Chapter Text

The woman looked over her shoulder, startled by the sudden creak of the wooden door. There was another woman standing in the doorway, a slightly older woman with brown hair and wide, scared, sapphire blue eyes. The two stared at each other in silence. The one in the doorway had a look on her face of terror, as if watching a close friend or sibling be ripped from her hands, even though no such action was taking place. Her chest was visible pounding with her harsh breath.

The younger one, the one resting in her bed, was confused. She knew this one watching her, but she couldn’t remember the name. Who was she? Why was this woman watching her? What was she so afra-”

“Seris.” The brown-haired woman spoke in a tone much too sharp for her expression, a voice too deep to be her’s. The voice carried an Abyssal Echo.

“Seris, wake up!”

Who was Seris? Her name wasn’t Seris, it was...er… what was it? She couldn’t-

Her inner monologue was cut off as the world around her began to shake violently. The brown-haired woman in the doorway was silent and still, as if frozen.

Suddenly, there was a flash of white, then dark. Seris’ sight shifted from one of colour and images, a mortal’s view, to one of shapes and feelings: the kind of sight seen only with “Unseeing Eyes”, as the Abyssal ones tended to call them.

“Whyever are you sleeping in this ridiculous place?” Snapped the tall, pale woman standing over her. Seris did not move her head as she glanced at the equally “blind” goddess.

“What do you want, Nyx?” She muttered quietly, crossing her arms over her chest.

The goddess snarled, “I’ve been looking for you, and I finally find you in practically the middle of nowhere. You really know how to be a pain, you know that?”

“You’re looking for me? What idiot would waste their time doing that?” Seris snapped. Nyx gave a sharp huff, clenching one hand.

“I would advise you to speak to me with a bit more respect, my dear Oracle.” The Goddess hissed in a gentle, yet threatening tone.

Seris stood, observing her surroundings. She had been sleeping on a bench on a small stone platform that hung in the air. The Abyssal Soul Sea stretched to the ends of any view far below. Abyssal towers hung in broken suspension here and there on the horizon. The air was cold and wet, and slithered with life. The Abyss was alive, yes, in the darkest sense of the word.

“And it took you long to find me?” Asked Seris, humoured, “Why, I am in the one place I hate the most: my home. You should always know to find me here.” She touched Nyx’s forearm gently with the fingertips of one hand. Suddenly, Nyx snapped her hand up and grabbed Seris’ wrist.

“Ow. Stop.” Seris whimpered, pulling away. Nyx did not loose her grip.

“I actually needed you for something. Come on, aid me as I size-up that imbecile Ra. He has been invading my home with his obnoxious light.” Spoke the Goddess as she flicked her other hand, creating a portal to the Void.

“Invading? What would he want with the pathetic portion of the Void you’ve made into your ‘Kingdom of Darkness’? It’s not like it’s anything like the mortal-” Seris’s rant was cut off as Nyx yanked her close, seizing Seris’s chin with her other hand.

“You would be wise to be silent.”

Seris huffed in annoyance as Nyx dragged her through the portal

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Seris sat back, her knees folded up to her chest. Nyx and Ra and… ugh, too many people… were arguing over something or other nearby. It was pathetic, really- the Void was no place for Gods, yet after the Smite, the few survivors had been trapped in the Cosmos, the Abyss, and the other planes of the Void. Their first move had been to cut it up in ways they saw fit, as if they truly believed that they had the right to lay claim to any of these places. A kingdom of Light here, a kingdom of Darkness there, Gods and Goddesses at eachother’s throats on and on… it was pathetic. Why couldn’t they just… live? Seris lived. When the elements of the Abyss felt like living, they created an Abyss Walker. And here she was, one of many. She had no home but the Abyss itself, no kingdom, no shrines. She just...was. It was so simple to just be, why did no one else understand that?

She glanced at the arguing beings. Nyx was busy, it seemed. Oh, she’d be upset if Seris snuck off but… why did Seris care? And for that matter, why did Nyx?

It mattered not. Nyx was distracted, Seris wanted someone to talk to- someone who could take her attitude without…

At least someone who understood an Abyss Walker’s sense of humour. Nyx, it seemed, did not. Seris rubbed her painful wrist gently- blast, there was a mark there, a bruise, she had heard it called. She hadn’t a clue what it was, but knew marks like it appeared after she was harmed.

Seris flicked a wrist, a portal appearing. Back to the Abyss? No, this one led to the Cosmos, a higher part of the Void.







“Yes, Seris?” Jenos did not look up at her. Seris didn’t want to approach for a reason she did not understand. Her… companion, if he could be called that, seemed so tranquil, so peaceful. Jenos’ hands were folded in his lap as he sat in a gentle lotus pose. His mask was on the cloud before him, his eyes were closed, his hair flickered in the non-existent breeze.

“Do you need something, dear?” Jenos spoke again.

Seris could not find the words to respond, nor the energy to move. Jenos’s eyes opened, bright and white. The white faded gently until his azure irises and jet black pupils were visible.

“Come, sit.” he spoke softly, patting a hand on the spot beside him. Seris moved, but chose a spot across from him instead.

“Chaos in the Void again?” he chuckled, watching her. Seris nodded and replied, “The Void is chaos. That is what keeps it entertaining.”

“Correct my observation, but you do not seem entertained.” The god mused. Seris did not reply.

He watched Seris, but the AbyssWalker remained silent and unresponsive. After a few quiet moments, Jenos’s eyes closed and he returned to his meditation.

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Peace lined the Cosmos, arguments lined the Void. The Abyss was a corrupt, but tranquil place that night.

Ishmael would not have known either way, and nor did he care.

The howling winds of the Everfrost whipped his clothing. His amarok snarled slightly, it’s clawed paws balancing on the ice and rocks. The massive wolf-like creature was built for weather such as this, but even it knew that if the two continued their journey alone in the icy winds, they’d be joining the endless spirits of the Void by the time the sun rose.

Ishmael pulled on the reins, walking his mount to a small cave in the rockside. The amarok seemed relieved as he dismounted and began to remove his packings from its back. It was still and silent until Ishmael had completed his work.

The large man removed a pyrokinetic Ultimate Crystal and whispered it’s callout. The crystal superheated as he dropped it on a rock at the back of the cave. The cave began to warm significantly- heat without the smoke-issues of fire. The amarok gleefully sat by the heatsource, before lowering to sleep. Ishmael used the stone to light a lantern, before returning it to its spot.

Ishmael sat at the back of the cave, before fishing through his bookpack. Mostly copies of religious texts filled the leather satchel.

He stroked a hand over his copy of a strange book: The Eternal Pyre. Writings of angels and gods and whatnot. He flipped through the old, musty pages. One chapter mentioned some god of the storm from centuries past. The pages were filled with speech of heresy, sin, glory, divinity.

Rubbish, all of it. Yet praying to texts like these granted witches their powers, right? And if he was going to destroy the Winter Witch of the North, he would need to know from where she gained her powers. And this book was not helping.

He surfed through his pack for a book on Ice Elementals. He had one, a small one, and began to read it carefully.

He was alerted by a low growl. The amarok was staring at a back corner of the cave, its golden eyes flaring, its teeth bared. Ishmael snatched his lantern in one hand and his Shard Rifle in the other. He approached the back corner of the cave, only to find it empty. As he neared the cave wall, he felt strangely ice-cold, odd with its proximity to the Pyrokinetic Crystal.

The work of magic? An otherworldly presence? No, no, that’s stupid.

He turned back to his sitting spot to continue reading. The amarok’s eyes were still glued to the corner, a mixture of hatred and fear in its glare. Ishmael chose to ignore the beast.

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Voices called Seris from the Void, but she found herself disinterested in responding to them. Nyx, most likely. She watched the strange man from her corner of the cave. His beast could sense her presence- of course it could. Wolves could detect spirits, everyone knew that.

The voices in the back of the AbyssWalker’s mind grew stronger. With a grunt of annoyance, she turned into the Void.

Upon exiting her portal, she entered a room with smooth walls and a massive curtained bed. A woman stood off to the opposite side, staring out the closed window of a balcony.

“Stop running off!” Nyx snapped.

“I go where I please.” Was Seris’ sharp reply.

“And where were you off to this time?” The hostility in Nyx’s voice had strangely vanished. The goddess approached the bed and threw off her robe, dressed now only in a nightgown.

“Oh, just Mortal-watching, a simple hobby of mine.” Seris chuckled, moving to sit at the foot of the bed. Nyx crawled under the covers and pulled them up to her chest, “Oh? And who is this mortal? The next massacrist? A horrendous Bandit King?”

Seris chuckled and clicked her tongue, “Now, now, that’s not very polite! Why would you think I’d find entertainment watching someone like that?”

“Who is he going to kill? I know you enjoy watching slaughter.” Nyx giggled.

Seris put her hand to her chest in feigned modesty, “Then you do not know me! Tsk, slaughter, how aberrant!”

“Come, come now. Who is he killing, tell me!” Nyx insisted

Seris moved to sit at the head of the bed, before responding, “Well, if you must know, he is no massacrist, nor a Bandit King, but he will be a murderer. He is a simple man from the North. He’s going to kill someone of power. And…” Seris eyed the left and right, as if preparing to tell a secret. She leaned in close to whisper in Nyx’s ear.

“You are going to help him. The action is going to set in motion spectacular events… the likes of which the Realm has never seen.”





