The three kings looked at me with pity. "This…" Emyr began, "Is the Abyss Hole. It was made to capture beings like us who went against the Goddess. Think of it as a prison that no one can escape."
"Yeah," Arthur added, "it was always present but never used. We thought it was just for show. I wish I could have done some more research…"
Then Valmos explained. "She made it using a piece of the abyss, creating a layer to block anything. We're here because we went against her, and the Demon King betrayed us during our fight."
The elf sighed, nodding. "It's a pity. Sorry about your loss, but no one can escape this place. The risks are immense."
"Is there no way we can escape from this place, no matter what we do?"
"If that could be done why would we still be here."
"Right…"
I sat down on the floor dejectedly and said. "It's ironic, isn't it? I was a cop before I came here. Now I'm a prisoner of an unbreakable prison."
The elf tilted his head. "Cop? What's that?"
"Sigh… you can say that I am… I was a law enforcer, some sort of knight or soldier." I answered.
"Got it" the elf nodded.
We all fell silent. Neither side asked any questions or talked.
I just sat there thinking about how I could escape this place while I stared into the abyss.
Whenever I felt thirsty I would drink water. And about the hunger, I guess I started to feel that too. Thinking about it, humans are strange creatures, whatever they have, they won't care about it and will only care about what they don't have. And if they don't have both, the brain will make you prioritize the thing that you need most for survival and ignore everything else. Once you acquire that thing. You won't care about the first basic need and move on to the second.
In my case I needed water, my first and basic need. I needed food too but my brain worked in a way that it knew what I needed the most for my survival. Now that I have water, I don't care about it, it's just water. Now I want food too.
"Hey, is there any spell to create food?" I asked breaking the silence.
"There is about preparing the food but not creating the food out of thin air. You will need ingredients." Arthur answered.
"Do you have some ingredients?" I asked.
"I have both, cooked food and ingredients," Arthur replied.
"…"
"You can take it from the pouch. It does not matter to me anyway."
"Do I have to repeat the same process of closing my eyes and taking things out?"
"No… I did that to hide water from you. You see, there is also water in my pouch but I wanted you to learn the spell. After all, I'm a good teacher. It was Valmos's idea to give you the wand. Opening the pouch was meant to be a last resort. I wanted you to master the spell without relying on a wand. However, given your special circumstances, if you couldn't achieve it, I would have stepped in or given you the water. But I would have been disappointed in our lack of talent, especially in my teaching."
"Oh…"
'what can I even say? It is not like he did that with a bad intention.'
"Don't worry about it" I said as I moved to the pouch and opened it.
"Arthur, where have you kept it?" I asked.
"It is in a brown wooden box" he replied.
After hearing him I took out the box and opened it. Inside it, were fruits. Many varieties of fruits.
And I started eating them…
…
After eating the fruits I slept.
It was a normal peaceful sleep. Better than losing consciousness again and again.
I woke up, then drank water, and ate some fruits.
Then,
'Why don't I learn about their past and the world they live in, maybe it will help me.'
So, I asked. "Can you share your story with me?"
"It is a long story," Emyr said.
"Big one, we have all the time, don't we," I said while smirking.
"HaHaHa," He laughed as I backfired his words back at him.
Then,
"Arthur explains this time," Valmos said.
"Yes…" Emyr nodded his head.
"Oh! Come on Emyr, you will do it." Arthur said trying to pass this to him.
"I am bad at it so you should do it." Emyr gave his reason.
"Sigh… you two really are… Okay, kid listen.
A long time ago like billions of years ago when the planet was newly formed and without a ruler, a girl somehow gained divinity. We don't know the methods of that era, but she became a goddess and created a governing system for the planet. This system had 15 tiers, each corresponding to a range of levels:
- Levels 1-10 formed Tier 1 (lower level)
- Levels 11-20 formed Tier 2 (lower level)
- Levels 21-30 formed Tier 3 (mid-level)
- Levels 31-40 formed Tier 4 (mid-level)
- Levels 41-50 formed Tier 5 (high tier)
- Levels 51-60 formed Tier 6 (high tier)
- Levels 61-70 formed Tier 7 (ultimate)
- Levels 71-80 formed Tier 8 (ultimate)
- Levels 81-90 formed Tier 9 (supreme)
- Levels 91-100 formed Tier 10 (supreme)
- Levels 101-110 formed Tier 11 (extreme)
- Levels 111-120 formed Tier 12 (extreme)
- Levels 121-130 formed Tier 13
- Levels 131-140 formed Tier 14
- Levels 141-150 formed Tier 15
In Tiers 13 to 15, individuals create domains and are considered demigods. Despite the system, no one has ever completed all 150 levels, with the highest achievements barely reaching past Tier 14. The strongest being after the goddess is the Demon King, standing at Tier 14.
When the three of us—myself, Volmos, and the Dragon King—reached the demigod stage, we discovered something shocking: the goddess did not want anyone to complete the demigod level. She prevented anyone from surpassing level 142, automatically lowering their level back to 141. She did this because she wanted to be the sole ruler of this planet. She did not want to share authority with anyone.
Upon learning this, we joined forces with the Demon King to challenge and overthrow the goddess. However, at the last moment, the Demon King betrayed us, striking a deal with the goddess to not interfere with his levels. We fought the goddess but were overpowered and banished here 500 years ago.
We have already told you what the abyss is… but we were also cursed by the goddess. The curse given to our souls of not being able to escape this place. We came to know about it when we decided to end ourselves and escape to the reincarnation cycle but… We are still here"
"…"
'That is a lot, what should I say, *you have my condolences.* Man! I wish Chris was here, he was so good at these things.'
As I was contemplating, Valmos looked at me.
His finger shook as he pointed at me and said, "Emyr, Arthur look at him…"
"Huh, What are you talki… oh! Sh*t!" Emyr exclaimed
"Guys, what is happening?" asked Arthur in confusion.
"Can't you see, his curse…" Valmos answered.
"Damn…" Arthur cursed.
'What is happening' I thought.
"Arthur, Valmos, Emyr tell me what is going on?" I demanded an explanation.
"HAHAHAHAHA…"
"HAHAHA…"
"HAHAHAHAHAHA…"
The three of them started laughing like maniacs… no the goddess.
"Guys tell me what is happening? You are behaving like her, the goddess. Tell me." To be honest I was afraid a little. Guess humans are really afraid of the unknown.
And these guys laughing at something I didn't know of wasn't helping.
Anyway,
After a few minutes, they stopped laughing. All three of them looked at me, and Emyr said, "Do you know why we can't escape from here?"
I replied, "Yes, because of the curse, right?"
Emyr nodded, "Yes, you are right, but that's only half right."
I looked confused, trying to understand what he meant. Arthur noticed my confusion and began to explain. "When we first arrived here, we did everything we could to escape. We unleashed our most powerful attacks simultaneously, creating a crack in the abyss for a split second. Actually, it was less than a second, more like a nanosecond."
Arthur continued, "We tried to escape through that crack, but we failed. Now there are two reasons for the failure. First, our power and existence were too much to pass through it. The second reason we couldn't escape was the curse. She cursed us, ensuring we couldn't leave.
The curse was designed to trap our souls in the abyss. The abyss itself was created to imprison demigods or beings of extreme power, specifically those of the supreme tier and above. It was intended for beings above level 81, from tier 9 to 15. She planned it so that beings of such caliber would be physically confined in this place, while the curse would hold their souls to the abyss. Do you understand what I'm saying…"