sinister in the deepest depths of this… \'patch\'.

A single beast with an unsatiable blood lust towards the Abyss and by extension, her.

Her first instinct was to purge this beast, but as it is sealed within Alice\'s body, she decided to not make a move. But that wasn\'t the only reason.

\'There\'s a seal placed upon the beast. It has… traces of my Divinity but its weak. Perhaps a residual spirit I left behind? The effect of this seal binds this beast and restrains it, weakening its sense of self.\' She mused to herself.

It was quite a strange situation to see traces of her own actions yet \'she\' was not the source of these actions.

"How peculiar…" The Goddess muttered as Alice glanced up in confusion.

"Don\'t mind me, I was thinking out loud. Now I have a few questions for you, Successor." She smiled.

"Does Ayr survive?"

Seeing the brief hesitation within Alice was all she needed to know as sadness washed over her eyes.

"I see… Do you know why I made Ayr in the first place?" She asked, making her way over to the balcony while gesturing for Alice to follow.

"Not really." Alice shook her head.

"I made Ayr so it can become a home for those without a home. A place in the Abyss where beasts can feel \'human\'. And a final stop for those at the end of their life. You could say Ayr symbolizes death but it is in reality a second chance. A hope that the Abyss will allow them to be reborn as \'human\' even if it\'s brief.

"Every human or beast in the Abyss is a citizen of Ayr as this is their final destination. But I suppose things didn\'t go well if Ayr no longer exists. So tell me, what is the future like?" She turned to Alice.

"Regale me with your tales for I wish to learn of the path my citizens are walking."