Man stared into the abyss, and the abyss stared back.
Prologue
I lay on the ground alone, surrounded by broken weapons and dead bodies. The stench of death overwhelmed me as the blood-soaked field started to absorb the oncoming downpour. I feebly tried to get up, but to no avail. It’s hard to walk when you only have one leg. I rolled over onto my stomach, and started to drag myself forward using my arms. I reached open area when my arms finally gave out.
I searched for my dead comrades, but I failed to find even one of them. The tears had long stopped streaming from my face, but my eyes still stung, or at least I thought they did. After what had been done to me, normal pain didn’t even register. But the pain of loss that I thought would remain seems to have vanished too.
Astaroth. Cthulhu. Lucifer. Erebus. Kronos.
I thought that I was near the end of my journey, but it seems like this is only the end of the beginning.
8 months before
Chapter 1
Thanatos clicked his tongue. He had quite a boring job, controlling the flow of death. It had been a while since he had looked into life on Earth, and decided to do so on the spur of the moment. He saw high-rise buildings and skyscrapers on one side of the world, but on the other side he found less impressive buildings, and finally, many areas that seemed to lag behind modern times by a few hundred years. Thanatos snorted to himself; it was odd how such inequality could exist even though they’re all the same kind of people.
This thought turned him to his own kind, the Deus. They were technically the same, and yet…. His mood soured as he contemplated the Elder Deus, a bunch of rat bastards who’d been around longer than most, and had far greater power to boot. It was said that just one of them had the power of an entire faction. Thanatos had never actually seen any of the Elders, but rumors had basically solidified the existence of them into truth.
It was their fault that he was stuck at some dead end job watching the flow of death, but it wasn’t like he could attack them or anything. He was always looking for a way to get back at them for his position. Thanatos had set up a few conditions for which afterlife each soul went to so he wouldn’t have to constantly be on watch.
The three afterlife options: Heaven, Hell, and Aerth. Most of the Deus presided around Aerth, but a few did stick around Earth every once in a while. Apparently, Aerth was a very interesting place. Thanatos had a lot of free time, so he had adopted a lot of Earth entertainment to pass the time, mostly video games and books. Whatever he could get, he would use it until he found no fun in it.
He had run out of games and books for the day, so he checked the flow of the dead. Reaching a metaphysical hand into the flow, he pulled out a few at a time. Thanatos would quickly check the lives of the dead; he tossed aside the boring ones to Heaven or Hell, and would set one or two souls aside every few handfuls. Sadly, today’s selection was quite boring; he had already gone through nearly twenty handfuls of people, and not one fun person. He was about to quit looking for people when he encountered one in particular that sparked his interest.
The person he had found today would certainly fit the conditions. Indeed, he would serve his purpose quite well.
A few minutes later
I slowly open my eyes. I’m laying on a white bed, in a white room, complete with a white table, sofa, and TV. I sit up and notice someone sitting in the chair on the opposite side of the room. He’s dressed in a purple t-shirt, khakis, black and white Vans, and held an impatient look on his face as he bobs one of legs, crossed over the other. His arms oddly have little hair on them, despite having a mans face.
This is a completely unfamiliar situation. When the hell did I get here? Wasn’t I just doing… something? Wasn’t I? Where was I before this? Why can’t I remember? I’ll just have to ask this guy.
“Good morning Zephyrus. My name is Thoth. Welcome to Aerth.” He seems to be slightly irritated at the moment. “Good morning, uh, Mr. Thoth. What’s happening? Why am I in a white room?” I look at Thoth with an inquisitive look, and he responds with the hairy eye. I once more take in my surroundings and notice something odd; there were no shadows in this room, and no door. None from the table, chair, sofa, or Thoth, as though the room was illuminated from every possible angle.
Thoth takes out a clipboard and pen from I don’t know where, clicks the pen a multitude of times, and continues. “So. How does it feel to be reborn?” Reborn? Eh. Whatever. I don’t questions, I need answers. “Who are you?” He nods and mumbles a few intelligible words and writes something down. “Hey. Dickhead. Is it really that hard to answer a question?” I don’t feel particularly angry or anything, I just want to know what’s happening. “Hmm. Very interesting indeed. I can see why Thanatos and Hades chose you.” I get out of bed and walk over to the sofa. Near my feet, there’s a hatch. I move to open the hatch when Thoth suddenly says, “Not so fast, kiddo. That will come in due time.” I let out a sigh and sink back down onto the couch. “Can you just explain to me what’s happening here already?”
Thoth looks at me, then shakes his head. “Well kid, you’re da boss.” He snaps, and I then keel over, struggling to process all of the information that has just been beamed directly to my brain. Images flash through my head: a picture of a skyscraper, then an ocean, a restaurant, mountains, people, families, schools, and many more that I had trouble understanding. Pictures of death, loss, monsters, and demonic beings, but also sights of happy days, filled with love.
I lay on the sofa, drool leaking out the side of my mouth onto the cushions. I feel like ass in a can. Thoth then remarks to no one in particular, “Oh dear. It seems like we broke our toy already.” He writes a few more words down on his clipboard, and acts like he’s getting ready to leave. “Wait,” I croak out. “I’m not dead yet.” Thoth once again writes something down on his clipboard. “Oho, indeed you are not dead yet.”
I struggle to pick myself up from my sideways position on the couch to an upright one. “What the heck was that supposed to be? The way this world works?” I really want some answers to my questions now. Thoth shows me an amused expression, and slight smirk reaching his lips for the first time. “Precisely, and also, no questions yet. Here’s another one, kid.” Crap. “W-wwa-w-waaitt for a mome-” I struggle to tell him to stall his snap, but it’s too late. This time, I don’t keel over, I just blackout, sitting straight up. I catch a few of Thoth’s words just before losing consciousness. “Well well. He’s the first one to stay sane this long…”
The depths of his mind
What the hell just happened? I pick myself off a couch, but this is not the couch from the white room. This is a gray, wooly couch with plenty of patterns. At my feet is not a hatch, but rather a large black dog. I survey the rest of the room and see a medium size TV, a grandfather clock, and a few tables and lamps. It’s nearly night time, almost dark enough to see the stars, but bright enough to see and walk around outside. I get up from the couch, and the black dog gets up with me. I walk down a dark hallway into what seems to be a dining room/kitchen area.
A boy is sitting at a table, eating dinner all alone. I stand there staring at him, but he doesn’t notice me, or least he acts like it. I walk over to him, trying to get his attention. “Hey. Kid. Where am I?” I get no response, which confirms my suspicion that I’m not really here at all. But still, either the dog noticed me or it was pure coincidence…. I’ll just go with coincidence.
I walk closer to the boy to get a better look at his face, but his face betrays no emotion. He stares forward blankly, chewing quickly. I try to touch him, but my hand just passes through him and everything else. He finishes his food in a few minutes, and he washes the dishes with the same expressionless face. His way of walking intrigues me, as he walks with the ball of his foot first, almost never striking the heel first. He enters a room with a woman, who I presume to be his mother.
He sits down and opens up a laptop, and begins to do research. I just sit and watch him and his mom toil away for a few hours. I try napping on the floor, but I can’t even get a wink. When they prepare to leave, I notice for the first time that the door knobs on the doors to the room have keyholes. His mom locks the door as he leaves, but he silently unlocks one it as she turns around. They leave the room. His mom puts the dog outside, where it whines loudly.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
I follow the boy into his room upstairs. Oddly enough, there’s a camera in his room pointed to his bed. Other than that, his room is bare except for a bookcase or two and a bunk bed. He lingers around wasting time until his mom finally goes to bed in her room. Once he’s sure that the light in her room is off, he goes back to his room and arranges some pillows to make it look like he’s in bed asleep, then exits the room. He silently goes down the stairs, and goes around to the door that he unlocked. I then notice that there are also cameras in the stairway, living room, and kitchen. He opens the door carefully and silently, not making any noise.
He then takes the laptop and all that it needs to run into a nearby laundry room, where there is a few racks with clothes and a large chest freezer. He closes the door, once again silently, sets down all of the laptop things, and pulls a cloth mat type thing from one of the racks and sets it on the floor in front of the freezer. He opens the laptop, pulls some earbuds from his pocket, and plugs them in. Opening up incognito mode in Chrome, he types in a few words, which say “watch anime online”. Really? He’s getting up in the middle of the night to watch anime?
Any interest I had has started withering away, but once he reaches his website, he logs into a sidebar with what looks to be a live chat. He types a few greetings to the people there. Huh. It looks like he’s done this for a while now. I move in closer to see what he’s typing. I first think that he’s just going to talk about anime stuff, but what I see is bewildering.
[So today, my dad told me that I don’t smile enough.] - Rebillion12
{elaborate.} - Meatball27
Hmm. I guess his dad works late then?
[He told me that I didn’t appreciate what I had enough and told me to think about all of the people starving and dying in Africa.] - Rebillion12
{Are you usually gloomy} - musky_Elon
[I honestly think about these kinds of things too often, so I am pretty gloomy.] - Rebillion12
[I then told him that smiling without a reason when people are starving in Africa is like saying that I’m entitled to be happier than they are.] - Rebillion12
{damn bro are you okay?} - _ThiccWeeb_
[Not in the slightest, but it feels better to act like I am. I constantly blast music in my ears as often as I can so I don’t have to think, because when I do, I think about weird things.] - Rebillion12
{What weird things} - MeatBall27
[like if i died, would anyone even care? or that if i had never been born, i wouldnt be such a burden on my mom, who overworks herself.] - Rebillion12
{Damn dude. Don’t think about that shit. We’re here for you.} - musky_Elon
{Yeah man. Dont let life get to u.} - _ThiccWeeb_
[thats the thing. i go to school, and i act like im just fine and fucking dandy, but im not okay. im past the point of caring] - Rebillion12
{Why are you not okay? Is it trauma or something like that?} - _ThiccWeeb_
[i dont think so, but if i had to guess why, its that ive been numbed to the outside world, reaching the point where feelings are a nuisance. i dont have some tragic childhood, i wasnt beaten or starved or anything] - Rebillion12
{So don’t be so sad then. Life will get better eventually. Someone will come along and find your pain, and you won’t be alone anymore.} - musky_Elon
[thats what i thought at first. then i remembered that hope is only hope. a dream is only a dream. so let me ask you this.
have you ever been completely alone when with other people, so desolate and excluded from them that no matter how much you talked and laughed with them, and seemed to get along, you would still never be part of the group?
just knowing that no matter how hard you’d try, you would never find anyone who really cares about you?] - Rebillion12
THE WHITE ROOM
The kid that was typing is gone, replaced by the expressionless face of Thoth. “Hey. That was actually getting pretty interesting. What was that about?” Thoth shook his head in amazement, as if unable to understand how this was possible. “Out of all the people, it had to be this guy….” Again? Are we really doing this again? “Heyyyy. Diccckkkkheeeaaaaddddd…. Are you deaf or something? Is it that hard to answer a question?” The corners of Thoth’s mouth that had earlier been smirking were now starting to turn downwards, as if encountering an unpleasant sight.
“That was you. 11 years ago.” Eh? No way. No fricking way was I some weeb -
Wait. Why is it that my only personal memories are about anime? And more importantly….
Who the hell am I?
“All of that will come in due time. Yes. I can read your mind.” You have got to be kidding me. The whole time? Well then, what’s my goal here- “Your goal is to reach floor 100 of the Abyss. That’s it. If you reach floor 100, you regain your memories, and get to choose one special power, which we, the Deus, will grant to you. Okay?” Damn. He actually can read my thoughts. But what reason do I have to reach floor 100 then? “If you don’t try to reach floor 100, we’ll torture and slowly kill you. We’ve been alive for thousands of years, Zephyrus. We know all of the tricks in the book.” Welp, not much of a choice then, is there?
“So, basically, I died and then got transported to this world? And now I have to reach floor 100 for an unknown, possibly arbitrary reason? Okay. From what you showed me earlier, this world doesn’t seem too bad, and I don’t feel like being tortured. And I was reborn? Why? I died? When? How old am I? And what do I look like and and and and and and-” “Sheesh dude. Shut up already. Ask less, listen more.” Great it seems like I’ve pissed off this Thoth guy. What am I supposed to listen to when he’s not even saying anything in the first place?
Thoth sighed loudly and snapped. A mirror and scale appeared. Thanks bro. “When did I ever say I was a male?” Well, I guess they are gods or something, so maybe gender doesn’t really apply or somethi- Eh. I had turned away for a moment to check my weight in the scale, which read 168.2 lb, but I look back at Thoth a moment later and see a very strange sight. I don’t have many personal memories, but even I know that something is wrong here.
Thoth is completely naked. And the body is that of a female. A very nice body indeed, but it would’ve been nicer if the face on top of the body wasn’t a fricking mans face. “Uhhh, what am I supposed to be seeing here? Some fucked up hentai plot or something?” Really tho. What the hell. Thoth looks in the mirror, and notices that her face is male. She snaps, and suddenly, her face is that of an attractive, middle age woman. Ooookkkkkkaaaaayyyyyy tttthhhhhheeeeeennnnnn. I’m just going to wish that I’d never seen that and move on with my life.
On that terrifying note, I turn to take a look into the mirror. My hair is brown, some parts dark and some parts light. On the edges of the mirror there’s a few marks that seem to denote height. I step close and look at it, and when I stand flat against the mirror and use my hand to get my mark, it seems like I’m 73 inches tall, or 6 foot 1 inch. My nose is mostly straight, and my eyes are an almost bright green with flecks of brown and gold, which I guess is supposed to be hazel. If I had to describe myself, it would be decidedly…. Average. Average looks, above average height. Works for me.
Thoth looked at me with an amused expression, her clothes now back on, now a purple and beige dress, which somehow works, given the odd color scheme.
“So where do I start? Do I have a time limit for reaching floor 100? Do I get starting equipment and stuff and and and and and” Thoth makes a twirling motion with her index finger, and suddenly, my words are cut off. I continue to try to speak, but no words come out. I try to sigh, but still, nothing. I hold up my hands, as if to concede defeat.
Thoth gives me a small smile. “Good. It seems like you understand that I don’t want you to ask any more questions yet. Okay?” Her smile then becomes a bit larger, but I sense a dangerous aura coming from it, that of a tricky demon.
I quickly move back in anticipation of danger, but it looks like I’m safe for now. I definitely don’t want to get on the bad side of these Deus people, especially if they’re all like this. Thoth’s face returns to its expressionless beauty once again.
“All right. I think you’re ready. You may not be very strong right now, but I’ll make sure you reach your goal eventually. You might have to endure hell, but it’ll all be worth it in the end. Right?” As if to accentuate the worth of this task, Thoth once more strips naked, trying to show off her body. Honestly, if I hadn’t this exact same body with a male face earlier, I might’ve turned away and blushed, but not anymore.
“You can’t possibly expect that to affect me now that I’ve seen your body with a male face.” Thoth puts that demonic smile back on her face, and I realize my mistake. “Okay okay okay, I’m sorry. I DIDN’T MEAN IT AHHHHHHH PLEASE NO-” I start to yell these words out as Thoth closes in and throws herself on me, butt-naked. Frickity frackity. I need to escape this hellish experience. There’s no way I can get her off, no how much I try. This wouldn’t be so bad, having a pair of nice breasts in your face, but I just can’t get past the male thing earlier. *Shudders*
“WAHHHHHHHH! JUST LET ME GO ALREADY! I GET IT I GET IT I GET IT! YOU’RE A WOMAN! PLEEAAASSEEEEE!” I have started to blush now, and the male face memory is washing away due to my current situation. Thoth is off of me in a moment, instantly back in her purple and beige dress. “Good. Well then. You have 12 months to reach floor 100! I’ll be watching! Don’t disappoint me!” With my thoughts in disarray, Thoth snaps for the final time, and I’m no longer in the white room.
I’m instead standing in a crowded city, surrounded by hundreds, no, thousands of people. Around me are skyscrapers, quite literally scraping the sky with their imposing statures. But even more imposing than these metal and glass blocks, is the behemoth of a stone tower in front of me by a few miles. It’s easily the tallest building in the area, over 1 and a half times larger than the other buildings.
The building itself seems to be made of a dark metal, but as I try to look closer, I see that there are cracks, denoting the idea that it’s made of a dark rock.
So. This is the Abyss that Thoth spoke of. I’m not sure what I have to do in the Abyss, but I’m just going to assume that it’s fighting related, using the few memories that I do have as reference. I’m not sure how tough this is going to be, but I’ve got 1 year to go through 100 floors. I hope this doesn’t become a pain in the ass soon.
Thoth looked upon Zephyrus, now standing in the middle of the largest city on Aerth, The Beginning’s End, also known as Bend. She had done this before, but never with someone like him. The first phase was now set in motion.