Jacob had what could be described as a not so refreshing bath, but when you hadn't taken one so long, the smallest conditions doesn't diminish the satisfaction he would likely get.
Jacob stepped out of the bathroom with renewen vigor, his skin seemed to shine and the water droplets still on his hair glistened. He looked so out of place with his environment. He strode forwards with confident steps back to his room with a plan in mind, he couldn't sleep on that thing especially so after his bath and if it was left to him, he'd directly burn it to ashes.
He entered his assigned room and moved the bed to the corner of the room, it took everything in him not to gag at being close to it again. He took a black cloth he found on his way back and covered the whole bed with it
"There, out of sight out of mind…now then, I guess I shouldn't delay it anymore''
It had been a while since Jacob last visited the abyss, and although the circumstances weren't in his control, he still had a flicker of fault. But he was now prepared to face his next hurdle so he did exactly that.
He went down in a meditation pose, calmed his breathing and his beating heart, creating a rythym of both of them harmoniously happening in tandem. He dug into his mind, jumping from thought to thought until he finally settled on one, a large tome that took a seat in his memory. It was old, haggard even, like it had been passed from generation to generation for the past epoch.
But as Jacob focused more on this tome, this old book, the more he felt his consciousness slipping away, his being stripping away from his body. It wasn't slow neither was it fast, it wasn't painful neither was it pleasant. The feelings were hard to describe, like he was dying yet it also felt he was taking a nap.
Eventually Jacob had no choice but to succumb to its pull, but when he opened his eyes, the familiar black landscape filled his senses. It was still strange to him, there wasn't a single source of light in this world, yet he could see, and what he could see although not much was surreal in itself, a black desert, was the name he had given it. Black skys, black sands, it seemed like the most appropriate name, and maybe it was.
"Fuuuuuh, how refreshing…it seems my body is more at home here, well now that I can walk, how about a little exploring, it'd be a shame if I didn't get to see everything now wouldn't it"
With this in mind, Jacob set forth, where one might ask, well he picked a direction and started walking. He neither had a map nor a guide to lead him so he trusted something any man would, his guts.
He kept walking for what would have been a full day, but all the while all he had encountered was more black sands, he was at least thankful for the lack of sun, or else his pilgrimage would have been a thousand times more difficult.
Although his frustration was growing, his curiosity took more territory in his mind, he kept walking, his mind begining to wander,
"How funny, I guess I just truly became an 'abyssal walker'...hahaha"
'How'd I even get roped into all this, those gods doing as they please, this shit is just so frustrating, I've died about three times now, even more times I've been brought to the edge, is all of this really worth it?, It's not like I have any family to protect when I'm strong, and if I was being honest the gods seem to have always been like that, and I wasn't the only one, so is it even fair to antagonize them, was it fair to resent them….I guess I don't know, I thought I understood it all when I awakened fully, I thought I finally accepted it, finally began to gain Interest…but it seems I was wrong, I've already grown tired…how pathetic. Ella, it seems this sorry excuse of a brother doesn't really care'
Jacob hadn't realised but as his thoughts wandered, the more he questioned the purpose of his being and doubted himself. His arms stopped swinging, falling limply beside him, his back had curved, loosing their straightness and his head fell, his neck losing all the power they had, but even with all these happening, his legs continued to walk, his body seemingly being a barrel of endless stamina.
He walked and walked, the same thoughts going through his mind, repeating itself like a broken record. A month passed, two months passed, six months passed and yet Jacob was stuck in the same motion his mind caged with the bars of the same thoughts.
It was when a year was almost up that something changed, Jacobs steps paused along with his thoughts, his back straightened letting out loud booms that echoed for miles as they fixed into place, his neck followed, their muscles gaining life they hadn't had in the past year. It raised his face to be visible, an evergrowing grin spread out on his face, it was so wide his teeths parted,the borders of his mouth threatening to tear his face at their edges, his eyes became crescent shaped under the creases of his face. But their dark glow couldn't be hidden.
He threw his face upwards at the sky, his face drawing the picture of codescending, he laughed at the heavens or rather the sky's of the abyss whatever they were called,
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA….IS THAT ALL!! Come on now, that can't be all…COME COME, YOU WANTED TO BREAK ME DID YOU NOT? THIS MUCH IS AN INSULT, ITS PITIFUL HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…."
Jacob kept laughing like a maniac amidst the expanse of emptiness and the blackness of the abyss. The truth of the matter was that the title Jacob got wasn't honorary in the slightest, although it represented a tier, it wasn't one on the steps to supremacy. The abyss itself wasn't a grand challenge realm, it's sole purpose wasn't to make it's visitors stronger.
No, it was more or less a prison, a place where the vilest of existence were sent to live out their sentence, it was a prison that had existed from the begining, a place even the gods feared. So the title Jacob received was nothing but one that determined his sentence. In reality, had he not broken the loop, he would have been condemed to walk the plains of the abyss for the rest of his life, with the constant thoughts of doubts assaulting his mind, punishing him for his incompetence.