Abyssal Awakening-Chapter 967: Unending Nightmare
The boss glanced down at the hole in her chest.
It wasn’t regenerating anymore.
So this was the end.
Once again... she stood on the losing side of the stage.
A bitter smile curved across her lips as she looked up toward the hanging lights above.
She had thought this was a second chance.
A chance to perform again.
To try again.
To exist again.
And yet...
It had only been another futile act.
"Children of Grand Cathia, can you humour me?" She asked with a sad look in her eyes.
Her voice, tired.
"Do the nobles who live up high still exist? Do they continue to look down without care
Miki hesitated.
She knew Airia’s story.
Knew the bitterness carved into her bones.
Knew why she left.
Knew why she became something the city feared.
Airia had never been meant to become anything important.
She was not noble.
Not a warrior.
She had simply been a girl.
A girl who loved the stage.
Before Grand Cathia knew her rage... her despair... her power...
She had only been another performer beneath the lights.
Born where music never stopped.
Raised beneath painted backdrops.
Fed by applause instead of affection.
And she had loved it.
The stage had been her heart.
Her soul.
Her entire world.
She had never learned how to perform.
She simply stepped into the light...
And her body knew what to do.
Talent.
Relentless effort.
Morning rehearsals.
Afternoon rehearsals.
Night performances.
Her worth measured in ticket sales.
Her identity in how beautifully she moved.
And she had loved every moment of it. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮
The people loved her, they loved the way she looked when on the stage.
"The nobles still exist. Even as we are besieged by nightmares, they refuse to move." Miki nodded.
Airia froze.
An expression of pain appeared upon her face.
"Ah... how unfair..."
She remembered the crowd.
Endless faces.
Endless applause.
Endless noise.
But there had always been one person she searched for.
Always.
A man who had watched from the beginning.
When she had no fans, he was there.
When she gained recognition, he was there.
When the theatre filled, he was still there.
Never in the front row.
Never shouting the loudest.
Never throwing flowers.
Just watching.
Quietly.
Warmly.
As if he saw her... not the performance.
She imagined the conversations that never happened.
The confessions that never left her lips.
Wondered what his voice sounded like.
Sometimes they crossed paths outside the theatre.
He never approached her.
Never demanded her attention.
He simply smiled... and stepped aside.
Respecting her world.
Respecting her distance.
Airia wanted to be the one to call out at times.
Many times.
But dancers do not step off stage to chase dreams. So she kept performing, waiting.
Telling herself that she’ll speak to him after the next performance.
Then the next.
Then the next.
But she never did.
She became famous. Radiant. Untouchable.
A beauty who lives on the stage.
Not the kind that fades quietly with time. But the kind of beauty that attracts hunger.
Possessiveness.
Ownership.
One evening, a nobleman attended her performance.
He did not clap.
He did not smile.
He did not admire.
He simply watched.
The next day, he made an offer.
Not to Airia.
To the theatre.
The amount of money he offered was so large it did not feel real.
Enough wealth to rebuild everything.
Enough to secure their future for generations.
Enough...
To sell one performer.
The theatre accepted.
Even if they had wanted to refuse...
They could not.
They told her it was an honour.
A patron, a sponsor.
A private contract, an opportunity they would kill for.
She gets to attend to a noble.
But Airia refused.
She refused to perform for she longed for the stage.
He tried persuasion, pressure, threats.
But she didn’t budge. Her pride as a performer, her longing for the stage.
And that man who always watched her performances.
The noble stopped asking.
Her limbs were broken first then set in a manner that didn’t allow her to perform.
An act meant to preserve beauty while removing her will.
Then he scarred her face.
Not enough to kill, enough to make sure she can never stand beneath the lights.
He stopped treating her as a performer, as a person.
She was simply an item that he had bought. One to be violated in whatever manner he saw fit.
By the end, she was no longer a dancer.
No longer an item worth displaying.
No longer valuable.
Discarded.
Tossed away.
Like broken equipment.
Like a torn costume.
And the man she had once searched for in the audience...
Was gone.
She never learned his name...
###
Airia turned her back to Miki and the others.
She walked towards the centre of the stage and closed her eyes.
Her body turning to ash.
She tried her best to destroy the very thing that ruined her life. And yet...
Even in the future, nothing has changed.
What did she even use her life for?
"I truly... Hate this city." Airia closed her eyes.
Unable to give a response, Miki watched as Airia turned to ash, leaving behind her Embryo and items.
Another soul in the history of Grand Cathia was gone.
The stage fell silent after Airia turned to ash.
No applause, no music.
No spotlight.
Just the emptiness after a performance.
For a few seconds, no one moved. They watched as the stage faded away, returning them back to the fifth Zone as a single branch stretched out in the centre.
Miki stepped forward first, lowering her spear as she scanned the arena in case there was any hidden ambushes waiting for them.
"Keep your guard up. We’ll make some final checks before the Nightmare ends." She ordered while Alice stepped towards the ash.
She closed her eyes, fingers brushing through the fine grey ash.
The marks upon her arms began to pulse as energy was being absorbed.
"Anything useful?" Miki asked curiously while Alice shook her head.
"Not really. The skill I got from her were the threads. Range attacks that does lots of damage if all of them hit but they don’t travel that fast."
Folding her arms, Miki made a mental note.
"Could be stored in your arrows I suppose. I’ll let the experiment department know and see what they think."
Hearing this, Alice shivered.
The experiment department again.
"So what about Airia then? It seemed like you knew her story with the way you were looking at her near the end." Alice asked once they gathered all of the loot.
"There’s nothing to be done. At least not right now." Miki shook her head.
They had seen too many stories like this to linger on one.
Grand Cathia’s history was built on corpses.
Nobles. Commoners. Soldiers. Dancers. Rebels.
Airia was simply another entry.
Another consequence.
Another proof of the flawed system within Grand Cathia.
However, that can only be done once the Nightmare was over.
For now, they moved on and didn’t linger.
History and justice could be argued later.
The mission came first.
Since the fight ended faster than originally calculated, they had some extra time to explore the sixth Zone.
Stepping through the pathway that opened up in the arena, the fog retreated a little more, giving the a better view.
This time, the sixth Zone was a direct reaction of modern Grand Cathia.
It wasn’t history this time, it was the present.
Miki frowned.
Were they getting closer to the core? Is that why it was now showing the modern city?
If so, who was the host of this zone?
Regardless, it was good information to have.
The group sat by the new branch and waited. Miki pulled out a pocket watch.
Once the hand strikes 12, the nightmare will be over.
There was less than a minute left and they’ve made great progress today.
Thirty seconds remaining.
No ambush, no monsters in the distance.
Silence.
Ten seconds left.
The nightmare was about to end then they have to prepare for another siege. To defend the city once more.
But this time, the enemy knows Alice and the others were around to help them.
The casualties... may be greater than before.
However, with Suyin helping out with the defence, it shouldn’t be that bad.
Five...
Four...
Three...
Two...
One...
Silence. No tremor, no distortion.
No wave of dizziness.
Miki frowned.
She watched as the clock hand tick past twelve and continue.
"...Miki." Alice creased her brow.
"I know."
She tightened her grip around the spear.
Once the clock hand struck twelve, the summoning was cancelled out so it was just Miki and Alice in this zone. The others have gone back already.
Taking a deep breath, Miki stood up.
Could it be an issue with her timing?
Nothing was changing.
Alice closed her eyes and focused on the branch. She located the other branches and...
Nothing.
She couldn’t teleport.
At least... Something was blocking her from accessing the other zones.
An anomaly was occurring.
’Something’ was anchoring her to this spot.
"Can you summon?" Alice opened her eyes, looking towards Miki but she shook her head with a frown.
"No I can’t. The others have already left the Nightmare. There are no names for me to summon."
Miki could feel her heartrate increasing but she had to stay calm. Even if she had to force herself.
They didn’t die so they couldn’t have drifted deeper into the Nightmare.
So why weren’t they expelled?
In the distance, they heard a bell toll.
Over and over...
Again and again.
Alice stood up and pulled back on her bowstring, aiming into the fog.
Someone is here.
Her hairs were standing on their end.
This unease...
Different to hybrids.
This discomfort... Like looking into a mirror reflection of yourself smiling.
Only...
You weren’t smiling.
But the reflection was.
A silhouette slowly appeared in the fog.
