SNAP!
Walking through a gargantuan forest was a pair of humans. One was a woman with black hair, cold blue eyes, and a casual smirk. The other was a man with black hair, dark eyes, and a face that screamed 'KILL ME'.
"Huff… huh" The nameless man was doing his best to keep pace, but the constant movement through the past days had left the man on his last legs. "Don't worry princess, we're almost to the bastion. I'll even treat you to some ale there, so give it one last push!"
The man's eyes twitched, "Easy for you to say! I don't have the strength and endurance to keep up with monsters for god's sake!" Lilith quickly flipped around and shook her finger. "Hey now, don't compare girls to monsters otherwise you'll never get a girl of your own!" She winked playfully.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say you freak of nature." Quickly Lilith's hand landed on the man's shoulder as she gave him a 'loving' squeeze. "Heyyyy, don't call pretty and innocent girls like me a freak, okayyy?" Her creepy smiling face and otherworldly strength crushing his shoulder betrayed her words.
"Y-yes mam" The man let out while choking up from the pain in his shoulder. Lilith let go of his shoulder and turned back around and kept walking like nothing happened, "That's what I thought!" Lilith remarked happily.
[Crazy woman…] The man thought as he rubbed his now tender shoulder. "So how does one get to your freak- I mean level of power?" Lilith gave him a piercing glare before looking ahead again. "In this world there exists certain levels of power. The first is your level, we call your kind nameless. Like the name suggests they have nothing but their body and thoughts. More than half of the population of the known abyss is made up of nameless."
"Interesting… What's your rank then?" The man inquired. "I'm the next rank, we are called the named. After earning this position, the abyss rewards you a couple of things. First of which is power. The body of a named is superhuman compared to the nameless."
"Sounds like an improved body is just the beginning…" Lilith looked over to her bag. "This is also a gift of the abyss, a bag with a decent amount of storage, at least more storage than any bag I know of. Granted, only special items can be put in here, such as cores or runic items. No one can steal it either, they'll only find an empty bag. If the owner dies… then poof, the bag just disintegrates."
"Runic items, are those perchance related to the runes found strewn about this place?" The man itched the brands on his back. "Yes it is. Here in the abyss there are six runes that we know of. You wouldn't have happened to find any?"
The man was hesitant to answer, after all this could backfire if she fed the info to anyone else. However, he trusted her after his near-death experience and decided to tell her, "I've found two so far, one was violet, and the other one was red."
Lilith looked back with a bit of shock, "Wow, you're pretty lucky newbie. A mystic art rune is pretty hard to find for most people here in the abyss. The combat art is also a good rune to start with."
"What other runes are there? In that cannibal's journal he found a green rune and got that journal of his." The woman pulled out one of her serrated blades and pointed at it, "We call the green runes 'item runes'. They are pretty broad and can spit out just about anything. I'm lucky I got these bad boys early on in my journey here."
"That still leaves three, what are they?" The man felt bad for asking so many questions, but he needed as much info about the world before they got to civilization. "Jeez, someone's a chatterbox today. Fine, I'll fill you in. A blue rune is a utility art. Think taming, cooking, hell even fishing. Next is a gold rune, these are called truth runes, and they give a slice of information about the world or even uncover a part of a person's past."
The man's eyes widened at the golden rune. Perhaps with it he could reveal some of the secrets about this barren world. "What's the last rune?" The woman sighed, and lifted the hair near her neck. Underneath laid a strange collection of holes of flesh, like a beehive. Sometimes it pulsated and vibrated. "This gross little thing is the result of the black rune, the final rune." The man had to hold in a bit of a gag at the phobia inducing holes in her neck. "Haha, I'm used to that reaction by now. The black rune is usually an augment of the body itself. It could be improved bone structure for speed, something flashy like a set of wings. Or something much more discreet that can serve as a trump card, like a regeneration gland in the body for a healing boost."
"What purpose does your augment serve?" Lilith let her hair down to naturally cover the holes. "It's a sixth sense kind of. It warns me with vibrations of incoming danger. Not sure how it works though." Lilith shrugged. "Don't get your hopes up too much though, newbie. Black runes are by far the rarest, and most people will only find one in their entire lives."
That covered what each of those runes were, and the mysterious effects that the nameless man had experienced due to them. "So I'm guessing these runes have some sort of correlation with becoming named" Lilith grinned, "You'd be right, there are three requirements needed to become a named. First, you must gather one of each kind of rune. These runes are the basis of every named's occupation and skill set. Secondly, you must kill 100 creatures and eat their flesh. Thirdly, you must kill and consume the cores of ten monsters."
"Creatures, monsters? What's the difference?"
"Think of creatures as being the non-human equivalent to nameless. And monsters are equivalent to the named. The wendigos were monster level beings."
The man gulped at the herculean task. He had barely survived his encounter with the ants and wendigos, but he had to fight and kill that many more? This would not be easy…
"Once all that is said and done, you finally ascend to the mighty rank of named! Oh, and there is one last thing the abyss gives, well actually two. First is an 'identity', which I've already touched upon. Finally, the last gift for the named is something you can't see as a nameless." Suddenly Lilith's eyes glazed over a bit, as if she was looking at something else. "Down here in the abyss, us named like to call it the 'Guiding Light', or just 'The Light' for short. It gives descriptions to things that we come to possess, as well as informing us of our progress to ascension. It even lets us see our runes and certain details about them."
The man knew what his priority was now. He had to make sure he reached the named rank asap, otherwise he risked dying at any moment. "What happens if you get, how should I say it, a shitty rune?" Lilith grinned at that question, "Many people believe that each rune someone obtains is catered to them personally. Every rune seems to call its owner, whether the owner is aware or not. You should have felt it before right, the allure of the runes?"
Now that she mentioned it, every rune showed up at convenient times, and every rune seemed to call to his very soul. Lilith finished by saying, "If you end up with a crappy rune, then it probably ends up being good for something else. Everyone's destiny is different in this abyssal world, whether it be out killing abyssals or raising crops, everyone plays their role." The man scratched his head, "Guess I'll find out what I'm meant for soon enough." The pair continued to trudge along through the forest as the huge crystal began to dim.
After walking for quite a while the forestry finally gave way to a fairly flat plain. Out to the left was a large cliff, dropping down a few hundred meters to a pitch black darkness. The man could feel his stomach drop at the thought of how far down the cliff went.
"Hope you're not afraid of heights, otherwise this place might not be for you." The pair continued along a stone pathway up the nearest hill. Once at the top a magnificent sight greeted their sight.
"Wow…" A huge stone rampart filled the man's eyes as it stretched across the land. "This has to go for at least a few kilometers, I can't even see the end of it…" The man gawked at the sight. The rampart came near the edge of the cliff as well, looking as if it might just fall right off. Although the cold stone walls elicited a lonely and desolate feeling, the orange hue of fire and the large amounts of smoke coming out of chimneys made it feel somewhat active and inviting.
Lilith waved her hand to display the impressive fortress. "Welcome to Poplis newbie, the place where helpless nameless like you can get a start in this hell called the Abyss!"