"What about it?" Artemis asked neutrally. "And please refer to me only as Artemis I do not want to have anything to do with events prior to my immigration to Monolith City."
Meredith paused. She was trying to analyze Artemis behavior but couldn't come to any definitive conclusion. "You were a promising investigator, yourself. Why would you retire to an uneventful life in Monolith City? In the two years you've been here, you've only been seen entering the Monolith once. Why did you give it all up?"
"Burnout. Investigation wasn't something I was cut out to do. I like the peaceful life here." Artemis replied calmly.
"I didn't expect a star investigator who made a mark in his teens to be such a poor liar." Investigator Meredith replied as she placed a few more photographs on the table. They were photographs of walls covered with smileys drawn using blood. The photos immediately brought Artemis blood to a boil, but he pushed down his rage.
"What do you want?" He asked in a low voice.
"The smiley face serial killer is active again. The case has been reopened." Meredith replied.
"Impossible." Artemis said with a certainty that was sure to cause anyone who heard him flinch.
Meredith held onto his certainty. "How can you be so sure? The case was never closed and the perpetrator was never found. You quit you job as an Investigator because of this case didn't you?"
"It's either an imitator or someone else disguising their modus operandi." Artemis replied with certainty.
---
An hour of interrogation later, Meredith was forced to release Artemis as he wasn't forthcoming on any further information. She didn't understand how Artemis was so sure that this wasn't the original serial killer he had been investigating. Much of Artemis behavior since he entered this city didn't make sense to her. But neither did Monolith city in general. She couldn't understand the appeal of living in this restrictive fantasy world without the benefits of technology like medieval times. Yes, people here could singularly become powerful enough to topple entire countries, but when they couldn't even use that power beyond the Monolith's area of effect, it rendered this fantasy pointless.
Having discovered no leads from her biggest potential source, Meredith was left empty handed. She decided that it might as well be a good time to check out what the Abyss the Monolith lead to was all about. In the outside world, this bizarre city and its mysteries were something of an occultist topic of discussion. It wasn't something she paid a whole lot of attention to.
Heading to the public area, Meredith found it bustling even in the night sky. Flame torches lent their fiery golden light to fall over the monolith, rendering it a mysterious appearance and an enigmatic presence. She had signed up with the Adventure Guild's guided tour of the first level of the Abyss. Wearing the awkward medieval armor and holding the placeholder sword, she could not help but feel anxiety from the tour group leader's assurances that the first level was going to be safe.
"There only be Goblins and Man Eating Shrooms in the safe parts of the first level. Just follow me closely and we will be fine. Enjoy your taste of the Abyss." The group leader gruffly yelled. "I'm a Blue Starred Guild member. Don't worry about your safety." He said as he particularly nodded towards Meredith.
From talking to the other tourists, Meredith soon gathered that assembling a Blue Star from the guild for a first level tour was overkill, and probably special service for her protection as an investigator. The group leader's name was Gilbreath and was considered one of the rising stars in the Adventure Guild.
The first shock Meredith felt was the transportation. When she touched the Monolith, she felt the world around her turn upside down, twist and curve in bizarre ways. When the terrifying ordeal finally stopped, she found herself on a platform surrounded by a village similar to Monolith City and terrifyingly purple skies and a blue sun across the horizon. The air was cold and even felt malicious. Everything about the place felt alien. The trees were yellow or blood red color, the ice bergs that surrounded them had a greenish tinge to them like they were infiltrated by some chemicals.
"The first level," Gilbreath explained to his tourists, "is a cold level. This is a world of ice and mist. Most of the things here are edible and even helpful for us to gain strength." He picked out a mango like fruit from his bag and handed one each to every person in the group. When Meredith chewed on her fruit, she felt a powerful energy surge throughout her body. She immediately felt like she was more powerful than any human could ever be on Earth. The feeling was intoxicating.
"The feeling of gaining strength feels very powerful in the initial stages. But we humans are very weak to begin with on a base level. Our primary strength as a species is cooperation and technology, neither of which is of use in this world." Gilbreath explained. The group then took a well trodden path from the village through the wilderness.
Meredith observed the monstrous creatures known as goblins attacking their group in hordes once they left the safety of the village, only to see how easily Gilbreath repelled them or straight up killed them. She was horrified by the violence, and was even more terrified when Gilbreath began urging them to join in. Her initial reluctance gave way to self defensive action. The goblins were much smaller than humans and their flimsy sticks weren't much of a threat to the heavily armored tourists. When Meredith made her first kill, she felt something in her mind open up. A momentary burst of euphoria gratified her mind as she felt like her mind expanded. She could think very clearly for that one second.
"What you just experienced," Gilbreath explained for everyone's benefit, "is one of the mysteries of the Abyss. We believe the Abyss is some kind of warrior training ground. Killing the opponents provides us with a moment of combat enlightenment. We adventurers call this 'insight'."