Abyssal Awakening

Ria let out a deep exhale as her foot stepped over fractured earth.

Countless cracks in the ground spreading as far as the eye could see. And within those gaps, something evil slithered. A strange black liquid not quite eldritch yet vile all the same.

There was a tingling sensation to the surface of her skin. Her heart beat unevenly and she could feel her hair stand on their ends.

Every part of her was warning her of this location.

What she wanted to hunt, what Astrelya had suggested for her to kill, was within this location.

The beast that’ll grand her the power to achieve her desires.

Ria looked up.

It was hard to believe a place like this existed within Terminus.

This didn’t feel like a location.

It felt like she had stepped inside something.

The ground shifted beneath her feet, not enough to throw her off balance, but enough to make her aware of it. A slow, subtle undulation, as though the land itself was breathing. Massive slabs of stone drifted and collided in the distance, grinding against one another.

These pieces of land floated atop the strange black liquid, thick like tar.

And within that liquid, streaks of red pulsed like veins.

The gravity in this place wasn’t quite normal either. Large chunks of debris floated in the air while towering structures twisted and warped.

In the distance, there was a strange fortress nestled in the middle of this hostile territory.

Above, the usual dark skies of the Abyss was nowhere to be seen.

It wasn’t ominous looking, dyed in a deep red nor was it simply a black sky. Instead...

There was light.

Not the kind of light you felt on the surface but rather... an artificial muted light.

A white light that coated the land in a monotone hue the closer you got to the fortress.

Leading up to the fortress, massive thorn covered tendrils curved like open ribs.

Ria continued to stare.

She should take a step forward, to keep walking and face her enemy.

Yet...

Her body needed time.

Time to accept what she was about to walk into.

Like staring down on the edge of a cliff. That first jump was always the scariest. The uncertainty in your own action. In what you’re about to do.

"Getting cold feet?" Astrelya smirked.

"F*ck off." Ria clicked her tongue.

"If you can’t handle it, we can always turn back? There are more ways of becoming a Lord than to throw yourself toward death." She chuckled but Ria only shot her a glare.

"I’ve come this far. I’m not about to give up right now."

After all... What they were hunting was a ’beast’ directly blessed by the Eclipse.

A creation who had been modified by a God and a Madman. A walking calamity with a slither of divinity surging through its blood.

Ria could still remember the moment Astrelya suggested it.

###

"You want me to hunt what now?" Ria blinked her eyes.

"I want you to hunt the Accursed Radiance known as Hayil. A kind of fallen angel I suppose you can call her." Astrelya nodded.

"An... Angel?"

"Yep." Astrelya gave her a thumbs up.

"First of all, do you mean something that looks like an Angel, or do you mean a literal angel?" Ria frowned.

"Literal."

"F*ck." She cursed without hesitation.

Angels were a strange existence. Both a myth yet creatures that exist beneath the divine thrones. Celestial beings who help spread the word of the Sun, Moon or even... Eclipse.

But their existence was one that had been questioned time and time again as how does one define an Angel? What is the difference between them, a Abyss Lord and the Apostles?

Yet the answer was that an Angel was none of them. It wasn’t a Lord nor was it an Apostle. They were simply a manifestation of a God’s power.

If so, Astrelya was essentially asking her to hunt a Demi God who hold the same authorities as the gods they splintered from.

Allura had explained them more like an accidental birth than anything so it’s rare to even see one. After all, that power could be kept with the host god instead of being ’wasted’.

"Would you look at that... Seems like you’re educated on their existence." Astrelya raised an eyebrow in pleasant surprise.

"Hayil is a bit unique. When she was created, she was given only one directive.

"Survive. No matter what happens, no matter what’s done to her, survive at all cost. Endure and come back stronger than ever." She chuckled, leaning back and crossing her legs.

"Her birth was a collaborative effort. An experiment between Enris and the Betrayer. It was a test to see whether or not they can create a ’vessel’ that can hold divinity.

"But... They failed. The experiment was a failure and Hayil could not become the empty vessel the Betrayer hoped she could be. However... even if the experiment was a failure, Hayil couldn’t be considered to be one.

"Instead, she is better described as a happy accident I suppose. Through this failure, she had become something else entirely. Not an empty vessel that can hold divinity. But rather, she had become a reflection of the God’s power."

Ria froze. If what Astrelya was saying is the truth... then what she wanted her to hunt was essentially a tiny Enris.

"So despite losing worth for a certain betrayer, she had actually increased her value for Enris. She kept her around, wondering if the angel could grant her a speck of entertainment."

"I’m guessing she succeeded since she’s still alive." Ria sighed but Astrelya actually shook her head.

"Hell no. Hayil may have become something else entirely but it didn’t change the fundamental issue at her core. In fact, it only made it worse. There was no entertainment to be found but perhaps her existence could spark something else instead.

"So Enris kept the Angel around in hopes that she’ll be of use in the future. She was also too precious of a subject to simply discard without care after all."

"And we’re just going to kill it?! Did you even ask for permission?" Ria widened her eyes in shock.

"Hell no. Does it look like I had time to ask for permission?" Astrelya rolled her eyes.

". . ."

"It’ll be fine~ As long as something entertaining happens Enris won’t bat an eye to you killing it. Well... It’s either you killing it or you die." Astrelya gave a thumbs up before shrugging.

"But anyways, I think Hayil is the perfect target for you precisely because of these experiments. When she... transcended her design, even if through failure, she gained quite a bit from it.

"In her body she contains the powers of War, Famine and even some of Enris’s divine authority." She listed out.

The more Ria listened, the more ridiculous this sounded as she was literally being sent to kill a miniature version of Enris.

"If she has all of this, why was she considered a failure?" Ria asked.

"Oh because she’s batsh*t insane. Yeah the experiment broke her mind and her soul. There is literally no hope for her. It’s like what you said about me a while ago. She is nothing but a husk of desires who’s only goal is to survive and kill." Astrelya waved casually.

"She mainly relies on territory and weapon creation so keep an eye on that. The authority of War and Famine to a lesser extent but if you kill her, they should be transferred to you without much issue."

"Wait wait wait." Ria cut in, stopping her as the Lord glanced up.

"I wanted something to help further my own powers. Why are you getting me to kill mini Enris over here? Isn’t that the opposite of what I want? It’s Eclipse powers you know?"

Astrelya blinked her eyes.

"Since when did I say you were getting Eclipse powers?"

"Just now?" Ria tilted her head.

"I said territory creation, weapon creation. Authority of war and famine to a lesser extent. The main thing is still territory and weapon creation." Astrelya clarified.

"Isn’t that an extension of Enris’s powers though?"

"So if you buy a knife does that make you the same as a ritual caster from the Eclipse? If you get fire powers does that make you Allura?" Astrelya let out a sigh.

Ria couldn’t reply.

"I what the authority that acts as a foundation not the powers themselves. Territory creation helps you refine and reinforce your personal realm at a higher level. Weapon creation crystalizes your achievements and stories into a weapon that best suits you.

"For war, you’ll most likely gain some aspects of Tyranny which means establishing absolute law in a given location. Though probably and I mean most likely very limited since that ass hat known as the Will of the Abyss will intervene without a shadow of doubt.

"And finally, you’ll probably gain the spread or the absoluteness of Famine. With all of that combined, isn’t this exactly the perfect package for you?" Astrelya explained in further detail.

"If you want to make your ideals a reality, don’t you need all of this as a foundation?"

Ria frowned. She struggled with the decision but in the end, she had to admit. It was the truth she couldn’t deny.

"Fine. Say I want to kill Hayil, how can I even designate her as a target? I doubt I’ve done anything that would help push her into the pool of selection." Ria brought up the last problem.

Designating the bounty.

"Oh don’t worry about that. I’ve already solved it."

"You what?" Ria blinked.

"Yep. That’s why we’re heading to a communion point right now. As a member of the Eclipse as well as a Lord of the Abyss, so long as I use my blood, it should act as a key that’ll allow you into the vault of freaks that Enris had kept around." Astrelya smirked.

"Of course, just having my blood won’t be enough. The location also matters but I have it all handled. Just focus on theorizing. You have to kill a mini Enris after all."

###

Staring at the desolate land leading up to the fortress, Ria let out another sigh.

As promised, Astrelya’s blood worked as a key and they were able to designate Hayil as a target. All that’s left now...

Was to kill an Angel.