Abyssal Awakening

Hearing the name Allura, Alice recalled who she was told to find. Allura who was going to be her guiding light, the one that'll keep her safe.

Having suffered through the coliseum, she finally found Allura.

"Now I'm not sure how much you know but that eye he lodged into your skull, but you need to know that it is very important. I can't say much right now since honestly, the less you know the better it is for you. As you get stronger, you'll learn more about what having this eye entails.

Right now, all you need to know that it is a direct connection to the Abyss and it grants you enhanced kinetic vision based on your own abilities." Allura explained while Alice sat silently and nodded her head.

She was no longer as wary as she was earlier after knowing Allura's identity.

"Eye made things slow. Is that the power?" Alice asked curiously.

"Yes and no. You got a Sigil right? You're not supposed to be able to get them just like that you know?" Allura chuckled while pointing at Alice's forearm.

"Sigils can only be gained through two avenues. The most common being through Shamans. They are special people who are born with an innate resonance with this realm. They can forge connections between the realm and a person by acting as a bridge. It is through this bridge that the Abyss grants a person something called a 'Bounty'.

"A bounty is when the Abyss grants you a choice of targets to kill and in doing so successfully, you will gain one of its powers in the form of a Sigil." Allura explained, showing her own Sigil.

"Now, the issue with doing this through a Shaman is that the choices are now limited since you're doing this through a third party and the choices of bounty is limited to only 3. Once you pick a bounty, it is marked onto your soul. If you don't kill it, you can never change the Bounty nor can you advance. You are stuck."

"Wait… So if I didn't kill the spider, and someone else did after saying yes to bounty, I would be stuck?" Alice asked with a frown.

"Yes and no. Yes in the fact that you missed your first kill so you are stuck. No because there will be another spider for you to kill in the Abyss, it'll be up to you to find them. While we're on this topic, I might as well explain what failing a bounty entails." Allura shrugged as she was trying her best to fight back the urge of smoking.

"If you fail a bounty, the difficulty of said bounty sky rockets. Meaning the next time you try fight the same creature, it'll get boons to fend against you. Each time you fail, the monster will keep growing stronger. There are two conditions of failure. The first is that you miss the final hit. If something else kills your target then you've failed the hunt.

The second condition is participation. If someone else does all the work for you and then you get the final hit, it will not count as a success. Remember this, the Abyss has eyes of its own." Allura explained while pointing at her eyes.

"If I had to judge, I'd say during the spider fight it was a close 50/50 split between you and the Assassin. The fact that you got the Sigil means you won just barely."

Hearing this, Alice understood that she was lucky in having obtained this Sigil. Otherwise it may take much much longer before she obtained the first Sigil due to the bounty having failed the first time.

"But setting that aside, we go to the second avenue. Communing with the Abyss itself and asking for a bounty. There are certain spots within the realm where the Abyss's powers are extra concentrated. In these areas, your consciousness will be transported into a separate realm where you can directly obtain a bounty. It grant you a decent variety of beasts to choose from.

The downside for this is that the power is not unlimited and it will be exhausted after several uses and most noble families and large groups have a monopoly over these areas if they are ever discovered."

Clapping her hands together, Allura then pointed at Alice.

"Then comes the third hidden option." She grinned.

"The Eye." Alice furrowed her brows while holding her hand over her right eye.

"Bingo. Your right eye has a special connection with the Abyss. You are allowed to designate any beast as a hunting target while also being able to designate the target whenever you want. However! That's only if you have domination over the Eye." Allura narrowed her eyes as Alice paused at this revelation.

'Wait… If her words are correct then that means my Eye could rebel if I don't have domination over it?' Alice thought to herself in confusion.

"That Eye has thoughts of its own. You will find out in due time since its still adapting to your body. During this period, you'll be able to use some of its abilities as you wish but the main one right now, choosing bounties will be surrendered to it once it fully wakes up. So I suggest you take advantage of that as much as you can right now." Allura chuckled before leaning back.

"That's enough of class for now. I'll explain more that you don't know later but we need to deal with some things here and now. First you need a change of clothes then I'll need to fully understand how well you fight. I only saw you fight twice which isn't much to go off of. I want to see how you adapt, how you fight and how you think during a fight.

Once I see that, I can make an accurate plan on how to help you."

Standing up, Allura leaned against the door before bringing out her cigarette and lighting it up with her finger.

Taking a deep breath, she sighed on in relaxation as the smell of smoke drifted to the corridor.

"Aside from these, I don't know if there's any more things you need to do in this city. However, I could be wrong so feel free to let me know if you have any thing you need to do."

"Um… What happened to woman who hurt Lilia?" Alice asked with a frown. Since Allura saved her from the four Sigil user, she should know what happened to them.

"Oh Bella? Yeah she's still alive. Though I imagine she's going to be quite angry at you as you are with her. I decided not to finish her or her guard since its your revenge to take. My only job was to make sure you survive that day and teach you how things go in the Abyss. I will say however, now that you failed to kill them, the second attempt will be much harder.

She'll be employing more guards around her so moving to a different city for now will be your best bet." Allura shrugged.

"You sound like you know her. Who is she?"

Alice furrowed her brows since she wanted to know who she was up against. From the way that Allura was describing it, it seemed like she was more important than what Alice had expected. Even with her being a VIP.

"Oh I do know her. Well… More accurately I know her husband. Theron Merias. One of the pillars of the Slaughter Docks and someone I had worked with quite a few times in the past. You can think of him as one of the lords of this ownerless city. Simply put, Bella is only an VIP because she is married to him.

And Theron is not someone you want to annoy." Allura glossed over with a chuckle.

"Wait, if he is someone you worked with in the past, why help me over him?" Alice asked, feeling confused by her choice.

"I tend to abide by my code of being neutral. I help out anyone and everyone if it benefits me to a certain extent while keeping the balance. I keep many connections open while not tethering myself to anyone. Just because I worked with him in the past doesn't mean we won't be enemies the next day. Anything else you want to ask?" Allura smiled while gesturing with her hands in a dramatic fashion.

"None." Alice shook her head.

'If I want to kill Bella and take revenge for Lilia, I'll need to be strong enough to face off against Theron too. And if he's strong enough to be one of the supposed lords of this city, then he's going to be much stronger than a four Sigil hunter placed as a guard.' Alice thought to herself as her thirst for power only grew with this experience.

Power allowed her to be free, power allowed her to protect and power allowed her to take revenge. No matter what she did, she needed power. And Allura was going to be her path towards power within the Abyss.

"Where are we going now?" Alice asked, climbing out of the bed.

"We're going to get you dressed for the road ahead then find my friend Gin for a set of ID for you." Allura grinned, finishing her cigarette and stepping out the door.

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