Abyssal Awakening

Which is why he focused on her hand to hand since trying to learn too much was also bad. It was good to refine what she knew thus far.

Alice\'s greatest achievement during the two days of training was succeeding in landing a single slash on his body. It was shallow and he was holding back. However, she had still succeeded in breaching the defences of an Abyss Lord.

That in itself was far more impressive than what people could accomplish throughout their entire lives.

"Still alive?" Nyer called out with a laugh as all he heard back was groans.

Currently, Alice was buried under countless rubble with only her hand being visible.

Seeing her give him a lacklustre wave, Nyer nodded his head.

"Master has let me know that your other teachers have arrived. You\'ll be given a day with them to learn as much as you can. The first day will be with Preservation and Protection, second will be with Spirituality and Immortality. And the last day will be with War and Famine.

"Remember, act weak but not too weak. Let them underestimate you while you take as much as you can." He reminded as Alice clawed herself out of the rubble.

"Urg… Any hints on what they\'re going to teach me?"

"I have some ideas but nothing concrete. I doubt they\'ll teach you their trademarks. However, foundational knowledge is more important than fancy skills." Nyer shrugged as he handed her a healing vial while Cayla appeared next to her.

During these two days, she\'s been trying to help Alice awaken her other self but it was futile. No matter what she tried to do, the other Cayla was unresponsive.

Cayla wasn\'t sure what happened but the damage her future self sustained was far bigger than her original expectations. The only reason why Alice could tap into the power was having all the conditions be perfect. A split moment of synchronisation where her mind linked up with her power.

Without this split moment, Alice was limited in what she could do.

Waiting for Alice to finish the healing vial, Nyer reached into his bag and broke a stick in half. Before Alice could even react, shadows manifested around her and teleported her away, leaving Cayla and Nyer together in Hell Gate.

"So what do you think of her?" Nyer asked suddenly.

Turning around in confusion, Cayla simply tilted her head.

"What do you think of young Alice as Master\'s successor?" He corrected himself.

"She\'s… Adequate I guess." Cayla replied after a brief pause.

"Young Alice is talented. There\'s no denying that. But to fill the role of our Master… She\'s sorely lacking. I\'ve tried my best to overlook it these past few days, trying to find a reason to believe in Master\'s choice but I find myself unable to accept it. Are you not the same?" Nyer sighed as he leaned back in his seat.

When presented with this question, Cayla didn\'t know how she should respond. She knew that she should respect Velouria\'s choice of the matter but a bitterness still lingered in her heart.

"We\'re just a- Actually never mind." Cayla cut herself at the last moment. She didn\'t want to expose the fact that they were simply memories and that the past had already been set in stone.

"A memory right? It\'s not hard to figure out once you begin looking at the gaps." Nyer chuckled.

"She possesses the Eyes, no, the Eye of the Abyss and the Crown. She contains splinters of Master\'s power deep inside, similar yet so very different to the current her. Not only that, Master\'s connection to the Abyss has been wavering. A tether is still there but compared to before, it\'s lacking.

"Like a candle fire when compared to the sun. Master is no longer the chosen of the Abyss. A mere husk of before. Even the power she showed in the meeting was a fraction of what she should be capable of, even if the Abyss had been expanding. Which can only mean one thing.

"We\'re echoes of the past. We know that time travel is impossible thanks to the experiments that Master has done before. But viewing memories? That is possible." Nyer explained with a bitter smile.

In the past, Velouria had tried to turn back time in order to fix the connection between the Abyss and the Surface. However, all her attempts ended in failure. She couldn\'t even turn back time for a minute never mind to the point where the two realms were joined together.

But the Abyss is like a giant library, housing the memories of every being and everything that\'s happened within its confines. Meaning their current time can be viewed in the future.

With that in mind, Nyer could only conclude that Alice is a foreign visitor witnessing the passing of history.

As for what she was here to witness, Nyer had a guess but he dare not say it.

"So you figured it out. But what then? What can we do as memories? Master has chosen to continue forward, doing her best to prepare Alice for when she goes back. And once she does, we\'ll cease to exist." Cayla let out a hollow laugh as she slumped back down on her seat.

"I have a plan. But I need your help. Cayla, why do you think I chose Hell Gate? If I needed an empty place to train young Alice, any layer within the Abyss would do. But why Hell Gate?" Nyer asked as Cayla frowned.

Thinking about it for a moment, she paused in realisation.

"The fight you had with Famine."

"Mnm. During the fight I had with Famine, the barrier in this realm was weakened by Famine\'s attack, unable to recover. Compared to the other layers, this one will always be the most delicate. For those chosen by the Abyss, especially the Crown, there will be a connection to the Heart.

"The heart is no longer with Master. It is the most unique possession of the Chosen after all as it symbolises the Abyss itself. It\'s the final clue I needed to realise that Master was no longer the chosen and that we\'re memories. But funnily enough, young Alice has a connection to the heart. Faint yet undeniable." Nyer narrowed his eyes.

"Isn\'t that weird? That in this realm of memories, there is still a passageway leading to the real Heart. So why don\'t we open it up?"

Furrowing her brows, Cayla frowned.

"Don\'t look at me like that, allow me to explain my thoughts. Because for this operation, I need your help." Nyer chuckled seeing Cayla\'s doubts.

"Originally, I was planning on betraying Master. Well… Betraying is a strong term but for what I planned to do, it was accurate.

"Right now, Master is at her weakest. If this was reality, she\'d be in a constant state of conflict with the Abyss. Her desire to hold it back and its desire to continue expanding.

"What do you think would happen if someone were to intervene during that fight? A third party was to appear and steal away half of the power possessed by both sides?" Nyer asked.

Cayla had her guard up but she couldn\'t deny the fact that she was curious.

"The third party would gain the largest portion of power during this fight."

"Indeed. Meaning, the burden placed upon Master will be transferred to me. At the same time, the Abyss would lose part of its influence. With this in mind, if things go right, I would become a second God of the Abyss with the same power as Master in her prime. This act will no doubt steal away Master\'s authority but she\'ll be alive." Nyer glanced down while tapping his finger on the table.

"However… Since we\'re memories, this will no longer work."

"Because she no longer has the authority right? She\'s simply being dragged along until her death." Cayla interrupted as Nyer nodded his head.

"Yes. She\'s a puppet on a string, performing her final act until the string breaks and she is discarded. So even if I wrestle the authority from the \'Abyss\' and Master, I\'ll gain nothing. If anything, it\'ll only serve to decrease the time she has remaining."

Clenching his fists, Nyer closed his eyes. A burning rage could be felt inside, a hate for the Abyss. How it expands without care of what it does to his Master and the harm it causes to the world.

He will defy the script it has prepared for them. This time, the puppets will become the director.

"That\'s why I need your help, Cayla. During the time we spend here with Young Alice, I\'ve tracked down a rough passageway that we can try and use to establish a connection. Through this, I\'ll try and forcefully awaken the Heart in the future.

"Once the true Heart beats, we\'ll redirect it to Master instead of Alice. She\'ll go from being just a memory to gaining true life. This way, she can escape the confines of this memory and her own death."

"But Master would never agree to this." Cayla shook her head with a frown.

"I know. That\'s why I said it\'s no different to betraying Master. But for her survival, I\'ll go against her wishes. Which brings me to the next question, are you willing to betray Master with me? The success rate increases once I have you on my side." Nyer asked as Cayla was hesitant.

The Heart of the Abyss can only be linked to one person.

What he was asking her to do was to pick her true Master.

Velouria, or Alice who possesses her in the future.

Biting her lip, Cayla dwelled on her choices while Nyer was silent, allowing her to come to her own conclusion.

Seconds turn to minutes and the silence continued to drag on. Until finally, Cayla let out a defeated sigh.

"Fine. What do you need me to do."

She never chose Alice as her Master. To her, Velouria was her only Master.