Story Time

"He had come with all of us to Lordlorn for no other reason than to experience the thrill of the hunt with new, challenging monsters, that was what he lived for-" Sir Solitar sat down in his usual position.

"So you aren't going to go straight to the point..." lamented Superstes as she sat down as well, mimicked by the rest, they had all gotten to hear at least one of Solitar's stories of the past and it was truly marvelous how much he could speak without actually saying anything.

"-However, he had grown too powerful and skilled to experience this thrill much, he was a hunter and he had already outsmarted and overpowered so many creatures of all sorts, his background was simply too vast to be challenged by monsters, even if from a species never seen before" he went on, unbothered by being cut off.

He sighed dejectedly.

"He would have loved meeting with this Axiolypito" he shook his head.

"The runners were always his favorites, in any case, the utter lack of challenge he was met with upon arriving to Lordlorn really took a toll on his spirit"

"He had been expecting countless jolly hunts to partake in, where his life would be at risks or where he would have to struggle for weeks to catch his prey, none of that happened" the darkness inside of his helm seemed to darken as he spoke the next words.

Everyone shifted uncomfortably, no one feeling like asking any questions or even breathing too loudly, lest they disturb the swordsman.

Except for Feuman of course, he had drifted somewhere else and was lying on his back with an empty gaze, probably imagining the defiler's flame in his dreams.

Only Cinla was bothering to check if he was still breathing or not, everyone else was too enthralled by the magnificent aura Sir Solitar had and the words he was now speaking.

"Then, we stumbled upon the crystals" it was always a subject that darkened his mood, the crystals, this was his greatest failure, the demise of nearly all of his friends and now, it was his eternal duty to watch over.

All of them had been told about how some of his friends had fallen because of them and the visions they could allow one to gaze upon, he had never spoken of this hunter friend of his however.

"Of course, when he discovered that one of the apostles beared the title of 'The Lord Of The Hunt', he immediately took interest, the title alone was enough to get his full attention but what he learned as he searched deeper, only furthered the obsession" 

Everyone remained still.

"The Lord Of The Hunt was first one he could possibly learn from but as he discovered that this lord was a monster itself, he instead took it from a new prey, not any prey in fact, his magnum opus"

"He convinced himself that it was his duty and fate to overcome a 'venerer' as he said, I didn't get much details after that, he had already lost his mind and armed with a crystal, he went in search of a breach into the Abyss"

"For this acursed place was of apparent significance to this apostle of Mov, he set out to use the power of the crystal to call forth his prey and slay it, I do not know whether or not he even succeeded" 

Sir Solitar looked in direction of the chasm, his voice grave.

"He may have never even found a breach to the Abyss or he may have succumbed to it before he could do anything else, I personally hope that he was able to get the hunt he wanted, even if it is unlikely" the swordsman stood up.

Staying silent for tad bit too long, Superstes decided to speak up and prod for what was supposed to come next.

"Hu-hurm, Sir Solitar? So what was it that he told you before going?" this was the entire premise after all! And yet, he had done nothing but speak of other things before falling silent as if he had just unleashed the greastest words of wisdom to ever grace the ears of mankind.

She highly suspected the stoic man was actually basking in how cool he looked and sounded, though he would never admit to such a thing, mostly because Superstes would never dare mention such a theory about his weirds habits.

"Yes, he explained to me the dangers of the Abyss, with a big smile on his face, danger rhymed with fun for him, he once-"

"That's on purpose now" snapped the lanky girl with hesitation, making her master raise his hands in a 'you got me there' fashion.

"What do you think the Abyss is, Superstes?" he asked seriously, the girl rose an eyebrow.

She felt like the answer was obvious.

"Isn't that like... The deepest portion of the ocean? Where all the worst things known to exist make their homes?" she tried to push out the knowledge Blouvier had tried to teach her.

Noticing the teacher in question and her assistant shaking their heads as one collective entity with smirk expressions, the blonde girl went silent, looking at her teammates, but they were even less educated than her.

"Firstly, the deepest part is called the hadal zone, the abyssal zone is right above that one" began Mart, Blouvier nodded her head firmly, looking much less wobbly after being deprived of booze for a long, long time now.

Sir Solitar didn't like alcohol and didn't allow it in his vicinity.

"Secondly, Sir Solitar is obviously talking about the Abyss, not the abyss" she smiled.

"Adding more focus to a letter does not count as an explanation" Superstes was right.

"The Abyss, with a capital A has nothing to do with the sea or ocean, it is a sort of dark, dimension that is filled with creatures that blend perfectly into the environment, it corrupts and sometimes, spread beyond the breaches, but only if something agitates it" she rose an index finger up.

"Effects of the Abyss include: Distortion of space and time, corruption, mutations, madness, intense dread, risking communication with an eldritch creature and much more!" she joyfully exclaimed, happy to finally be able to expose these particular pieces of knowledge.

She had learned them a long time ago for no particular reason, the Abyss was dreadful indeed but rarely a cause for concern, the breaches were rare and tended to not cause trouble anyways.

They went unnoticed and closed by themselves without anyone ever stumbling upon them.

"That's right and the fact that I can feel it from all the way up there means that someone did agitate it" added Solitar.

"So, want to go?"