106. Ice Trails

Casimir didn’t speak for the rest of the flight to the Abyss, and Isaac couldn’t help but find his silence disconcerting. His eyes kept drifting to the back of the angel’s head, to the steady flapping of his wings, but he couldn’t discern anything out of the ordinary in his body language.

It was something of a relief when the purple line station came into view and the red tinted sphere surrounding him finally dissipated. Isaac had to take a second to rebalance himself after not being on flat ground for so long.

Taking a second to double check the tablet, Isaac shuddered at the chill around the station. Despite the entrance being a fair ways away, the inky void of the Abyss barely visible through the opening, the constant, slight cold of the realm permeated even the subway station. Isaac swallowed and reminded himself to stay focused. It had been some time since he’d had to go to the Abyss, and he couldn’t afford to waste time regretting his choice.

When Isaac looked up again, Casimir was casually strolling around and whistling to himself. Against the endless darkness of the Abyss, his white wings somehow stood out even more starkly. He gave no indication of the chill or atmosphere of the place bothering him, but Isaac supposed that someone who was level 91 had little to worry about.

“He’s further in the realm,” Isaac said, taking a few slow steps forward and eyeing the exit carefully. He swore he could make out a few shifting silhouettes half blended into the void, a sea of Aberrations swimming just out of sight.

“Cool,” Casimir said casually. He strode forward. Isaac took a second to scrutinize the man, but he was as impossible to read as ever. Shaking his head, he followed carefully behind.

“Sooo, we flying again?”

Isaac frowned. “Not yet,” he decided after eyeing the exit again. “The map’s really vague right now. It should get more detailed the closer we get. We’ll start on the path, and once I have a better idea of the route…” he gestured vaguely, and Casimir shrugged.

“Sounds good to me.” He stepped out of the station, whistling again. It was a sharp, discordant melody, but Isaac couldn’t tell if that was because of the way the song was written or a result of Casimir’s poor attempt at copying it.

The single floating road was where it usually was, and Isaac was relieved to see it had been repaired since the last time he was there. Its surface was perfectly smooth, so pristine that it only added to the uncomfortable atmosphere.

The two’s steps echoed loudly in the vast space as they walked, and now that they were in the Abyss proper, Isaac could indeed make out movement, flashes of light, and blinking eyes shifting around them. For the most part, he kept his eyes straight ahead, where Casimir strode cheerfully forward, or down at the map at Remus’s slowly moving dot. Only the sounds of their footsteps and Casimir’s constant, off key whistling provided any noise to fill the oppressive silence.

Finally, just when Isaac thought he was going to lose his mind, the path ahead changed. Isaac stopped, first taking a second to assess that there was no danger, then hurried forward.

Up on the path ahead, a few gleaming spikes of crystal clear ice jutted out of the flat road like blooming flowers, preserved by the chill of the realm. Isaac frowned, squinting at them. They reminded him a little of the ice he’d seen Seaton create during his last attack in the tournament, but this ice was much sharper and more refined. The merfolk’s had still had visible bubbles, clearly a product of water, but this was so clear that it almost looked like glass.

“What do you know, looks like old Remus was around here after all.”

Isaac frowned and glanced back at Casimir warily. “What do you mean?”

The angel practically looked bored, only giving the construct a cursory glance. “I’d recognize that stuff anywhere. Remus was kind of known for his ice magic.”

Isaac paused, running through the information in his mind.

“…the dampness,” he muttered in realization. “That’s what it was.”

Casimir raised an eyebrow, and Isaac continued, thinking out loud.

“Rosalinde—she’s the one who examined the bodies—told me the ones in the Inferno were a little damp. She thought it might be because of the realm’s atmosphere, but it’d make sense if Remus used ice to attack them and it melted in the heat.”

“Oh? Sounds like things’re just getting more and more damning for old Remus.”

Isaac rose back to standing, still staring at the ice with a furrowed brow.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Seems like it,” he muttered. The story Casimir had told earlier rose again in his mind, and he shook his head, forcing himself to stay focused. Even if it was true, that didn’t negate the fact that the demon had violently murdered twelve innocents—Olzu’s face flashed in his mind and his fingers curled into a fist—and probably many more during his reign. There was no use feeling sorry for him, especially since the story probably wasn’t true to begin with. He turned to face the angel again.

“Let’s keep going.”

—

They continued for what felt like hours. The further into the Abyss they walked, the more the shadows around them shifted. A few Aberrations stared unblinking at them, only their glowing eyes visible. The air around them grew colder, or perhaps rather than the temperature changing, the constant chill of the realm simply settled deeper and deeper into their bones.

Isaac shuddered, squinting down at the map. It was significantly more blurry and less detailed than usual, and sometimes the screen would freeze. He frowned. Maybe there were still some lingering issues with the System; he’d have to remember to ask Lilith about it.

For now, Remus seemed to have stopped in one location. Isaac slowed his pace, readying to tell Casimir to start flying, but before the words could leave his mouth, he froze.

The hairs on the back of his neck rose as the air around them dropped a few degrees. The atmosphere itself seemed to become denser, heavy with some invisible weight. It felt like it was pressing down on him, holding him in place.

But most of all, trained on the center of his back, Isaac could feel the unmistakable presence of eyes burning into him. Staring through him.

The tablet screen flashed.

NAME: 🗌🗌🗌🗌

SPECIES: ???????

LOCATION: THE ABYSS, THE PURPLE LINE

[CLICK TO EXPAND DETAILS]

ATTACK: 39

SPEED: 39

SKILL: 35

DEFENSE: 40

INSTINCT: 33

INTELLIGENCE: 25

STAMINA: 44

CALCULATED LEVEL: 88

Isaac swallowed and forced himself to take a step forward. It felt like trudging through thick mud, and the step seemed to echo even louder than usual. His grip on the device tightened, and he reminded himself that the System was working again. Nothing would be able to hurt them. He resolved himself to turn around and face the thing, but before he could, a hand stopped him.

“Wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Casimir said. The angel was strolling a bit slower to match Isaac’s pace, and though the man was looking ahead, there was no visible tension in his body language. The presence behind them didn’t subside.

Casimir pointed at the tablet without looking. “Check the skills.”

Frowning, Isaac did so, expanding the window and scrolling down the long list. His eyes landed on one in particular.

[SKILL PARALYSIS LVL 90]

“If you meet its eyes, you get hit with it,” Casimir continued, his voice taking on a cheery tone that somehow only made the air heavier. “Better not look if you don’t want to deal with that.” He paused, stopping mid step, and Isaac almost bumped into him.

“Well, actually…”

In the next instance, Isaac felt himself being yanked to the side as a blast of wind nearly knocked him over. He barely managed to grip onto the tablet as that presence behind him suddenly burst forward, rushing past them and snaking around them with a long, coiling body.

Red light flashed in his vision, and in the next moment Isaac was surrounded by a familiar red barrier. Above him, Casimir had a manic grin on his face, white wings spread wide.

“Figures you’d still remember,” the angel said gleefully. He was addressing the Aberration, Isaac realized with a start. The creature was still mostly indistinguishable from the Abyss to him, blended into the shadows, but from the way Casimir’s eyes casually moved around in a distinct pattern, he seemed to have no issue following its movements. Isaac grit his teeth.

“Casimir what the hell is going on!?”

The angel barely glanced his way, waving dismissively even as the air became even colder. “Eh, I might’ve stolen an egg from this one some time back.” He shrugged. “Looks like it never got over it. Kind of over dramatic, if you ask me.”

“Oh my god.”

“Hey, no worries though! The System’s up again, right? So it’s not like we’re gonna die. Worst case scenario we end up paralyzed for a bit. Annoying, but not deadly.”

Isaac groaned, yanking on his hair in frustration. The barrier surrounding him bobbed up and down.

“Casimir, we’re trying to get to Remus as soon as possible,” he gritted out. “We need to go.” Isaac kept his eyes on the tablet, both to track the demon’s location and to avoid looking at the Aberration’s eyes, wherever they were.

“Ohhhh, right.” Casimir finally turned to face him, an eyebrow raised. “But weren’t you the one who said to fly smoother or whatever?”

Isaac scowled. “You know this is different.”

He didn’t think it was possible, but that smile only widened, and Isaac swallowed. Lit up by only the glow of his own wings, the angel suddenly seemed infinitely more dangerous than the creature currently surrounding them.

Casimir beat his wings again, a blast of wind whirling outwards as he shot up, the barrier lurching and following the movement. Isaac placed his arms against the bubble in an attempt to balance himself, but was only half successful. He grit his teeth, wincing as his shoulder smashed into the side.

Above him, Casimir looked far too pleased with himself as he stared down at the shifting shadows. They seemed to move faster, intent on blocking their way.

“Hope you’re ready for a rough ride.”