System Change

Alanah approached the edge of the abyss. “It’s been a long time,” she muttered under her breath. “I hope still remember where I’m going… and that it’s still there,” she spoke lightly, but was easily heard by Derek.

“I’m sure you’ll find whatever it is that you’re looking for,” Derek said.

“Only one way to find out,” Alanah replied. Then she took the final step and walked off the edge into the abyss.

“Here goes nothing,” Derek muttered, then followed suit.

Many levels ago, a fall like the one they were experiencing would be enough to splatter them on the ground, but at their current levels and stats, it was nothing more than a slightly invigorating jump. After falling for a little while, Alanah began to slow, and Derek passed by her. Seconds later, he landed on solid ground—creating a couple of holes where his feet were. Alanah floated down lightly beside him.

“Brute,” Alanah chuckled as she landed gently on the ground beside him.

“I am the big dumb friend, after all,” Derek replied.

“Indeed,” Alanah replied.

“Now, do you have any idea where to go from here?” Derek asked.

“Not a clue,” Alanah said. “We’re looking for a cave at the edge of the abyss. I am unsure where we came down in relation to the cave, but it is along the abyss’s wall here. There are some markers that I can recall like it was yesterday, so if they are still there, it won’t be too hard to find as long as we stick to the edge.”

“Gotcha,” Derek said. “Shall we?”

“Mhm…” Alanah nodded, then flicked her wrist—causing her rapier to appear in her hand. After that, she took off at a sprint. She ran just fast enough that Derek was able to keep up with her stride without using any skills to do so.

The duo ran through and past overgrown forest, boulders, and even heaping clumps of moss that Derek could have sworn was alive. Actually, it probably was alive… he thought. If a big ass tree is the center of all this, then why wouldn’t some moss be alive, too?

Occasionally, Alanah would slow to a halt and survey their surroundings. Then, she would let out a light sigh of disappointment and take off at a sprint again. This happened multiple times. The duo was also met with attacks from a multitude of different beasts that weren’t nearly as docile as the clumps of moss they left alone.

Derek didn’t have to do anything in those instances, as the siren was quick to disappear a leave a hole in the head or heart of just about every beast that chose to attack. Derek was prepared to launch a void covered fist at anything that got by the woman, but, in the end, he didn’t need to. Alanah was correct that the edge of the abyss was where the weaker, crazed beasts gathered.

Some of the beasts they came upon completely ignored the duo and kept fighting one another. One thing that each and every beast they came across had in common was a pair of bloodshot eyes. It was obvious that none of the monsters really had any idea what they were doing and were just attacking anything that drew close—which is why some of the monsters chose not to attack the duo… they never got as close as the monsters that they were already battling.

“Stop!” After about an hour and a half of running along the abyssal wall, Alanah came to an instant halt and stopped Derek as well.

“Do you see something that you recognize?” Derek asked, hopeful.

“I do!” Alanah answered enthusiastically. “Look at that.” She pointed at the wall.

Derek looked toward where her finger was pointed and frowned. The only thing he saw was the rocky wall that looked just like the rest of the wall that they had been running alongside for the better part of two hours. “What is it?” he asked. “I don’t see anything.”

“Look here,” Alanah said as she moved closer to the wall. “See this indention? And this one, and this one?”

“Uh… I guess?” Derek did see what she was pointing out to him. There were chunks out of the rock wall, but there wasn’t anything strange about that… at least to him.

“Look closely,” Alanah said. “It’s a happy face.”

“Huh?” Derek squinted. He could vaguely see that the missing chunks formed something that may have resembled a happy face—but that was only if he were looking specifically for it. It wasn’t something he would ever come across and think of a happy face. “If you say so…” he said.

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“I was young,” Alanah said. “I was young and alone. I was only thirteen when I was chased and fell down here. Of course, I would seek something that made the horror just a little… less.”

“Oh…” Derek muttered. “I’m sorry…”

“It’s fine,” Alanah said. “Now… if this is the wall I’m thinking it is, then my cave should be this way.” With that, Alanah took off once again, and Derek followed behind. This time, the duo didn’t run very far.

“Here it is!” Alanah said.

“Where?” Derek asked. Once again, he wasn’t seeing anything that Alanah did.

“Right here.” Alanah walked over to the wall, then crouched down. “Great! Even after all these decades, it’s still here.” The siren then began digging up and moving a bunch of fist-sized rocks that were pushed into the ground. One after another, she picked up a rock and gently placed it beside her. “The only guarantee that I wouldn’t be attacked by monsters—and a way that helped to dampen the controlling effect of the willow—was to completely bury the entrance whenever I left or came back.”

“Oh… I see,” Derek said. “That makes sense, but how did you breathe?”

“It’s bigger down there than you would think, but I did almost suffocate many, many times,” Alanah answered. “But it stopped being so bad once I got some stat points in me. Once you have enough, you just feel like you’re suffocating, but your vitality will heal you and keep you alive. It’s pretty torturous, but it allowed me to stay alive. Besides, I only had to feel it every once in a while. When the willow was really going at it, I didn’t feel anything because I wasn’t in control of myself.”

“That sounds awful,” Derek said.

“I imagine it was nothing compared to your starvation while trapped in the void,” Alanah said as she removed yet another rock and placed it gently at her side.

“Yeah, but you were just a child,” Derek said. “I was a full-grown adult by that time, but doing it as a child?” He shook his head.

“When you’re in that kind of situation, you grow up fast,” Alanah said. “Especially when you’re completely and utterly alone.”

“Ah, here we go,” Alanah said as she removed one last rock from the ground.

Derek took a step forward and looked down. Alanah was hovering over a hole that was not much bigger round than a basketball. “You lived inside there? How did you fit?”

“I was a child when I found it,” Alanah said. “It was a hole made by a snake-like monster that I found dead. It was about twenty feet long and… well… this hole wide.” She positioned her hands at the side of the hole. “Its body was sticking halfway out at the time, and its head was completely gone—must have been killed by some other beast as it was trying to leave.”

“I see,” Derek said.

“It took me a long time, but I was eventually able to pull the rest of its body out of the hole,” Alanah explained. “At that point in time, I was plenty small enough to go inside, and because of my diet—or lack thereof—I was never too big for it. Not to mention that my dexterity grew faster than my strength did at that time, so it kept me very slim.”

“Oh…”

“I could probably work my way into it right now if I weren’t wearing my armor,” Alanah said. “But there is no point in doing that…” she sighed. “Could you help me make this entrance a bit bigger?” she finally asked Derek.

“No problem,” Derek said. He then summoned Harbinger and cut into the ground around the hole. It would have been a bit faster if his glaive was currently damaged—if it were, he would have been able to use the weapon’s Material Drain ability—but it wasn’t, so he had to go about it in a slightly slower way. He cut into the ground, then picked the chunks of ground up and tossed them over to the side. He wasn’t nearly as gentle with the pieces that he moved.

“Just keep digging along the route if you don’t mind,” Alanah said.

“I aim to please,” Derek replied with a chuckle, before continuing to use his legendary weapon as a makeshift shovel. The ‘route’ that had been dug out by the snake turned out to be very long. “It’s no wonder that nothing ever found you in here,” he said. “Doesn’t look much like a cave, though…”

“Yeah, I was extremely lucky to find such a shelter so soon after my fall. If not for this place, I would have been dead and monster food many times over,” Alanah said. “And like I said, it gets much bigger eventually. It actually is a cave of sorts.”

“I see…” Derek nodded and kept digging. Eventually, he reached where the hole went underneath the wall of the abyss. Once there, he kept digging—this time, he began clearing an entrance in the wall as well as expanding the tunnel. His glaive sliced through the wall and ground like a hot knife through butter. He even began storing the wall and ground in one of his storage rings because it was much faster and easier to do than try to move it out of the way. “Where is an earth mage when you need one?”

“I think the old man would be the only earth mage I know who I would trust not to go crazy because of the willow,” Alanah replied. “And I would rather all this be kept between the two of us. I wasn’t exactly at my best when I lived here.”

“Well… if we did bring Marrick, I think he would have been able to fit in the hole and crawl all the way. He wouldn’t even need to use his earth or sand or whatever it is that he’s good with,” Derek said. “But I get it. This is all very personal and probably bringing back some memories that you would rather others not know.”

Alanah didn’t say anything. She just stood behind Derek and let him work. Soon, he found that the tunnel he was expanding no longer needed expanding, and he was able to fit inside without even ducking. “Looks like my part is done,” he said, then squeezed to the side to let Alanah pass him by.

“Thank you,” Alanah said as she took the lead and slowly walked forward. Soon, they were deep enough in that there was no light coming in from the outside. At that point, Alanah flicked her wrist and brought a runesmithed orb of light to brighten their way. “So, this is what it looks like inside,” the siren muttered as she continued forward.

“Looks like a cave,” Derek said. “I take it that you were stuck in here in the dark?”

“I was,” Alanah answered. “But I’d rather be safe and in the dark than in the light and in constant danger. At least in here, when I had control, I could rest.”

“I understand,” Derek said. “Also, it really does seem like the controlling effects from the big piece of firewood aren’t as bad in here. I mean, it is still pretty bad, just not as bad.”

“Mhm.” Alanah nodded. After that, the duo silently ventured forth. Not long after, the tunnel opened, and they found themselves in what seemed like a room. It wasn’t very big—only about the size of one of Derek’s bedrooms back in his shop. Finally, Alanah took in a deep breath, then said, “I thought it was bigger than this.”