It was natural to have questions, to remain skeptical. Syllis was not offended by the way that Vernim treated the four of them. As the leader of the wall, he had to take precautions. Clyde encouraged Vernim to have questions, and it so happened that a trek up the side of a wall that was said to take a half hour to scale was a good environment for some.

“We have shown nothing but kindness and patience. Why are you so intent on us needing to be liars,” irritation shone through Aura’s voice. She was tired, they had already been walking for fifteen minutes and had gotten nowhere—in terms of conversation at least.

Syllis was bored. Their journey to the edge of the abyss had been anything but eventful. She was not looking for some life-altering experience. Remaining safe was all she really wanted, but her senses gradually dulled within the dark abyss. There was a limit to how long someone could be deprived of their sight.

Syllis hated not being able to see the expressions of passersby. She hated not being able to see Clyde’s face when she would make a less-than-pleasant remark to him. Not that she had made such remarks all too often over the past week. ‘Still it would have been nice to see the couple that undoubtedly caused him to grimace.’

Vernim turned back, stopping briefly to confront the black-haired woman. Aura herself, along with her companions also stopped when the heavy steps against the abyssal stairs stopped.

“It is not that I am intent on believing you are lying. Instead, it is that all of you go against the elmannise’s knowledge of voids,” Vernim sighed as he continued walking. He did not want to waste any more time. His soldiers were done with their battle but he needed to assess the damage.

“A void cannot reopen while there are still bound envoys within. This is common knowledge that you yourselves have admitted to knowing. Surely it is not unreasonable for the four of you to understand this skepticism?”

“Maybe—”

“Right! It is not unreasonable. This one just has a skewed set of morals.” The dichotomy of Clyde’s voice and situation was humorous. He spoke like a diplomat, all the while being guided up this abyssal staircase by Aura’s gloved hand. He was like a baby duckling with an acute talent for mediating.

“Ironic that you would consider Aura’s morals skewed when you were the one to drag me into this rift without preparations nor my consent,” Syllis said with a hope of wounding the man slightly.

‘Just enough that he rethinks his words.’

Aura let out a mildly stifled chuckle.

“Syllis, me and Aura are both to blame as well. Clyde alone does not deserve to bear the entirety of it,” Korman spoke regretfully.

Syllis had long come to know the kind of person Korman was. He was passive and had an almost detrimental dedication to avoiding trouble. The most interesting part of this characteristic were the rare scenarios in which he ignored it. The most recent example being his following Aura into the fable rift. Ordinarily, he would have tried to discourage her from acting in such a reckless manner. Instead, he followed her in without a word.

“Don’t get me started on you Korman,” Syllis readied herself. “Why didn’t you try to talk Aura out of her decision to enter the rift?”

“Thats—”

“Enough,” Clyde spoke to shut his companions up. “You’re welcome to make slights at me all you want. But don’t start taking your frustrations out on either of them. Let’s focus on getting the hell out of here.”

Syllis let out a mild chuckle, same as Aura. It was just loud enough to convey her reluctance. ‘Maybe it was somewhat low for me to criticize Korman like that. After all, I already know why he declined to stop Aura.’

The secare nymph had long discovered the pattern in Korman’s lapse in judgment. He was in love. Aura was an exceptionally beautiful woman. Her tan skin exuded a certain radiance and her emerald eyes held a bright charm. Syllis could not blame the man, she had admitted to herself that if she knew what it felt like to love, truly love someone. That she might have fallen for her beauty as well. Regardless, this reason for his lapse in judgment was unacceptable.

“Your story also has gaps and holes,” Vernim sighed. He patted Ehtis on the head and moved up a half dozen extra steps. “What do you think my boy, can they be trusted?” Vernim whispered this sentence.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Korman had heard it through his enhanced hearing mutation. It was easily sustained due to its meager effect. He would be able to sustain such a mutation forever, technically, so long as it was not used in conjunction with any more mutations. It was also out of sight, only being a mild growth of the ear which any unsuspecting elmannise would merely mistake for a birth defect.

“Do you honestly expect us to inform you of any and all possible secrets? We only just met you!” Aura huffed before continuing. “Hell I reckon it’d be even more suspicious for us to act like we had nothing at all to hide!”

“I understand,” Vernim sighed. “But I have a duty to my people as the leader of the wall to exercise caution even when unreasonable until I am entirely certain that you four aren’t harmful. With our Abyssia as my witness, I would have already tossed you four to the sun by now if Ehtis had not informed me of your visit with the priest and priestess.”

“You aren’t using the usual honorifics for them that we’ve heard. It seems you don’t revere them nearly as much as the other elmannise,” Syllis remarked on this oddity.

This earned Syllis a dagger-like gaze stabbed into her by Clyde. Unbeknownst to her of course. None of them could see through this abyss, including Clyde who had been shooting this glare about a foot and a half to the left of the secare nymph.

Vernim did not respond. He was tired of conversing with such unreasonable people.

After another ten minutes of entirely silence, they had arrived at the top of the wall. Syllis turned once she had taken her first step onto flat ground. She was afraid to roam without guidance, so she merely looked around.

The familiar sight of purple-blue glowing glow-tree sheets was as mesmerizing as she remembered it the first time her and her companions saw them. Aura had described the entire scene to them shortly after which only made them long for the ability to see through the abyss even more.

The purple-blue sheets were railings on the side of long, dangling bridges. They connected the residential area to the wall’s various sectors. These bridges were set up in a way that was optimal for quick movement since there was never enough time at the wall. When one risked their life, wasting a ton of time returning to their home was not a particularly pleasing thought to them.

Ehtis then clarified the various sectors of the wall. There were the obvious groups like the archer and the ground soldiers. Along with the analysts and then the ground generals to direct the soldiers. Then there were more obscure sectors like the—harvester, researchers, haulers, cooks, gardeners—and lastly transporters, whose job was to move the resources from the wall all the way to the main region of Abyssia. As a result, they only had temporary rooms.

“Syllis,” Aura addressed her with warmth, contrasting her arguing with Vernim. “Come take a look at this.”

Aura took the secare nymph’s hand which was cold even through the gloves. She guided Syllis fifty paces to the other side of the wall. Now they faced the chasm which was no important sight for Aura, but for Syllis…

“Wow…” Syllis was stunned, how could she not be?

The flames of the four suns fought with the abyss with the same vigor that she had witnessed before, only on a greater scale. The light from the flames seeped into the cavern and illuminated the battleground at the foot of the wall.

Hundreds of tar-like piles of goo and other black carcases littered the floor. Pink sludge oozed from these piles of goo. Some carcases were burning a vibrant blue color, much darker than Syllis’ hair but lighter than the deep sea. Several small groups—presumably the haulers—were waiting for these corpses to seize their final blaze. Standing beside them were more groups, backup soldiers that would guard against any possible taran that could ambush the haulers.

Syllis got the feeling that the corpses would not stop their burning for a long while, like the skies with the flames of the four suns.

Also littered around the battleground were a lesser number of elmannise corpses. They were torn apart in vicious ways. Legs were severed and arms torn, skulls crushed and eyes popped. Any possible way that one could imagine the body being broken, was somewhere on the battlefield.

The cheers of soldiers could be heard making their way up a staircase equally as long and winding as the one Syllis and her companions had just scaled. Amongst cheers, there were always tears as well. An equal if not larger amount of quiet, weeping elmannise could be heard.

Syllis tried to drown out the cries of the elmannise. This was not their moment, it was hers! It was selfish but the secare nymph did not care. They did not have an exact method to calculate the time in Abyssia, but judging from when she slept and arose, she and her companions had been deprived of their sight for no less than a week.

‘Aside from Aura of course…’ Syllis grumbled. She was jealous of the black-haired beauty. The secare nymph did not harbor any resentment though, she only regretted her father not bonding her to a more convenient outer god.

Syllis could not be entirely envious though. Aura’s bond did come with some large constraints. If she wanted to control one of her ephemeral companions, it used up a very large portion of her mind, causing herself to move in a sluggish and half-hearted manner. It was even worse with a flying creature, she needed to completely focus and could not move at all. The entire way to the wall, she needed to be carried by Korman as she was piloting the bone-winged dragon. Add on to all of this the absurd strain on her sanity and Syllis was more than glad to have her current albeit slightly traumatic bond.

“Do you see the battlefield down there? Hear the soldiers cheering and weeping? All of the many roles that are operating on that field right now to let our elmannise live. These are my people to protect. So I will scrutinize you people until I am more than entirely sure of your character.” Vernim spoke with a fierceness. He was entirely passionate when his people were involved.