I ran straight to the cliff's edge like I'm having some sort of a death wish. When close to the edge, I pivoted my left foot and push myself off the cliff back first.
Right above me, I can see one of those giant birds soaring down towards me. Their sharp talons glistening in the sunlight, making me remember some unwanted memories. Memories that make my blood runs hot with anger.
I aimed my grappling hook gun and shoot it straight towards the bird. It lodged itself on to its neck, making it lose balance, and it starts plummeting down along with me into the abyss.
Then I pressed a button at the grappling hook's handle, and it starts pulling me towards the giant bird. I let go of one of my hands and used it to grab hold of the giant bird's neck feather.
"Okay, just stop…" I tried to take out the hook lodged inside its neck, but it won't stop moving. "Goddamit…" I grabbed my whistle and blow it as hard as I can.
The whistle sounds like a typical expensive whistle, but there's a hidden bass in its sound. The sound somehow calmed down this beast and made it easier for me to take out the hook. "There we go…"
Finally, I made a firm knot around this bird's neck and used it to steer it. It works considerably well, and I can feel myself controlling this beast. "Phew, finally…" I sighed a little while driving the beast down to the inner part of the abyss.
After flying down for a while, I can finally take a deep breath and relax. The bird has wholly stopped struggling and is now much, much more docile. I can finally take my time to observe the beauty of this abyss.
Below me is an odd landscape that truly deserves its name, the inverted forest. A forest that literally grows from the walls and ceiling of the abyss. The forest that makes it quite hard to tell which way is up and down.
Though the forest is still pretty far down, and I'm not in that much hurry. "So uhh… Do you have a name?" I asked the giant bird I'm riding on.
The bird shook its head. "Hmm, I'm gonna call you, Beakless. What do you think?" the bird said nothing, but I'm sure it doesn't mind.
As the two of us get closer to the forest, the wind around us gets more and more extreme. Below me, Beakless started to lose his balance, unable to fight the strong wind around us.
"Okay, let's not push our luck." I steered Beakless towards one of the largest trees in the area. We landed smoothly on top of it, and I quickly climbed off of him. "Seems this is the end of our short journey together Beakless." I untied his bindings and smiled at him. "Don't worry, I'll take it from here, shoo!"
The two of us gazed at each other for a moment. My hand instinctively gripped my machete while hoping that this bird wouldn't do something incredibly stupid.
Then, Beakless bowed towards me, he let out a soft whistle before unraveling his wings. Then he flapped his wings as hard as he could and soared back to the abyss' upper layer.
"Haha! I knew yer a Black Whistle but I certainly did not expect THAT!" a mighty hand not-so-gently tapped my shoulder. "Taking on a wild Corpse-Weeper and taming it in mid-air, I can only dream of doing something like that!"
I turned around and faced Habo, who's still grinning like a mad-man. "Well, maybe it has something to do with your overall body structure that might hinder the flight of a bird." I shrugged a little. "Just sayin'…"
Habo chuckled some more before looking at the general direction of the forest. "All right, from here on, I need you to follow me." He pointed at the dark figures watching us from the inverted trees. "These guys around here are extremely territorial. Once you stepped on their territory, they'll start throwing at you until you leave."
A general nuisance but not lethal. "Do they taste good?" I asked nonchalantly as the two of us walked through the forest.
"It's an acquired taste." Habo replied while jumping on to a tree into the distance. "Don't be too picky with your food if you wanna survive."
I jumped straight towards the next tree and followed Habo to another. "So, about the seeker camp." I paused a second to jump on to the next tree. "What's it like?"
Habo pointed at a massive building in the distance. It seems to be made by hollowing out one of the biggest inverted trees and adding some balconies around it. There's also a telescope right in front of it that's currently pointing straight towards us.
"Like that…" Habo said cheekily while motioning me to step on to a bridge. "Oh and by the way, waiting on that camp is the scariest person you'll ever meet around these parts."
Habo cleared his throat for a moment and looked at the gondola that's currently lowering down from the camp. "The curse isn't all that bad around here, so this trip shouldn't really…"
"Excuse me, what curse?" I asked in utter suspicion. "What are you talking about Habo?"
The man looked at me in disbelief. "Ozen's gonna have field day once she heard about this." He chuckled a little and walked into the gondola. "A black whistle who has no knowledge of the abyss. Now I've seen everything!"
"Oi! I lost my memories!" I exclaimed as the gondola took him upwards. "and who the heck Ozen!?"
After bringing Habo into the camp, the gondola lowered back down, and I stepped into it. I couldn't shake the feeling of a bird trapped inside a cage right now, considering how the cage looks identical to your typical birdcage.
Then, the gondola starts rising up, and it is at this moment that I feel very sick. My head starts pounding, and I'm beginning to feel very-very nauseous. But this is nothing compared to being eaten alive or being plunged down from above the sky into a gigantic abyss.
Soon enough, I made it right on top of the camp. A blue haired girl(?) in a maid outfit welcomed me as I stepped out of the gondola. She bowed down towards me in a very maid-like fashion before welcoming into the camp. "Welcome to the Seeker's Camp Haios Sama..."
I smiled at him/her after hearing that. "No need for formalities, I can't really remember half of what's going on around here." Then I looked around me for a moment. "Nice place you got here, especially your giant telescope."
The girl/boy smiled at me and bowed down once again. "Thank you for your kind words Haios sama," they said before motioning me to follow them into the camp.