Getting used to living in the Abyss hadn't been the easiest thing I'd ever done...
The Abyss was unlike anything I had ever seen before.
There were no separate worlds down here. Instead, places in the Abyss are divided into realms separated by barriers or 'gateways'.
There were levels of dwelling.
The highest plane was where we were, currently. This is where Difar ruled.
There were areas below as well.
Supposedly, they went down for a very long time, but no one here was quite sure how far it went.
The further someone went, the less civilized things became. Eventually, you would begin to only encounter horrifying, nightmarish abominations bent on killing you in the worst way imaginable.
Some of them wouldn't even kill you at all.
The upper levels had towns and cities, but no light.
There was no light in the Abyss anywhere.
Everything was kept visible by abyssal flames which did not produce light as much as they allowed your eyes to see in the dark.
These black flames were in lanterns, torches, sconces, chandeliers, and pretty much any source of 'light' you could think of.
The only point above Difar's massive fortress of a castle, was the pinnacle of execution. Zaxvalrah.
Where people would often be brought to be thrown into the Void above.
Cassandra taught me the few things she learned in the short time she lived here a while ago.
Everyone addressed Difar as His Dark Majesty or Lord Difar.
He was a King but hated being called King because it didn't roll off the tongue as well as being called a Lord.
Next, many of the people in the Abyss appeared mostly human on the outside. This was because the form of human was convenient.
It was also why Difar chose to appear this way as well.
However, not everyone enjoyed using a human form and many civilized monsters would roam around.
Humans were also a delicacy.
Lastly, despite it not technically being part of creation, the Abyss was still subject to the resets due to the presence of Corruption.
Although it would still only reset to the exact point in time where I opened my eyes.
There were a few exceptions to the resets down here, apparently, but I won't go into it.
In short, some entities knew about me and had branded me a criminal.
Although my name and face weren't posted anywhere... There wasn't really a point, after all, since they believed I would never reach the Abyss.
Still...this place was certainly strange...
The food only looked disgusting, and actually didn't taste bad.
It took some getting used to.
This was my first week after waking up from the fight I had with Rose.
At one point during the week, Iris took the fragments of our souls and began manifesting our Aspects. Although she noticed something odd...
Our souls had marks on them...like the ones I had seen before.
Curiously, I wasn't affected by the curse right now but my soul still had the brand.
When I asked Vakra about it as he worked with Leiso to construct the heart devices, he came up with a theory that it had something to do with how we kept our memories.
We agreed to discuss it at length later once he had finished his work.
Currently, I was sparring with Cassandra in my older form.
I wanted her to be at her absolute best when it came to her swordsmanship skills.
More specifically, I was concerned with her skill using daggers.
To begin with, she had quite a bit of skill, but never received formal training with the weapon.
Using the Warlord Aspect as well as Vengeance in the form of a dagger allowed me to teach her effectively.
"How am I doing, darling? Am I improving?" Cassandra asked hopefully.
"Very quickly. I'm impressed that you have so much innate talent for knife fighting," I said.
Cassandra silently celebrated to herself at my compliments and I smiled at her.
"I don't have much time left in this form, so how about we stop for now?" I asked.
"That sounds wonderful! I still need to use my channeled power as well. You were right about learning faster without all of that extra power, darling. But...I miss using our abilities together," she said.
"I understand, but we'll have time for that later. You can use yours now if you want," I said.
She nodded and mouthed the words silently.
Then she grew to an older version of herself.
I was always amazed at how well both she and her sister aged. They went from simply being cute and beautiful to being gorgeous women of refined elegance.
After her transformation finished, mine ended and I went back to being a few inches shorter again.
"Oh...? You look so cute like that, Mizik~!" Cassandra said playfully.
"Don't mess around... We need to talk to Vakra about how we kept our memories. It's important in case there's another reset," I said.
"Awww... I don't get to have fun with younger Mizik...?" Cassandra pouted.
"Perhaps later... But we have work to do," I said as I felt my face heat up.
Cassandra hugged me and then smiled.
"After you, darling~!" She said.
* * *
We found Vakra in the same place as before. The makeshift lab he set up a few days ago.
"Vakra, are you free to talk?" I asked.
"I am. This is about how you kept your memories, is it?" He said.
I nodded.
"Good... Now then, I've had plenty of time to think about this. With the information you gave me, I've come up with several theories. First, the strange phenomenon in this graveyard location. I also wonder if graveyards exist for others affected by the reset...but that is another subject. Next, the thing Cassandra saw when she regained her memories. She said it wasn't a dream. And lastly, how did Isab-...Rose, manage to lose hers? Truly maddening," he said.
"You said it might be an effect of the marks on our souls, right?" I said.
"Indeed. You were cursed and that left a brand upon your soul. Cassandra was fully Corrupted and a similar mark."
"But Tyranus and Arvild lost their memories. Isabella was nearly Corrupted in the past," I said.
"But she wasn't fully Corrupted. She never received a brand. Also, those two lacked something that both you and Cassandra had at the same time as your marks," he said.
When I thought about it, I wasn't sure how Difar manged to keep his memories every time.
I never bothered to ask because I didn't think I would receive an answer. Difar hated me, after all. And to be fair, he probably didn't know, anyway.
But he mentioned wanting to know how to replicate the event as a failsafe. I planned to relay everything to him later, once I saw him again.
"Hmm...how about Blessing of the Creator?" I said.
It was the only thing I could think of that both Cassandra and I possessed.
"No...you said Isabella had the ability given to her after your mating ritual. Not Cassandra," he said.
"Cassandra had her soul partially fused to Isabella. The skill passed to her when that happened. Do you think it could have been the result of both the skill and the brands mixing?" I said.
Vakra pondered it for a moment.
"It's possible. It's the only thing that makes sense. Only you and Cassandra had both the marks on your souls as well as the skill. And Difar has never cursed you before, has he? Nor has Cassandra been affected with the blessing before. Or has she? Regardless...she may not have been Corrupted at the same time. Yes...I think we might have our culprit. These are still theories until proven, but I would like to run some tests if possible. I have power over temporal anomalies, so I can provide accurate results. I'll call you when I'm ready to run the experiments. It will take time to make the proper environment for testing," Vakra said.
"Good. In the meantime, I'll tell Difar about the theories," I said.
"Go for it. Now, I'm just going to sit here and be miserable because almost two weeks have passed and I'm still a damn skeleton..." Vakra grumbled.
Ever since he had regained his power and lost it immediately, he had been in his skeletal form.
This was a new record and he was starting to worry...
Regardless, I made my way over to where I thought Difar might be.
I'd become fairly attuned to the particular feeling of impending doom he radiated and found it easy to locate him.
When Cassandra and I entered his throne room, he was speaking with someone.
It was a woman who looked a bit like Aria. She was somewhat smaller and had long black hair.
Her eyes were dark purple and Difar was saying something to her.
"Listen, you're going to motivate him. He already hates me enough as is, but this will help him even more. I think his hatred will fuel his desire to kill me and by default, that means killing the Oracle. Understood?" Difar said.
"Yes...Lord Difar... I'm just really nervous about meeting him... I don't know how to act..." The woman said.
"Am I interrupting something?" I asked.
Difar turned to me and scowled.
"Ugh...speak of the devil. Look, I'm sure whatever you came to say to me is super important and interesting. But I have a lot of shit to do and can't be bothered to listen to your irritating voice," Difar said.
"Even if it's about the reset? Vakra has a theory that might-"
"Shut your annoying mouth, you wretched child! I don't give a selkrahk's tentacle about your bony friend's theories. I'm only interested in facts. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a kingdom to run. You know, because I'm a King?" Difar said.
I rolled my eyes. I wasn't really in the mood.
"Whatever. Just get lost. I'll find you later," I said.
"I know. That insufferable ability makes it easy."
Difar turned and walked out of the room.
"Darling, maybe we should go relax for a bit? Or do you need to talk to Iris?" Cassandra said.
Truthfully, despite having had a brief meeting, I hadn't actually spoken much with Iris since Rose destroyed her world and killed everyone on it.
I thought about it for a moment and suddenly the woman from before approached me.
"Excuse me...are you really Mizik?" She said.
"Yes. I'm Mizik Iratus. The supposed Chosen Hero. But I don't really think of myself as a hero and I hate that title. So you can just call me Mizik. Do you need something?" I asked.
"You've...certainly got Ulysses' eyes. They're beautiful. I never expected you to grow into such a handsome young man, either..." she said.
She had such a gentle and loving smile.
"Darling...this woman kind of looks a bit like you. Why is that?" Cassandra said.
I raised an eyebrow at her comment and looked at the woman.
"How do you know about my father?" I asked.
"This might sound odd...and you may not believe me...but my name is Karia Iratus," she said.
My eyes went wide as I stared at the woman.
"That's...not possible..." I said.
"I know... It's hard to believe. Lord Difar got hold of me a long time ago when he first came to Avernia. He placed a soul snare on the world and...I ended up here shortly after I died..." She said.
"...Mom?" I said.
Tears began to well up in my eyes and she rushed forward to hug me.
She was so gentle... Everything about her was comforting.
"It's okay, sweetie...your mother is here."
Tears streamed down my face as I hugged her tightly. Cassandra looked on and smiled.
This...is really her...?