Abyssal Awakening

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"Pft pipsqueak." Alice grinned smugly.

*BANG!!!

"!!!"

Widening her eyes, Alice clutched her shin in pain as Cayla had given it a solid kick the moment Alice called her pipsqueak.

Unfortunately for Cayla, her physical form is dictated by how much energy she can extract to materialise. And with the seal only being partially undone, this was as much as she could do.

Still, it doesn't reduce how infuriating it feels to have Alice, who's already short, call her a pipsqueak.

And worst yet, because of her incomplete nature as the Eye of the Abyss rather than the 'Eyes' of the Abyss, she can't leave Alice's side at all. If she were to try and increase the distance between them, the tether will falter and her physical form will disperse.

Seeing Cayla stumble away to get another book, Alice forced a grin despite the strange sense of pain.

It wasn't a true physical pain in the sense that Alice was hurt by it but rather, a mental pain making her think her leg is hurt.

"Caelan has more information than I thought. Most long living individuals usually begin to slack off when it comes to collecting information. And even if they do, the sources and time of acquisition is usually missing or rough guesses." Cayla spoke while picking up a book. "Yet all of his books have a precise date, rough estimation of when the even occurred and even evidence to back it up. If I didn't know any better, I'd say this is bordering on obsession."

"In fact, he might even give Zal-Ka'Rith a run for his money. Here, look at this one. It's about the era after the battle between the Gods. Arguably, it's one of the most chaotic and unsettling eras since the Abyss was in the process of rapid degrading after Velouria passed.

"With the Abyss degrading, it was causing some balance issues between the three realms and naturally, the main one suffered. Information on this age went missing rather frequently and hardly anyone talked about it. It's simply a distant memory with most regarding it as myth. Yet Caelan has recorded so much of the things that happened." Cayla flipped open the book.

Lines upon lines of text on the battles that took place, factions rising and falling. Movements in the shadows and even which cities that the Gods fought to take control of.

As the era overshadowed by the haunting memory of a God's death, his documentation was scarily accurate.

'Parchment would be frothing at the mouth if he realised this library exists.' Alyss muttered.

Meanwhile, Alice couldn't help but nod her head in agreement.

"Do you think we can convince Rosey to stay for a little longer? If I can just compile this knowledge. . ." Cayla frowned.

"You realise that staying longer increases the chances of being found out right? And I don't want to be around here when Nyer decides to knock on the door or some sh*t." Alice grumbled.

"I know. But how often is it that you get to access a trove like this?" Cayla pouted.

"Back when I had my full power, I kept a document of everything that happened in the Abyss. I couldn't digest all of it but I still kept a record so I can look back whenever I need. But after losing my other half and rescued by Kaden, I wasn't able to compile the data anymore.

"So this gap of knowledge has been pissing me off. Not to mention that when I could access my powers, some irresponsible f*cker decided to ask for Kaden to seal me without my consent! I couldn't even ask for him to keep the data storing part intact. Everything got sealed pretty much!" Cayla raged, giving Alice a glare as she coughed awkwardly.

"Therefore, now that I have the chance to replenish my knowledge, don't you think it's only fair that I take a long hard look at what's in this library?"

Folding her arms, Alice had to admit that indeed her words have merit. It's because of Cayla's databank of knowledge that the journey has been relatively smooth thus far.

The importance of knowledge was one that couldn't be stressed enough. With knowledge comes understanding, with understanding comes infinite possibilities.

And it's within these possibilities that the path of survival lies.

"Well. . . I suppose I am a separate group compared to the others. If I stay behind by a day it should be relatively fine I think. I just need to find a way to convince them." Alice sighed, scratching her hair.

There was also the possibility of Alice making a skill using the Sigils that she has to help Cayla read as much as she could in this library. But with the security overhead, doing so felt like a risk in itself.

Not to mention the fact that Alice had actually found an extract on what the Zetherion is.

The drifter, the foreigner.

Zetherion is one of the few rare beasts that have been documented in all three realms. A creature of unknown origin only the fact that it drifts through the Abyss, Void and Surface.

It's been sighted to drift above lost ships out at sea, amidst the floating islands of the Void and amongst the winged beasts in the deeper layers of the Abyss.

Despite its sheer size, it is able to keep itself afloat by drifting along invisible strands of energy that most can't interact with. Through this energy, it is also able to use attacks imbued with the element of space, forcing the target to be pulled towards two realms at once.

Those that cannot handle this level of power find themselves ripped in half before even being able to muster up a single scream.

But when the Zetherion is serious, all spatial boundaries become useless in front of it. Second Resonances fail to activate and it is able to escape to other realms at a moment's notice.

No boundary can hold this beast.

A slippery monster that will choose to run if battle is not an option.

Yet despite all of this, Caelan was able to capture one and even train it to be his security in the library.

'The more I look at that thing the more I question how the hell Caelan managed to tame it. If no boundary works on it then did he just keep chasing the beast until it exhausted itself?' Alice wondered while Alyss shrugged.

'Then again, it's not like it can kill Caelan. The fact that the previous Lord of Death died because Caelan couldn't be killed by the grim f*cking reaper of all things is wild to me. The LITERAL embodiment of death failed.' Alyss frowned.

She could still remember the moment they saw Gin summon the avatar of death. That. . . being which tore through the sky, peering down at the realm.

Even now she still felt chills from remembering its visage.

But not even that thing could kill Caelan.

'How does one even become THAT immortal to begin with.' Alice sighed.

Longevity and immortality are two wildly different concepts.

One means you don't die of natural causes while the other means you don't die at all.

And it's not the twisted kind of immortality either where his body rots away with the passage of time.

No, Caelan is still in his prime.

"What do you think Cayla?" Alice glanced over.

"Hm? What about?" Cayla blinked her eyes in confusion.

Since she was now outside of Alice's body, Cayla couldn't hear whatever conversation Alice just had.

"About Caelan's immortality. How do you think it works? And more importantly, how the hell he even became THAT immortal to begin with."

Cayla was about to respond when she looked up in realisation and paused.

She pulled a face of confusion before falling into deep thought, closing the book in her hands.

"If I'm being honest, the more I think about it the more strange it seems. I've seen different kinds of immortality through the years but his case is a first. Being able to evade authority of death is. . . impressive in itself." Cayla frowned.

"Even Gods can be killed so true immortality shouldn't exist. For example, the Doctor." She reminded Alice of the seemingly immortal Doctor that they ran away from.

"He seems immortal but he's probably keeping a core of sorts somewhere or at least having a way to keep his mortal shell intact. Even though he seems immortal, death will no doubt claim him if the Abyss Lord makes a move.

"When the Lord of Death strikes, that strike will traverse realms and boundaries just to strike you at your core. Even if you're unsure of it yourself." She explained.

"So the fact that not even death can pinpoint his mortal core is. . . absurd."

"What if it's something like 'oh you can't kill what's already dead'." Alice joked around but Cayla shook her head.

"There's been cases of that in the past but they can't escape the grasp of death."

With that, they're back at square one.

Reflecting on everything Cayla had said, Alice felt as though something was off. Something she missed.

She needed to take a step back and examine the response as a whole.

"Erm. . . Cayla. You said that death targets your mortal core right?"

"Yes. Though 'mortal core' is something I made up to make explanation easier. There's not a literal core." Cayla nodded.

"If 'Death' can't find that core then. . . does it even exist? Like does the concept of death exist in Caelan?" Alice's smile twitched.

Cayla wanted to refute it but found herself unable to say a single word. She had no evidence that she could use to refute it from her data bank of knowledge.

The possibility was low but. . .

It's not impossible for that to be the case.