After that, Syllis asked Vernim for a couple words. There were a couple questions she had for him.

“So,” Syllis said, crossing one leg over the other. “Why did you hold a trial at all?”

The both of them sat in a spacious office. It had splendor with glow-sheet ribbons and trophies of dead taran. There were gifts given by his people and commendations for his achievements. On the more morose side—a tally board of every confirmed death at the foot of the wall. The number extended into the thousands, it almost neared ten thousand.

Vernim sighed, walking over to the board. He added three tallies and stood still for a moment. He was respecting the dead. Their bodies were mangled and scattered, unable to return to Abyssia. As such, they were lost forever.

“Trial?”

“It's what we call it,” Syllis clarified, “In Ethrailia. Where you put a criminal away, typically in jail.”

“The criminal was executed,” Vernim said. “It's hardly the same thing.”

“We execute too, but only in rare scenarios,” Syllis said before her expression contorted. “Well, Asanoch is pretty lax with execution actually.”

“Whatever the case,” Vernim said. “The purpose was to sentence a murderer. Do you believe that the monster should have been spared?”

“No,” Syllis answered, plainly. “But you already had the sentence planned. What was the purpose for the trial at all?”

“The elmannise need to believe I’m fair,” Vernim answered.

“Are you not fair?”

“I am,” he answered. “There is no harm in dispelling even the slightest disbelief. Besides, if I had not held a trial then rumors would spread about me.”

“You aren’t fair though,” Syllis declared. “Also, why did you not prevent the contents of the trial from seeping out? Why not forbid talking outside of the trial about the case?”

“Not fair?” Vernim asked. He was taken aback.

“You bribed one of the judges,” Syllis said, uncrossing her legs. She then leaned forward slightly. “I’m betting that uncomfortable looking man you had beside you.”

“Blasphemy!” Vernim said. “What proof do you have of this?”

“Your elmannise—”

“Our Abyssia’s elmannise,” Vernim corrected.

“Regular deciders—well, we refer to them as judges—anyways, they would not agree with humans so easily. The elmannise would not adjust so quickly. Htornor should have acted the same as Fornia Hphuin had.” Syllis spoke with an even tone. She was not angry.

“He is a strange man,” Vernim said.

“He is a paid man, Vernim.”

“Fine, I admit it.” Vernim said. “What does it matter? The people will continue to believe in me while I command this wall, your companion will be branded as a murderer by association with the monster. You though… you will be praised as a hero. Titan slayer.”

“Whatever that case is,” Syllis said. "It doesn't matter to me.”

“It doesn’t?” Vernim inquired. He leaned forward with a difficult expression to pin down.

“I was only curious,” Syllis said with a shrug. “Brand me or any of my companions however you want. We won’t be here forever, only a couple months before we leave and head into the sky chasm.”

“The sky chasm?” Vernim scoffed. “That’s a death sentence. The priests should have told you how many of our people died in the chasm.”

“I think you’ve seen enough of our bizarre tricks to have the slightest bit of hope.”

“Hope? No, there is no hope in the chasm. Only death is to be found there,” Vernim said. “No matter how skilled, lucky or unique you are, there is no hope.”

“I hope that you’re wrong,” Syllis said.

Syllis rose from her chair and walked out of the room, leaving Vernim in silence.

Vernim sat motionlessly for a second before speaking. “What a curious person.”

A few days later, Syllis and the others decided to venture down to the chasm entrance. It was finally time to find a way to cross the chasm.

“How do we even start?” Korman asked.

“I figured that we would start from the obvious,” Clyde said, turning to face Aura. “Can you use your crows or something similar for this?”

“Technically…” Aura said, “I can.”

“Technically,” Syllis said. “What’s the problem?”

“Time mostly,” Aura answered. “We have to be efficient. Every night we spend awake in front of this chasm increases our chance of dying in battle with the taran. The sanity drain along with the lackluster speed of my summons are too large of problems to warrant their use.”

Syllis looked out into the chasm. At night, it looked truly beautiful. The sulfuric pits burned brimstone flames. Their wafting blue flames matched the glow-tree sheets that hung from the tops of glow-trees. They looked like upside down roses, devouring their own trunks.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Any other ideas?” Clyde inquired.

“Yeah,” Syllis said. “We probably should have come up with a few before heading down here…”

“What's it matter anyways?” Clyde asked. “We needed to come down here anyways. Ideas are more likely to present themselves if we are staring into the obstacle.”

“I don’t know about that,” Korman said, looking out at the sky chasm. “It looks… daunting to say the least. It might be doing more harm than good.”

“Let’s look at it backwards. The taran ‘seep’ into the ground every day right? Surely they can’t just stay in such a state all the way until the four suns set.” Clyde carefully analyzed.

“That’s right,” Syllis said. “You as a human would instantly die if being shrunk down to such a size. But this is a fable and these creatures do not follow logic.”

“How can we be so sure?” Aura asked. “The taran think logically and all of the other components of the fable roughly follow logic… mostly.” She grit her teeth slightly after the last word.

“We can’t be sure,” Syllis said. “Even if their bodies follow logic, what is preventing them from having adapted to the need to burrow and withstand greater pressure?”

“Creatures cannot evolve that quickly,” Clyde answered.

“Again,” Syllis said, “you’re thinking in human terms. Taran doesn't follow logic. They could breed ten thousand new taran every single day. Or even just fifty taran every couple minutes that mature after an hour. This many generations… think about it.”

“It’s possible,” Aura said. She reached to scratch her face before frowning. Her right hand was her dominant one and she instinctively reached it up. “Fieran can absorb knowledge several fold faster underneath the moonlight. Even our own world works in mysterious ways.”

“So what’s the plan?” Clyde asked. “What can we do?”

“I guess the most straight-forward plan would be for me to send a batch of writhing maggots to burrow into the ground,” Aura said. “Much like how a taran would. Yes, we will imitate them.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“One problem,” Aura said. “These maggots can burrow but are useless in terms of moving. They are going to need some form of transportation.”

‘Transportation huh…’ Syllis wracked her brain. She raised her brow slightly as she thought of an idea.

“We could seal the maggots in a sphere of ice and throw it,” Syllis suggested. “Then I would just dismiss it as soon as it hit the ground.”

“I think the maggots would die on impact,” Aura said with an awkward smile.

“What’s that matter?” Syllis said. “Just fill the sphere up to the brim. Some of the maggots will survive, that’s enough.”

“Right,” Aura said, quietly. “I—I guess that that would… work.”

‘Ah.’ Syllis thought. “I should have considered how she would feel after having her dragon executed. More of her summons dying…’

“Is it alright?” Syllis asked Aura.

“It's fine…” Aura answered. “Anything to get out of this fable… right? But how would we throw it?”

“I guess that's me,” Korman said. He manifested a mutation.

His arm expanded to three times the size. Then, it morphed. An entirely new arm was made up of parts of the previous. It was curved and covered in exotic-colored short fur.

Syllis’ method of throwing javelins would work for this task, but it was inefficient. Throwing javelins took a lot of sanity which was why Syllis refrained from using it as often as she could. Korman was indeed much better suited for such a job.

“I’ll get the maggots ready…” Aura said.

A large rend in the abyss opened behind her. Within, ephemeral, green-glowing maggots flowed out like water from a faucet. These maggots then flowed into a large icy-blue sphere like it was a basin.

After it had been completely filled, Syllis sealed the sphere and handed it to Korman. The bestial man nodded and palmed the large sphere. He turned to Clyde, waiting for instruction.

Since Clyde did not have a role to play in the assembly or operation of the sphere, he was given the job to determine where the sphere will be thrown.

“Try throwing center,” Clyde said. “Maybe one hundred meters out?”

Korman nodded and pulled his entire body back. He pulled one foot backwards and held the other, firmly in place. His arm was wrenched back like a trebuchet. His entire form was not unlike Syllis’ own before she had refined her javelin technique.

Then, he let go. It was as though a nail which had tethered his arm to the ground had shattered, letting it loose and propelling it forwards. It easily flew a hundred meters and then some. It likely landed around the 150-220 mark.

“Did the maggots survive?” Clyde eagerly questioned Aura.

“Yeah,” Aura said. “A few of them at least… Hold on, let me take a look…” Her voice trailed out and her gaze softened. It was like she had left her own body for the moment.

Aura gleaned the contents of the maggot's eyes. She saw the white ash and sulfuric flames. As the maggots slowly burrowed, that view shifted—to pure white ash, then to grey ash, black ash, then to rock. Then, she was stunned. One of her maggots had fallen into a wide open abyss, void of ash or stone and even light. The only reason she could ‘see’ was due to the maggots’ natural inclination towards nocturnality.

A vile beast sat in the center of its vision. The maggot could not run though. This beast slowly, gradually approached. It reached a colossal—at least to the maggot—hand up high before bringing it down.

Splat! The maggot was crushed in an instant, its ephemeral guts painted the floor of this abyss before dissipating after Aura’s dismissal.

Aura’s eyes suddenly became very dilated as though she herself had been crushed. Her gaze darted around to her several companions before shifting to her own feet.

“What happened?” Korman asked. His tone was caring and warm.

“There…” Aura said. “There was a small abyss—a pocket! There was an… abyssal pocket—with taran inside.”

“So they did not evolve so quickly,” Clyde said, smiling.

“Right, Clyde,” Syllis said, rolling her eyes. “You win.”

“That I do, but first…” Clyde said. He then turned to face Aura. “How large was this pocket? Could it fit all of us!?”

This would be a major breakthrough. The flames of the four suns flickered at the entrance to the sky chasm. They were always at constant war with the abyss. It was entirely reasonable to assume this would—by extension—apply to the abyssal pockets as well.

“It could, definitely,” Aura said. “We have to be careful though. These pockets definitely vary in size. Besides, we have no clue how many there will be or how scarce they are.”

“Many more days of experimenting await us…” Clyde said. His voice trailed out. He was not excited at the thought. None of them were.

“Regardless,” Syllis said, “this still explains why the taran are trying to invade Abyssia. The sun eats away at the entrance every day, little by little. In a meager couple years, these pockets could indeed shrink by more than a substantial amount.”

“Should we let Vernim know?” Clyde asked.

“I don’t think so,” Korman said.

“I agree,” Syllis said. “We can’t have his people experimenting with these pockets. They are our single lead on how to survive the sky chasm. Perhaps we can let him know right before we leave.”

“Perhaps…” Aura said.

“Alright!” Clyde said. “That is more than enough for tonight. We have to rest up for the battle tomorrow. Next time, we will bring something to scribe these pockets onto.”

The four of them walked the length of the foot of the wall again. Then, they made their way up the absurdly tall staircase before retreating into their home. Each of them fell asleep, battered and tired. They had nice dreams waiting for them.