Shadow of the Abyss

Alyssa's sudden death had not gone unnoticed, leaving Nia and Jorm to charge forward; now that Raven stood over her Master, her Glaive raised high, seemingly prepared to run him through.

Nia herself was taken aback by the sudden surge of speed, propelling herself past what her physical limit could achieve. She tackled Raven as Jorm took hold of their Master, retreating towards the Ascension Gates below. Despite the ruin, it alone stood untouched.

"Raven! Get ahold of—" Nia's words were abruptly cut off as a powerful knee struck her in the abdomen, stealing the air from her lungs. The impact was so intense that it sent her hurdling through the air, the force of the shockwave carrying her for miles. Meanwhile, Raven, her attention fixed on her Master, moved with a speed that defied comprehension, a blur of light energy hurtling towards Jorm.

Jorm could feel her approach; it was sharp like a blade. He felt cold, conjuring his spear that whipped out to cross against Raven's. The light in his eyes dimmed as he was forced to watch his arm turn to bloody mist, smearing his face.

"Morrigan!" Jorm roared. Unfortunately, Raven's Glaive seemed to spin into action, sweeping towards his throat. The blade's edge rang against Morrigan's sword, and her spear drove towards Raven's heart. It missed as she tilted her body mid-air, sweeping her leg out, to Morgan's surprise.

She tsked, mirroring Raven's leg sweep to counter. The clash sent Jorm barreling across the earth, forcing him to hold onto his Master. Without thinking about Raven's strange behavior, he bounded towards the Ascension Gate at a speed that allowed his image to become murky at best.

"Raven," Morrigan shouted, noticing the lack of reaction across her hollow husk. Her expression shrunk, recognizing the Fifth Form, and she said, "The Hollowing. Fuck. I—" she paled, with a shaky laugh, parrying the near-killing blow that seemed to defy mortal comprehension, blending into space aimed at her heart and throat. "God damn it! Get ahold of yourself!"

Raven didn't respond as the King Domain expanded, lining her vision with millions of nodes all connected to her for nearly several miles. She vanished, to Morgan's surprise, catching Jorm by the second step she took, diving her Glaive into his back before he could sense her arrival.

Jorm drained of color, opening his King Domain to use Sovereign's Gale, but was shocked to see every node he could push himself to was missing or rather sealed by Raven's understanding.

"Rave—" Severing him in half without the slightest hint of remorse or hesitation, his sea of consciousness returned to the Vale, leaving Altair's limp body to topple to the ruined realm.

Raven tilted her head, her hollow eyes shimmering a deep amethyst hue as she took a step towards him.

"Sorry dear, I'll be taking him," said Tasha, appearing before Altair and Raven with a single palm pressed at the center of Raven's breast. She gave a light push that violently launched her into space before she could react. "I'll see you on the next floor," she said before lifting Altair into her arms and arriving at the Ascension Gate in a single step.

"But I'll be first to have a taste." She smiled devilishly before she began her ascent.

To her rear, Seina followed, glancing in the direction Raven had vanished. Despite not seeing her, the essence of the Vale had never been so dreadful; it made her blood ache with each pulse of her heart. She gulped.

"What the bloody hell happened to her?"

"The Hollowing," Morrigan explained, hurrying behind her. "Let's move before she does something I can't explain."

"Is she that powerful?"

Morrigan glanced at her and said, "Those that walked the Fifth Form are all monsters that have reached the zenith of martial arts. Merely entering the Hollowing allows one's battle prowess to triple. If we fight… I'll be forced to kill her. So for now, we run."

Hurrying up the Ascension Gate, Seina saw a small speck of light pierce the atmosphere before she vanished from the Third Floor.

****

"Has Young Master, Nox, not woken up yet?" said Anklem, the Head Bulter, to Arch Duke Godrey Nier. He glanced at the annex in question, resisting the urge to grimace at the young Master in question.

Presently, they stood outside the manner in their lady's garden, listening to the rustle of the summer winds, billowing their warm kiss against the summer roses.

Layla shook her head, recalling the day he had been struck by a blood-red bolt that shook the realm of Allmar. That was nearly 1000 years ago. She hadn't seen it herself, but it was said that the day the bolt fell from the heavens upon the land, nearly six hundred miles of annihilation appeared to swallow all of the Vel Woods. Nothing seemed to survive but the young Master.

"The Maidens of Ariandel is sure he will wake soon," said Layla. "They said his condition improved dramatically this past month."

"So I've heard, said Anklem, narrowing his eyes. "The question our Lady has, however, is what relationship does the Order of Ariandel have with our Young Master." he sighed, stroking his grey beard. "The Order of Sepeth is not something we…" he stopped, not allowing himself to continue. "Layla just watched over the young Master. I'm sure he'll be confused when he wakes.

See if you can get past his maid this time around."

"Of course," she said, hurrying off towards the far annex, up the serpentine stairs to his manner, and down the end of the corridor where his room resided. The door opened with seven of the Maidens of Ariande, the Healers of Sepeth, gathered around one bed.

She was stopped when a palm whipped out as the Young Masters's personal maid stepped forward. "I thought I was clear that our Master is not receiving guests aside from Ariandel's healers."

Layla bit her lips, glancing at the woman there. Duke Godrey himself had assigned to the young Master the day he returned a month from the capital. She hadn't known where this woman came from, but despite the protest from his wife, Lady Corsant Dela Von Nier, Godfrey had assigned a strange woman of unknown origins to tend to the young Master.

Even her name seemed unknown to the staff, for she rarely gave it to anyone other than the Master himself.

"I am under orders to report the Young Master's present condition," Layla said darkly, tiptoeing to see several of the maids in snow-white robes drawing strange runes of light across the Young Master's arm and chest. She hadn't recognized them, though that wasn't surprising since there wasn't much known about the Order of Sepeth, much less the affiliate Order of Ariandel.

Nox's maid threw her hands through the strands of obsidian black hair and smiled. "And who might have given that order?"

"The Head Butler," said Layla as a matter of fact. "We would like an adequate report of the young Master's situation. "We—"

"Lady Tasha," said the gentle voice of the one Maidens. "He is waking."

Tasha spun on her heel, slamming the door shut in Layla's face as she sauntered to Nox's bedside. She grinned, noticing a faint disturbance of Soul Energy spreading through his body.

"Saintess Ivana, I must say you've done my Master quite a service," Tasha said, smoothing the young Master's knotting brows with a gentle finger.

The Saintess, covered by a silvery blue mask, exchanged a glance with the infernal eyes of the Lilm before her and said, "His Majesty has shone remarkable talent and skill. He is quite a force to be reckoned with. It's only right if we keep him by our side and not allow him to be tarnished by a devil like yourself."

"You flatter me," Tasha mused, glancing at Nox. "Still, I can't believe that of all the people on Allmor, Nox is the person Vessel to my Master. Father must have paid a massive price. It will seem she has high hopes for Altair."

"We will take our leave," said the Saintess. "Do inform Altair that we will be expecting him to visit the Temple of Sepith." She turned as the Seven maidens all followed. Giving the door seven knocks, each at a specific frequency, a strange mythical light shone across the door frame, shimmering so brightly it was almost blinding.

As the door grew ajar, slowly opening, the maidens, one by one, stepped in, leaving the light to fade as they mysteriously vanished from the annex.

Just then, a soft groan echoed through the room, stirring the windows, which began to crack as a tremendous aura began to billow off the young Master's body. His eyes opened, revealing the depths of something older than matters of life and death.

"Good Morning, my Master," said Tasha, falling to one knee. "I hope you're doing well?"

Confused, Altair stood up, tilting his head, unsure why his head felt as if someone had hammered at it with a battering ram. Light itself seemed more blinding than ever before as he closed his eyes to cope.

"Close the blinds," he softly wheezed.

Tasha moved to obey, glancing at Altair or, rather, the scrawny body of Nox, slowly being altered by Altair's Soul.

In the darkness, Altair's black eyes turned scarlet as he sighed, burdened by a weakness that left him feeble. He lifted his hand, noticing the absence of one of his rings.

"I have Draupnir with me," Tasha explained, slowly helping him up. "These types of rings are not used in this world, so I took it off before your identity was exposed."

More confused, he glanced at Tasha. "This world?"

"The fourth floor of Babels Tower, well, that's a misnomer. We are technically on the Twentieth Floor."

That alarmed the young emperor as all the weariness was drained from out of him. His eyes grew sharp, shimmering with danger. "How long was I out?"

"A Month," said Tasha. "You were experiencing Soul Exhaustion. So there wasn't much I could do. Gram helped lessen the effects, but still…"

In a single moment that seemed to constitute a mere instant, Altair cycled through the information of his Shadows faster than he could blink in regard to the state of his empire. He sighed in relief, leaning his head back against the bedrest.

'They're not here yet,' he thought, throwing a glance at Tasha. Wrapped in golden white robes. They didn't suit her. Not that he was one for fashion.

[Master, you need time to recover. It would be best if you didn't abuse your Omniscience anymore.]

Altair ignored his inner voice, glancing down at his scrawny body, forced to ask, " What the hell is going on? How'd I become like this?"

"Well, for starters. Your name from now on is Nox."

Altair blinked, more confused than before. He was struggling to stand up when a notification came across his pupils.

[Soul of Nox De Nier acquired]Nôv(el)B\\jnn

[First Transcendent Soul Acquired]

"What the bloody hell is going on?"