Once we left the castle, I saw the city of Kazekiir.
It was amazing...
The buildings weren't shaped the same as as traditional ones, but all seemed to be partially connected with interlocking walkways in the sky. Or at least what was considered a sky below the Void.
As we walked the streets, people would occasionally react to us.
And by us, I mean...
"Eh...EHHHHHH!? L-LADY VALTHEIM!?!? RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!"
Several people would react with pure terror upon seeing Valtheim walk around normally.
It was kind of weird...
She had the appearance of a beautiful young woman with dark gray hair.
She wasn't particularly imposing and only wore a somewhat bulky armored robe.
I mean, after all...she was probably only around 5'5.
And yet...
I couldn't actually think of a more terrifying entity in all of creation...
Dying was surely a scary thing...and I would know... But to simply stop existing? To me, that was far more terrifying.
Valtheim was more than capable of doing that to someone.
"Hey, Valtheim? Why are these people so terrified of you?" I asked.
I didn't really expect a response, but I thought I would try, anyway.
Maybe it was a vain attempt to get on her good side? Did she even have a good side?
I had mild anxiety of the day when we would be enemies again...
"They fear...nothingness... I am...nothingness... Memories of...The Abyssal War...Lord Difar..."
"What is the Abyssal War?" I asked.
"Lord Difar...conquest of the...Abyss... The only war... The Abyssal War... Lord Difar killed Difar...became Lord Difar..."
What the hell...? Lord Difar killed Difar?
"What do you mean Difar killed Difar?" I asked.
"Lord Difar...killed the previous...King of the Abyss... His name...Difar. Lord Difar killed Difar...became Lord Difar..."
"So the previous King was also named Difar?" Cassandra asked.
"Difar...title. Abyssal Royalty... King of the Abyss...Difar... Lord Difar killed Difar...became Lord Difar... Not difficult...to understand..."
Now she's just mostly repeating herself.
"Are you going to get angry with us for asking so many questions like Difar does?" I said.
"Anger...irrelevant... Questions...give answers..."
"I see. How were you made? Do you have a weakness?" I asked.
Cassandra looked worriedly at me.
"Made from...The Void... Weakness...irrelevant..."
Well...that was pointless...
"What is the Void?" I asked.
"Place of nothing... Foundation...barrier...obstacle..."
"This isn't really getting anywhere... Umm...why do you serve Difar?" I asked.
"Created by him...I serve... Why do you...not serve...?" She said.
"Because Difar will destroy all of creation if he is allowed to roam free. You understand, right?" I said.
"Irrelevant..."
"To you, maybe. Do you have a concept of wanting peace? To protect anyone? What about love?" I said.
"Irrelevant... I protect and serve...Lord Difar..." She said.
"Hmm...would you be willing to serve Mizik?" Cassandra said.
"I serve...Lord Difar..." Valtheim said.
I'm not surprised by that answer...
"Maybe it's best...if we stopped asking her questions?" Cassandra said.
I nodded.
And as we continued walking, Valtheim would periodically gaze at some of the abyssal creatures in our path.
Her gaze, of course, was terrifying. It would send any monster running in fear.
"She sure is...effective..." Cassandra said.
"Yeah. I wish I had one of her to help me fight the Corruption," I said.
"Ah! If I could use Valtheim's powers...would Mizik love me even more!?" Cassandra said.
"...Only if you were still you. If you became like she is, it would be difficult. And...I don't think it would be possible," I said.
"I see. Umm...are there ways to get Mizik to love me more!?" She asked.
Do I not love you enough...?
"Cassandra, I promise that I love you a lot already. You can rest assured in that. I love you, Cassandra," I said.
"Kyaaa!!! I love you too!" She said happily.
Then Cassandra hugged my arm tightly.
"Oh? Isn't that just adorable? You two look...absolutely delicious..." A sinister voice said behind us.
I looked and saw a floating eye with tentacles behind us.
"Excuse me...?" I said.
Something about that creature...made my head hurt...
"I believe you heard me, morsels... Why are you here, fleshlings? This is the Abyss. Lord Difar's domain. You are trespassing, and I-"
Suddenly Valtheim manifested in front of us and gazed at the monster.
"Gah!? SKREEE!? L-LADY VALTHEIM!?!?"
"Depart...at once..." Valtheim said.
"L-lady Valtheim! Those two should not be here! Surely you understand that much, yes? I can be rid of them for you. I just have to get my teeth in them..."
That thing has teeth?
Without any form of warning...without even a word...
Valtheim's form began to change.
Her right hand changed into a gaping maw that unhinged itself.
She opened it wide and instantly bit down on the area where the monster was.
When she finished, she returned to normal and the monster was gone.
All within the span of about two seconds.
And the already-terrified monsters nearby looked on in utter disbelief...or at least I assumed it was terror. Most of them didn't look anything close to human
Many of them ran away in fear and a few more of the brave ones stayed.
They were watching us closely...
Many of the monsters in the Abyss took on human appearances but it was widely known that none of them were actually human.
The Corrupted ones that Difar brought down were only shadows of their former selves.
On the incredibly rare occasion that actual humans were brought in...
It was always to be eaten, since we were a delicacy. And only by the high class individuals directly serving Difar.
So they looked at us with hunger in their eyes and salivated.
"Ugh...filthy creatures... Only Mizik can look at me like that..." Cassandra said.
Weirdo.
"Should I even ask?" I said.
"Haaah...only if you want to, darling! But I think you know... Mizik is very clever!" Cassandra said as she looked seductively at me.
Before I could respond, Valtheim turned to us and averted her eyes.
"No mating... Soon...we leave Kazekiir... The entrance deeper down...past Sakreevahk..." She said.
Did she just tell us no mating!? I didn't plan on it, damn you!
"What is Sakreevahk?" I asked.
"Very cold place..." Valtheim said.
"Don't worry, Mizik! I brought my coat! We can keep warm in it!" Cassandra said happily.
"I'm glad. We'll certainly need it..." I said.
At the same time, I needed to ask Valtheim something important about moving to our destination.
"Valtheim, I have a question about the black fire that lets us see in the dark," I said.
"Abyssal fire...is its name..." Valtheim said.
"Right...is there any abyssal fire in the Deep Abyss?" I asked.
"No. Deep Abyss...completely dark...full of horrors...unseen by most..."
"Great. How the hell are we supposed to see in the Deep Abyss!?" I asked angrily.
"You will...produce abyssal fire..." Valtheim said.
Suddenly the realization hit me that I could actually make the spell, myself.
I could produce as much as I wanted with it using The Archmage.
I activated my Channeled Power and took on my older form.
Then I stopped for a moment to analyze one of the lanterns 'lighting' the city streets.
Once I finished, I made a spell to produce abyssal fire as we walked.
Then...
"Create abyssal fire," I said as I held out my hand.
Black flames appeared in my hand and Cassandra looked at me in awe.
She also used Channeled Power at the same time I did...because she liked the idea of being the same as I was.
"You're so amazing, Mizik!" She said.
"Now we have...abyssal fire..." Valtheim said.
"Yeah, I just need to be able to use the spells I made in my younger form, now," I said.
I quickly added the spells to the status menu and did the same for Cassandra.
She seemed very happy to receive it from me and I smiled to myself.
I love the Archmage.
After that, we continued onward.
A few minutes went by and I realized that I could have just used night vision. I tested it and found that it wasn't nearly as effective as abyssal fire, however... It didn't allow me to have infinite range of sight like the fire did.
I would simply rely on the flames to get us through this.
Hours later, we were attacked by a large group of monsters that believed they could overpower Valtheim.
They were sorely mistaken.
Valtheim devoured every single one of them in an instant. Then we left for the region known as Sakreevahk.
It was horribly cold.
The Abyss was already fairly cold due to not having any light, but this place was well below freezing.
Cassandra and I worked hard to stay warm. Valtheim just continued walking and defending us from random monster attacks.
I understood perfectly now why she was told to come with us.
And since she was in the party, we gained exp every time she killed something.
Although, that only lasted until we reverted. Our younger selves couldn't level due to not having heart stones.
Once we passed through Sakreevahk, we descended to a lower plane of the Abyss. The areas of descent were large gateways that had highly decorated doors on them. They depicted the level in which someone was standing currently as well as where they led.
Once they were opened, you could enter a tunnel that led down to the next gateway.
When we exited the gateway, we found ourselves next to a large wall that reached into the sky.
I could no longer see the Void...and as thankful as I was, I felt nervous down here.
We will had a long way to go, of course.
The Deep Abyss was apparently many layers down.
The further we went, the more dangerous things became.
Thankfully, everyone had heard of Valtheim.
That made travel a lot simpler.
We used our channeled power whenever possible and Valtheim continued her rampage.
The more I watched her, the more worried I became.
There wasn't a single monster down here capable of surviving any form of attack that she had.
Valtheim might as well have been invincible!
And since I would one day face her in battle...it was becoming increasingly deterring.
How much easier would it have been to simply accept the fate of creation and join Difar?
Would he even accept me as an ally?
Honestly...being his hitman seemed like it would be more appealing than taking a nap in the Void.
Although, when I thought of all the suffering Difar brought people...
The things he had done to me and my family...to Aria...
There was no way I could allow him to continue living.
I would simply have to try harder to understand the enigma that Valtheim was. If I could beat her, then killing Difar would seem feasible.
We pressed on. I saw war torn, ancient landscapes and horrors I can scarcely describe. The more of these creatures I saw, the more my head began to hurt.
I felt like something in my head was slipping... Cassandra seemed worried, but she was perfectly fine.
I reassured her over and over...
Regardless...after two months of travel, we eventually arrived at the final door of the Upper Abyss.
It was the entrance to the Deep Abyss, as Valtheim told us.
In fact, no one knew how far down the Abyss actually went.
This was just as far as most entities had ever come.
Our Channeled Powers had been increasing in potency for a while now...
All around, there were ruined structures of buildings and the rotting corpses of huge monsters infested with gigantic abyssal insects.
None of them noticed us thanks to the barrier Valtheim held around us.
If it weren't there, the insects would swarm us and we were also told that...
...the corpses of the monsters weren't actually dead.
They could still move and attack.
They hungered for the living and would devour us whole. Although, some of them wouldn't eat us at all. They would keep us alive within their bodies in eternal torment and absorb our power in order to sustain themselves. A fate truly worse than death.
And this was only the icing on the cake.
There was no telling what further horrors awaited us down in the Deep Abyss...
Cassandra had actually become quite nervous as well.
"As long as...my darling Mizik is with me...I can do anything... Y-yes..." Cassandra said as she clung to my arm.
"Yeah...we'll just go into the refrigerator... It's nice and warm in there..." I mumbled.
"D-darling...?" Cassandra said.
I felt like I was in a daze but shook my head out of it.
"Sorry. What was I saying?" I asked.
"Abyssal madness...setting in..." Valtheim said.
"I'm not going insane, Valtheim. You're insane! This place is just stressful. I want to get out of here as quickly as possible," I said.
"Darling...please be careful, okay? If something is bothering you, please let me know..."
"I will. Thank you, Isabella," I said.
"I'm...Cassandra, darling..." She said.
"Sorry. Pretend you didn't hear that, Cassandra," I said.
I hugged her and smiled, but she still looked worried.
"We...descend..." Valtheim said.
The doors opened and I could immediately see that they hadn't been used in a very long time.
Centuries...maybe even millennia...
Valtheim began moving and we did as well.
As we followed Valtheim, I wondered to myself what kinds of abominations I would see down here...
Cassandra held tightly to me as we passed through and made our way further down.