Abystella - The Star of The Abyss

Chapter 4: The Fall

It all happened so fast that Jack didn't even properly process it until he was about to crash to the floor and become mush, moreover he couldn't even tell if there was a floor in this damned place. Starting with the fact that he was so angry that when he opened the door of the wardrobe, ready for a fight to death (most likely his) with Hella, Jack found himself falling, not to the floor. But endlessly on an entirely new enviroment he had never seen before, a beutiful sky filled to the brim with stars and two moons shining light in his surroundings, grey towers of stone and cyclopian magnitude were all arround him, some had paths, other bridges interconnecting them and many other things which, as he aproached terminal velocity became increasingly dificult to pay attention to the details.

Next the survival instinct kicked in. Jack had never been in a situation like this but his beast brain imediatly took action to somewhat increase the chances of his survival, he opened his arms and legs wide to increase air resistance and decrease his speed and just in time too, as an oportunity to get out of this predicament would soon present itself. He was going to pass just by one of the towers a distance close enought for him to try and halt his fall. "Trust your instincts..." He thought remembering, Ed's words to him "Let it guide you...". He took his blades out of their sheath that was strapped in his waist and in the exact second which he was close to the unthinkable struckture, he struck with all his might. Ans thus the blades stuck themselves in the hard surface sliding and slicing open a deep gash in the stone for a few meters untill it finally stoped.

Unbeknownst to Jack, what he had done was no small feat, as a regular person would have simply crashed into the wall or not be able to hold the blades, continuing their plummet to the unknown. Whereas he had just the right ammount of strenght combining his physical training with Anna and Ed, his rapidly changing constitucion from the awakening and the force of the fall, all that made sure the blades were able to cut into stone. But he wasn't out of the rut as of yet for he was still hanging in a completly vertical area of the tower and his instinct told him that the danger was far from over. On the other hand, his body was having a hard time taking in the stress, the muscles of his arms burned in agony, his breathing was already harsh from over-exercion and altitude and worst of all his mind was in shambles. It had been too much, all that had ocurred to him in a span of less than an hour. Yet despite the chaos and pain one thing was still echoing in his broken brain: "I will survive, I MUST survive! I will kill Hella, I will avenge my parents and find out more about the circunstances of my birth no matter the cost!"

After a moment recollecting his thoughts, and calming himself, a cold ruthless determination was beeing born within him. And thus he began climbing, he had no idea which direction to go but opted on heading upwards as in the case of an eventual fall he would have more time to find a solution as he just did. "Is there even a floor to fall to in this damned place?" he couldn't tell but what he could tell was that there were places of rest and other humans in here as he saw bridges and passageways in the distance while midfall. A grueling task was ahead of him but he sure as hell wasn't about to give up.

The rise was slow and steady, luckly it seemed as the pillars were naturally forming, despite the traces of human passage, and had plenty of depressions and gaps that Jack could use to climb up, And so he did, for hours. His tiredness was overbearing and he was in no way prepared for such strenuous activity but he kept on going. The howling wind was strong and cold so sometimes he was almost trown off to his death again as he had no energy to repeat the previous feat. Rough stone edges were cuting into his skin all over but he beard the pain. "Does this shit has no end? Was I seeing things on my way down?" He questioned but had no choice but to keep climbing.

Eventually all his work paid off as above him, he saw a small cave with a ledge protruding from the wall where he could hopefully get some much needed rest. Giving it a final push, he focused all his energy in this last stretch. He had two options: climbing the ledge of the cave itself, which was risky due to the inclination but faster; or going around the longer but less risky path. He did some quick calculations in his mind, factoring in the distance and how much stamina he had left. And so, he chose the more risk prone path as he was running on negative fuel at this popint and he knew not what could inhabit the cave or even if he was safe staying so long out in the open, his instinct was telling him he needed cover. Straining his body to the very last grams of force he had, in a surface that was almost upside-down he had a couple of close calls but soon he was panting heavilly on the caves entrance. "Good job me, at least you didn't die." he congratulated himself and began dragging his limp body inside the dark cavern, humoring himself to try and not break.

When inside, no muscle of his body would respond anymore but he noticed that inside were a series of slightly luminous mushroom. However tiredness overcame him as no hatred, preocupation and curiosity in the world could keep him from falling asleep.

A few hours later he woke up from a dreamless slumber, not completly well rested but at least capable of movement, the sun had risen lighting up a part of the cave  which he noticed was also naturally formed. Its walls were damp with fungi and moss growing on them. "Well, I guess at least I won't starve" he slowly got up and began collecting the things which seemed edible, though he had no knowlage of vegetation he could try and do as he had done since he got here and follow his gut.

After eating a bit of the moss, that surprisingly didn't cause him any harm he began wondering: "How the hell have I ended up here? In one moment I was in the closet and the next I was falling already..." He then remembered the strange text he saw appear in front of him before it happened. He willed it to show up and there it was, a status screen, just like in the games his friend of the city used to play.

[Jack Fortune (?)]

[Awakening Complete *]

[Inherent Trait: @#$$&@! Realization Progress: 2%]

[Skills:]

[Inherent Skill: *%#)(% - Mastery Progress: 0.01% (Restrained due to Difficulty)]

[Monstruous Instincts - Mastery Progress: 30% (Obtained due to Inherent Trait)]

[Monstruous Physique - Mastery Progress 32% (Obtained due to Inherent Trait)]

[Uncertain Swordsmanship - Mastery Progress: 5% (Obtained Due to Skill @#$$&@!)]

If he had any doubts before, now he was certain, he was no longer a regular human, he had awakened due to his monster blood. He guessed that it was this inherent trait of his, but what puzzled him most was this glithced out skill. He had a hunch that it had something to do with him beeing thrown in this hellhole. He had been told abit of how the awakening worked from Anne, aparently when one awakened their beast blood they would receive a special trait, related to ones body and physique and/or a magical one such as her water based skills. What made no sense was: when a blooded awakened, he would have a few weeks, even months to train, learn his aspect and prepare before beeing thrown into a dungeon rift. "But I was thrown in it instantly, does it have something to do with my skills?" Thus he wished to learn more about his newfound powers, and, like if sensing his will a ddescription of the first trait oppened up.

[Inherent Trait: @#$$&@! Realization Progress: 2%]

[Description: The blooded is a beeing that can't be normally computed by the system. A mix of two divine ranked bloodlines reside in your body, thus rendering it an existance not bound by common sense. Incredible battle instincts, vitality, strenght and mercilesssness are some of the benefits gained. Consume the blood of your prey and rise as the apex predator of this world.]

"...Not one... but TWO divine bloodlines?! Doesen't that mean that not just my biological mother, that colossal mermaid was divine being but my unknown father too?! Shit... I guess I really am anything but human huh." But he read on trying to not diverge too much of his attention.

[Inherent Skill: *%#)(% - Mastery Progress: 0.01% (Restrained due to Difficulty)]

[Description: This skills limitations and capabilities cannot be predicted by the system as it is bound by the very concept of the unknown and uncertainty. Warning this skill can very well break reality, if one looses controll of it, be it due to excess power in the hosts body and/or extreme emotional outbursts. The uncertain becomes certainty. Restrained due to extreme difficulty in controlling it and causal consequences beyond ¨%$$%&*...]

The text got more and more corrupted as it went on. "At least I know what caused me to be instantly sent into the dungeon, i'ts probably the reason in his tiny bit of mastery in it. But how am I to even use such as skill? But I guess dweling on it won't do me too good, let's move on and in my travells I'll eventually understand it better.

[Monstruous Instincts - Mastery Progress: 30% (Obtained due to Inherent Trait)]

[Description: The user has a deep connection with ones natural instincts and can learn and adapt much faster. It will guide you to survive, thrive and adapt much like it had done with all living beeings since the dawn of life, the difference is that you can feel it clearly, act on it on impulse or aquire imediate changes.]

"Okay! A bit overpowered but with that I can work with, I probably have been my entire life without even noticing it... probably."

[Monstruous Physique - Mastery Progress 32% (Obtained due to Inherent Trait)]

[Description: You have a inhuman body perfectly suited for combat, survival and adaptation when you take it beyond it's limits it will grow stronger on recovery. And it will not brake unless taken to unthinkable levels of strain and stress beyond the user's level... probably.]

Now Jack was just plainly creeped out, he had the feeling that something was watching him from the silent status screen and it did not please him at all, but all in all he had skills that gave him a head start and even a boost on becoming stronger so he wasan't complaining. And finally:

[Uncertain Swordsmanship - Mastery Progress: 5% (Obtained Due to Skill @#$$&@!)]

[Description: Skill obtained by achieving almost impossible and uncertain results with your blade while skill *%#)(% was active. Active Effect: Your sword strikes embody the uncertainty of your existance, when cutting the unexpected can happen, a gash on the hand can decapitate, a throat beeing slit can imolate the target or even heal him (Consumes the users blood and has a 50% chance of activating). Passive Effect: Even your very movement will be unpredictable and uncertain in the eyes of thoose who behold it (25% chance of activating). Within your blade lies the mystery of the world itself, it's every cut shaping or destroying reality.]

Jack couldn't tell if he had hit the jackpot or not with this one, as it's unpredictability made it hard to use and as it consumed blood he couldn't use it too many times as it would make him anemic and get him killed in combat. "I really wish I had the time to practice it before beeing sent here..."

Having got a grasp on he basics of the tools at his disposal, Jack decided to take advantage of the daylight and explore the surrounding area, look for signs of human ocupation and take in the terrain and how to use it to his advantage.

The landscape was as stunning in daylight as it was at night, if there wouldn't be that much of a difference as even in what Jack asumed to be around mid-day the planet was enveloped in a soft twilight and still had one of its's huge moons looming over the sky, parcially eclypsing the sun. Spots of lush, violet tinged vegetation were spread here and there. From this high spot even a few clouds travelled peacefully, even dancing in the soft lights between theese natural formed spires of black rock that changed colour in the day . To Jack who had only seen the same beach and shore his entire life, it was nothing short of breathtaking despite how beutiful he considered his hometown to be. He was filled with a weird calmness, and curiosity sparked in his mind. "What kind of places are there in a world like this? If I explored it whole, what would I find? What beeings and people live here? " He wondered, awestruck. "Besides deadly monsters trying to eat me of course." He corrected himself to not let his guard down. Jack didn't know, but this undescribable feeling could be that which would keep him human despite the bloodshed.

Alas, it was short lived as when he looked up the great sky towers he saw something falling right on top of him and his instinct warned him of nothing.