Venti: "So… being an adventurer is about helping people, protecting, exploring… sometimes investigating."
He murmured.
Arlan's: "Exactly."
Arlan's replied.
"It's a job for those who aren't afraid of long walks, taking risks… and trusting their instincts."
Venti smiled gently.
Venti: "I think my instincts are just waiting for this."
"Freedom."
Arlan's laughed in turn.
Arlan's: "Given how you handled those bandits, I think the guild would be delighted to have you."
The cart continued on its way, rocked by the wind that seemed to whisper around Venti, as if a part of him was slowly awakening… ready to resume a role he may have played before.
They continued talking for hours
Venti and Leona continued talking about the adventurers for a few more moments.
Leona spoke of them as if they were people capable of solving any problem.
Leona was only eight years old, but she knew a lot of stories, and it was certainly her father who told them to her.
Venti opened his mouth to reply, perhaps a lighthearted joke to ease the tension… but the words died before they were even born.
FFFFFFFFFFFFffffffffffffff
A flash of pain exploded in his skull.
Venti: "Ouch!"
More violent than the first time.
Deeper.
Like an icy blade driven straight into his memory.
Even though the pain was worse than before, he also felt a chill down his spine, as if a threat surrounded him.
Leona: "PAPA, Venti's got another headache!"
Meanwhile, Venti immediately put a hand to his temple, his fingers trembling.
The wind around him vibrated suddenly, as if he had been startled or shaken by some unseen danger.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFffffffffffffffffffffff
Arlan's immediately pulled on the reins.
Arlan's: "Venti?!"
"Hey, Venti, it's happening again!"
"Are you okay?"
Leona, panicked, approached the boy, her eyes shining with fear.
Leona: "Are you in pain?"
"Do you want some water?"
"Dad, is he okay?"
But Venti could barely hear their voices anymore.
All he could hear was:
.....
In fact, he couldn't hear anything at all because of the migraine.
He felt like he couldn't calm down:
- His fingers clenched and his vision blurred.
- His vision became cloudy.
- And his breathing came in ragged gasps.
Venti: "Huuh huuh huuh huuh huuh huuh huuh huuh huuh huuh huuh huuh huuh huuh huuh!"
There was only that word.
In his mind, only that word echoed within him; he felt like he knew it, and he understood that this thing was brewing, destroying everything, just as it could devour everything.
That word resonated like a drum in his mind, like an echo from a bottomless abyss.
THE ABYSS.
He inhaled sharply, as if surfacing after being held underwater.
His breath was ragged, uneven.
Venti: "Why that word?"
"Why now?"
Blurred, indistinct images flashed through his mind for a moment:
- A substance that corrupts everything it touches.
- A dark, almost liquid purple.
- An unnatural cold, an overwhelming presence.
Then it all vanished as quickly as it had come.
Fffffffffffffffffff
The wind around him died down, but a lingering chill remained in the air.
Venti closed his eyes for a moment, struggling to catch his breath.
Arlan's: "VENTI ..... VENTI ..."
Leona: "Look, he's opening his eyes."
When he opened them, Arlan's and Leona stared at him with genuine concern.
Venti: "It's okay... it's okay."
He murmured, his voice trembling slightly.
Venti: "I... it just surprised me."
Arlan's frowned.
Arlan's had left his post to check on Venti, but that didn't mean the wagon would stop, as the horse pulling them was still moving.
This meant that the three people were at the back of the wagon, surrounded by wooden crates.
Venti swallowed hard.
He didn't know.
He didn't understand.
But he had the feeling that time hadn't passed in the same way for him as it had for the other two people.
Venti: "How much time has passed?"
Arlan's caught his breath before replying:
Arlan's: About three minutes.
Venti: "What?"
Venti knew that time can pass differently when you feel pain, but he hadn't thought it would feel so long from an external perspective, since, from his point of view, Venti had felt that the pain had only lasted about thirty seconds.
But he quickly stopped thinking about it, his attention returned to the word he had just heard, which was still echoing in his head.
His instinct told him that this word was dangerous.
Very dangerous.
Leona gently tugged on his sleeve.
Leona: "Venti."
"What is... the abyss?"
Venti looked at her, unable to find an answer.
Leona: "You only whispered the word."
Because deep down, he didn't have any.
None.
Only one certainty gripped his chest:
Venti: "I... I don't know."
"That word... wasn't just a memory."
"It was a warning."
Arlan's remained silent for a moment, as if hesitating to speak.
Arlan's: "The Abyss!"
Even the reins in his hands seemed heavier, and the wagon slowed slightly.
Leona stared at Venti with wide eyes, waiting for an answer.
She had never seen her father look like that; he was no longer calm.
Arlan's knew what the Abyss was, and he didn't want to talk about it because of what it represented, but he took a deep breath before speaking in a voice deeper than usual.
Arlan's: "Listen, Venti... The Abyss isn't something to be spoken of lightly."
"And it's not something the people here like to talk about either."
Venti sat up a little, his migraine easing, but a lingering chill remained in his mind.
Anyone could have noticed that Arlan's was stressed; he spoke with difficulty, but he didn't stutter.
Arlan's continued:
Arlan's: "The Abyss... it's an ancient threat."
"Something that has existed for far longer than any nation, any city... or any adventurer."
"No one truly knows how it began, but everyone knows that where the Abyss appears, disasters follow."
He glanced briefly at Venti, as if to check if he could bear what was to come.
He then glanced at Leona, wondering if it was a good idea to discuss such matters with an eight-year-old, but ultimately decided to speak, concluding that his daughter had the right to know the truth.
Arlan's: "Years ago, the first accounts told of entire regions corrupted by a dark energy, an almost living cold."
"Monsters become more violent, the dead find no peace because their souls are bound."
"And sometimes, it is the humans themselves who end up… changing."
Leona shivered and moved closer to her father.
Venti felt a tingling in his hand, as if the very air itself were contracting around him.
The horse continued walking while Arlan's continued to explain the concept of the Abyss.
Arlan's: "It is also said…"
Arlan's added, lowering his voice slightly.
Arlan's: "That the Abyss has its own warriors."
"People who have renounced the light, or who have been consumed by darkness."
- Abyss Herald
- Abyss Lectors
- Or some other form, depending on the individual's original power.
Arlan's: "They resemble humanoid monsters... and they manipulate an energy that is anything but natural."
Venti felt nauseous.
It was exactly the blurry image he had seen in his migraine.
Arlan's continued, his jaw clenched:
Arlan's: "Actually, the Adventurers' Guild sometimes receives requests related to these phenomena."
"Always dangerous, never simple."
"We only send the best."
"The most experienced."
"Because the Abyss doesn't just destroy bodies..."
"It devours the mind as well."
FFFFFFFFFffffffffff
The wind around Venti stirred.
Leona, innocent, asked:
Venti: "And... and the adventurers?"
"Can they stop the Abyss?"
Arlan's remained silent for a moment before replying cautiously:
Arlan's: "Many others have fought them."
"Some claim to have repelled them."
"But no one can say if they have defeated it."
He retreated.
He dozed.
Arlan's: "But it always returns."
Venti then felt a strange tugging in his chest.
Venti: "Barbatos..."
"The Abyss..."
"Why did those words keep swirling around him like two sides of the same memory?"
Arlan's sighed and then spoke in a gentler voice:
Arlan's: "I'm sorry, Venti, I have no idea why you're having these visions."
"It's not something a boy your age should be talking about."
"But given your reaction… I thought you had a right to know."
Venti remained silent, his gaze lost in the road stretching out before them.
For deep inside, a profound instinct had just whispered:
Arlan's: "This isn't the first time you've heard that word…"
"And it won't be the last."
A few hours later:
As the hours passed, calm gradually returned to the wagon.
Leona, exhausted by all the emotions, had dozed off against her father's shoulder as he held the reins.
Arlan's held the reins with one hand, the other tenderly protecting his daughter, while Venti remained silent, lost in his thoughts, a mixture of hazy memories and unanswered questions.
The sun, meanwhile, was finally beginning its slow descent behind the wooded hills.
The sky was first tinged with orange, then pink, before turning purple.
The low-angled rays illuminated the branches, making them glow as if the entire forest were ablaze in a soft, warm light.
Venti looked up, contemplating the spectacle; it was his first sunset since waking up.
Venti: "It's... beautiful."
The evening breeze rose in turn, gliding gently over his skin like a familiar, almost reassuring caress.
It was a strange contrast to the unsettling weight of the word "Abyss."
Then, around a bend in the path, the forest thinned.
The trees parted.
And soon, the road widened.
Arlan's straightened his back, a slight smile on his lips.
Arlan's: "We're here."
Venti leaned slightly forward in the wagon to see.
In the distance, in a vast clearing surrounded by the imposing city beside the ocean.
Protected by high walls whose stones were tinged gold by the setting sun.
Sleek towers rose toward the sky.
Flags fluttered in the twilight breeze.
And a network of cobblestone streets wound its way between the houses and the massive buildings.
The city seemed alive, even from a distance:
You could make out the movement of the inhabitants, the passing of merchants, the sound of doors closing, and even a few laughs drifting into the sky.
Arlan's: "Rillmont."
Arlan's announced proudly.
Arlan's: "The largest city in the entire region."
"A center of commerce, culture… and also a place frequented by adventurers."
Venti felt his heart beat a little faster.
Venti: "Rillmont."
A vast, bustling city…
A place where he might find some answers.
Or at least, a starting point for understanding who he truly was.
Arlan's continued, his voice slightly weary but satisfied:
Arlan's: "We'll be there in a few minutes."
"Once inside, you can rest, eat something... and if you like, I can show you where the guild is."
The wind picked up slightly around Venti, as if it were vibrating with excitement, or perhaps premonition.
As they approached the large stone gates, lit by the torches the guards had just lit for the night, a strange feeling came over him.
A mixture of apprehension...
As if his true story, the one he had forgotten,
the one he had to rediscover, awaited him behind these walls.
Arlan's slowed the horses, then said in a calm voice:
Arlan's: "Welcome to Rillmont, Venti."
"The beginning of a new life... or perhaps a return to an old one."
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
As they approached Rillmont, Venti's gaze drifted out to sea.
A little further on, isolated in the ocean, stood a small, rocky island resembling a crescent moon.
Barely a fragment of land in the middle of the water, battered by the winds and tides.
Vegetation was almost entirely absent, save for a few wind-beaten blades of grass.
At the center of this island, like a forgotten relic, stood a large stone ring.
A massive, circular structure, resembling a gate without a door.
The ring leaned forward and bore engravings erased by time.
In places, the surface appeared polished, as if something or someone had once used it.
Several pieces were missing from the upper part, as if shattered by an ancient impact.
Venti leaned forward slightly to better discern the shape.
Venti: "It looks like… some kind of monument?"
He murmured.
As they walked along the coastal path, the island's silhouette continued to catch Venti's eye.
The more he studied it, the stranger the stone ring in the center seemed, almost too regular to be a simple abandoned ruin.
Venti: "Arlan's... that island over there."
"It looks like it has... a purpose, what exactly is it?"
Arlan's turned his head toward the ocean, narrowed his eyes, and then sighed like someone about to bring up something no one likes to talk about.
Thinking about it, he'd told a lot of stories today, between explaining the abyss to two people and now having to talk about this island.
Arlan: "This island... isn't an ordinary place."
"It's called..."
Spiral Abyss Island
Arlan's: "The ring you see in the center... that's a door."
"Not a door like the ones you know, an opening to a place called the Spiral Abyss."
Venti shivered slightly, without understanding why.
Venti: "Spiral Abyss?"
Arlan: "Yes."
"A place filled with anomalies, creatures no one understands, and energies that don't belong to this world, a kind of endless dungeon... or rather, a constantly changing labyrinth."
"Those who have returned say that the interior defies the laws of nature."
"Some levels appear and disappear, others are plunged into eternal night... and the deeper you go, the more dangerous it becomes."
Leona, sitting between them on the cart, looked up, intrigued.
Leona: "Dad... are there monsters in there?"
Arlan: "Monsters... and worse than that."
Arlan replied, his hands slightly tightening. reins of the chariot.
Arlan's: "Things that don't even have names."
Venti looked at the island again, this time with a mixture of curiosity and caution.
Venti: "And adventurers go there sometimes?"
Arlan's shook his head firmly.
At that moment, Venti understood that this island was anything but normal, because humans are known for going anywhere, and it was surprising to find a place where no one had gone.
Arlan's: "No, not even the guild veterans ever set foot there."
"Too dangerous."
"Too unpredictable."
"Some say it's a cursed place, others that the Abyss left its mark there."
"But the truth is... no one wants to die just to satisfy their curiosity."
There was silence.
Venti was surprised.
He already knew that no one went to that island, but he was even more tense upon hearing that no one went there willingly.
Only the wheels of the cart and the sound of the waves accompanied their thoughts.
Even though Venti had heard of the abyss, he had no idea of the danger it could represent because he had never encountered it.
According to his recollections.
Suddenly, a question crossed Venti's mind about why this place wasn't quarantined to prevent anyone from approaching it.
Venti: "Then why leave this place accessible?"
Venti asked.
Arlan's: "Because it can't be destroyed."
Arlan's replied.
Arlan's: "The ring is immune to explosions, magic, and steel."
Venti nodded slowly, unsure why a strange sensation tightened in his chest.
As if that name, those depths, were stirring something buried deep in his memory, an echo too distant to be grasped.
But he chose to say nothing.
The island receded behind them, but the presence of that mysterious ring hung in the air, like a promise… or a warning.
Venti looked at the island one last time before recalling the infamous word that still haunted his mind:
Venti: "The Abyss."
Chapter 6: The Threat of the Abyss
The End