Gradually Syllis’ chest was drained of air and blood. Her lung had been punctured from the jagged rocks allowing the air within to seep out into her chest cavity. Likewise, the wound sustained from the jagged rocks also caused blood to enter the cavity.
Aura had gotten Syllis to form a sort of pipe, formed from icy-blue. It had a wide hole in the center, enough to pull blood and air through it. Then—gritting through the immense pain—Syllis withstood Aura shallowly cutting into the area between her fourth and fifth rib. What followed after was her pushing the icy creation inside the opening. This allowed the air to drain naturally. The blood was more complicated, demanding Aura to urge it slightly.
“Aura,” Syllis called out to her, currently entranced in deep concentration, “how did you learn how to fix my problem?” She had seen Aura in a new light after her most recent demonstration.
The secare nymph had always known the human woman to be especially astute and studious. It was needed for her to accomplish her dream. Despite this, her medical knowledge was above and beyond what she had expected her to know.
“Sometimes there are freak scenarios where you are forced to enter a fable rift…” Aura said with slight pain in her voice. Remaining with her eyes closed, she continued. “This is knowledge that my doting parents made our anathemic doctor impart onto me.”
“So, you truly weren’t responsible for our fall into this pocket,” Syllis said, almost like a question, but she knew the answer. There was no realm in which Aura would put in so much effort after preaching her want to die. “Have you had a change of heart?”
Aura remained in deep concentration, her eyes closed. She maintained several seconds of silence, presumably to collect her thoughts. “No, I haven’t. Just acknowledge that I can be an honest person sometimes.”
“Maybe if you hadn’t pulled that stunt before with Clyde…” Syllis said, snidely. She turned slightly. It was uncomfortable laying on the back of the icy-blue platform.
“My infection had taken over nearly all of my mind. Can you really blame someone for how they acted at such a time?” Aura posed a question.
Syllis remained silent. ‘It’s an interesting philosophical discussion. Criminals with mental deficiencies are often given leniencies. I’m in no mood to discuss it now though.’
“Then, what about your silence when the ground broke? Why did you not respond until I had gotten both of us onto this platform?” Syllis had more than a couple questions. These two were the most important though.
“I needed to maintain a connection with the crow while we fell so far. This meant that I needed to withdraw all attention from my surroundings. The further away an aspect of my bond is, the more of my mind goes towards maintaining control of it,” Aura answered, honestly.
“Then, why didn’t we run past the breaking ground?”
Aura opened her eyes for a second, shooting Syllis an odd glance. “Have I really been so untrustworthy lately? To tell you the truth, I don’t remember most of it.
“My crows would have moved away if there was any safe space. Instead, they were petrified. The surrounding areas have likely also caved in, creating a vast array of abyssal drops around that area. Besides, the crows have heightened senses. This petrification also warned of the depth of the drop. I was worried about maintaining a connection with the crow carrying Clyde if it fell too far from us. It would fade away leaving Clyde and our supply of water to shatter on impact with the bottom of the pocket.”
“So what you’re saying is… that Clyde’s corpse is intact?” Syllis asked. She caressed the wall of the abyss with her hands, being greeted by an odd feeling. It was like a school of small fish nibbling at a stock of kelp.
Aura silently nodded. She looked upwards.
Syllis let out a sigh of relief before following suit. Her head was upturned towards the top of the pocket. Slight, ephemeral flames grew harsher as they approached. Their vibrant emerald color certainly seemed more impactful in such a scenario.
She was focused on the shackled basket. As the crow slowly fell further down the chasm, Syllis saw the coffin, safely intact in the confines of the basket.
While it was close enough, Syllis performed her routine maintenance. Quickly, she mended the slightly melting seams of the coffin before watching the ephemeral crow fall further and further out of reach.
It was a simple process for Syllis to mend an already formed shape. If it was close enough—typically within ten feet—then all she needed to do was envision it. Of course, the result would be rough and unrefined. Though it was enough for her purposes at the moment.
Syllis felt a certain weight lift from her body. As though one of the strings tangled up in the ball that settled at the bottom of her stomach had unraveled. It was a nice start, but she could not wait for more to follow.
‘Whenever that will be…’ She was not particularly hopeful of anything else being resolved so soon. ‘The next will be escaping this pocket.
‘For now though…’ Syllis took refuge in her slight reprieve. As much as one could with a tube of icy-blue sticking out from the right side of her body. She sat up straight—a move which had been approved by Aura—and leaned against the back wall.
She had made certain to rise a thin layer of ice before this. The prospect of the abyss eating away at the back of her hair, clothing, and even skin was unappealing at the very least.
Leaning against the wall wasn’t comfortable, but it was better than laying down, staring into the endless abyss above. Now, seeing the icy-blue at the bottom of her vision through the aid of Aura’s glow-tree lantern, tethered to her waist. She had lost the belt used to tether her own near the beginning of their journey across the sky chasm.
Aura opened her eyes for another few seconds. She glanced at the spot where Syllis had been laying and gleaned the area around her. Discovering her now seated against the thin sheet of ice, she opted to join. The human woman slowly shifted over to just beside her.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Syllis watched as the human woman closed her eyes again while leaning her head against the nymph’s left arm. The secare nymph uncomfort grew as she felt Aura’s shattered shoulder graze her side.
----------------------------------------
After nearly an hour, Aura called out. “There, the bottom.”
“Hmm? The crow finally hit the bottom?” Syllis asked.
“Right, more than that even,” Aura said. “There’s a pathway at the bottom of the pocket. Dozens of other pockets also connect to it through slight twisted paths.”
“Is it deliberate? Not natural phenomena?” Syllis asked. She hoped that this was the case. Figuring out a way to make it back out the way they had entered the chasm was not appealing.
Aura nodded. Her ragged hair followed. It was knotted, littered with mats. Though, to a lesser degree than Syllis’ own. The woman’s straight hair helps it maintain a relatively untangled state in comparison.
“So, are you going to dismiss the lower crow and pull another one from the rift up here?” Syllis asked.
“No need to use another crow,” Aura said, shaking her head to the side slightly. “Those creatures are much too afraid of scenarios such as these.”
At the bottom of the pocket, an ephemeral crow moved to kneel down against the abyssal floor. It tried to nibble at the creature before retreating. The abyssal floor left it alone all together. The icy-blue basket—filled with valuable cargo—was resting neatly on the ground at its side. Then, the crow slowly faded from the world.
In front of Syllis, a large rift formed. It leaked out vibrant green lights as it fought against the abyss.
What emerged was a large, voluptuous creature. It was almost identical to the one that Syllis and her companions had dropped into Abyssia with. This one however, was much smaller, to allow it to fit in the lesser hole. It was maybe a fifth of the size.
“Syllis, take this.” Aura reached for her waist and unclipped the lantern that gently swayed. She handed the lantern to Syllis. Then, she hopped onto the top of the creature which had begun to fall after entirely exiting the rift. “Come on, I’ll help you.”
Syllis saw an outstretched hand in front of her and grabbed it as she made a slight skip into the back or possibly front of the large ephemeral creature. It almost seemed like a bell bug—commonly described as bulbous and gentle floating by her father.
The secare nymph made sure not to let anything disturb the icy-blue lifeline that protruded from the side of her chest. She was afraid of the discomfort it would bring again.
The fall down to the bottom of the pocket was smoother than when they had landed in Abyssia.
‘Is it due to the circumstances under which Aura summoned the bell-bug creature? Because she had previously summoned it as she was falling, panicked, that it was underdeveloped?’ Syllis surmised, feeling as though she had understood another core aspect of Aura’s bond. Over the course of the last week or so, she felt that her knowledge over her companion’s bond had increased by at least three-fold.
Syllis looked around the bottom of the abyssal pocket—already stepping away from the ephemeral bell-bug creature.
What used to appear harsh and unyielding to her eyes was now a gentle, soothing, purple-blue light that illuminated a less than ideal amount of the space around her.
Around her were many corridors which Aura stated were to bring each pocket flowing into the same room.
“Maybe it's the remnants of a civilization's water system?” Aura remarked.
“It’d be a pretty lousy system…” Syllis answered. “Why have dozens of tunnels for water to flow through instead of one large one?”
“Who knows?” Aura said, mostly to herself. “One of my tutors told me to ‘never question those with more than a hundred times the experience of oneself’ mostly as a method to shut down any of my irritable tendencies. Still, in a situation like this I believe I will honor that advice.”
Syllis turned around, her lantern illuminating Aura’s face. “Oh… you acknowledge your annoying tendencies? Why would you not try to eliminate them?”
“Because,” Aura said, “they aren’t inherently problematic. I find each of these qualities that others would deem excessive and irritable, endearing. They’re what make up who I am, who Korman fell in love with.” A sorrowful smile grew on her face.
“Does reminiscing make you want to live now? You could return to your tutors and shove it in their face that you managed to survive something so catastrophic, preach Korman’s deeds and as a side-note… help clear my name of any wrongdoing?”
Aura remained silent on the matter, merely beginning to walk ahead as the creature beneath her feet vanished into thin air.
‘So hard to read…’ Syllis thought, defeatedly. ‘I still have no clue how convinced she is.’ She let out a sigh.
The secare nymph took a dozen steps forward. Her lantern’s light reflected off of a familiar object, an icy-blue coffin. It was worse for wear, heavily melted by ambient heat in the air. The abyss was hotter than the surface, not by much, but by enough to make a difference.
After a brief inspection she determined there was no way for worldly influence to seep in and merely repaired the melting seams again.
“Aura, mind bringing your faithful servant back?” Syllis asked.
Aura nodded. A rift formed behind and an ephemeral crow walked through. It looked reinvigorated, completely new from what either of them had looked like while they had been crossing the chasm.
The both of them struggled to lift the icy shackle and basket but through enough effort, they managed. Syllis reattached it around the neck of the crow, binding him to the hellish fable for the foreseeable future.
“Let’s begin,” Aura said, cryptically.
“Let’s begin? Begin what?” Syllis raised a brow.
“Shine your lantern ahead of you,” Aura suggested.
Syllis turned away from the woman and raised her arm forward. The purple-blue light managed to outline a shape composed of sharp lines. She walked forward a half-dozen paces and crouched down.
Gently, she knocked on the top of the sort of slab. It was formed of the same substance as the naturally occurring walls of the abyss. Differently though, the slabs were almost perfectly straight and devoid of the devouring lifeforms that lined the inside of the pocket.
“I see,” Syllis said, “this is why you had decided to go down. This is why we never spoke about finding a way back up. This is why you believed it was a water system. Water will always reach civilization and by extension… this slabbed staircase.” The pieces finally fit together in her mind.
“It's the epitome of the old saying, ‘the simplest way to find civilization is to follow a river.’ Another saying that my tutors used to feel superior…” Aura said. “Then again, they only ended up my tutors because they were too afraid to do the real thing. They needed to experience fables vicariously, pathetically.
“If only they could see me and you, now. With their lackluster bonds, they would have been burned to a crisp under the four suns’ flames. It's really a miracle that we survived for so long. Nearly everyone outside of this fable thinks we’ve long died by now and that the rift has remained closed for some other, supernatural reason.
“What could a group of only three humans and a secare-nymph accomplish? I bet that's what they’re wondering. Let alone one full of kindred as young and inexperienced as us.”
Aura paused. She smirked and spat on the ground below her before turning to Syllis. Both of them shared an odd expression—especially for the situation they were in.
No closer to accomplishing their goal of escaping the fable and yet, Syllis felt a certain clarity wash over her mind. She had a hunch that Aura felt the same way.
“I think I will live, Syllis,” Aura said. “I will preach Korman’s good name and spite all those who believe us to have no hope to return from this fable.”
“Let’s—let’s get out here first, ok?” Syllis grabbed Aura’s uninjured shoulder and laughed.