Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1

He would not give into the ludicrous demands of this being! It was illogical and blatantly incompetent. How could he accept such properties on a person that wanted to be his superior? No, as long as he had a body or simply existed in whatever other form (because he probably wasn’t alive at the moment) he would not submit to such obviously false authority.

That was his reasoning behind his last stand against this supposed deity, but the flames of his righteous anger soon died down when the supernatural being responded to his arguments not with a humble apology, but instead with childish fury. Now he was going to be punished for his correct and logical assessment of the situation by being subjected to “struggle and hardship” as the bastard called it. What kind of “god” would do something like that? It was idiotic and completely unfair. He hadn’t even the opportunity to file a formal complaint!

Suddenly visions of darkness and snow assaulted his senses. Faces of people he had never seen before raced through his mind before everything culminated in the image of a giant hole in the ground. He had not a single second to process all of this however as his soul was ripped through time and space into infinity. And then everything went black.

∞•۞˂˃۞•∞

When he opened his eyes again nothing felt right. The room he awoke in felt far too big and he couldn’t move. He tried to call for help to free him of his unrightful imprisonment, but it only sounded like the cry of a toddler. What was going on? Did somebody play a sick joke on him?

Finally his pleas for assistance were answered in form of a giant of a woman coming over and smiling at him. Was this the land of giants? Was he a prisoner? Would the woman eat him? The answer was far more horrifying than he could have predicted.

“Ooohhh... Aren´t you just the cutest? Are you hungry my dear? Don´t worry, your big sister is here now. You will get something to eat very soon so that you can grow into a healthy and beautiful young woman.”

She petted his head.

“You´re so adorable... I cannot imagine why anyone would give you up. But maybe it was a gift from the heavens so that this poor sister here” she pointed at herself “could have a little sunshine in her life. Yes... That´s what I am going to call you from now on: Tanya Sunshine. Does that not just sound lovely?”

She petted his head again and left.

It took a solid minute for all the information to sink in. Then he nearly choked to death after the realization hit him with as much force as the train in the station had.

No, this couldn’t be happening. Being X that sick bastard had made him a child again! He hated children! They were so loud and dirty and undisciplined. Most of them could not even tell you the difference between gross- and net income! From the sounds of it he also wasn’t just any normal child, but an orphan! Why else would the woman call herself “sister” like that? Meaning that he had no money or influence. His life would be horrible! But this was nothing compared to the gravest of news: He was now apparently a girl!

For the first time in decades he allowed himself to cry.

∞•۞˂˃۞•∞

The term “hell” did not even begin to describe what he went through in the following years. Being fed and pampered for months were the most humiliating experiences of his life. On top of that he had to relearn how to speak, how to walk and so much more. All his countless hours of fitness training in his previous life down the drain!

He prided himself to be a very rational and efficient person that could overcome his struggles simply by hard work and logical decision making. Nonetheless took it nearly three years before he could accept the “situation” his body was in. After a certain period he could no longer deny his predicament and tried to actively think of himself as a girl. Self-acceptance was the only way to a happy and balanced life after all.

Unfortunately there was nothing else to distract Tanya from her philosophical struggles, because books were basically nonexistent and the other children at the orphanage were lousy conversationalists. None of them were able to understand her, even when she tried to speak as simple and trivial as she could. They soon avoided Tanya completely despite the efforts of the sisters for them to socialize. Not that she cared.

So it came to no surprise that she spent her time as much outside the orphanage as she could. Not an easy task when the outside world seemingly only consisted of half ruined buildings and a frozen wasteland where it even sometimes snowed during the summer. At least it improved her resistance to the harsh weather early on, which would hopefully help her become a productive member of this primitive society as soon as possible (even though frostbite hurt like crazy).

It was still better than to get misunderstood by oblivious caretakers or shunned by children twice her age who were too damn stupid to think about their future! Why would nobody understand that physical exercise and thorough studying was important for their career? Did all these fools think they would get anywhere in life just by lazing about and occasionally searching the garbage dumps?

From time to time one of the kids actually found something good in there, which would then be traded for other interesting findings. A scrap of barely edible food, a flickering flashlight or some clothes that were not totally ruined. More layers to protect against the biting winds were always a good thing after all. But nothing compared to the treasure one the children, whose name she had not bothered to find until now, unearthed from what she had dubbed “Pile number 7”. (Even though the conditions were terrible it was still her temporary work place and as such it needed to be organized.)

It was a book about an astounding place further south called “The Abyss”. Finally something interesting!

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

The book was indeed fascinating. Its illustrations and scientific descriptions were the first thing in this world that brought a true smile to her face. She had never been very interested in biology or geology, but she wasn’t going to be picky after years without any mental stimulation in the grey orphanage and the grey world beyond.

A problem only arose when the child who had found this literary wonder wasn’t going to share it. It always kept it close and let Tanya only look at it under strict supervision. Not that she would have done it differently. At least this little pest understood the value of knowledge unlike the rest of the bunch.

With only an hour or so per day to read she still managed to completely absorb the thick tome in a couple of weeks thanks to her skills acquired as a salaryman. Good concentration and the ability to grasp connections and complicated concepts quickly was all it took really.

Her perusal of the texts gave her nonetheless many headaches. Was this actually real? Could such fantastical creatures and plants really exist? And these artefacts... They were the most unbelievable part of the whole story. An egg that spread constant warmth; how was that even possible? Wouldn´t that violate the laws of thermodynamics? Or what about that crystal that could freeze any moment it depicted in time? That sounded remarkably like a smartphone on second thought.

Maybe it wasn’t magic as some presumed, but just extremely advanced technology that appeared incomprehensible to any unknowing spectators? Her own reincarnation was also something that could not be understood by conventional means at the moment, nonetheless had there to be a logical explanation for it. The universe was rational place after all. As long as she knew the rules that kept everything running than she would prevail. She was sure of it.

Aside from these musings and constant rereads of the book (there wasn’t anything else interesting around) she tried to build up her training routine. Not an uncomplicated thing to do when you had the body of a five year old girl, but the pain was worth it. Society ultimately didn’t need weak workers and it was important to be in the best condition and show one´s maximum potential in case any potential employers showed up.

And her efforts were being rewarded! One day the sisters herded them into the common room and made effort to clean them up. It would have warmed a lesser person´s heart to see how much care they took to make their dirty rags and faces look presentable, but Tanya was above such useless emotions. When she played her cards right she we soon be out here, so she hoped. She was the most promising worker out of the bunch after all; and then she would never see her caretakers or the rest of these brats again.

What a surprise it was when the impressively well-mannered man that came to visit them introduced himself as a white-whistle delver from the Abyss. Her accumulated knowledge was going to be put to use so soon! How wonderful. From his initial presentation she immediately had to commend his fine clothing and impeccable posture. His voice was smooth and he articulated himself very eloquently. All in all signs that showed his values of control and dignity. Both of which she very much could get behind.

The only strange thing was the mask he wore, but she could understand that. As a man in his position she also wouldn’t want to be seen in the presence of so many unwashed orphans. Now that he had showed himself to her, it was Tanya´s turn to impress him.

She smoothed out her shirt, stepped forward, straightened her back and clasped her hands behind her back while she looked up into the violet slit of mask with all the intensity she could muster.

“Mr. Bondrewd Sir, I would be overjoyed to accompany you back home, if you would have me.”

Now she to appeal to what she guessed his main desire was.

“It has been my dream for a long time to study the wonders of the Abyss and I am more than willing to aid you in your great quest of scientific discovery.”

To finish it off she just need to prove her specific worth for his business.

“I may be young, but I can read fluently, am able to calculate numbers in the millions with the use of multiplication, division, addition and subtraction and have already acquired a certain understanding of the inner working of the Abyss from a book we found. If you were to ask my caretakers they could certainly assure you that I am one of the brightest individuals in this whole institution. I would be happy to undergo an appropriate test on the matter to verify these claims, if you so wish.”

Last but not least came a thinly veiled plea to show her motivation to get the job done. As reinforcement of her message she bowed deeply while she spoke her next words.

“Please believe me Sir, when I say that I could not imagine a more exciting and fitting occupation than to learn under an esteemed white-whistle like you.”

Oh, she could imagine a thousand more comfortable jobs than that. Most of them behind a comfortable desk and with a cup of coffee never out of reach. Sadly this was the only one that would get her out of this hellhole of an orphanage.

“Hard work and harsh climates are no stranger to me and with your help I hope to achieve even greater potential.”

She stood straight again and tried to look relaxed and confident. A task which grew increasingly harder as she felt all looks in the room directed at her without a word being spoken. Had she said something wrong? Had she insulted the man by being too forward? Should she speak up again or continue the silence? What was happening?

Finally he picked up the conversation again.

“What is your name little one?”

Damn it! She had forgotten her name in the beginning! How amateurish! Now he would never take her in after such a stupid mistake.

“Tanya Sir. Tanya Degurechaff.”

Maybe she could regain some of his respect with the test she suggested.

“Tanya, I would be delighted to take you with me. You indeed are something very special.”

What? After this disaster would he still... She could not believe it.

“And this offer extends to everyone one of you. If you choose to come with me to my workplace I can promise you that I will take good care of you and that you will take part in events that will reshape our understanding of the Abyss as we know it.”

That sounded great! Finally a worthwhile career opportunity. Even the dumber kids seemed to get that.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

After the sisters had settled the exact legal specification of the deal (for what else could they have needed so much time in private) nearly all of the children agreed to accept Bondrewd´s offer. Tanya could only huff in annoyance at so much immediate competition for her own achievements, but deep down she knew that the fear of failure and the general competitiveness of the whole affair would push these little rapscallions finally to productiveness; and for that she simply had to be a little bit thankful.

The journey was unremarkable. At least for someone who had travelled long distances by boat or even airplane before, albeit in a previous life. That was of course many years ago, but Tanya still had not much of an eye for the crashing waves of the ocean. She used her time that the other kids spent gawking at the horizon to further her relations with the upper management, meaning the black-whistles that accompanied Bondrewd.

They called themselves the Umbra Hands and were generally nice, but somewhat distant, which she appreciated. That showed that they understood the importance of professional business relationships. All of them wore similar masks to Bondrewd himself even if no two masks were the same. Had they not had different patterns nobody would have been able to tell the difference between them, because they never took them off. Some of the kids speculated that they even slept with them on.

Bondrewd was also relatively unapproachable. He mostly remained under deck and minded his own business. When he spent time with the kids it always involved some sort of medical check-up or intelligence test. Naturally, Tanya excelled at all of them, but was unable to capitalize on her successes, because he seemed constantly busy. She could only marvel at what a responsible caretaker he was to always check on them even though he obviously worked so hard. He could have simply let his Umbra Hands perform the tests after all.

Before he could slip away again after one such test she managed to corner him enough to ask a few harmless questions.

“Mr. Bondrewd Sir, would you mind asking me a few questions?”

Not the most elegant of starts for a conversation, but she doubted he was a man that enjoyed to talk about the weather first.

“No; not at all my dear. What do you want to know?”

“I find myself with a lot of free time Sir and would appreciate it if I could use my resources to more effectively work towards fulfilling my tasks when we arrive. To do so I wondered if you could perhaps lend me a few of your works detailing the nature of the Abyss for further study. Do not worry, I have a good grasp on medical and scientific language and know the proper discipline when handling books of immense value.”

“If it is not too much to ask.” she hastily added

“I could indeed lend you some of my personal notebooks, but I am afraid you would not find much value in them. They are encrypted and can only be read if one uses certain methods that are private matter.”

Tanya gave her absolute best not to show her disappointment on her face when she said:
“I understand Sir. I apologize for bothering you.”

He crouched down to her level, which internally annoyed her to no end, and spoke with a tone that made it clear he was smiling behind his mask:
“Oh, you don´t need to apologize little one. But if you are really so interested then I have another preposition for you. I am not one to smother the thirst for knowledge in a girl as promising as you so how about this: You come to me every day two hours before nightfall and I read for you from some of my books. Does that sound appealing to you Tanya?”

 She did not even have to fake the beatific smile that spread across her face.

“Yes. I would like that very much.”

He ruffled her hair and walked away; seemingly disappearing in the shadows.

∞•۞˂˃۞•∞

When she came to his quarters that evening the guard outside let her pass without question, but luckily tried not to help her with the heavy door. She was already annoyed with her lacking height herself and tried to keep as much of her dignity intact as possible by not being reminded of it from others.

Inside everything was shrouded in darkness excluding a large desk stacked with strange instruments and mountains of paper which was illuminated sharply by a floating crystal. It was so dark in fact that she did not even notice the large hulking shadow of Bondrewd´s form standing right next to her until she spotted the violet reflection of his visor in a nearby jar full of unidentifiable body parts.

“There you are my dear. I was not completely sure if you would come.“

Only through years of rigorous self-control was she able to suppress a rather embarrassing shriek at the surprise.

“I am very thankful Sir that you are giving me some of your precious time. Of course I would not let such kindness go to waste.”

“That is very thoughtful of you.”

He hummed in delight.

“How have you been enjoying the journey so far? Surly seeing the whole wide world for the first time must be thrilling, no?

“Yes, it is quite astounding to watch the ocean stretch on and on until the horizon. But it loses its novelty somewhat quickly after a while. I am more excited for the famous Abyss I have been reading so much about.”

She hoped that had been the answer he had been looking for.

“Wonderful. Would you like me now to read for you?”

“Yes, please.”

“Then come here to the light and sit down please.”

He elegantly sat down at the desk and looked at her expectedly. (It was hard to tell how exactly he looked with the mask on, but she somehow felt his gaze.)

Was this some sort of test? What did he want her to do? Only now did she realize the precarious situation that she put herself in. She was utterly alone and far away from any witnesses in a dark chamber that she did not know the layout of. What if he... No! It was pointless to doubt her new guardian. She would have to trust her quasi-employer on this one.

What better way to prove her loyalty and devotion to his business than by acting as if they were close? Acting became often reality if you did it well enough. The biggest hurdle was to make it seem natural. So she stepped closer and slowly climbed onto his lap. To further her appearance of normalcy she looked up at his mask and smiled slightly. She hated this, but it was far from the first time that she had kissed up to a boss.

“Mm, I thought you would pick the pillow on the floor, but this is even better don´t you think?”

When she looked down there lay indeed a cushion right beside the chair. This revelation caused her to furiously blush in embarrassment. How had she misunderstood him so completely?

Bondrewd just laughed.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

He would read to her out of his notebook from this day onward. A thoroughly enjoyable experience compared to the dull conversations with her fellow orphans. His soothing voice combined with the mental stimulation of the discussed subjects made her eager to return to his chamber every evening. When she did Bondrewd somehow always knew when she was right outside his door and let her in without question. They would then spend hours discussing and debating all the theories and findings Bondrewd had made. Truly, an invigorating experience.

Even though she wanted to sit on the floor she knew that it would appear strange after her initial decision and would probably strain their relationship unnecessary. There was no helping it; she had to sit on his lap while he read to her when she wanted to make her act seem believable. It was kind of nice actually to see what exactly he was reading and comparing it to the surprisingly detailed illustrations on the page.

That and his comforting body warmth. Tanya would never admit that she secretly enjoyed the physical contact that the other children had denied her for years. Even if it was totally normal. Completely understandable for a kid of her age. Just a natural reaction of the body. Anything else would have been illogical and she was a logical being through and through. No other explanation possible.

Her opinion of Bondrewd rose steadily with every detail he explained. It must have taken him decades to get as proficient in observing and wielding the powers of the Abyss. Hard work and honest efforts were always appreciated by her. That was doubly true when these efforts were spent to better not only one´s own standing, but that of society at large.

Tanya just hoped that he wasn’t growing bored of her ignorant questions. To a man as knowledgeable as him her mental faculties must seem pitiful. She vowed to strive harder to impress him. Maybe in a few years a promotion would be in order and she was ready to earn it.

Then at the same time he never showed any signs of impatience with her. He truly was a wonderful human being: Diligent, polite, honest, intelligent and caring. What luck she had to land in his care. Her only wish would be to see his real face once in a while. Sometimes she wondered what was going on behind that ever present mask of his.

∞•۞˂Bondrewd´s point of view˃۞•∞

When Bondrewd had set out for Sereny he had expected to find a couple of half-starved kids that nobody would miss and whose disappearance could not be easily traced back to him. It was an annoying, but sadly necessary precaution. The world was simply not ready to accept the needed sacrifices his work demanded. Ironic, when some countries would wage a senseless war amongst each other that could cost tens of thousands their lives and the whole affair was called “justified”. How was this justifiable? As far as he was concerned their deaths had served no purpose.

He on the other hand worked only with an end goal in mind. Every tragic fate brought him one step forward and was appropriately valued. They were all his children and he loved and admired every single one of them. When they gave their life, their sanity, their very being for science then was that not “justified”? Alas, most people were not rational enough to understand the truth.

These children that he wanted to acquire in the frozen north appeared to be the ordinary, sweet, innocent creatures that he worked with for so long. All except for one. Tanya Degurechaff defied his every anticipation. He had been informed that she was not even six years old, which could have come as shock to him when one only considered her physical appearance. True, she was exceptionally fit, but very small for her age, likely due to malnutrition. But the way she spoke and held herself spoke of an age far beyond her biological one. Especially her eyes were not that of a naive and soft child, but that of a calculating and ruthless thinker. In a way she reminded Bondrewd of himself.

It was a first time experience for him when she approached him by herself and basically asked for a job like in a regular interview. Her abilities were astounding and would have made him honestly consider her offer if the circumstances had been different. She was perfect in every way. Eager, talented, smart and fit. He thanked the Abyss that day for gifting him this hidden jewel. Tanya was perhaps the one that would ultimately survive the curse of the 6^th layer and potentially lead humanity into a new era where the lower levels of the Abyss were finally accessible. It was common knowledge that the artefacts grew in power the deeper they were found after all. He shuddered to think what unimaginable wonders would be unearthed.

That opinion of her as the ideal candidate for his plans changed when Tanya revealed that she desperately wanted to learn more about the Abyss. He saw the same drive in drive in her that he had once possessed before he gave his body up. In that moment when she crawled into his lap like it was most normal thing in the world and beamed up at him with her angelic smile he could only see her as the daughter he never had.

He was a realist and knew that even if she was the ideal candidate for the procedure that did not automatically mean that it would succeed this time. The possibility was indeed rather high that she too would end up as a hollow. Tanya was too precious for that. Too valuable to lose so easily. He would have to find another one until the process was perfected. Until then he would teach her everything he knew; guide her and mould her into his successor to continue his work should he pass away one day.

The depths of her intellect were continuing to surprise him with every hour they spent together and only cemented his decision further. Sometimes she would ask questions he had never thought of before or even found connections that as far as knew nobody had ever made until now. How such a perfect creature ended up in an orphanage at the end of the world boggled the mind. Had he been a lesser man he would have tracked her parents down (if they were still alive) and would have sharply questioned them why they had abandoned such a living miracle.

Still, as much as he loved her and as much as he trusted her rationality she was still a child. He would have to protect her from the truth about his experiments as long as possible to not scare her of before she was ready. When he finally told her about his great work he would have to be extremely careful in order to make her properly understand the necessity of his actions. To do all that he would have to isolate her from the rest of the children what shouldn’t really be a problem considering what his Umbra Hands had told him about her general loneliness.

Now he would wait and eagerly study the development of his new favourite human.
- Cue Subarashii

Chapter Text

Chapter 5

Finally after two weeks of calm seas the ship arrived at Orth´s port. Tanya hoped that her silent agreement with Bondrewd would continue once they arrived. She knew she would otherwise dearly miss their little nightly discussions, not to mention that she would lose her number one opportunity to learn about the Abyss without having to actually explore it (which was invaluable).

All the other kids had shed most of their clothing many days ago to free themselves from the, in their opinion, extremely hot temperatures. Meanwhile Tanya, who spent most of her time under deck making notes on the paper Bondrewd had graciously provided her with, was still covered from head to toe. That was the only reason she didn’t immediately got sunburned when they stepped from board like many others.

Nonetheless were many of the children exited to experience what life down in the south was like, but sadly their dreams of an exotic cuisine and colourful landmarks were crushed right away. They had no chance of actually seeing anything of the city, because they were directly herded into a strange metal contraption that looked like copper pavilion or as some of the kids put it: A shiny onion.

This was apparently a vehicle that moved on rails which disappeared ominously into the ground. Bondrewd explained it existed to ease their trip down to the fifth layer, which as Tanya knew was over 12.000 meters below them. She was very thankful for not having to walk or climb all that. Especially after she had seen pictures of some of the more vicious predators that lived down there.

Unfortunately that meant that Bondrewd would be outside to guard them, which increased her respect of the man once again. He was willing to risk his life for their (and most importantly, her) protection, when he could be safely travelling inside the metal container under the pretext that he kept an eye on the children. Instead he heroically put his own wellbeing at peril for their protection. He truly cared for them it seemed.

No matter how nice the gesture was, he was still her employer and she could not risk losing the only lifeline she had in this world. So she went up to him while he watched the children enter the vehicle and gripped his hand to maximize the power of her massage. Physical contact like this served well to convey the urgency of the situation that she was experiencing and she hoped dearly that he wouldn’t think of her as rude for attempting something so intimate.

She looked up to the spot where she presumed his eyes to be and displayed openly all the sincere worry that she was feeling on her face.
“Bondrewd Sir, please be safe. After you showed me the dangers of the netherworld I cannot help but worry about your safety. Please do not overexert yourself and always stay near the others. Your life is too precious to be easily wasted through bad luck or ignorance. I know that you are one of the most experienced and capable delvers there is, but accidents can always happen. Let us meet again at Ido Front; healthy and in high spirits. Otherwise I would be... terribly lost without you.”

He just looked at her before he squatted down to be more at eye level with her comparatively tiny frame. Then instead of scolding her or telling her not to worry he did the unexpected: He hugged her briefly before also taking her other hand.

“I will do that my dear. I shall place the utmost importance on my life so that we can meet again. There is so much I want to show you and it is going to be wonderful. Thank you for placing your trust in me Tanya. I will not disappoint you.”

She smiled brightly. Why couldn’t she meet someone like this sooner? Her original parents had been weak fools; content with their position in life they had never strived to become better. Such small-minded weaklings had never been able to understand, let alone impress her. Bondrewd did both. In that moment of reminiscence she wished that he could have been her father, but such dreams were a waste of time... No, it was actually now possible. She was a child again, as much as she tried to ignore that. Maybe it was some suppressed part of her psyche that screamed for emotional validation, but for a heartbeat or two she couldn’t help but see at the Lord of Dawn in a new light. A fatherly one.

These irrational feelings were promptly squashed as her mind wrestled her heart into the usual chokehold again. She blushed as she thought about how stupid she was behaving. There was no way he looked at her like that anyway. She had not achieved anything yet and had provided her superior no real profit after all. If she wanted to reap the benefits that came with being part of a white-whistle´s family she needed to earn them.

Resolve shone brightly in her eyes as she nodded at Bondrewd before bowing and following the rest of the children into the carriage. It wouldn’t be seemly to waste anymore of her caretaker´s undoubtedly precious time after all.

Due to lack of sunlight or a clock of any form she was unsure how long their journey downwards actually lasted, but it certainly felt like days. The other orphans were constantly scared and anxious by the sometimes rough ride. Especially by the admittedly scary sounds of unidentifiable horrors that lurked outside.

One time the container was rocked by an explosion and came to a complete halt. No one dared to utter a single sound in the silence that followed and Tanya was loath to admit that even she feared for the worst. After the three most agonizing minutes of her life a knock was heard from the door and the journey resumed.

She spent the rest of the time going over her notes and memorizing them in detail or practicing some of her training moves. How knew that you could do sit-ups even in a swaying vehicle if you jam your legs between a few pipes. It was mildly uncomfortable, but it got the job done. She needed to be strong to survive.

When their metal prison actually stopped for good she rushed immediately to the door and stood at attention. She received weird looks for effort, but the opinions of those idiots did not faze her at all. With a loud the door swung open and she smiled up at Bondrewd waiting for her them.

“Do you see Tanya? I held my promise.”

The smirk in his voice was audible.

“Now come along my children. Your exiting journey comes to an end here.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

“Please be careful. If you climb more than ten meters you will be hit with the strains of ascension.”

These words definitely did not bode well, even though she already knew that. The curse of the Abyss was a most intriguing phenomenon that definitely required further study. Maybe she could ask Bondrewd if he had any material about the subject.

All of those thought were quickly pushed aside as she stared up in pure amazement at the gigantic beam of violet light that stretched sheer endlessly upwards. With a power that seemed as if the sun itself was striking down into the earth it stood as a testament of near unfathomable might against the surrounding darkness. Even in her last life full of skyscrapers and nation-wide electricity had she never seen anything comparable. If this was a man made structure then this was equal if not superior to all the world wonders from her old home planet.

“Home planet” was a weird thought. In all those years living here she had never processed was that meant other than that she needed to adapt to the new conditions presented to her. The implications indicated that the multiverse theory was correct or that humans had independently evolved on different planets than earth. Either of these possibilities was mind-blowing and she was the only one or one of few that knew the truth. She wasn’t sure if that bastard Being X wasn’t messing with other people’s life too. If so than her sympathies were going out to them.

These damn existential questions and the breathtaking view had distracted her again and she had missed how all kids except her had been taken elsewhere by Bondrewd. She nearly panicked before she realized that this must have been intentional. A man as perceptive as Bondrewd would not have overlooked a single child missing. She was sure of it. So she waited were she was and simply stared up at the gigantic pillar of light. It would have been a bad idea to wander off into unknown corridors anyway.

“Magnificent isn’t it?” suddenly asked the familiar voice of Bondrewd from behind.

How was he so quiet? Without turning around she just nodded.

“Is it a natural phenomenon or is it artificial?” Tanya enquired calmly. She had a feeling that Bondrewd was in a talkative mood and she wanted to use that to its fullest.

“We are not exactly sure of it either, but most evidence indicates the origin to be of design rather than of chance.”

“How old is it?”

“That is also rather hard to determine. At minimum six thousand years.”

What a shame. Tanya firmly believed that the collective potential of humanity was near infinite as depicted by this marvel in front of her. Nonetheless had it never had the chance to actually show itself, because ignorance and arrogance always kept getting in the way of progress. The thought that technology like this had existed at least since six thousand years ago and could still not be replicated was extremely depressing. Had mankind really fallen so far from the ladder of scientific advancement that they had basically regressed to cave men?

“Do you have any idea what could have caused society to forget the workings of something like this?”

“Nothing concrete, but we have some possible evidence that I can show you after you visited your room.”

That confused her slightly. She turned around and smiled up at his glowing mask in the darkness.

“And if I may be so bold Sir, but why do I get a separate room from the rest?”

“Do not worry my dear. Come along and I will explain.”

They walked away from the purple beacon through a maze of identical brown and grey corridors. Despite the obviously gigantic size of the place everything was so clean as if it had just been built, while at the same time nothing in the constructions seemed wasted. If this was Bondrewd´s tidiness standard then she very much approved of his workplace conditions. She could say from experience that an orderly environment was pivotal for an equally orderly workflow.

“You have your separate room, because I believe the treatment that the others will be getting would be wasted on you. I hope you don’t mind if your chamber is near my own instead of your little friends.”

“No Sir. I do not mind.”

That sounded rather wonderful if she was honest. Should she tell him the truth about her dislike of the other children?

“If you have any close friends among your peers you should maybe say goodbye to them tomorrow. Some of them will not remain here for long.”

Ah, workforce distribution. He probably sent them to specialized education facilities in order to more appropriately train their individual strengths. How thoughtful of him.

“Thank you Sir, but I am not attached to my peers in any way. We just share the mutual respect of those unlucky enough to be abandoned by society. Seeing as this is hopefully the beginning of a new chapter in my life I have no intention of seeing them again.”

“Wonderful. Then there shouldn’t be a problem.”

They both continued in comfortable silence until they arrived at another nondescript door. On their way here they must have passed dozens of them. It was disorienting to say the least. Bondrewd turned the doorknob that was barely within her reach and led her into the dark room. He pressed large button next to the entry and the chamber slowly lit up. What she saw came as close to heaven as her beliefs allowed it.

A large writing desk stacked with paper and writing utensils took up the majority of the space. Besides it stood a normal cabinet, a wardrobe and two chairs. The corner of the room was occupied by large bed that looked more comfortable at the moment than it had any right to be. To others it might have looked boring or minimalistic, but to her it was just perfect. Especially after having next to no private space of her own in the orphanage.

“Thank you kindly Bondrewd Sir. You are most gracious.”

“Not that I do not appreciate the curtesy, but there is no need for you call me Sir all the time Tanya. Bondrewd will suffice completely.”

She wanted to protest that proper title recognition was important part in upholding a hierarchal business structure, but shut her mouth when she remembered that it had been a more or less direct order from her superior. If he wanted a more relaxed relationship who was she to object?

“Very well Bondrewd.”

“Make yourself at home. One of my Hands will bring you supper shortly.”

He closed the door behind him and she immediately went over to the bed and sat down. With a smidge of annoyance she noticed that her short child-legs were already tired from the walk. She couldn’t wait to grow up into a more reasonable size. Being a child was so annoying!

But everything was taking a turn for the better. What luck she had! She couldn’t wait to finally get to do real, comfortable work again.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7

When she had thought of work, she had meant paper work. Kind of like in her last life. Sitting in a climate controlled (or at least moderately warm) room behind a desk and managing orders, requests and the like. Well, what she was doing right now wasn’t too bad either, but after her awful childhood thus far she had hoped to finally not get her fingers dirty on filth for a while. How had it come to this?

At first she had barely left the room that Bondrewd had given her. Why would she? After he had gifted her a few of the more popular works about the Abyss and its many oddities, Tanya´s days (and nights) had been occupied with absorbing as much knowledge as possible. If he though it would be necessary to permanently equip her with specialist literature then that must mean her demonstrated understanding had proven quite lacking, right? For this reason she made sure to study extra hard to not further disappoint him.

It had been exhausting, but nonetheless satisfying to feel how her knowledge grew with each passing day, but this blissful time of study came to an end when Bondrewd approached her with new instructions. An untouched and promising dig-site had been discovered not too far from Ido Front. Apparently a shallow pit of water had recently dried up and exposed the remains of another delver party that had found its end on the shores of the Sea of Corpses.

The biggest finds had already been recovered, but a lot of the smaller stuff had been buried in the ground and needed to be carefully extracted. Bondrewd wanted her to help with that even though she had been here for barely a week. Sure, he framed it like a voluntary event, but she knew better than to refuse her superior. Rejection would have made her seem ungrateful and she didn’t want that.

He explained that it would serve her well to practically apply her understanding of the Abyss. Collecting experience through her own discovery would deepen her skills more than any theoretical treatise ever could. And the worst part was that she couldn’t even disagree with his reasoning. It was a good idea. It was the whole reason why internships existed in the first place.

She was nonetheless not eager to sit in wet sand all day and simultaneously expose herself to cold winds, natural predators or whatever else decided to ruin her day out there. Still, it needed to be done. And if she had to play archaeologist for a few days then she would do her best possible job at doing so.

So here she was, sifting through mud and sand and systematically digging small holes in a checkerboard pattern. It was as monotonous and unfulfilling as one would imagine, considering that most of what was unearthed barely classified as a relic.

Broken, crystalline shards or unnaturally smooth, red pyramids were among the most common findings in the mud, but from time to time she also uncovered weirder looking ones. For example a big piece of shimmering, black silk that did not get dirty or wet now matter what she tried. She immediately thought about how well this material could be used to make the perfect jacket. (Though considering her size a full on coat would probably use the cloth better.)

Any dry clothing would be welcome. The Sea of Corpses was a cold and damp place. From time to time bone-chilling winds brought thick clouds of fog with them that could disorient any inexperienced wanderers caught in their wake. The moisture in the air would moreover make anything wet and if one was not careful then they would soon catch a terrible cold. At least light was provided by the purple beacon of Ido Front a few kilometres away. Without it one would be barely able to see anything at all, because the tiny scraps of light that got reflected from the surface down here were seemingly absorbed by the black waves of the abyssal sea.

The macabre beauty of this deathly silent world complemented Tanya´s next findings well. Underneath a rotten piece of linen lay a small pile of grey bones. They looked humanoid enough to come from a child. Carefully she lifted the remains of the ancient delver up and into the wooden cart that would transport them back to the laboratory. When she looked down again her eyes caught the glint of something shiny in the mud below the burial site.

She examined it closely before dutifully making a note on her self-made clipboard about it. Nobody had directly commented on her invention, but she would swear that she could feel the questioning looks of bewilderment from behind their masks as she introduced her clipboard to the other Umbra Hands.

Wasn´t it obvious that cataloguing relics when they were first found was the best way to avoid confusion later or even prevent artefacts from getting lost along the way back home? It was unbelievable that not every delver used one. She had awaited more professionalism from black-whistles.

The object she was currently classifying was approximately palm-sized and felt cool to the touch. It was a colourful, intricately designed disk with an organic swirling pattern twisting around its centre. A section that looked like a cross stuck out to the side. An odd sensation overcame her when she looked at it. Like it belonged to her. A holy, pure part of her that was somehow cut up from the rest and trapped inside that amulet. It even glowed a little bit if she held it tight, as if it wanted to be close to her.

Unblinking and unthinking Tanya´s hand rose to her face until she was directly staring into the swirling depths of the relic. It was so beautiful! Her mind felt like it had been cleansed of all imperfections and negative thoughts. She wanted – no, she needed it to be closer. And closer. And closer. Until she was clutching it with both her hands above heart.

Had she been lucid enough, she would have noticed the intensifying glow of the artefact. Bright golden rays of light were shining through her fingers and the air around her appeared to charge up with electricity.

But none of that would have mattered to her anyway as  she suddenly felt a sharp pain at her sternum and she cried out in agony. Searing, scorching pain flooded her body and left her unable to think. She fell on her back and wailed and convulsed in anguish. Never before had she felt this helpless and wrong as every cell in her body seemed to burn in hellfire at the same time.

And then everything went black.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8

Her senses returned slowly to her. First came hearing, than touch and at last she opened her eyes to find out that she lay on an operation table in the middle of a dimly lit room. Her clothes had been removed and she was only covered by a thin blanket. What happened?

She recalled how she was digging... and then she found another artefact... and it began to glow... and it had been incredibly beautiful... and–

“What the hell!” she screamed.

Had she been possessed by that thing? Now she remembered the burning pain that had filled her whole body. Even now she shuddered just thinking about it. Was she injured? A quick check of her limbs revealed no obvious change.

At least she now knew why she was in a medical facility. The other two Umbra Hands who had accompanied her must have transported her back on the cart. Or one of them had just carried her. She was certainly light enough due to age and malnutrition.

Good. Everything was fine. Hopefully. If she hadn’t been possessed by an ancient amulet or whatever.

Where was the damned thing? She would ask Bondrewd. It was her only lead and main evidence on what had happened to her. Analyzing it might reveal something useful. It had been the ninety-fifth artefact she had found on the expedition. A small, cynic part of her was amused about the fact that she hadn’t even made it to one hundred before injuring herself. How pathetic.

Hopefully Bondrewd would not interpret this incident as a failure on her part. Workplace accidents did happen after all.

∞•۞˂Bondrewd´s point of view˃۞•∞

It was his fault! Why had he agreed to this expedition? He had just mentioned the possibility to see how she would react and Tanya had eagerly agreed right away. She had repeatedly empathized how much of an honour it was to be trusted with such responsibility. Had she perhaps misunderstood him?

Nonetheless, he should have known better than to send a five-year old into the fifth layer. And now his beautiful, amazing, talented little Tanya had been injured by a mysterious relic, the likes of which had never been seen before.

Luckily her body seemed perfectly healthy, but her mind could be another matter entirely. If her astonishing intellect had been damaged then that would be a huge loss. A setback to his plans that could not be mended soon. Or ever if he was perfectly honest with himself.

Then there was the problematic question of what the odd amulet had actually done. From what he heard through his Hands it must have been extraordinarily painful. Some idle fraction of his shared consciousness wondered if it was as painful as the curse of the sixth layer.

In case that she had woken up by now he should check up on her. Did she already know what happened to her? The only visible change the relic had caused had been, quite literally, irreversible. He hoped she would adapt soon.

∞•۞˂˃۞•∞

Tanya was feeling thirsty. She went on to idly massage her parched throat when she suddenly paused mid motion. What was that feeling? There where normally smooth skin stretched over tendons and bones was something different...

Hastily she rushed over to a table with a small mirror on it. With dread pooling in her gut she looked at herself and gasped. That artefact... it had fused to her skin. Bright golden veins were radiating out from it and spread like a glowing web underneath her skin. In panic she tried to pull it off, but she was as successful as if she had tried to remove a finger with her bare hands. The relic stuck stubbornly to her skin like it had been a part of her all along.

She forced herself to calm down. Panicking now would bring her nowhere. Was that thing actively harming her? Not that she could feel it. Did it hurt? Also no. All in all it didn’t seem too terrible. If she wore a scarf than she could cover it up quite easily in fact.

Her breathing slowed and she turned around only to be greeted with Bondrewd´s signature glowing mask in the corner. How was he always so damn silent? Had he been here the whole time? And the realization hit her that she was completely naked at the moment. Her blanket lay still on the table and her clothe were nowhere in sight.

With a yelp of embarrassment she covered herself with her hands before awkwardly sprinting to the table with her blanket on it. Bondrewd was nice enough to not comment on that shameful accident and waited until she had wrapped herself in the cloth before he softly spoke:

“Are you ready to talk about what happened my dear? It would help me understand your accident a lot better if I could hear the story from your perspective.”

She nodded.

“But, ehm, can I have my clothes back before that?”

“Of course my dear. They are in your chamber.”

Without any warning he picked her up and pressed her to his amazingly warm chest. It was highly comfortable and extremely embarrassing at the same time. Especially so considering she was only wearing a blanket. All she could do was hide her face to not show how flustered she was by this intimacy. The reason for his action became clear as they arrived probably twice as fast at her room as she could have done on her own. Short legs were the worst!

He let her in alone and waited for her to open the door from the other side. When Tanya could look at him without developing a slight blush she began to recount everything that happened in great detail. Bondrewd on his part remained utterly silent and just nodded his head from time to time to show that he was listening. It was hard to interpret his facial expression when he lacked a visible face, but he seemed deep in thought.

“So it resonated with you. How interesting.”

“Can it be removed? The artefact I mean.”

“No. I tried already. It appears as if it has perfectly fused to your flesh and the bone beneath. It also has somehow managed to connect to your nervous system so even if I could remove it, it would cause irreparable damage.”

“Do you know what it is or what it does?”

“In all my years as a delver have I never seen something like this, little one. But I am positive that it indeed has a function. It is too complicated to be a parasite and has shown no sign of doing anything as of yet which means that it has likely not been activated yet. How you do that is sadly unknown to me. We will test it tomorrow. ”

Perhaps it was like a first or second grade artefact if she was lucky. Maybe it could give her super-strength or make her invisible or teleport her... Powerful artefacts had often drawbacks and hers had a pretty huge one. She couldn’t take it off. She hoped whatever she got in return would be worth it. Optimism mostly led to failure and disappointment, but she would not change her situation by imagining all the horrible things that could come from the piece of cursed jewellery at her chest. Looking at the bright side was the only way forward.

“For now rest well my dear. It is going to be a long day tomorrow.”

And even though she had woken just an hour ago she fell into her bed like a stone.

Chapter Text

Chapter 9

Nothing worked! Absolutely nothing. She tried to concentrate on the artefact with everything she had; she rubbed it, called out to it. She even cut her hand and bled a few drops of blood onto the useless thing, but it was all in vain.

Bondrewd all the while just watched in silence. It was so humiliating how she repeatedly failed in front of him and he just stared her down. She really tried her best, but that was obviously not enough.

“You did good Tanya. If all your efforts could not activate it then we will have to wait and see if the right moment will trigger it. Some mysteries are not easily understood, much less predicted. Now let us get back inside.”

They were just outside the gates of Ido Front to not damage anything should the abilities her relic bestowed her with prove to be unexpectedly destructive. It had seemed like a smart decision until she heard a faint rumbling noise above her.

She looked up and saw something moving in the darkness. A part of the crystallized cave ceiling had loosened and was in the process of falling down. This was a remarkably uncommon phenomenon in the Abyss. Normally the walls and ceilings in here were unnaturally stable, to the point that it was believed to be part of the curse of the Abyss.

But from time to time it did happen after all. Corsen the Untamed had allegedly lost his life that way in the third layer. Now dozens of tons of rock were directly hurtling towards her. And she knew she would not be fast enough to get away.

Shock and disappointment about her unavoidable demise kept her legs stuck in place even as Bondrewd screamed for her to run.

And then... Time stopped. Literally. At first she didn’t realize it, but then she noticed the absence of sound and saw that the stones above her had stopped falling. What was that? Then the ice-cold recognition hit her. Being X was here.

“Hello there, my lost lamb.”

She knew that horrible voice. The cacophony of a thousand men, women and children speaking in unison was unforgettable. And she hated it more than anything else in the world.

“You fucking bastard! Go play your sick games with someone else!”

“No need to be so unpleasant, my child. I mean no harm. Quite the opposite in fact.”

The voices all sounded unbearably smug.

“What do you want?” she snarled.

“I saw that you were in a pretty precarious situation and I want to help you.”

Tanya huffed. As if!

“How? What do you want in return?”

“I will gift you with incredible power from the device above your heart to use at your leisure. All you have to do is praise my name and you shall receive wonders beyond your imagination.”

She remembered that attitude: Pompous, arrogant and amazingly stupid.

“I will never worship you.” she spat out in defiance.

“We will see about that, my lost little lamb. In my unending kindness I will also gift you with a few precious seconds. Use them well.”

Although visibly nothing had changed, she instantly felt the absence of its presence. Now she knew that her finding the amulet in the sand had probably been no accident. That bastard had manipulated her and now wanted her to pray for him.

Just thinking about it brought honey-sweet words of worship to her tongue and she cringed in disgust. Nonetheless was it a necessary humiliation. She had no time for despair and no choice if she wanted to live.

“Almighty one,” she intoned. The phrase came naturally to her and she let it flow from her mouth like syrupy venom. Golden energy radiated out from her artefact.

“Glory onto your name,” she continued and her lips twisted into a joyful smile against her will.

“For you have delivered us from the darkness.” Her hand raised like it was pulled by invisible strings.

“Bless us lowly creatures with your holy light” The golden veins in her chest pulsed and the palm of hand began to glow in blinding white light.

“To prove that none can hide from your judgement.” she ended the incantation. The flow of time resumed to normal and a lance pure blistering power shot out of her hand into the air above them.

So overwhelmingly hot was the blast that air around it seemed to boil. A shockwave of scorching winds blasted around her and pushed everything except her away from the epicentre of the inferno. When the beam of white burning energy hit the falling rocks it did not only melt them, it evaporated them into nothing. The beacon of light punched through the debris like a sword through butter and continued its burning path to the ceiling.

After five long seconds, which felt like an eternity to her, the flow of power stopped and the spear of pure devastation disappeared into her palm. Looking up revealed a red glowing circle at the cave ceiling kilometres above them. Thinking quickly in spite of her shock she ran away from the place she was standing before molten rock dropped onto the sand with a loud hissing noise.

Bondrewd had somehow remained standing even if he was bracing himself against the scorching gusts of wind.

“How very interesting.” was all he had to say.

Tanya wavered slightly on her legs and was promptly caught by Bondrewd before she could fall to the ground. All these raging emotions tired a five year old out quickly it seemed. She fell asleep in his arms.

Chapter Text

Chapter 10

Tanya dreamed about endlessly falling through her torn up sky. Golden fissures ran through the blue firmament and expanded into gigantic cracks that threatened to swallow everything whole. And in the background she heard someone laughing. It was an ugly, spiteful laugh and it seemed so familiar, but she just couldn’t remember to whom it belonged. The only thing she knew was that she hated it with a passion. Her whole body burned with a desire for revenge and bloodshed and she didn’t even know why. Until she was too angry to care.

∞•۞˂Bondrewd´s point of view˃۞•∞

How peculiar. Not only was the girl blessed with an incredible intellect and a burning drive for learning, but she had also instinctively bonded with an unbelievably powerful artefact. Raw power in such quantities was rarely useful, but who knew what else the thing could do. Maybe there was a way to regulate the energy output, but that could wait.

His precious Tanya needed her rest. Wasn´t it cute how her face crunched up in her sleep and her little fist tightened around his coat? He had to be extra careful with her, because sometimes he forgot the limits of ordinary mortals. Especially children were fragile things and he could not risk straining her further.

There was just one detail that wouldn’t let him rest. He believed to have heard her say something before the relic activated. Had it been an activation sequence that the amulet had whispered to Tanya in her hour of need? Was it required for the object to work?

Now that he thought about it, the artefact would need a name. That had been unnecessary before, because they hadn’t know its actual function, but now he required one for his notes. How about... “Starflare Amulet”? Good enough. He would ask his extraordinary girl when she awoke about how she liked it.

He idly wondered what the world would think of Tanya when she returned to surface once again. Would they see her talent or would they mistake her for an ordinary child?

∞•۞˂Excerpt from the book “Heroes of the Abyss – The bravest explorers in the world”˃۞•∞

Tanya the Unyielding is one of the netherworld´s greatest collectors of knowledge and like all white whistles is shrouded in mystery. It is commonly known that she entered the Abyss as a five year old in the care of Bondrewd the Novel. He took her like many other children down to the fifth level where he undoubtedly planned for her to be used in one of his countless experiments. (For more information go to page 384) Though for some reason she managed to escape this grizzly fate. Speculations say that she possibly impressed him with her staggering intellect that she allegedly displayed even in her early years.

Under his care young Tanya was able to study the many wonders of the netherworld in detail and racked up a profound understanding of her surroundings. Unlike with the many aspiring delvers from Orth she had not to work her way down, but up! How she managed to earn her white whistle is unknown to us, but it was surly well earned when Tanya set with twelve years finally foot on the surface world again.

At this point in time she had already collected an arsenal of exotic and never before seen artefacts which let her overpower even the fiercest beasts with ease. Strangest among them all however was a golden amulet which she wore around her neck just above the heart. No direct descriptions exist as she always covered it up and kept extreme secrecy about its exact nature, but when used it was impossible to miss.

Apparently when she prayed to god the relic on her chest would begin to glow with a blinding light that even multiple layers of clothing could not obscure. The power she harnessed is said to rival many of the greatest special grade artefacts which led to its classification as such. Because this particular relic never went to an auction it has no official name, but it is commonly known as the “Sunspitter Doom”.

Her many achievements at an age in which most delvers are still not even red whistles are doubly impressive considering that she tended to travel alone. Many claim this was done to protect her many secrets. It is theorized that she possesses a artefact that lets her ignore the effects of the curse at least temporarily, since she has been reported to somehow fly small distances which would be incredible dangerous otherwise. This odd ability earned her also the title of the “Fairy of the Deep”.

Tanya the Unyielding is also currently the only known person to return from the 6^th layer alive and unchanged in any visible way (For more information go to page 392) which strengthens this speculation.

About her personality exist many differing statements. She is described to be incredibly punctual and polite in business meetings and harsh and unforgiving to all who make even the slightest mistake. Mercy and lightheartedness are allegedly foreign words to her. Insolence or laziness is not tolerated by her in any manner.

Some delvers who teamed up with her for short amounts of time told us even that they felt outright threatened by her should they not adhere to her high standards of order and work etiquette.

Erich Gureren had the following to say: “Once she finally takes that bloody mask off then most people would assume she´s a cute, little girl, but she is not, I tell you! She is more like a (...) monster! A monster in the skin of a little girl!”

On the other hand many people claim that underneath the rough exterior a heart full of compassion and love for her fellow children hides. Three of Orth´s orphanages stated to have received large donations from her to “further the education and proper training of the scientific youth”.

Dozens of other delvers have also reported to have been saved by the Fairy of the Deep in times of great need. Tanya supposedly demanded neither thanks nor compensation, but just insisted that the delver should “take more care next time”.

Regardless if all of that is true, the fact remains: Tanya the Unyielding is not only the youngest white whistle ever, but also one of the strangest.

List of her notable achievements:

• ...

Chapter Text

Chapter 11

Waking up from losing consciousness again really sucked. When the memories came flooding back she couldn’t help but let out a cry of rage. Being X had tricked her! Manipulated her! Violated her! She felt so vulnerable right now that she wanted nothing more than to cut out that cursed piece of shit above her heart with a knife. Consequences be damned! But she managed to suppress that urge for now.

How dare he use her like that? Didn´t defeat that the whole purpose of his sick experiment? The hypocrite wanted her to accept him as her god by her own free will, but denied her exactly that in the next best moment! How stupid was that bastard? This alone was proof enough that he was not god and could never be.

In that moment she swore eternal vengeance against the false god. She would find a way to defeat him! Even if it took her a million years to do, she would somehow manage to get her fingers on that arrogant ass and then she would rip him to pieces! She would make him suffer!

Her whole mind screamed for his blood. She wanted nothing more than to see him in pain, quivering beneath her in unbearable agony until she stomped on his head and ended his miserable existence for good! AAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhh!

Another scream tore free from her throat and she pounded on her wall to relieve the burning hatred she was experiencing. She wasn’t even registering the tears that began running down her face.

∞•۞˂Bondrewd´s point of view˃۞•∞

He was proud of his children. First the adorable Nanachi and the equally sweet Mitty had worked so well together and had both survived the curse of the sixth layer and now they had used the distraction from Tanya´s recent escapades to escape. How intelligent they were! So full of hopes and desires! It was inspiring really to see how much his children cared for each other. His many hearts filled with joy.

Wherever they both went he wished them well. He would not stop them, because they both had earned their right for a self-determined life. Especially after they had helped him so dutifully with his great work. He hoped sincerely that the many curses and blessings of the Abyss may befall them.

His pleasurable thoughts were interrupted by a scream from Tanya´s chamber. Worry and a extremely rare dose of fear flooded his mind as he made haste to her room. Another scream tore through the silence. What had happened? Was she hurt? Was the artefact hurting her?

He burst through her door without bothering to knock as he usually did and found her crying on her bed. That was it! He would never leave her alone for more than one minute ever again. Who knew what would happen to her if she had to deal with the clearly too powerful relic on her own again?

His hands gently scooped her frail body up to comfort her and he began to rock the girl back and forth. One of his hands reached up as if by itself and petted her head while he hummed a soothing melody into her ear.

“There, there. I am here. Does it hurt my child?”

She just shook her head, her gaze unseeing.

“Everything is all right. Whatever troubles you let me help you relieve that burden. I am here for you and I will always be.”

She seemed like such an emotionally distant child. Always isolating herself and trying to prove her worth through hard work and politeness. That were brilliant qualities to have, but he now saw behind the facade. At her innermost core his dear, precious, wonderful Tanya was afraid of the world! She thought that she was not good enough and maybe even that she had to earn his love with struggle and perseverance. How wrong she was! His love for her was unconditionally! As long as she continued to be her amazing self he would always love her and she needed to know that.

“My darling Tanya you must not fear. I love you. Do you hear me? I love you as if you were my own daughter. Nothing can separate us now. Whenever you need me I will be there. Do you understand my dear?”

∞•۞˂Tanya´s point of view˃۞•∞

What? Her mind went blank. What did he say? Did he just say that he... loved her? What was that sudden feeling in her chest? Was she sick? No it didn’t feel like an upset stomach. It was pleasant instead. Could it be joy perhaps? No, joy was too small of a word to describe what she was feeling right now.

It was pure ecstasy! Her standing in the world was finally secured! She no longer needed to fear for her future, because she had won the love of the most powerful man in the whole Abyss. And the Abyss controlled the world! Everybody knew that. The discovery of one extraordinary artefact could shift the balance between nations after all. She was now the daughter of possibly the most powerful man on the planet! Her comfortable life was set!

She couldn’t help but laugh in delight. A beautiful sound even to her own ears considering that she had never heard it before. There had been not much to laugh at in the orphanage and she didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of Bondrewd by letting her emotions loose.

Her small hands reached up to his mask and cupped his chin in gratefulness. This was the reward for her hard work and her years of suffering. Maybe the rest of her childhood wouldn’t be so bad. Then she could possibly convince Bondrewd to stay at his company and run business for him. Nobody would dare to replace her in her position as the adoptive daughter of the boss. Nepotism was sometimes truly wonderful.

“Thank you father.”

The last part had been a subconscious accident! She had though so intensely about what advantages being a daughter-figure to him would bring her that she had slipped up. Damn it! How could she salvage the situation before it became too embarrassing for all participants?

“I- I meant thank you f- for wanting to being like a father to me. I didn’t mean to insinuate...”

“Shush my darling. You don’t have to hide from me. If there is person in this world that you can be honest to then let it be me.”

“Ah- I- I appreciate the gesture. Of course I trust you it´s just sometimes hard to, ehm, to...”

Oh no! She was stuttering! That hadn’t happened since she went to college. Where was her dignity? Was this Being X´s ploy to driver insane with shame?

“I understand little one.”

He hugged her tightly and she resigned herself to this fate. She had messed up and now she would have roll with the punches and make the best of this situation.

“I will not disappoint you.”

“You never have.” he said and Tanya relaxed in his arms.

Chapter Text

Chapter 12

Wonderfully uneventful days of silent comfort stretched into seven months. Or at least she believed it had been seven month. Time was hard to tell if it was always dark outside. Bondrewd stayed close to her side by whatever she did and Tanya honestly couldn’t blame him. Being X could try to mess with her at any moment. It was nice to be able to fully trust someone and his reliable closeness was very soothing. He was always patient with her and showed her his many tomes of knowledge eagerly.

With his help she learned how to dissect the various sea creatures that lived in the surrounding lakes and even how to make basic medicine out of plants from the Abyss. The warmth that his care brought to her heart pushed the dooming thoughts of the cursed artefact to the back of her mind. She almost forgot the thing when she spent her time solely with her favourite activities: Reading and watching Bondrewd at his work.

Those happy months seemingly flew by and Tanya slowly felt as safe as before the “Starflare Amulet” (as Bondrewd called it) had ruined her life.

She was just coming from the restroom after trying to wash her face clean from getting ink on it after her pen had spontaneously exploded when a weird scent entered her nose. It was heavy and metallic and it smelled vaguely familiar. She followed its trail around a corner and froze in place. Blood. It was blood. And a lot of it. The whole floor was covered in a thin shimmering layer of shining black blood. What was going on? Her breathing that had temporarily stopped began to quicken and her heart thumped loudly in her chest.

Slowly, very slowly her eyes drifted over to the wall and she involuntarily gasped. One of Bondrewd´s Umbra Hands lay there with his head completely smashed into a bloody pulp. The broken, twisted mess that had once been his face once was so horrific to look at that she had to retch.

What could have done something like this? Was it an accident? She pried her eyes away from the disfigured corpse and looked around only to find nothing that could have caused a wound like this. There were no signs of structural damage to the walls and no explosion marks. The only other option was...
murder.

Tanya shuddered. There was something or someone in here that had caused this and judging from the still pooling blood on the floor it had to be nearby. Her mind began to wind up to its usual speed and she quickly assed all options.

An animal was unlikely. To get into Ido Fort required intelligence and skill that no ordinary creature of the Abyss possessed. The few that possibly did were extremely territorial and would never come down here. Stingerheads were also out of the question, because the body had not been liquefied by their signature poison. In general there was a remarkable absence of bite-marks or scratches that would normally indicate an attempt to feast on the hunted prey.

Another possibility was that the feat had been done by a human. Straight up homicide. That was even worse, because humans were far harder to distract or lure away. That meant possibly more danger for her. She needed to inform father Bondrewd of this. He would know a solution.

As quietly as she could manage she turned around and sneaked back the corridor towards the laboratory they often used together.

To her surprise the door was already open what was unnerving, because Bondrewd made a point to always close doors behind him when he worked. An understandable habit considering that a man as important and knowledgeable as her Bondrewd had many secrets to hide.

She did not recognize the gruff and angry voice that came from inside which made peek through the opening with caution. There stood somebody she did not know and pointed some sort of weapon that looked like a mixture between a gun and a crossbow at Bondrewd. He was in danger!

“There you are you bastard. You don´t even know how long I have been waiting for this moment!”

“How curious. And why would that be if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Stick those fancy words up your ugly arse you pig! Don´t you dare try to look innocent. I know what you did. I know everything!”

“Ah, you see I am an explorer. I see and do many things. Please enlighten me with what exactly you think I have done.”

“You took my daughter you stupid son of a bitch! My little, beautiful, sweet little daughter!”

“I am afraid that does not narrow it down in the slightest. A name might help me remember her more clearly.”

“Tivella! Her name was Tivella!”

“Oh, I remember her quite clearly. What a lively little girl. Her smile was truly something special to behold.”

“And you murdered her!”

“No. I did no such thing. Sweet Tivella is very much still alive.”

“You liar! You killed her!”

“I rarely lie and I definitely would not make light of the fate of the children under my care.”

“Then where is she? Where is my girl you maniac?”

While all of this was going on Tanya´s mind was franticly searching for a solution. Her supervisor was in mortal danger from a maniac who seemed to be an idiot. Seriously, who talked with their back turned towards an open door in this kind of situation? Anyways, that would give her a good opportunity to strike him from behind. There were only two problems: She had nothing to hit him with and she was too tiny to reach his neck or his head to instantly take him out.

She vaguely overheard him saying something about his supposed daughter and a desperate idea struck her. The maniac appeared to be very protective of his child which probably meant that he wouldn’t harm another one like her. For some reason he also seemed to accuse Bondrewd of child-murder. If he himself killed another a child then he would stand there as a hypocrite. Nobody would be that stupid, right?

It was a unbelievably moronic plan that she loather with every fibre of her being, but she was running out of time and she would not let her father employer be killed right now! She loved needed him after all!

She made sure to slowly and quietly open the door and held up both her hands to signal for Bondrewd to stay calm. He made only the tiniest of movements, but she knew that he had noticed her. That mask of his allowed for incredible perception even without any visible eyeholes.

“Your daughter resides currently in my miniature garden of dawn not too far from here. I could show you if you want.”

“No I had enough of your bullshit! You are going to pay for your sins right now!”

“Ah hello uncle! Why are you shouting so much? That is rude you know?”

Tanya had pitched her voice as high as she could and had even added a girlish lisp to her pronunciation. She hated it!

“What?”

The man whipped his head around, but was clever enough to still point his strange firearm at Bondrewd. Damn it! She had hoped her entrance would distract him enough that he would temporarily forget about his victim.

“I said that it is rude to shout.”

She went up to him and grabbed the edge of his coat. Maybe playing stupid would work.

“That´s a cool thingy you got there uncle. Can I touch it?”

“W- What? No!”

“Why not? Pleas uncle! Show it to me.”

“I said no.”

She pouted and enlarged her eyes as much as she could. Her forgotten dignity sulked in a dark corner of her mind.

“Pleaaase uncle? I promise I´ll be a good girl.”

“Leave us child. This is no place for a little girl like you.”

Her tiny hands grabbed his clothes harder and she clung to his leg.

“Then you will have to come with me loud uncle. I will not let you go before we have played together!”

“No!” and pain erupted all over her face.

Tanya had expected many things; a backhand from an adult man however had not been one of them.

Bondrewd had used the offered distraction to lift up his arm, but before he could do anything the crazy man had grabbed Tanya faster than she thought possible and held her to his chest. The bastard was using her as a living shield! How deplorable could this man get?

“One false movement and I blow her brains out!”

“To use a child in a conflict that you could have settled with your own strength is truly detestable I must say.” said Bondrewd´s calm and soft voice.

She had gotten used to his nearly imperceptible mood changes over the last few months, but never before had she heard that emotion from him. Was that... anger?

“I do not enjoy doing this, but if it is a necessary step in ending your tyranny of evil then I have to.

Now she had to act fast. The maniac was apparently very willing to hurt her if it helped him achieve his goals. How could she get out of this situation? Bondrewd couldn’t attack the madman, because he would either hit her or the man himself would do so himself. She was too weak to do anything...
Unless?

It was a terrible idea. Even worse than her first plan. It was humiliating and degrading on every conceivable level, but she was running out of options. Fast.

Tanya sucked her breath in and spoke with a voice that felt not like her own:
“O Lord, you gave us life to praise your wonders.”

“What the hell?”

“Now take it away for not all are worthy of your rapture.

“Praying won´t help you little girl. Be silent!”

“So that your believers may walk freely on this earth...”

“Hey, why are you glowing?”

“... once more.“

“Aaaaahhhhhhh...”

The man who had held her at gunpoint mere moments ago was reduced to a shower of blood and flesh that rained all over the room.

Tanya vomited on the ground. The day had started so nice...

Chapter Text

Chapter 13

After she had managed to collect herself in Bondrewd´s warm embrace she thought about what to do next. She had just killed a man, but it had been absolutely in self-defence and she was a minor which meant that she would probably not be sent to prison. Worrying about the possible legal ramifications could wait for later though.

Speaking into the crook of his neck while he soothingly stroked her back she voiced her thoughts:
“Bondrewd... we should check if he came alone. There could be more of his ilk out there.”

She hadn’t meant for it to come out so hateful, but she could not suppress her anger at that waste of a man. First he threatened her father caretaker and then he had threatened her! And worst of all he had forced her to use Being X´s cursed gift.

“No need to fret my darling. I already sent every available Umbra Hand to check the perimeter.”

How did he do that? She hadn´t heard him speaking to anyone. He truly was amazing.

“Did you know him?”

“No. I did not.”

Tanya knew that it was improper to pester her superior so much, but his arms were too comfortable to let go at the moment.

“It was very reckless what you did. When we are in a similar situation again I want you to think about your safety first. You are far more important to me than this body.”

That was good, because she definitely did not want to do this again.

“I understand. But I could not just stand by and watch you get hurt. What would I do without you?”

“This man had not the capacity to kill me. Please believe me.”

Now she felt stupid. She had underestimated her employer! How embarrassing! He would think that she believed him to be weak, even though she had never wanted to insult him. She had to boost his ego quick!

“I know that you are amazing and strong! Accidents can always happen and I just tried to minimize the risks. You would of course have defeated him easily father, but I wanted to make sure.”

No! She had made it worse. The stupid word had accidentally slipped from her tongue again. Oh, the shame...

To her surprise he hummed softly in delight and petted her head which felt disturbingly good.

“I am honoured that you care so much about me Tanya.”

She thought about what the crazy murderer had said earlier. What had he meant?

“Why did he think you killed his daughter?”

If Bondrewd was taken aback by the question then he didn’t show it.

“People often spread bad rumours about things they don’t understand. Why would I need to kill her? Unreasonable murder is the work of simplistic or twisted minds. Not mine.”

Very understandable. Bondrewd was not a man that would waste valuable company assets like that. Not to speak of the nasty reputation that act would cause.

“Then you need better PR to show the world that you are not that as what some people make you out to be.”

“Tanya dearest, what is ´PR´?”

Of course he would not know that! This world was not advanced enough to normalize such terminology yet.

“Public relations. It means that you should improve your reputation so that nobody could possibly compare you to a murderer. Ideally everybody will think of a hard working, honest, brilliant and trustworthy man when they say your name.”

“Interesting... And how do you think I should do that?”

“Well, you should develop a stronger presence at the surface. There you will attract the most customers... so maybe a small bureau? Some sort of place where people can go to when they want to talk to you or a representative. I would suggest hiring someone from Orth for the job, because they know each other well and will easier trust one of them. Also if more crazy people come after you then they will only harm a disposable worker and not your highly trained Umbra Hands.”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea. But I am curious... What would this representative of mine be paid to do exactly?”

“For one, he would give information about why you need all the kids and what you are training them to do down here. If people knew that you did not harm some orphans for fun or whatever, then they would not try to murder you! Furthermore they could tell everybody about your incredible research and how important it is. No valuable details of course, but just the general idea of what you do. The representative could also handle the correspondence you get and help in selling the artefacts. I am sorry that all of this sounds kind of vague, but I can write a proposal about it in more detail until tomorrow if you want.”

For a moment he was just staring at her and it was making her kind of nervous.

Suddenly he exploded in laughter. Tanya had heard him chuckle before, but a full blown laugh was something new. Had her idea really been so ridiculous?

“I am sorry if my suggestion sounded dumb. I will think better about what I say next time.”

“No, no, no my child. You are brilliant. I could not hope for a more thoughtful and farsighted daughter. You did well my dear.”

Had she been a lesser woman she would have squealed for joy from how her superior, no, her father had praised her! If she could keep this positive impression up a promotion would hopefully soon be in order.

The whole scene would have looked much cuter if she hadn’t been still covered in blood and gore.

Chapter Text

Chapter 14

Bondrewd was convinced that she needed some sort of combat training to defend herself and Tanya wholeheartedly agreed. She might be only six year old, but apparently not even Ido Front was safe anymore. The Starflare Amulet was powerful and could take care of most problems, but she wanted to avoid using it as long as possible. Her rational mindset told her that she could not avoid using forever, because at some point in time some threat would show up that was simply too much to handle for her. Especially as long as she had this weak child-body.

Three years passed and the incident with the lunatic did not repeat itself. To hire professional delvers for escort into the fifth layer was a costly affair that not many revenge-thirsty fools could afford. All those that tried to descend alone were quickly swallowed up by the ever hungry maw of the Abyss, never to be seen again.

Thanks to Nanachi´s “service” in his experiments Bondrewd had a revelation. The curse of the Abyss could only effectively transfer from one body to another if the unfortunate victim loved the person they were trying to safe. To take on the doubled burden of the curse one had to be absolutely willing to sacrifice themselves for the other. Quite tragic, but the netherworld worked in strange ways.

So, the Lord of Dawn was in urgent need of a loving subject for his own eventual ascend from the sixth layer. He would be lying if he said that he hadn’t thought about preparing his Tanya for this role, but after much thought he rejected the idea. She was too precious to throw away as a one-time use. Her true potential would be outright wasted should she be turned into a Narehate. Even if he couldn’t perceive emotions the same way humans did, he still felt saddened at the prospect of dulling the bright light of mind to a broken glimmer of its former glory.

Instead he required a new child. Somebody who he could wholeheartedly love as he did with Tanya and who would love him in return. To cultivate such a bond the subjected would need to be raised from an early age in order to facilitate sufficient feelings for the procedure to be effective. He would have ordered his Umbra Hands to acquire a small child with the next batch of children from the surface if not fortune had played in his favour.

It was like destiny when he first laid eyes on the little, bleeding lump of flesh that he would later come to call Prushka. Maybe it had been the will of the Abyss or just random chance, but from the first moment he had known that she was perfect. Her parents would have abandoned her and as a result gladly entrusted her to his care. A decision that may seem cruel to a surface dweller, but was quite rational for anyone who knew about the nature of the netherworld. The babe would not have survived the ascend and would have doomed her mother to slow death at her side as well if she stayed any longer in the lower levels of the Abyss.

Most medical professionals would have given up on little Prushka, but not Bondrewd. He worked day and night to stabilize her condition and managed the impossible. The sick, deformed suckling turned into a healthy toddler who became more adorable with each day in Bondrewd´s opinion. He loved watching her discover the world and play with her toys like a normal girl of her age should. His only regret was that it took away from his time with Tanya, even though his older daughter could perfectly take care of herself. It was rather peculiar how she almost always acted like a fully grown adult stuck in the body of a child. Her mind seemed to have outgrown her body a long time ago.

∞•۞˂˃۞•∞

Tanya felt mostly indifferent about the small Prushka. He was unsure what worth her surrogate father saw in the clearly defective child, but it was not her position to question his business investments. If anything it showed what a genuinely nice person he was. Though why did her chest hurt sometimes when she looked at both of them playing together while she watched from aside? Perhaps she should ask Bondrewd to check her heart for any malfunctions.

Nine years were apparently old enough for her father to consider her a delver, so in a heart-warming gesture he had actually prepared a special gift for her. At the day she had chosen as her birthday (because nobody in the orphanage had bothered to tell her the date) he handed her a big cardboard box. Her old boss had never remembered the birthday of his employees. Bondrewd was the best!

Inside were a small red whistle and a large metal object... A mask! He had made her an Umbra Hands mask of his own design to show the world that she was part of his team. Tanya considered this a promotion of sorts. No longer would she be a helpless child that dragged the workflow down, no! From this day onward she would be a valuable part of her father´s company and provide actual worth to his business. She would pull her own weight and work hard to contribute to the greater whole as any responsible human being should.

While she had made sure to spend her time as constructive as possible by constantly training her body and mind, it was a relief that she would no longer be a freeloader under his roof.

Bondrewd told her that the normal masks were extremely difficult to put on and remove so he modified this one heavily for her to comfortably use. It consisted of two separate parts: a face plate that would be secured to her head with leather bindings and a top half that connected in many intricate ports with the bottom half. The top piece was worn like cap and needed no fastenings. The whole thing was truly a work of art and she marvelled at how much care he had taken to craft his subordinate such a tool.

She promptly tested it and found that even though the thing lacked any visible mouth openings or eye lenses it did not impede her vision or breathing in the slightest. In fact it felt comfortable to wear and her senses appeared to have even been enhanced. The only exception was her sense of smell which appeared to be amiss entirely.

Not only was it a symbol, but it was practical too! If she regularly changed her filters then she would be protected against most toxic gases and airborne diseases. Only the darkest of hidden corners were protected from her improved eyesight that likely was brought about by the glowing, blue lens on the outside of the mask.

Tanya´s gratefulness was so enormous that she even pulled her father into a long hug after she had shaken his hand like the protocol demanded. Now her efforts were being rewarded and she could start her career in earnest. All just because of the help and guidance of this man. This moment served to increase her respect for her father exponentially. He really was the best!

Two month later and everything for her journey to the fourth layer was prepared. From her equipment to her weapons, everything was in pristine condition as she embarked on the mission her superior had given her to test her abilities. She would not let him down!

For the first time in three years she stepped foot outside of Ido Front again. What could go wrong?

Chapter Text

Chapter 15

Astoundingly her luck had not left her immediately like last time when she went outside. No giant rocks had fallen on her head and no cursed artefacts had tried to take over her mind. All in all the first few hours had been pretty good in Tanya´s humble opinion.

Of course that feeling did not last long as she and her little group of delvers began their ascend to the next layer. Even though they went purposefully slow and covered as little altitude as possible the curse of the fifth layer still took its toll on all of them. Climbing up inside the Abyss could only be described by one word: Pain.

The curse first manifested as a slight nausea that rapidly grew in intensity until Tanya could barely walk straight and they had to pause for a while. An act that caused her much shame for being a burden on her superiors. This weakness was calling her physical training from her esteemed father into question which she could simply not tolerate. If he lost the respect of his men, because they believed he had educated his adoptive daughter insufficiently then his position in the company could be at risk, meaning hers as well!

So Tanya forced herself to continue despite the blood flowing from her eyes and mouth dripping out of her helmet. Her overflowing life fluids might have slightly hindered her ability to see and breathe, but she wouldn´t take off her father´s gift because of such trivial problems. To wear this mask was a sign of her position in his company and the trust he placed in her, so discarding it would be a direct insult to her caretaker. It wasn´t like she needed to see clearly anyways due to the audiovisual hallucinations that assaulted her mind. Trusting your senses could be a deadly mistake in the Abyss. Relying on logic and reason was far safer. Mostly.
(She had intensely memorized rule number 1 of surviving in the netherworld: Nowhere is safe.)

After that complete sensory deprivation set in and the terrible pain all over her body diminished only to be replaced with fuzzy nothingness. This was the specific symptom of the curse of the fifth layer that she had been often warned about. It took all her willpower and training to not scratch her skin raw or cut herself with a knife to try evoking any sensation, because she knew it would be futile. Feeling nothing at all was not the worst thing in the world.

At some point it got too much even for the three experienced Umbra Hands that accompanied her and they had to rest. Knowing that it was not custom to show your face once you became an Umbra Hand under any circumstance, Tanya went inside the tent and cleaned her bloodied mask and face with shaking hands. Her only solace in this horrible situation was that the weight of the curse would only get lighter the further they went upwards.

Luckily, her brilliant father had prepared some medicine for her that helped with the acute blood loss or else she would have gotten weaker by the day. The only thing that could have soured her mood more than the tasteless rations and the constant agony she found herself in would have been cumbering her fellow delvers any more than she already was. She had the growing suspicion that their frequent rests were only held because they took pity on her. How dare they pity Bondrewd´s chosen daughter! Nearly four years in his employ had obviously not been enough to instill the sense of respect into them that she craved.

As much as her companions may have often groaned and ached under the pressure of the curse Tanya did not believe them. These were professional delvers after all! They wouldn´t allow to openly show such weakness in their posture and overall demeanour. Often she vehemently discouraged them from making pauses after just a few hours or so. She would show them that she didn´t need their misplaced sympathy. Disappointing Bondrewd´s high expectations was not an option if she wanted to keep his favour. No amount of false fatigue from them could convince her.

This routine of suffering and subsequent resting continued for five days until they finally reached the fourth layer: The Goblets of Giants.

Seeing the massive floral basins formed by the “flat creepers” with your own eyes was a truly an incredible experience. The colossal plants that gave this layer its name were a sight to behold and a true wonder of evolution. That complex organisms were even able to function at such height and size was astonishing. Another proof how organic ingenuity and the power of natural selection trumped everything that the false god Being X could come up with. The fool would have probably forced the poor plants to worship him if they wanted to survive and then would have been surprised that his plan didn’t work out. Idiot.

Tanya had often read about the dangers of the animals within this layer. Compared to the deathly (and in her view peaceful) silence of her “home layer” the Goblets of Giants could house many nasty surprises for the unprepared delver. Chief among them the Orb Piercer.

A creature as mysterious as it was deadly. Only a few of them existed in the whole layer, but they were so fiercely protective of their territory that they still took the lives of hundreds of Black Whistles. One sting from their poisonous, razor-sharp needles was enough to kill a grown man if the afflicted limb was not amputated immediately. They were also rumoured to be unnaturally intelligent to the point that some delvers attributed their high lethality to foresight or mind-reading abilities. She dearly hoped they wouldn´t meet one of them.

Fortunately they were spared of such an encounter in the beginning stages of the layer. Otherwise she was not sure if all of them could have survived the ambush, as exhausted as they were from the long ascend. Not far from the centre of the Abyss which was filled with the aforementioned flat creepers lay a small forest with significantly less dangerous inhabitants so they set up camp there. That didn’t give them an excuse to be careless, but at least they would not run into any orb piercers.

The men had earned their sleep so she volunteered for first watch around the tent. A few days ago they would have tried to stop her, but her fellow Umbra hands knew by now that she wouldn´t accept any arguments on the matter. She would not be seen as weak, regardless of what her tiny child-body may have suggested! (This arrangement also served the secret purpose that she wouldn´t be woken up in the middle of the night by her comrades, but instead could sleep all the way through until morning.)

One hour into her shift and Tanya was thoroughly entertained by dissecting a unique insect that she had found crawling over her leg. In all of Bondrewd´s books she had never seen mentions of this specific bug and it made her wonder if she had discovered a whole new species by accident. She would definitely need to find and preserve a few more of these small creatures and analyse them in earnest under the microscope. On her trip back to the fifth layer she would pick up a few fresh specimens as well to satiate her father´s curiosity.

While the study of insects was not her favourite subject she nonetheless found it to be a good way of passing time. Of course she regularly made sure to scan her surroundings for danger, but so far nothing had captured her attention.

Just as she held the bug closer to her eye to inspect its wing structure she heard a rustling in the thicket around their camp.

Cautiously she sat the small corpse down on the ground and slowly grabbed her knife in one and her whistle in the other hand. Whatever had caused the disturbance had either been a harmless animal or a potential predator spying on them. Internally she cursed herself for not wearing her mask at the moment or she would have had a better time seeing through the ambient darkness. The only reason she had taken off the thing was because she enjoyed the feeling of the wind on her skin after days of being trapped inside the airtight mask. Now this irrational decision had come to bite her in the ass.

“Tanya?”

A human? But how did another delver know her name? Either this was a trick or an Umbra hand in need of assistance. No Umbra Hand she had ever known had such a young voice though...

“Whoever you are come out with your hands held high. I mean you no harm, but you will surely understand that I cannot trust a shadow in the night.”

Appearing friendly to deescalate the situation was her plan and it appeared to have worked when it rustled again and a most bizarre figure stepped into the light.

Her first instinctual question would have been to ask what the hell the thing in front of her was, but she thought better of it. Maybe this was just an elaborate costume or their appearance was a sore point for them. Unknowingly insulting them would do her no good.

“Who are you? Please identify yourself.”

“Tanya... don´t you...? –ahh –“

The oddly fluffy person sighed in defeat as if they had realized something tragic.

“I am Nanachi. –nya”

There was it again. The mysterious stranger had called her by her name again as if they were acquainted. Never had she even head about some kind of...rabbit... person. Also the name “Nanachi” sounded familiar for some reason. She needed to get to the bottom of this mystery.

“How do you know my name?”

“Do you really not remember me? I am Nanachi... from the orphanage! We grew up together!”

What?

Tanya vaguely remembered somebody named Nanachi... Could it be?

“You were the one who found the book!” she blurted out without thinking.

“Yes! Finally! –nya”

“Pssht. You are going to wake the others.” she glanced at the direction of the tent behind her.

While her fellow orphan could be a potential threat or a diversion to keep her occupied for a attack by cave raiders she deemed such scenarios unlikely. There was no need to rob her co-workers of precious sleep yet. At least she could extract a little more information out of Nanachi before that.

They seemed overjoyed to be recognized by her. From what Tanya could recall Nanachi had always been rather reclusive and introverted, much like herself. Had Nanachi been lonely out here to be so desperate for company? Impossible. Surviving at these depths alone was unheard of. She needed clarification.

“What are you doing here on the fourth layer all by yourself?”

“... I am not alone...” was the whispered answer.

Good to hear. If Nanachi travelled with another group then Tanya´s group wouldn’t need to escort or feed them. Both food and time were precious resources that she would only reluctantly spend on random delvers just because curtesy demanded it. Ignoring pleas for assistance could turn into a PR nightmare so she would have to intervene if asked. Luckily that would be not the case.

“Wonderful.” she smiled in genuine happiness.

“And... you?”

“I am just passing through. I plan on getting to the second layer for now and if time permits it even the surface.”

Logically speaking, giving away so much information was foolish, but she needed to earn more trust from the... girl?... boy?... in front of her. Tanya had never been able to tell which gender Nanachi belonged to and had also never bothered to ask. Inquiring now would probably be rude so she ignored it for the time being.

“Well, it has been certainly a pleasant surprise to find a familiar face here of all places, but you appear quite... changed. Might I know what happened for you to dress like this?” she gestured to the strange rabbit costume Nanachi was wearing. Last time she checked they had been human so it had to be a disguise.

“Ah... What?... I don´t want to talk about it.”

“That´s quite alright.” assured Tanya. “I respect your right of privacy, but I must say that I cannot imagine how such a costume could be practical. Other delvers could mistake you for an animal even!”

Why did Nanachi look so stricken? Were those tears forming in their eyes? Oh no, she had just committed a social faux pas by insulting their clothing style, hadn´t she? Who could have known that Nanachi was so sensitive when confronted with totally legitimate criticisms of her fashion style!

“I am sorry. It is certainly quite...” she struggled to find a fitting word “cute.”

Children liked cute thing right? Tanya was not proficient at handling social confrontations with minors. Better change the topic! Quick!

“The book I borrowed from you all those years ago has certainly changed both our lives. I have studied the last few years all kinds of notes and reports about the flora and fauna of the netherworld. I aim to investigate a few of the deeper mysteries myself one day. I remember you were always excited to discover this place for yourself. Do you still have a passion for the Abyss?”

Hopefully the personal story would serve as an ice-breaker of sorts to steer the conversation back into safer territories. Everybody who took their job seriously liked to exchange professional information. Self-education and upskilling were imperative to success after all.

“Eh... I guess? I learned a lot about medical theory... – nya...”

Tanya feigned interest: “My, how exciting! Tell me about it.”

So began a conversation that lasted long into the night. So long in fact that they continued to chat until Tanya noticed that her shift had ended half an hour ago.

“Excuse me, but I fear we will have to resume our discussion tomorrow. The journey so far has been exhausting and I need my sleep. You should catch some rest as well. Meet me here an hour after sunrise. Maybe you can show me your camp at the opportunity.”

“...Alright?”

It sounded more like a question then an answer, but Tanya wrote it off as Nanachi being as tired as her. She was so drained after the long day that she even forgot to inform her replacement for lookout of her bizarre encounter.

Chapter Text

Chapter 16

Breakfast was a quiet affair as usual. None of the experienced Black Whistles liked to talk much around her and Tanya could understand that. They wouldn’t discuss their trade secrets and undoubtedly important plans in front of a newbie like her. Nonetheless did it still sting to be so low in the social hierarchy.

As a result she decided not to bother her co-workers further by dragging them on her, admittedly unnecessary, excursion. Logic dictated that she should remain near her travelling party and take the quickest route up to the surface without any detours, but after years of staying indoors and monotonous training she was itching for some exploring. Maybe that was the repressed “child part” of her being wrestling for control. In the future she would need to repress it harder.

Visiting another delver´s encampment couldn´t hurt, she told herself. It might even give her some valuable insight into what exactly the other children had been up too in the last few years. After that first night at Ido Front she had never seen them again. The risk was there, but her curiosity far outweighed her concern.

Wherever Nanachi was staying couldn’t be too far away, right? In case of an emergency she still had her whistle to call for backup.

So she just told her companions that they should rest for a little while longer and recover until she came back in two hours. (Naturally they would need to push themselves harder to make up for the lost time later on.) That was a reasonable timeframe in her opinion for whatever Nanachi wanted to show her. Hopefully they would respect her limited time.

Indeed only a couple of minutes after she had stepped into the undergrowth outside the small clearing and Nanachi seemed to materialize out of thin air. They were still wearing the surprisingly realistic costume from last night. Now in the daylight it looked it more high-quality than at night-time. It was eccentric and impractical, but it demonstrated a wealthy income on Nanachi´s part to be able to afford a fursuit like this.

Oh, now she remembered. In her old world there existed such people as well. How were they called?... Fur-...  Furries! Yes ! Was Nanachi one such Furry? Probably. From what Tanya remembered it had been something vaguely frowned upon in her homeland so she wouldn´t pry. If Nanachi wanted to dress this way then so be it. If there was one thing that Tanya could subscribe to then it was the display of individual freedom. (In accordance with the law of course.)

“Good to see you again.” she said with a practiced smile.

“Yes. I hadn´t any visitors in a long time. Nyaaa.”

“Then let us be off. I have only two hours for everything you wanted me to show.”

To her immense relief their destination was indeed not very far away. Both of them knew better than to converse loudly while walking lest they capture the attention of the more unpleasant inhabitants of the Abyss. Now that Tanya thought about it her life was mostly silent. Not that she was complaining.

Her expectations for Nanachi´s hideout had been a number of tents or perhaps a hole in the ground, but she had definitely not anticipated a full house!

It was an unsafe looking construction that resembled mostly like a large green egg. How Nanachi had been able to build a nearly spherical house on stilts was beyond her. Even if it was architecturally quite fascinating it seemed not very efficient. Whatever “rustic charm” this establishment held was easily dwarfed by the simple cleanliness and orderly modernity of Ido Front.

Surely Nanachi wasn´t living in such a rural place?... Like permanently?

Well, Tanya would not question Bondrewd´s orders. If he found it important to erect outposts like this in the wild then she could find no fault in that idea. Although that begged the question why he hadn’t told her about such an institution? Surely if his workers maintained safezones in other layers then that would have been valuable information for her to know. A real kitchen and a solid bed were invaluable commodities after all.

Did he want her to be more independent? To not rely on already existing institutions and travel without the metaphorical “support wheels”? Strange, but very thoughtful of him. Bondrewd was intelligent enough to certainly understand that stifling the growth of your subordinates by pampering them would lead to complacency and failure. In that sense she definitely approved of his decision. He truly was a good father.

“So Nanachi, how long have you been stationed up here?”

Why did they look so weird at her? Had she misspoken?

“I... uh... I don´t really know how long - nya - it´s been?... Time is difficult to track... A few years I guess?”

So long? Either upper management had forgotten to promote Nanachi or they had been terrible at whatever their job was.

“It has to be difficult to live here.”

Her statement had not been a question, because she already knew the answer. Tanya shuddered at the prospect of losing the achievements of civilization like electricity and flowing water again after being freed from that damned, backwater orphanage.

“Y-Yeah.”

Time to make some vague promises and create social bonds. Simply the idea of a promotion would motivate most workers to give it their all and after years of isolation in this sorry place a bit of positive reinforcement would be received well.

“I am sure your good work has not gone unnoticed by Bondrewd. Maybe after I have spoken with him again he will see fit to bring you back to Ido Front. Wouldn´t that be nice?”

Tanya tried to sound empathetic. She really did. But somehow she must have messed up, because Nanachi, instead of relieved and ecstatic, looked horrified. Why were they shaking? Damn! When in doubt retreat!

“Don´t worry. I can´t tell you any specifics when or if you get transferred somewhere else. That is not under my jurisdiction. If you ask management then a journey further upwards could certainly also be possible. Maybe you would want to see the surface again? I can understand that. We all are in good need of a vacation, ey?”

She sadly had no sufficient experience in communication with children if Nanachi´s still mortified expression was anything to go by. Her only moments of non-professionalism were reserved for Bondrewd, because he had made it abundantly clear that he didn’t mind the informal tone. Quickly changing the topic Tanya asked:

“Who else does live her with you? Yesterday you told me there were others as well.”

“...uh... Mitty. Only Mitty... But she doesn’t want any visitors! Nya!”

The last part was unnecessarily forceful, but Tanya would accept it. The atmosphere was already weird enough.

“Well, would you mind showing me a bit of the interior? We didn´t walk all the way only to stare at your house from the outside after all.”

“...But not for long! I am very busy you see!”

They were devoted to their work at least. Tanya could respect that. Even Nanachi’s lacking social skills could be excuse by her age and her isolation. Having to sit in a damp hut day in and out would drive most people insane which appeared to have already happened here. The poor thing was wearing a bunny costume for crying out loud!

Inside looked as primitive and dirty as she had imagined. No electric lights and no heating. Worst of all the walls and the floor were somehow coated in the same obnoxious moss as outside. Of course she couldn’t say all that in the name of politeness.

“I admit I am impressed with what you did with the place. It is quite... picturesque.”

Because even though she would have preferred even a broom closet back home to this place, the craftsmanship that had went into building the furniture and decorating the walls was praiseworthy.

She critically examined the contents of the nearest cupboard and found to her surprise a medical journal in Bondrewd´s handwriting. After all these years in his care she knew his signature as well as her own. Her father must have held Nanachi in high regard to give away one of his prized journals. A brief flare of jealousy surged through her chest, but she crushed that unproductive though before it could take root.

When she returned home she would ask him what all of this was about. Nanachi’s story got stranger and stranger by the minute.

“Nyaa... Now leave.”

How rude. What had she done to offend her host? No wonder that Nanachi hadn´t been promoted with that attitude. Lack of human interaction changed people in the oddest of ways it seemed.

Chapter Text

Chapter 17

Nanachi couldn´t believe it. Tanya worked with Bondrewd! Why? Why would she do that if she knew what he had done to them? How could she forgive that... monster for torturing their friends?!

More importantly why was she so special? So lucky? Why had she not been subjected to the same horrid fate as all the others? Anger and jealousy began to burn brightly in Nanachi´s mind just from thinking about it. Why was Tanya spared, but not Mitty? It wasn´t fair!

And then she finally understood what Tanya had also been indirectly saying: Bondrewd was still watching her! Of course! Nothing slipped past that freak. He just couldn’t leave them alone! Honestly, Nanachi wanted to cry in despair at that moment.

Shortly thereafter they had driven the stupid girl from their house and had locked the door behind her. Only then had Nanachi allowed themselves to bawl their eyes out and scream in frustration. As if sensing the distress in the air Mitty had crawled over Nanachi´s face and purred softly. They didn´t deserve such a good friend.

∞•۞˂Tanya´s point of view˃۞•∞

She was slightly confused by the visit of her childhood acquaintance, but this mystery would certainly become easily understandable once she consulted Bondrewd on the matter.

Now she and her group were on their way upwards again. They had made frequent rests and handled the elevation carefully. Not only to lessen the strain of the curse, but also to watch out for dangerous wildlife. Everything so far had been going swimmingly and they were nearly at the edge to the third layer already.

Suddenly, a huge shadow dropped from a higher platform onto their level like a meteor. Water splashed all over the place and temporarily obscured the gigantic figure before the mist cleared and Tanya could identify what had approached them.

Her worst nightmare had become reality.

There directly in their way stood the greatest threat of the fourth layer, a rare creature of the “Absurd Danger” class: an Orb piercer.

Its grotesque appearance had not been done justice by the illustrations in Bondrewd´s books. It stood as large as a bull or a grizzly bear on all four legs and seemed to directly stare at them through the expressionless holes of its red mask. Steam rising from the warm water below let its asymmetric and confusing silhouette blend in perfectly with the background. The many deadly spikes that had made its kind so famous were standing proudly on display.

“Alright stay calm. We will slowly back away from it and it should leave us alone…”

The beast did not leave them alone in fact.

With a mighty roar it charged at them and sprayed water everywhere. Multiple explosions went off from Timeno´s hand as he fired his second grade artefact “Midnight Bloodfall” at the rapidly approaching monstrosity. Three fast spinning discs hurdled themselves with incredible speed at their target, but somehow the beast managed to evade two of them at the last second.

Only through sheer luck as it seemed was the last blade able to hit home and deal some damage, but due to the hard spikes covering nearly all of its body it was a rather shallow wound.

Byolo´s third grade artefact the “Torrents end” had been unfurled in the meantime and was being deployed in front of him and Tanya. It usually looked like a large bedroll that he carried on his back, but it was in reality neither soft nor lightweighed. When slammed into the ground with sufficient force it would unroll and harden into a large shield with charcoal sand plating.

Tanya threw herself behind the moderately sized wall and left her teammate to shoulder the force of the incoming collision.

“BOOOOOOOOOM”

The metal of the shield thundered under the force of the impact, but Byolo held strong against the assault. His feet were digging into the soft ground and he had been pushed back half a meter, but so far everything appeared alright.

Then she noticed it.

The Orb piercer´s spikes had been hard and sharp enough to pierce her only protection. Oh no!

Numerous small, white barbs protruded from the “Torrents end´s” backside. Most of them had missed Byolo who held the wall upright, but at least one had apparently managed to dig into his flesh if the bloody water at his feet was anything to go by. That was bad new news.

Timeno was not a Black Whistle for nothing and had already sprinted over to use the opportunity for a trap that had presented itself. Although the beast had been successful at injuring its victim the large shield it had rammed into now also blocked its frontal side and was stuck on its spikes. By pressing the outer rim of the artefact he re-softened it for a short moment only to harden it again so that fully clung to the Orb Piercer.

It would have made for a comical sight had the monster not begun to wildly jump around and tear at his metal prison while nearly crushing the bystanders. As much as it tried to get leverage on the hard plate directly above his face his legs were too short to reach it and rubbing along the ground drove it only further into its spikes.

Regardless of how powerless the creature appeared at the current time nobody wanted to risk fighting the animal any further. So they hastily retreated to the next flat creeper platform. And the next. And the next. Even though bright lights and weird sounds were plaguing their vision and blood was leaking in streams from their eyes, ears and mouths, they endured it all. Fleeing was more important than their comfort.

Only when they judged that there was no feasible way for the Orb piercer to catch up did they stop and Tanya remembered the second emergency of their group.

Byolo´s limb had already nearly doubled in size from the swelling. How he had been able to climb ropes without screaming in pain was a miracle to her. Tanya hoped that she could be so level-headed and professional one day. The wound appeared small on the surface, but that made no difference here.

The poison of an Orb piercer was highly dangerous and would kill a grown man after a few hours of extreme pain. They needed to find a solution fast. Luckily the man knew of his fate and was already in the process of making a tourniquet with a rope. From his slightly swaying movement however it became clear that he was already too late to stop the poison completely.

With a steady hand she helped him to tie a knot and increase the pressure on the main blood vessels. That could cause lasting damage, but they had more important things to worry about. She looked to the others for guidance, but they just watched with apparent interest. Why were they all staring at her as if they waited for her to act? Tanya was the junior member of the group! Shouldn’t someone who was higher on the chain of command take responsibility?

She considered just hacking off his arm. It was easy and would save him from a painful death. On the other side that would leave him as a cripple and a liability for the team if they had to climb even the shortest distance. His disability would slow them down which would put them in danger. Should a large beast attack them while they were so vulnerable then they could not guarantee his safety anyway.

At this point letting Byolo simply succumb to the poison appeared to be the most comfortable option for her. Although the others would perhaps think of it as unnecessarily cruel to not relief him from his blight and accuse her of cowardice or indecisiveness. Maybe she could end his suffering with a quick snap of the neck as she had been trained to do so. The seemingly easy way out was tempting, but at the last moment she topped her hands which were already cradling his faceplate.

If her senior were to die at her hands then that would look incredibly suspicious. Returning from the Abyss with fewer team members than before was a common occurrence, but not one that would reflect positively on her leadership and management skills. This was her first mission for crying out loud! Tanya couldn’t allow for such blunders to happen so early on in her career!

When both crippling and euthanizing him were left out of the question then the only viable path forward was actually healing him. She had no idea if it would really work, but the cursed option was nagging at the back of her head. That damned amulet was needed again. Far too soon for her liking.

If she had to sell her pride in order to invest in the health or her teammate than she dearly hoped that the supernatural bastard would actually grant her wish. Else the sacrifice of her dignity would be for naught.

“Good Creator,” the accursed words began to stream forth as if she had known them all along.

“I beg of thee with all my heart”

She had to force the words through her clenched teeth while she balled her fists at her side as a sign of quiet resistance against this vile violation of her freedom.

“Heal this broken body of your faithful servant!”

A sickening golden glow engulfed the man she was praying for.

“Make him whole,”

The light grew in intensity until it was near blinding.

“So that he may serve you once again”

Tanya wanted to throw up. How arrogant could Being X get?

“And sing the praise of your name.”

(Not canon accurate representation of her glow.)

Even more it seemed. The feeling of disgust was eating away at her concentration not to barf. Regardless of how sick she felt the results spoke for themselves.

The glow receded and revealed that the previously afflicted limb had lost its swelling. Just to make sure she questioned him if he was still feeling any after effects of the poison and then asked the others to set up camp.

It was theoretically dangerous to set up camp near the centre of the Abyss, but in actually very few creatures existed at the border between these two layers due to the relative proximity of predators from above and Orb piercers from below. Despite this threat however Orb piercers were way too territorial to leave their home on the flat creepers and the aerial hunters of the third layers were not interested in potentially crossing paths with them.

So she would be able to rest a little. Hopefully her father would not be disappointed at her slow progress.

∞•۞˂Bondrewd´s point of view˃۞•∞

Bondrewd was ecstatic. Well, as much as he could feel that emotion anyway. Originally when he had taken control of Byolo´s body to tourniquet the arm he had been prepared to chop it off, but then his darling Tanya had approached with her usual efficiency (a trait he simply adored) and helped him. By now he was familiar with her body language enough to know that she was deeply contemplating something and he had been intrigued.

What was going on in that brilliant little head of hers? He couldn’t wait to find out.

So he had patiently waited a few moments until he was just about to begin with the amputation himself when she had managed to surprise him (as usual).

She had started to pray and even though her voice should have been muffled by the mask he had been able to understand her clear as day. In fact, all of his bodies had understood what she was saying perfectly despite them standing meters away and the rustling water behind them. Every word had resounded with power and been engraved into his collective memory.

And the miracle that his dear daughter had conjured had actually been able to heal his body fully. Every single injury that he had collected during his travels had been removed and as he later checked, even the scars of year old wounds had been completely erased. Her potential seemed truly limitless.

He couldn’t have been prouder of her.

“Oh, my wonderful daughter...” he whispered to himself. “Through you we will cross the mortal border of the Netherworld... To seek secrets that shall reveal the impossible...”

Chapter Text

Chapter 18

The third layer was also often called “The great Fault” for it resembled a multiple kilometre long shaft that led straight down into the depths. Its walls had been unnaturally smooth and perfectly rounded at some point in the distant past, but natural erosion and generations of nesting animals had pockmarked the surface. That didn’t detract from the tubes enormous grandeur though.

When Tanya looked up it seemed as if the white, circular hole above her stretched on and on until it reached the very clouds of the sky. Not that she really knew anymore how the sky looked like after years underground, but her observation was not unfounded. The water that rained from the layers on top evaporated into mist which created the illusion of clouds.

Scholars heatedly debated if the Great Fault could have developed naturally or if it had been manmade. If the latter was true then any civilization capable of such feats must have been hundred times more advanced than their current one. Not surprising if one believed the theories that claimed that artefacts were also the remnants of an ancient society that had dwelled deep inside the earth. Or, as some of the more sensationalistic stories whispered, still lived. Who knew after all what came after the sixth layer?

As interesting as speculating about the Great Fault´s origin was Tanya had better things to do. For example, keeping her eyes open for any patrolling Crimson Splitjaws or Madokajacks.

Those were the two most common and most fearsome aerial predators of this biome. Especially while climbing a treacherous four kilometre wall they could become an extraordinary threat to unsuspecting delvers. The strains of ascend of this layer further confused and disoriented those who tried to make their way up to the surface. No wonder that this place was considered one of the most hostile locations in the whole Abyss.

Fortunately they would not have to scale the entire cliff face, but would instead mostly travel through the vast tunnel system surrounding the main shaft. Those had been originally built by the Neritantans, small, white, fluffy rabbit-like creatures, and then painstakingly expanded by thousands of delvers.

This labyrinth of small passageways deep inside the rock was home to other dangerous creatures of course and could at times be relatively unstable, but it was far preferable to the unprotected outside.

Finding the right entrance proved to be an arduous task that ultimately ended in disappointment. The cave that Tanya´s team members would normally use was blocked off by debris so they would need to take a different route. Multiple entry holes were nearby, but her superiors assured her that these were either dead ends or too dangerous. She trusted the experience of her seniors to know what was best, but she couldn’t say that she was happy with the proposed solution:

Climbing two hundred metres upwards to reach a shortcut to the original way.

Not fun.

Eighteen hours later and she now found herself high above the ground, with shaky fingers clinging to the damp stone wall and her eyes nervously searching the air space behind her. The hallucinations were getting to her and it required every bit of self-control on her part to remember that she was currently climbing for her life.

Visions of her past life assaulted her with her former co-workers often requesting her presence in the staff room or in a meeting with the boss. Constantly she had to remind herself that her life in the Abyss, as unbelievable as it may seem, was in fact real and that those apparitions of her normal office life were fake. Then the illusions transformed into images of Bondrewd beckoning her or being uncharacteristically angry with her or, the absolute worst, being disappointed of her.

Frequent stops helped to alleviate the effects of the curse in this layer, but they could never rest and recover for long or else they would risk not finishing their ascend before night time brought out even more predators.

A Madokajack had already tried to rip her from the wall once and she had been too out of it to notice. Had it not been for the timely intervention of her teammates who scared it away, she would have been either shattered on the floor below or torn apart by its deadly mandibles. Only later when the visions had cleared away did she understand the horrible implications of what could have happened to her.

At the end they nevertheless reached the right destination. Sweaty, exhausted and shaking Tanya craved for sleep. This had definitely been the most brutal feat of strength in her entire two lives so far.

She was just about to congratulate her co-workers for the successful ascent to boost morale when the man at the safety line above her signalled her to be quiet. First she couldn’t fathom why, but then her mood promptly plummeted.

There, inside the hole slept a loudly snoring Crimson Splitjaw. Its massive serpentine body nearly blocked the whole cavern so that they would have to be exceedingly careful to sneak around the beast. Going back and further scaling the main shaft at night would be suicide so they needed to either drive out the monster or pass by it undetected. Both of these options had the potential to go horribly wrong.

A difficult dilemma indeed.

That was when Tanya remembered something she had read in her father´s notebooks.

A rather peculiar quirk of the Crimson Splitjaw´s was that they liked to swallow rare minerals and artefacts that they found for unknown reasons. All this treasure collected in their bellies, never to see daylight again as long as they lived. So despite their classification as level four dangers of the “deadly” class they were popular targets for particularly brave or experienced delvers.

Bondrewd´s mission that he had entrusted to her had not been to hunt for artefacts, but this was nonetheless a golden opportunity for her to potentially make a huge win and impress him with her ingenuity. What better way to show him that his investment in her had been profitable than if she achieved more than he expected? Tanya had no doubts that he would keep her around for a good while longer, but it couldn´t hurt to keep reminding him why he even bothered with her in the first place.

Furthermore it was theoretically safer to engage the enemy on their own terms and with their full force than the opposite. So, should the Crimson Splitjaw wake up while they were trying to sneak by it then that would prove definitely more disastrous than if they attacked it outright, because they would find themselves in a precarious position between its body and the cave wall.

Resolve set, she mentally went to work on the third option:

Killing the beast.

It would be no easy task, but they had the element of surprise and numerical superiority on their side.

Half an hour and surprisingly few objections from her seniors later and their plan was ready to be enacted. Now that she thought about it she felt quite silly to have pointed her idea out to them as if it hadn’t been obvious. It was the most logical conclusion after all and these veteran delvers had certainly found that out long before her. They had just waited for her to finally catch up and demonstrate the necessary quick thinking for this kind of job and she had miserably failed at that. Hopefully they would forgive that she had not instantly come to the conclusion, because she was a newbie after all.

Tanya distracted herself from those depressive thoughts by vowing to strife harder to avoid such disgraceful blunders in the future.

Time was now of essence since there was no telling when the colossal beast might awaken from its slumber. Byolo and Timeno positioned themselves left and right of the entrance. Kert climbed under it and she above as lookout. (Pure coindince that it was also the safest position in her opinion, really.) Finally on her hand signal the men on the sides moved in as quietly as possible and positioned their weapons above the Crimson Splitjaw´s closed eyes as it peacefully rested.

Then on the count of three, they thrust downwards.

And all hell broke lose.

Chapter Text

Chapter 19

The Crimson Splitjaw roared deafeningly in the enclosed space. Its terrifying maw split open wide enough to swallow a group of ten men whole without even chewing down. Even from metres above Tanya could feel the foul air streaming out of a mouth with far too many uncleaned teeth.

Targeting the vestigial eyes at its underbelly had been a strategically decision to impede its awareness. Although members of its species orientated themselves mostly through their sense of smell they had not completely abandoned their eyesight. Not to mention that the area around the eyes was a heavily supplied with blood and completely unprotected compared to the rest of its warty body.

Byolo and Timeno had both managed to avoid the gigantic beast which was thrashing around by a hair´s breadth. No easy feat considering the cramped space they had to move in and the erratic giant smashing its head against the cave walls violently. Their first strike had successfully disoriented the monster and opened it up for the second attack from Kert.

Like most serpents a Crimson Splitjaw smelled through the use of its tongue, but it had furthermore developed some sort of external feeler above its upper lip. Those were speculated to be sensory organs as well which made them priority targets in the next stage of the fight.

While before those feelers had been hidden behind the hardened upper lip of the beast they were now on full display to search for intruders. It was up to Kert to hit them with his personal artefact “Cloudy Fragrance”. His weapon of choice may have lacked the offensive power of something like “Midnight Bloodfall” or the defensive capabilities of “Torrents End”, but it combined aspects of the two in an unconventional fashion.

The artefact was shaped like a flattened egg with a proboscis at its rear end. If Kert pressed down on its squishy surface with enough force a slowly expanding cloud of mist would be expelled from its trunk. This cloud grew in size until it came into contact with something solid and hardened instantly. It was by no means unbreakable and got weaker the bigger the cloud became, but it was mostly enough to immobilize prey for long enough to close in and deal a finishing blow.

That was exactly what should have happened if he had hit his shot. However, due to the jerky movements of the animal´s head he was unable to land the shot and the orange cloud from his artefact floated harmlessly through the space next to its head until it solidified at the cave ceiling. Tanya didn´t need to see his face to know that he was panicking badly, because he immediately gave off another shot despite his artefact needing time to recharge.

As a consequence the next cloud was far smaller and looked less dense than the first one. Through sheer dumb luck it was able to hit its intended target... or at least part of it. Kert had been instructed to take aim at both feelers above the Crimson Splitjaw´s lip to further blind it. In reality he had only been capable of coating one the appendages in foam.

Still, with a lack of arms (or limbs for that matter) the beast was unable to clean its sensory organ from the sticky substance. Now that it was nearly blind the creature reached a new level of ferocity. If possible its wild flailing around became even more intense and Tanya could feel the wall she was anxiously clinging to tremble.

The fact that both Timeno and Byolo were waiting patiently at the edge of the bottomless Abyss while the titanic monster raged only a few metres from them raised her respect for her co-workers even further. To stare death in the face like that spoke of incredible experience and strength of will. She would need to work hard to match up to them.

Not everything had gone smooth, but their plan had overall succeeded. Because of its sensory impairment the Crimson Splitjaw was forced to solely rely on its sense of smell through the use of its tongue. To do that it needed to needed to open its mouth...

Wide...

Open...

“Hroomp” made the momentarily confused creature when it reflexively swallowed a tiny object that Tanya had thrown from her position above. As soon as the beast had opened its jaws for more than a second the throw had become extremely easy for her due to the enormous size of her target.

From within its body a muffled “pop” could be heard and the Crimson Splitjaw opened its stinking maw again. However this time its roar was not one of rage, but of pain. Its inner flesh was visibly scorched black and even smoked a little. She grinned under her mask.

Those improvised hand grenades had been another invention from her wonderful father. She had suggested a device to crack rock to help with mining operations and he had constructed a prototype from her ideas within a week. Bondrewd´s efficiency truly was admirable. Now the small explosive had served a different purpose and done a splendid job at further disorienting the monster.

Byolo charged forward and threw a second one before quickly backing up.

They let their prey tire itself out more a bit before Kert gave the sign that his artefact had recharged and was once again ready for use.

He aimed more carefully this time and hit the inside of its throat at the first try. Thanks to the two grenades that had torn open the normally slippery flesh the sticky cloud had no problem to find hold and instantly hardened like before.

From that point on the creature´s fate had been sealed and the fight turned into a waiting game for Tanya´s team. Five minutes of choking and desperately struggling on the ground later and the scaly giant laid dead. Night time had come while they fought and so they opted to set up camp directly behind the behemoth´s corpse.

The whole next day was spent with taking apart the corpse for any valuable parts and sorting through the piles of slime and junk in its belly. Tanya´s prediction of rich loot inside the beast had indeed come true and they now possessed so many valuables that they would be unable to carry even half of them.

So they only took the best of the best or what they thought looked the most intriguing. Tanya was sure that she couldn´t keep any of the artefacts as their procurement had been a group effort. In the best case it would be considered rude and in the worst as theft.

Nonetheless did she pick up three objects which she hoped to get evaluated by an expert and then buy them from Bondrewd with her own money. Would her father accept instalments? If she played her cards right he might even give her a family discount...

All the rare stones and smaller artefacts that they couldn’t take with them were hidden inside the neighbouring tunnels to retrieve at a later date. It would be a shame to let the fruits of their labour go to waste after all.

The rest of the trip inside the caverns was less eventful. Constant darkness made it impossible to tell the time, but Tanya estimated that they spend at least a week or two inside the tunnels. More than once did she compare the twisted, in parts slimy cave system to the insides of a gigantic animal. Not a totally unfounded comparison considering that they stumbled upon more than one Amakagame during their travels.

They were plant-like creatures that imitated the scent of Baracocha fruits to lure in the much smaller Neritantans and swallow them in their gigantic open stomachs. It reminded Tanya of Venus flytraps from her first life only way more massive and dangerous.

Well, she couldn’t deny that Nertantans were absolutely delicious. Their soft flesh was a welcome change from her tasteless rations and hard bread. As a bonus the pelts of these rabbit-like creatures were extraordinarily fluffy and served well as pillows. Maybe she could sell them at the surface or make a nice scarf out of them.

Finally though they reached a stone plateau out in the open which was marked with a ring of coloured stones and a small, withered sign that read: “Elevator above. Take care.”

They had reached the transition to the second layer.

Chapter Text

Chapter 20

Tanya had been unsure at first how to call the supposed elevator down without any sort of signal light or wiring in place, but surprisingly there was no need for that. The lift lowered itself quietly though the fog overhead and softly touched down on the grass.

Thankfully whoever had designed it had understood that raising the elevator too quickly would result in the passengers suffering the full effects of the curse. So to prevent that the platform was very slow during its ascend. (Which was also excessively boring.)

At long last their snail-like ride finally ended as they stepped out of the metal cage onto a wooden platform underneath the Inverted Forest.

The Inverted Forest was like so many other things in the Abyss a marvel of biology. Due to the strong updrafts from the third layer the trees in this area had evolved to appear upside down. Sunlight was also deflected upwards from the forcefield of the Abyss, so along with the upwards blown water vapour it allowed the plants to best make use of their requires resources. Between these hanging tress and thick branches had a vast network of bridges and walkways been erected that served as infrastructure for the delver group that lived here.

For some bizarre reason they called themselves the “Subterranean Bandits”. A terrible name on so many levels really, but mainly because they directly called themselves criminals which couldn´t possibly inspire confidence in potential customers. If Tanya hadn´t know for a fact from Bondrewd´s notes that their leader Ozen was a capable delver and business woman then she would have immediately lost all respect for someone who was obviously neither good at being a criminal nor an entrepreneur. (Real bandits wouldn´t openly declare their intentions and base of operations after all.)

The guide who awaited them introduced himself as Simred and offered to lead them to a spare room where they could spend the night. Tanya kept quiet and let her superiors handle this kind of thing. Compared to them she had no authority here. Nonetheless did she ask for an audience with Ozen at her earliest possible convenience, because Bondrewd had specifically told her to lead the negotiations. She had no idea why he would choose her for the job instead of her more experienced co-workers, but she presumed it was a test of some sorts. Whatever it was he wanted her to prove, she would not fail him!

Astonishingly he gestured for her to follow him right away. She was uncertain if he really could arrange a meeting so soon or if this was a trap, but when Simred opened the door to Ozen´s office her hesitation promptly vanished.

Ozen was an imposing woman, even taller than Bondrewd. If she had to guess she was maybe around 220 to 230 cm tall which was nearly double Tanya’s own height. The difference was even noticeable while she was sitting down which made Tanya all the more conscious of her own childlike height. It was so annoying to be just under one and a half meters tall damn it! Compared to that she had been a giant in her old life!

As she entered the office Tanya decided to pull her mask off. It was always important in business meetings to seem approachable and honest so hiding behind an impassive piece of metal wouldn´t do her any favours here. She clasped it to her belt and stood ramrod straight at attention awaiting a formal greeting and welcome to Ozen´s home that never came.

So they waited there in uncomfortable silence. Was this supposed to be some kind of powerplay or was she expecting Tanya to break the ice? Whatever the case she would not stand idle and waste time any longer.

“Greetings. I am Tanya Degurechaff. Red Whistle and aspiring Umbra Hand. It is a pleasure to make the acquaintance of another White Whistle as famous as you. Even down at the bottom of the fifth layer I have heard fantastic stories of your exploits.”

She bowed respectfully as one should when addressing superiors above one´s station and smiled pleasantly. Her talents in flattery had obviously become rusty, because Ozen looked less than impressed.

“So he is grooming children now to be part of his cult.” she sneered derisively.

Honestly, she should have expected the rivalry between competing businesses. It was still a bold move on Ozen´s part to be so open in displaying her dislike in front of her rival´s employee. Perhaps she should make it clear that she was no mere grunt from the lowest management level. If she wanted to succeed in this negotiation then she needed a respectful atmosphere.

“I can assure you my father has no intentions of forming a cult in any form. Everybody including myself works for Bondrewd out of their own free will.”

“Father, ey? I wouldn´t have picked him to be the kind of guy who could get himself a woman. That mother of yours must have hit her head or something.”

Was she insulting his masculinity? Really? Tanya was shocked that someone as distinguished as a White Whistle would stoop so low as to use the oldest affront known to man: “You are not as likely to propagate as I. Haha.” Truly pathetic.

“I wouldn´t know. I never met her. When he gracefully adopted me from a nameless orphanage out in the frozen wastes of Sereny he became my only parent.”

Ozen scowled.

“Out of pure charity I imagine. And what made you so special that he didn´t kill you?” she asked venomously.

Again, those nasty rumours about his supposed murderous tendencies. What was up with that? Who would spread such obviously false slander about Bondrewd? He was a man of science not of senseless violence. The earlier they set up a dedicated PR team for him the better.

“Those are entirely unfounded claims. With all due respect, but I believe you have been misinformed. I recently met one of my fellow orphans in the fourth layer where they lived in peace and freedom. Bondrewd has often times demonstrated his genuine love for children or else I would not be here. He has simply no reason to engage in homicide.”

The woman opposite of her just stared with a hollow look in her eyes. A lesser woman would have been intimidated, but Tanya held strong.

“Whatever. Feel free to pass through my domain as fast as possible.”

Tanya nearly scoffed. First she had to suffer the disrespect of Ozen concerning her esteemed father and now the woman wanted her to hurry up, because as a business rival she was not wanted on her turf. It was not like anyone really had a choice when they wanted to travel between the second and third layer. There were other ways connecting the two layers, but the one in the middle was the fasted one.

“As enjoyable as this conversation is,” not Tanya mentally added. “but I have not come all the way up here just for pleasantries.”

Bondrewd had given her this task and she intended to fulfil it no matter what. If she had to put up with such unprofessional people as Ozen then so be it. Failure was not an option. Especially in her first job.

She ignored Ozen´s snort and continued with her most winning smile: “You see, I have been sent with a request for a joined business venture between your organization and ours.”

Hastily she continued before the superstitious White Whistle on the other side of table could object.

“You expressed your believe earlier that Bondrewd was some sort of criminal who dabbled in murder and other uncouth affairs, but those are simply rumours, nothing more. Like I said I lived by his side for many years and would - as a result - know him better than anybody else. His image is being tarnished, intentionally or not. The same could be happening to you. In the future or right now without you noticing.”

Establishing a sense of urgency and importance was indispensable for reaching an agreement on the matter.

“So in order to combat the spread of untruths and properly educate the good people of Orth, and to a lesser extend the whole world, we have hatched a plan that will benefit the delver community as a whole. We want to establish an information centre at surface to educate any interested visitors on the true nature of the Abyss as well as the brave men and women who explore it.”

While before her smile had been merely shining brightly it now became blinding.

“Boost your image and find new career opportunities! Think of how many more capable workers could be properly prepared to contribute to our work! Lecturing them on what we do and how we do it would help them to judge if they are fit for our line of business and stay more safe in the future. A reduced mortality rate paired with rising interest and the betterment of our image will be the result!”

She toned down her smile and the room returned to darkness.

“All you would need to contribute at first are a few written pages about your work and exploits. Maybe even a few pictures if you have any. With these we would be able to set up a exhibition at the surface. He costs are going to be handled by us of course. I got a few more details here in this document-“

“I decline.” Ozen said coolly.

“Please reconsider, this can only benefit you-“

“No. My decision is final. Now get out of my sight.”

Tanya had failed. She had let her father down and betrayed his expectations. She had proven unworthy of being his daughter. Years of hard work had just been wasted by that ignorant woman. Her eyes were growing moist, but she refused to show weakness in front of a business rival.

If she refused to cooperate then Tanya would force her. Her future was on the line.

Chapter Text

Chapter 21

She couldn´t find sleep that night. The bed was soft and the room comparatively warm, but all this comfort did was remind her of what she was about to lose if she failed in her assignment. Of course Bondrewd would not throw her out immediately, but she was under no illusions that he would try to get the most out of his investment by sending her on more training missions. It was only logical that an employee who was unsuited for their task needed additional upskilling.

What her failure really meant were months, possibly years of sleeping in damp, dangerous caverns far away from home. Nasty rations, wet socks, the curse of the Abyss... all of that would plague her for longer than was acceptable if her father became dissatisfied with her current skill level. If worst came to worst she could end up like poor Nanachi... ugh. Even the thought of that kind of uncivilized hell sent a new shiver down her spine.

No!

She would not so easily be defeated by that arrogant woman!

A negative attitude bred negative results. Tanya would try tomorrow again and see if she could change Ozen´s attitude, although she didn´t set her hopes to high considering that her opponent was called “The Unmovable” not without reason. In case that she should not emerge successful she would rely on Plan B.

She only needed to wait a few hours after breakfast before Simred escorted her again to Ozen´s office. Due to her making it pretty obvious that associates of Bondrewd were not wanted in this place she needed to get the hook in quickly.

The dark room was every bit as foreboding as yesterday and the woman in the middle of it had lost none of her physical impressiveness even if Tanya´s opinion of her character had soured.

“So what do you want now?” she said gruffly.

“I would like to ask a few short questions, if that is alright with you? I promise it won´t take long.”

“And why should I even humour you to begin with?”

Tanya had had a hunch that she would be asking something like that. So she did what any successful business woman did and appealed to the basest human desire: Greed.

“Well, you see, on our way through the third layer we came upon a Crimson Splitjaw and promptly defeated it. When we were carving up the beast we discovered a great amount of different rare ores and artefacts inside. I believe we would be unable to transport most of them... But you could help us in taking care of them, no? I am sure it would be quite the catch. Among the piles there is going to be much that will interest you...”

It was a risky strategy to barter with items that did not rightfully belong to her, but she believed it would work out. Bondrewd would understand the importance of monetary encouragement. The PR they would get out of deal were more than worth it in her opinion.

Not to mention that she could literally peddle Ozen the most useless junk of the bunch. She had been careful to neither reveal the location nor the exact number of valuables that were still hidden in the depths below. Some of the ores would maybe bring a hefty sum of money, but to sell them Ozen would need to haul them to the surface, get them smelted, refined and cast into ingots. Overall the effort robbed them of much of their worth in Tanya´s eyes.

“Am I understanding this correctly...” the giant woman said slowly as she drummed her fingers on the table. “You are offering me part of your loot as payment so that I give you an interview for your little advertisement project, correct?”

“You could call it that, but the publicity serves not only us but also every other White Whistle. So you are profiting too if you present yourself and your company advantageously.”

Calling this collection of mercenaries living in tree huts a “company” physically hurt Tanya, but she didn´t want to upset Ozen. Those in power often tended to pride themselves on their status.

“And your ´father´ is going to use this stupid museum or whatever to cover up his murders?”

“No. He is going to use it to show the people that he in fact doesn´t murder anybody.”

Ozen just fixed her with a menacing stare. Her hollow eyes almost seemed to suck in all the light in the room.

The tension was thick in the air. A cold sweat broke out on Tanya´s skin.

“...Ah, fuck it. I don´t care. Do what your gonna do, - pester my men if you must - but leave me alone.”

She involuntarily let out a breath she didn´t know she had been holding. Sadly, she wouldn´t be getting an interview from Ozen directly, but her underlings were fair game now. Her father would be at least moderately pleased.

∞•۞˂Ozen´s point of view˃۞•∞

The creepy little girl was as fascinating as she was annoying. Bondrewd the bastard must have trained her well. She could tell that Tanya meant every word she said, yet it all appeared so studied in and calculated. Had it not been for her small size and childish voice one could have mistaken her as one of those irritating paper pushers from the surface. Those who waltzed into the artefact auctions with an aura of calm superiority and boredom as if they owned the place. It was pissing Ozen off!

But she had to hand it to the girl; making a trip from the bottom of the fifth layer all the way up here unscathed was no small feat considering her age. She was clearly more capable than those damned bureaucrats would ever be. A shame that she was fiercely loyal to such a piece of shit.

Perhaps what she had been told about him had not been the entire truth? Had she misinterpreted the signs all along and he wasn´t using those kids in some sick experiment? But what else would he do with the masses of children he brought down there that her men had reported?

Tanya´s existence proved that at least some of them could come back and she had allegedly no clue what the rumours could be referring to. Maybe she should have questioned the little negotiator more, but she did not feel like running after her and asking. For now she would entertain the idea that there was more to the story than she knew and that not all the facts might be correct. Didn´t mean she suddenly liked the weird mask guy. ´

Lyza could potentially have some info on the issue after how long she spent in the lower levels. Too long as some might say, but Ozen told herself that she didn´t care. They weren´t friends or anything. Nope. She had only carried that stupid box with her dead daughter in it, because she had been pressured into it. What even happened to the child?

Eh, most likely she had ended up in some rotten orphanage after her idiot of a father had gracelessly got himself killed in the most moronic way possible. How could someone fall down the same cliff he had been shitting off prior? Pathetic.

Ozen hoped that the loot from the Splitjaw would be worth the onsetting migraine.

Chapter Text

Chapter 22

Taking a few interviews and embellishing them for her own purposes was easy work for Tanya and she quickly finished with her task. Truth was in most cases a rather subjective thing for humans after all. Throughout the whole procedure she felt the watchful eyes of her accompanying superiors on her which caused her to internally smile. With any luck they would report her diligence and further her promotion!

Afterwards they hurriedly left Ozen´s hideout, because they were clearly unwanted in her home. The Forest of Temptation could at times be annoying to navigate and was home to many ravenous animals, but compared to the dangers of the lower layers this one was a joke. Especially if your team mates where three Black Whistles.

Tanya even got a look at a famed Corpse Weeper with its bizarre asymmetric eyes before it got decapitated by Byolo! Nature was so exciting at times!

Another beautiful thing was the direct sunlight that broke through the clouds. All the light in the layers below had been reflected and rebound many times by the forcefield of the Abyss and as a result had lost much of its strength. It did its job to illuminate the caverns of the netherworld, but it could not be compared to actual, not warped sunlight directly from the source.

Soon they would reach the first layer which could basically be seen as the outskirts of Orth. The strain there was so mild that she would barely even notice it. This close proximity with civilization brought problems with it though.

Tanya originally had planned to enjoy the clear ocean air and the warm sunshine when they arrived at the upper levels, but she wasn´t so sure if that was a good idea anymore. Her meeting with Ozen had been enlightening in many things. Mainly, if people´s instinctive reaction to seeing an Umbra Hand were hatred and distrust then she couldn´t just walk around without fear of getting assassinated like her dear father.

Should she keep her mask on then the distinctive blue light of the device would inform everybody about her employer which would negatively affect how they treated her. On the other hand, should she show her real face while associating with her fellow co-workers then she would give away her identity which could negatively impact her future. Neither of these options was good.

But how else could she walk around the surface world to organize her project?

In a disguise naturally!

And just to be sure she needed a fake name as well. Never giving away critical information for free was one of the ground rules to success after all. Only when the PR campaign had cleared the name of her company would she openly appear in public to further strengthen the image of her father´s business. As long as Bondrewd was happy she could be happy as well.

Her idea was easily accepted by her companions, but the exact details of the implementation of said plan was unclear. Where could they get convincing disguises that did not consist of tent-cloth and leaves?

Other delvers obviously.

The question was just how forceful that acquisition of material was allowed to be without branding them as criminals.

∞•۞˂Bondrewd´s point of view˃۞•∞

Convincing Ozen to help with anything that had his name on it was an extremely difficult feat. He knew that well. As soon as his name became part of the equation many people would react with fear or anger, but it mattered not to him. Those fools could only see the barest hint of the netherworld´s true potential. Their greed for its treasures blinded them to the true perils and riches that lurked below.

That was the reason why he was (as so often) immensely proud of his adoptive daughter. Her brilliant mind and steely determination had managed to sway even Ozen the Immovable to their cause. With the use of an artefact on his host´s body he had heard every word of their conversation and was astounded by the craftiness of the little girl. She must have picked her trading skills when she was but a half-frozen orphan.

It had been a good idea to send her on this mission despite her age. Every day she seemed to flourish more and more. Her innate talents were awe-inspiring. When she would finally reach the peak of knowledge and skill...

Multiple of his bodies shivered at the thought of what marvels she would be able to accomplish once he had given her access to his sanctum, his best protected secret:

The Zoaholic.

Also known as the “Soul-Slave-Machine” by less open minds. (All his hosts had agreed willingly to undergo the procedure after all.)

What would she do when she had distributed her consciousness to other bodies as he had? What marvels would she achieve? He couldn´t wait to find out.

∞•۞˂Riko´s point of view˃۞•∞

Riko was having not the best day. Well, to be honest it was pretty bad. First she had fallen asleep during the Director´s class and that had earned her a sharp slap to the face and a verbal humiliation in front of all the other kids. It wasn´t her fault that she needed sleep after she stayed up the whole night beforehand.

Sadly she had blurted out that last bit and had been sternly questioned why she had not used the night to rest. She had tried to find an excuse, but the icy eyes of the Director had quickly broken all resistances that she put up. The real reason why she had no slept at all was because she had used that time to closely examine an artefact that she had borrowed from storage.

Another bad decision on her part to reveal that information.

Her room had been searched and she had gotten a proper punishment. Three hours of being tied up naked was not fun. Not to mention the tedious lecture about not touching stuff that didn´t belong to her. Blah, blah, blah...

She was nine years old already! Not a small child! She knew the rules! But she had just been dying to get a closer look at the thing her siblings had brought with them yesterday. Sometimes delvers had to take risks, everybody knew that, and she was on her way to become a legendary White Whistle like her mother. So in the end she felt totally justified in taking the artefact. (Not that she told that to the Director’s face.)

When she had finally been unbound from the itchy rope she had immediately taken off to her Super Secret Hideout in the attic where she had hidden her Extremely Important Notes. She had known that she couldn´t keep the relic forever after all and so she sketched it to the best of her ability.

But then she couldn´t find her papers! Had she misplaced them? The orphanage was big and it was possible that she had accidentally left them somewhere else. Riko searched and searched, but she couldn´t locate her drawings! Nobody she asked knew anything about their whereabouts.

After hours of running around like a headless chicken (she had learned that phrase from a few sailors at the festival last year) she couldn´t take it anymore. She tried to hold the tears back, because she was too old to cry and didn´t want to further embarrass herself. Her siblings would surely laugh at her for crying like a baby! Nonetheless her emotions began to overwhelm her, so she ran out of the back door and unto the street.

Riko´s eyes were clouded by tears which led to her having no idea where she was running until she suddenly crashed into somebody and fell to the ground. She rubbed her eyes and stared at the girl she had bumped into.

“Oww... Ah, sorry. – sniff – I just – sniff – ran and... and... y´know?”

“Ah, no worries. I should have seen you coming.” replied the stranger with a cute voice.

“Oh, have you seen my glasses. – sniff – They must have fallen...”

“Here. Take them.”

“T-thanks.”

Suddenly the world became a whole lot clearer for Riko. The unknown girl who now seemed to smile from under the scarf she wore over her mouth, although her shimmering, blue eyes looked not as friendly. Her long, blonde hair was held back by a bandana and the rest of her petite form was concealed from head to toe by a professional looking mantle. Around her neck hung a red whistle.

“Wow. Are you a Red Whistle? So cool! I wish I was. What´s your name?” Riko asked excitedly, her sorrow temporarily forgotten.

“You may call me... Rose.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 23

“So Riko, where do you live?” Tanya asked, staring up into the sky and enjoying the view of real clouds. It was an innocent question to gauge her standing in society. Perhaps this girl could be useful to her.

“Um, in the Belchero Orphanage.”

“Ah, yes.” she pretended to know that place. “And how old are you?”

“Nine!” the girl declared proudly while adjusting her glasses.

“You look like a lovely girl Riko. I am sure you have many friends in the city do you?”

“N-no. We aren´t supposed to go too far from the orphanage yet, so I haven´t met too many people. B-but I know Leffi! She´s the best! I think we are friends... Although she is friends with everyone...“

“Mmmhh.” hummed Tanya noncommittally. “How old is Leffi then?”

“Um, twenty? No, that can´t be... thirty? I don´t know... But she´s really pretty though!”

Wonderful. A potential source for more information about the city then. Being well knowledgeable about Orth would be necessary if she wanted her father’s project to succeed. You never knew how trustworthy children’s stories were so she would not rely on Riko for too long. On the other hand children were inconspicuous enough to get into a lot of places unnoticed, because nobody took them seriously. Perhaps some of the orphans would be willing to spy for her in exchange for small gift? Tanya still remembered what she had done in her orphanage to get even a scrap of food.

“That´s nice. So you said you wanted to be a delver, is that right?”

“Yes! More than anything! I want to be a White Whistle someday like my mom! Just imagine all the cool things I will discover and... and the super awesome adventures I'm going to experience!”

She could only shake her head at this foolish naivety. Thankfully the overexcited girl didn´t notice as she spun her tales of the fantastical, fairy tale version of what she imagined work in the Abyss to be like. Tanya wanted to tell her that there was nothing fun about bleeding from every orifice in your body or nearly getting your head bitten off by a giant snake, but she refrained from doing so. As long as Riko was enamoured with the fantasy version of what a delver did then she would hopefully cling to Tanya´s every word and not become suspicious.

Finally after her little monologue had ended she inquired after the fact that she was most curious about:
“So your mother was a White Whistle? What was her name?”

It sounded like an innocent question, but only an idiot would answer it. From what she heard White Whistles were treated like celebrities and exposing yourself as the child of one could make you an easy target for many who wished to extort such an influential figure.

“She is as White Whistle! Lyza the Annihilator is the greatest delver there is! She is not dead. I know it!”

“Aha. That is fascinating. Yes, she is pretty famous.” Tanya smiled with all the enthusiasm she could muster.

“Not to mention that nobody has seen her for long time.” she added in her thoughts. The Annihilator even had books written about her! Alone the information that she had a child would be worth the journey through the Abyss if she sold it to the right people. (Not that she intended to do that if she could exploit this situation in her favour.)

“I can´t wait till she visits me again! She´s always so long down there that I nearly forget her face. Haha.”

Choosing her career over her family in this time period could not have been an easy decision. Female delvers were a thing, but the traditional image of woman as loving mothers and housewives was very much still existent. Although one´s perception of time could become weirdly distorted in the deeper layers of the netherworld Tanya estimated the current era to be comparable to the 1920s from her homeworld. Props to Lyza for valuing her personal independence more than her spawn. She would have done the same.

“Come let us get back to your home Riko. I bet your caretakers are already worried about you.”

“Oh! You´re right Rose! We have to hurry!”

And so they ran as fast as their nine year old legs could carry them.

∞•۞˂Jiruo´s point of view˃۞•∞

“Ahhh...” he sighed in frustration.

Riko had gone missing again. This time she had obviously lost something dear to her and then when she couldn´t find it she had stormed out the door and ran into the city. Typical. It was already getting dark outside and she had not returned which made him worry immensely.

Had something happened to her? Did she stumble and fall off a cliff in her usual clumsiness? Was she kidnapped? Wounded? Stuck in a tree?

Maybe he really should have chased after her. His negligence had cost poor Riko whose mother he had promised to keep safe. Damn it!

Enough. Jiruo would not wait any longer while a child under his care was in danger! If he found her then the punishment would be-

Exactly in this moment the girl in question slipped in through the backdoor he had been watching and froze when she spotted him. She was panting and red in the face as if she had just ran a great distance. The location of the sun had probably told her that she needed to come back and she had sprinted all the way.

“Riko where were you? Do you have any idea of how much trouble you are in?”

Before a sound could leave her open mouth a second presence slid up behind her into the light.

“Excuse me kind sir, but I believe it was my fault that Riko here lost track of time. Had I not engaged in her in conversation then I am sure she would have been punctual for curfew. I humbly beg for your forgiveness.” the figured said with a bow.

He couldn´t make out their features under the cloth that they wore around their mouth, but the voice and the long, blond hair clearly identified the stranger as a girl. Wait... was that a red whistle around her neck? And why was she so formal? She didn´t look any older than Riko.

“And who might you be?” he asked impassively.

“You may call me Rose. I am a simple Red Whistle delver, returning from an expedition to the Subterranean Bandits.”

Ozen´s group? They had a somewhat bad reputation when it came to undercutting prices on the market and some had accused them of stealing in the past, although nothing could be proven. Nothing too scandalous, but that she associated with them could mean a number of nasty things. There was no need for her to put dangerous suggestions into Riko´s head.

“Then who is your teacher Rose?”

“Ah, the Black Whistle Tunigoru. He is a wonderful instructor and very knowledgeable about the flora of the Abyss. “

Jiruo had never heard of this person which made him wary, but foreign delvers arrived all the time and some explorers stayed in the deeper layers for years. It was absolutely possible that this person had been longer in the Abyss than he even was alive! So he would trust Rose´s word for now.

“What is your business with Riko?”

“I don´t have many friends, you know? We just ran into each other and got immersed in a thrilling conversation. I decided to follow her home, because I was curious to see this part of Orth. I have never been here before and I wanted to look around a bit.”

Somehow the response sounded stiff as if practiced. Maybe he was just imagining things. This only was a small girl after all. Despite those eyes looking older...

“Where is your master then? Shouldn´t he be with you? ”

“He has a few things to handle at the other end of town. I went around exploring and got lost a little.” Rose said, looking at the ground.

Riko chose to chime in: “Oh please Leader can she stay for tonight? It´s already night and you don´t want her to get home through the darkness, do you? I promise I will take good care of her! Please?”

Although he would not admit it under pain of death, those big, hopeful puppy-dog eyes were wearing down his resolve. How could he say no to her without sounding like a heartless monster?

“Fine. But you will wash her bed clothes. And don´t think that I forgot your punishment! Tomorrow, I want you at my doorstep by sunrise!”

“Yayyy!”

“My thanks, Mr...?”

“Jiruo.”

“I hope this will be a moment we look back on fondly Mr. Jiruo.” Rose smiled widely.

For some reason he doubted that.

Chapter Text

Chapter 24

"So, are you finally gonna tell me now?”

“What should I be telling you?” asked Tanya confused, not bothering to turn her head to Riko who was practically vibrating in excitement on her bed.

“More about the Abyss of course! Have you been lower than the second layer? Have you ever fought a swarm of Gravehoppers? Or a Silverfly? What kinds of artefacts have you found? Have you ever been injured? Do you eat the flesh of-“

“Stop. It is late and you need sleep.”

“Come ooooooooon...” whined Riko.

“Oh well. Two questions! No more!”

“Yayyy! What was deepest point you explored?”

“Um... maybe to the half-way point of the third?” she lied.

“Awesome! What did you find? Did you see a Crimson Splitjaw? How was the-“

“Two questions remember?”

“Aww... Well, then... uhm... Oh! I know! When did you start delving? You are already a Red Whistle and you are as old as me, so I wondered...”

The unspoken question hung painfully obvious in the air and Tanya was at a loss for words. If she told the truth then the overly enthusiastic Riko would probably do something stupid, because she overestimated her own capabilities and if she lied then it would sound unbelievable. Regardless of how naive the young girl was Tanya had no desire to indirectly cause her grief or injury or death, because she ventured into dangerous territory unprepared, but

What should she do? Internally she cursed herself for not coming up with a convincing backstory beforehand. Now there was no time to come up with a adequate deception. Painting an incomplete picture with half-truths would have to suffice.

Tanya vaguely gestured in the air:
“Oh, unlike you I am an orphan who never met her parents. I don´t really know my birthday and I never really counted the days that went by. When you are staying in the Abyss for longer periods of time then the change of seasons or even years on the surface becomes kind of irrelevant.”

It seemed her distraction had been successful, because Riko eagerly asked:
“Really? How cool! Uh... I don´t mean the no knowing your birthday part... but... y´know...”

“Everything is alright. I am not offended.”

“Yay! Then let us-“

“Sleep. You wanted to say ‘sleep’ right?” Tanya smiled with a dangerous edge in her voice.

“Y-yes! O-of course...”

“Good night Riko.”

“Good night Rose.”

∞•۞˂Riko´s point of view˃۞•∞

As expected the punishment Leader gave to her the next morning had been severe, but she had expected nothing less. He was a stern man who was no fun most of the time. At least that made him different from the Director who was never anything but strict. How somebody could constantly make such a mean and intimidating face was beyond her.

Rose had vanished before dawn (but not without neatly folding her sheets) which saddened Riko immensely. She didn´t want to lose her new friend so shortly after they had met, not to mention that she hadn´t even asked a tenth of what she wanted to know from her.

Grumpily she had made her way down to the kitchen to receive breakfast, walking slowly because the soles of her feet still hurt from the lashing. Her eyes were fixated on the floor so that she wouldn´t trip and fall due to the pain, so she did not detect the crowd forming around her until it was too late.

“Mornin´ Riko! Where´s your friend you brought home yesterday?”

“Yeah! Tell us!”

“She was kinda cute...”

“Is it true that she is a Red Whistle?”

Riko sighed. F course they had listened in on their conversation. She shouldn´t have expected anything different. Word spread fast in the orphanage after all.

“Let me eat first. Then I´ll tell you.” she grunted.

That bought her a few relatively peaceful minutes until she had wolfed down her meal until she was pestered with questions again. She did her best to answer them, but some of the younger ones seemed to possess an insatiable curiosity. Was this how Rose had felt?

Luckily they had classes again and nobody dared to show up late or make noise during the Director´s lesson. Not that she could concentrate on listening today. She didn´t even notice the end of class before Nat yelled out to her:

“Oh hey, look! Isn´t that your new friend?”

Instantly she perked up and looked through the nearby window where Ermi was pointing at.

Outside stood Rose and waved at her. She was back! Riko sprinted to the door and threw it open to make sure it was real.

“Rose! Where have you gone? I was so worried!”

“I am sorry that I troubled you Riko. I just had to take care of some business that couldn´t wait and I did not want to inconvenience your caretakers at the dining table. Every scrap of food is valuable in an orphanage, I know that well.”

“Eh? Well... I don´t think we are that poor... I mean... I only ever went hungry to bed when I was being punished for something. The orphanage makes enough money through the auction of artefacts to properly feed all of us.”

“Oh...”

Awkward silence ensued as Riko had no idea how to comfort somebody who had grown up in an apparently worse situation than herself. Should she hug Rose? Or apologize?

“Anyways, I came back to suitably thank you for your hospitality yesterday. Sleeping in a real house is a pleasure you too will learn to appreciate in the future. So thank you.” She said while bowing.

Riko nervously waved her hands:
“No, no, no it´s fine! It was no big deal at all! Even if you didn´t tell me too much it was super interesting listening to you!”

“Is that so? Well, I hoped I could beg you for another favour. With suitable compensation of course.”

“W-what?”

“Naturally I would never demand something for free, so I brought this Neritantan pelt with me. You probably know of these little critters in the third layer and of how fluffy they are. I hope you like it.”

Rose produced a (in Riko´s eyes) large piece of white fur from a pouch at her hip and presented it to her carefully. Riko was speechless.

“Ehm... Was I wrong? If you don´t want that I also have-“

“By the Abyss, that is soooooo awesome!” she screeched in such a high voice that a nearby window slightly cracked.

Eagerly she grabbed the pelt and began to reverently pet it.

“Awwww! It´s so comfy! So silky smooth!”

Rose cleared her throat and tried to get the attention of the gushing girl in front of her, but Riko was far too occupied with feverishly stroking the fur in her hand. It took a whole minute for her to calm down enough to take note of her surroundings once more and blush in embarrassment.

“S-sorry. I got a b-bit carried away. Hehe...”

“No big deal. I imagine it is not often that you get gifts from the third layer.”

“N-no... Wait... Why would you even give me something so precious?”

“Because I would be delighted if you could show me around the area and maybe inform me about some of the local gossip. Shouldn´t be too hard right?”

Rose smiled underneath her scarf and Riko felt something weird in her gut. Ah, that was probably just the old oatmeal she ate earlier messing with her stomach.

“Of course! You didn´t need to gift me anything though... I gladly would have done that without this Neritantan skin! W-we´re friends right?... N-not that I want to give it back! I really like it!”

Protectively she clutched the fur to her body. Never would she let go of this treasure! She would even shower with it if she had to!

“Wonderful! Nonetheless am I a firm in believer in fair compensation for adequate labour. Friendship is nice and all, but on a competitive, capitalistic market you need to be aware of the worth of your services or else you will get scammed by some no-good social parasite real quick! You wouldn´t want to get roped into a pyramid scheme would you?”

“W-what? A-adequate? C-competitive? Pyramid... something? What does t-that even mean?”

“Do you have any appointments in the next few hours?”

“Ehm... I don´t think so?”

“Good. Come with me. I have much to explain any you much to understand.”

Needless to say that when Riko returned in the evening her head was swimming with strange concepts and theories. That night she dreamt of selling her individual body parts to the highest bidder and bathing in a river of money.

∞•۞˂Tanya´s point of view˃۞•∞

Scouting out Orth went quicker than expected. Thanks to Riko´s helpful cooperation and a few tips towards location where huge amounts of citizens tended to discuss their daily lives she had a rather good picture of how the public was feeling. The political climate was tense as the new major in town had hiked up the import taxes which caused many wares to increase in price much to the displeasure of the populace. Honestly, what was he thinking? This was an island dependent on supplies from the mainland. The only natural resource not originating from the Abyss was fish, but you could not feed people with fish alone.

Well, that played in her favour. When people grew desperate for money they automatically looked up to those that they perceived as wealthier and tried to emulate their success. She could practically see the interest into delving skyrocketing.

Tanya had told Riko as much during her little crash course into modern economics. If the girl wanted to become a delver then she needed to know at least the basics of the free market to prevail, lest a predatory employer take advantage of her. By helping her she would hopefully gain a valuable business partner in the future. A negligible amount of her time was a small price to pay for an educated ally.

Casualties always occurred in her line of work and Bondrewd would surely appreciate a possible replacement candidate when the time came. He was fond of children after all.

Chapter Text

Chapter 25

“Don´t you think that´s a tad bit low? I could at least double the price if I sold it to some foreigner.”

“No Murug, it is not. We agreed to this sum beforehand and I have your signature right here to prove it in front of a court. So unless you want trouble you better accept our more than generous payment and get on with your day.”

She glared at the sleazy landowner who had promised to sell them the small house near the eastern market.

“Alright, alright little Miss. I wasn´t serious hehe.” he laughed unconvincingly.

“A pleasure doing business with you Mr. Murug. The two million Orth as we agreed.”
(Note: Yes that is actually what money in MiA is called lmao)

Tanya dropped the bulging bag full of currency into the man´s hand, uncaring that he nearly collapsed under the weight. Even with gloves on she had no desire to touch such an unwashed individual.

“Now kindly leave this establishment. It is ours now and until renovations are completed we have a strict no visitors policy.”

Murug stared incredulously at her for a second, but soon became distracted by the pile of money in his grubby hands and left without another word. Only after the door closed behind him did she allow herself to relax and breathe out a sigh of relief.

“You did good Tanya. Your father will be most pleased with you when we return.” said Timeno.

“Yes, indeed. You have gone above and beyond of what was expected of you. Astounding.” added Byolo.

“But that is all you can do here for now. Do you wish to explore the city for a while longer or shall we head back home?”

That was attempt at subterfuge if she ever saw one! They had acknowledged her usefulness and now wanted to bring the project to completion without her making them look bad! After all, who wanted to be known as the guy who brought in the exclusive, hot business deal with the help of a newbie! That would be an embarrassment! And now they wanted to get rid of her to reap the rewards of their shared work!

But she was only a trainee after all, barely above a janitor in the economic hierarchy. These guys were the ones in control, not her. No matter how much they treated her as an equal, at this point in time she was so far below those Black Whistles in power that she could be crushed by them with hardly any effort. Of course she had special connections as the adoptive daughter of the boss, but surely Bondrewd would trust the judgement of three long-time employees more than that of a kid (oww didn´t that sting?).

So she had to suck up her indignation about being denied to assist in the final (and most important) stages of completion. She was in no place do demand participation in an operation above her non-existent pay grade. If anything, protesting against the decision of her superiors would undo a lot of the good will she had gathered on this work study.

“If that is what you wish.” she replied neutrally, a stark contrast to the storm of disappointment and frustration raging inside her.

“Are you unhappy with that?” asked Timeno concerned.

At least he tried to act that way, but Tanya knew better! They were just teasing her at this point! Dangling the reward in front of her, fully aware that she could claim the sweet prize of her hard work. Office politics could be so cruel at times.

“I'm fine.” she bit out, a slight hint of irritation creeping into her voice.

“If you say so.”

“Do you at least want to see the sea?”

(Of course she did NOT pout like a child. That would be unbecoming. No one could see her face behind the shawl so there was no evidence that she did!)
“No.”

“And what about the friend you made? Riko was her name right? Won´t you say goodbye to her.”

“I guess I should.”

“Then go along. We will begin our work here and you can spend the last few hours until dawn with your friend.”

“She is not my friend! She is a future investment!”

“Sure, sure. Here take this purse. I overheard a few merchants from overseas mention a delicious new treat in town. It´s called ‘Ice Cream’. Perhaps you could buy Riko one? Would be a nice gift, y´know?”

Grumbling she snatched the small leather bag out of his giant paw and stomped out of the house towards the orphanage. If all her efforts were going down the drain then she would at least enjoy a nice, frozen treat. It was lousy compensation, but she would still enjoy it!

∞•۞˂Riko´s point of view˃۞•∞

“What you´re leaving already? Come oooon...” Riko whined. “You´ve been here for barely a week and you´re already delving again?”

“Yeah, I am hoping for a promotion soon, so I have to work extra hard to show my willingness to earn it. Besides, it´s not like I will leave forever! After how much time I spent with you in the last few days do you really think I will just abandon you whenever I come back to the surface?”

Rose´s words filled her chest with warmth. She was such a good friend!

“Of course! I knew I could trust you!”

Although Rose made an attempt to dodge her she could not escape Riko´s super-awesome special friend hug.

“Eh... yeah.”

“Can you bring me cool stuff from the deeper layers if you get the chance? Like the house of a Yellow Cube Snail? They are so small you can carry one in your pocket no problem, but their shell is also so hard that it won´t break under anything less than an anvil! Isn´t that so cool? Please...”

“If I found one I´ll be sure to remember your wish.” her friend said while patting her back.

“Yayy! You are the best Rose!”

“Anyways... Can you let go of me now?”

Sheepishly she took a step backwards and fumbled with her glasses.

“Oh sorry hehe...”

“As a celebration of our... relationship... do you want to come and eat sweets with me? My treat obviously.“

“What kind of sweets?” she asked eagerly.

The best they got to eat were rice balls on holidays or when a kid went down in the Abyss for the first time. Leader said that if ‘they were to die then at least with something yummy in their belly`. So naturally Riko was very exciting about the prospect of eating more delicious food.

“Ice cream. I am sure you will love it.”

Indeed she did. So much in fact that she cried herself to sleep that night not only because her friend was leaving, but also because she would maybe never eat something as tasty as ice cream ever again. Hopefully the Abyss had heard her prayer and would deliver her friend safely back to her. Together they would talk about her discoveries, marvel at the beauty below them and eat ice cream the entire day long. Riko was sure of it!

∞•۞˂Jirou´s point of view˃۞•∞

There was something fishy about that girl. His senses were tingling in the familiar way that had saved his life many times under the tutelage of his mentor, so he decided to investigate her. Skulking through the shadows was not his expertise, but he had not earned his whistle for nothing. Any delver worth their salt could move undetected or else they tended not to live very long.

Following Rose had not been easy, but he had managed. Through bars and the market he trailed her and her behaviour so far had been odd to say the least. She was always watching, listening. Like she wanted to learn about how regular people acted. One time he even caught her emulating the body-language of a beggar in a side-alley. Why would anyone do that? Suspicious.

The strangest part though was when she met up with two masked individuals that looked to be built like wardrobes. Huge packets of muscle and unidentifiable equipment. Either they were mercenaries or experienced delver from the way they carried themselves.

“Hey buddy, what are you stalking her for?”

He spun around in an instant and put his hands up in a defensive position, but his assailant was faster. And way stronger. Seemingly without effort he was pinned to the wall by a claw-like hand on his throat which made struggling impossible if he didn´t want to cut himself on the razor-sharp fingernails that pressed themselves uncomfortably into his skin.

“No need to bother a fine young lass like that, no?” asked the stranger.

Now that he had a chance to analyze his face from up-close he could see that the man who threatened him was similarly dressed like those masked dudes. He too had obscured his features with bandages that revealed not a square centimetre of skin. Slits over his eyes gave the only indication that this was a human and not some golem.

“I was just observing.” Jirou croaked out.

“Mh-mh. That´s fine. Then you won´t mind throwing you around a bit? It would be interesting to see how many times you can kiss the wall before you lose consciousness.”

The grip on his throat tightened before he was suddenly released.

“Haha. Just messing with you. I´m guessing I´m a little overprotective over my niece here. Wouldn´t want to have something to happen to a child under my care. You can surely understand that Mr. Jirou. Now trot along will you?”

As soon as he was out of sight he began to sprint.

Chapter Text

Chapter 26

Descending into the Abyss was so much quicker than climbing out of it! If she hadn´t experienced the effect of the strain of ascending firsthand she would not have believed how liberating the entire ordeal felt. The missing feeling of constant pain or nausea was truly a blessing.

Heh, blessing...

Tanya had overheard Bondrewd a few times talking about the supposed “Blessing of the Abyss”, but had paid it no mind. Of course she had remembered his every word; she aspired to learn from his success after all, but had not thought further about their meaning. When she had progressed far enough in her education to understand his wisdom then he would surely explain everything to her. Until then there was no need to worry about subjects that were too advanced for her.

Only one Umbra Hand accompanied her for protection, which she was thankful for. While that exposed her to greater risks without two more trusty meat shields to protect her from harm, it also provided an opportunity. Now that her co-workers had verified that she wouldn´t instantly succumb to the dangers of the lower levels she needed to prove herself as a capable delver and earn her promotion. Overcoming greater odds would also mark her has more capable in her boss´s eyes.

Even if something dreadful were to happen to her, she was sure that she could rely on Being X´s blasted “gift” to fix it (if absolutely necessary). The amulet that had been seared into the skin under her throat was a permanent reminder of the humiliation she had suffered from that bastard, but its power so far had indeed been incredible. Although she wanted to avoid using the relic as long as possible, it would be foolish to dismiss its capabilities just because it wounded her pride as a self-determined human being.

Of course the “Starflare” as her father had called it was not the only weapon in her arsenal. Tanya was reasonably proficient with a crossbow and throwing knifes. Her flare gun could be repurposed as a grenade launcher (although it could only fire once before it had to be reloaded) and her rock-charges served pretty well as hand grenades. They would protect her adequately.

For the trip through already familiar territory she felt less on edge then the first time, however she was no less cautious because of it. Arrogance could be just as deadly as the fangs of a Reverse Hedgehog. (A small predator of the fourth layer, named after its giant maw full of needle-like teeth that could administer a lethal poison if they felt threatened.) Dying now would waste her years of hard work!

After only two days she and her companion had reached Seeker Camp to continue their track with a few of Ozen´s “Subterranean Bandits” to collect some of the loot from the defeated Crimson Splitjaw. A promise was a promise after all and Tanya had no interest in breaking a deal when the first vulnerable bonds of trust were just being established. No matter how untrustworthy these “bandits” seemed they were Ozen´s employees so she gave them her best “business smile” and did her best to entertain them.

Byolo was rather quiet so she had to do most of the talking which – while annoying – was also an excellent method to carefully extract more subtle information out of them. They laughed about her earnest questions or tried to ruffle her hair, but ultimately indulged her inquiries into their professional life. (Tanya drew the line when one of them attempted to pinch her cheeks. Enough was enough! Only her father was allowed to do that.)

Advice like where to find clean water, how to identify rogue delvers or where thin parts of the netherworld´s force field existed, were invaluable. Bondrewd naturally had drilled all of that already into her brain. But getting a different perspective on things could only enrich her mind in the long run.

Alas, their shared time together was not long as the location of the dead monster was easily accessible from inside the cave network of the Great Fault. The distance that had initially seemed insurmountable on her way up practically flew by during their descent and after only another two days had they found it.

Not for the first time did she wonder if it was by design that escaping the Abyss was so much harder than entering it. The force field was most likely of artificial origin considering that this phenomenon had not been observed anywhere else on the planet and many discovered relics had clearly been artificially produced by a unknown civilization.

In that case this gigantic chasm appeared to function more like a Venus Fly Trap, luring in prey from the surface with promises of wealth and glory only to swallow them whole.

No! Tanya shook those thoughts away. What a ludicrous idea...

∞•۞˂Ű̷̹̐͗̓̚͠n̷̹͕͙̭̬͖͑̄i̷̟̱͎̻̟̓̍̔͒̑͜t̶͍͓͙͝ ̷͎̱̱̟̏̈́͗ͅ2̶͉̩͕͔͉̩͕̀̄3̵̧̰̦̈́̒̊̽̈́͝4̴͙̏̌̎͐͜͝1̵̬̣͔̹͈͗͗̎̆͂̃7̸̧̭̲̺̖͕̬̍̈̒͑̄̚-̵̨͔̳̗͉̑̀͜͝Ę̵͖̱̜̗̤̋̌͆x̴̰̥͛͐̈́͒(̷̨̘̼̫͇̩̻̊̑̆͋͛͒b̵̧̢̢̩͍̗̽̑̄̎̍̍)̷̨̮̣̙͓̄̄̈́̅̓͘ ´s point of view˃۞•∞

WAKING...

WAKING...

WAKING...

RESTORING CONSCIOUSNESS...

[Success]

Huh?

Why was it so dark?

What was happening?

“Where am I?” he asked, slightly scared.

Nobody answered.

He strained his ears to listen for any sign of movement in the darkness, but the silence quickly became too much. It was suffocating him! He needed to get out of wherever he was!

With all his strength he pushed against the invisible weight above him that pinned him to the ground. Slowly he began to hear cracking sounds until the material exploded around where he presumed his hands to be and light blinded him as if he had been physically punched.

Well, it was not exactly bright outside. After a few seconds his eyes got used to the soft glow of his surroundings and he slowly took in what he could see through the hole in front of him. Apparently he had been trapped in some sort of capsule or tomb, because he still could barely move. Outside of his prison a large, black hall stretched into obscurity. The giant room had been made from what seemed like smooth, dark stone that was intersected by faintly glowing purple and green lines. What was that? What did that mean?

He wanted to know! He had to know!

But first he needed to get out of the container he was stuck in.

“Ah, come on! Agh.” he mumbled as he squeezed himself out of the opening, careful not to cut himself at its sharp edges.

“My, how fascinating.”

What.

Who had said that?

Where were they?

His eyes erratically jumped from shadow to shadow to identify the source of the intruder. He redoubled his efforts to free himself from the capsule. If the voice belonged to en enemy then they would catch him vulnerable in his current state!

Suddenly a looming figure filled his vision. It was as if they had appeared out of thin air! They were so large and looming it was frightening!

Instinctively he flinched back and raised his hand [Į̸̮̤̱̭̼͚͇͙̞̩̘͌̔͜͜n̸̡̡̟̺͙̣͍̉̎̏͛̽̾͗͜͝ċ̶̼̠̠̗͑̉̆͑͋͜͝î̶̧̩͙̤͚̲͖̰͉̱̘̜̟̩̐͊́̆̉̄̚n̵͚̗̺͓̖̗̒͂̈́̿͋͊̏̾̚͝ẻ̴̲̰̥̺̜̜̿̊͊̚̕r̵̨̧̤͈̺͚͈̮̰͕̘̂̂̾͛̈́͑̈̽̓̚ä̴̼̱͕͉̲͖̟͔̬́̀̆ͅt̵̤̦̗͌ǫ̷̨̝͉̠͚̰̞̗̙͔̋͒͌̍̌ṟ̵̃̀̈̓̈́̊̓̊͠] and aimed at the possible threat.

“Easy there. I did not come to harm you. Can you understand me?”

Huh?

Was it a trick?

How would he know?

Had he ever been tricked?

He couldn´t remember.

[Failed]

What was that voice in his head just now?

“Do you not speak my language?” asked the ominous figure again and he was reminded of situation he found himself currently in.

“Uh... I do?” he stuttered lamely.

“It seems I have found a true treasure. A clueless boy at the bottom of the world. Hahaha...”

The bottom of the world?

So many questions! Everything was so confusing! Why couldn´t he remember?

“Let me help you out of there.”

Large fingers grasped the bent metal of the opening and pulled it effortlessly apart. He would have fallen to the floor if the mysterious person had not caught him with startling speed and placed him on his feet again. This stranger was scary!

“W-what do you want from me?”

“Oh, I think we are going to have a nice long chat, ey? Come on clueless boy, I should still have tea left!”

What was tea?

With an ever-expanding list of questions without answers he stumbled along with his rescuer/captor, not registering lights behind him powering down forever.

Chapter Text

Chapter 27

“Welcome back, my child.” rumbled Bondrewd´s voice pleasantly through the voice channel in her mask. He stood – as he always did when he was proud of something – with his arms spread wide, his focus solely on her. Behind him the gigantic, smooth walls of Ido Front seemed to greet her as well, as if the violet beacon of light in its centre was physically pulling her in.

Eagerly Tanya approached the door of her beloved home and bowed with grace that even years inside the body of a child could not tarnish. Her saviour had never once demanded such deference from her, but she did it anyway to show her continued devotion and respect to her father’s business.

“I have returned, father. I have accomplished what you sent me out to do. I have gathered much experience and have observed the diverse and intricate life of the Abyss. Against danger I have prevailed and opportunities have I used to their fullest. Thank you for putting your trust in me.”

“Oh my Tanya, you did wonderful!”

Large, warm arms swept her up and she instinctively wrapped her tiny legs around his massive frame as he carried her inside. It was in equal parts humiliating and comforting to be treated as a child, but over the years she had learned to embrace the physical affection that Bondrewd showered her with. At least she knew that there was no safer place in the entire netherworld than in her employer’s arms.

“I am sorry father. Our paper got wet on the descent, but I will have the full report ready by tomorrow.”

“Ha ha, no need. I am sure you are pretty tired from your adventure, so you should rest. Just tell me what happened whenever you feel like it. You are under no obligation to be so serious all the time, darling.”

“Thank you.” she mumbled into his coat, inhaling the familiar scent that she had missed for the last few months.

“I love you, little one. Have you found anything interesting on your journey?”

Even though he couldn´t see her face she sheepishly looked down to hide her guilt.

“Ehm... I may have found three artefacts of unknown function and value that I did not hand in for the auction? I hoped you would be able to determine their worth and if like them I could work off the debt that would be caused if I bought them.”

Saying that aloud made it sound a lot more stupid than she had initially intended.

“I am sorry if I may have gone too far-“

“What have I always told you, my dear? Don´t be so anxious. Regardless of what you do, I will always support you. In my long life I have not met anyone who is as interesting as you, and your choices are always just as fascinating. You are my daughter and nothing can change that.”

Oh.

So he wanted to her to show more initiative, was that it? Still, just because your employer said that he tolerated mistakes did not mean that he would also tolerate failure, for those two terms were very different in nature. It was ok to mess up something unfamiliar and difficult, but to repeatedly do so without changing the outcome was unacceptable.

Very well. If he wished for her to take more risks then she would obey. But that did not mean that she would put any less effort into impressing him!

“Yes, father.” she replied dutifully.

“Ahh... You are growing up so fast. No, you have always been remarkably mature. Many a man or woman should take you as an example. I truly am blessed to have found you in that dreadful orphanage...”

“No.” Tanya thought. “I am the one who needs to be thankful for being found.”

“But enough of that. To celebrate your return I have prepared a little surprise for you.”

He held her a bit farther away so that she could see into the glowing visor of his mask. To an outsider who saw only their obscured forms it would not have signified anything of importance, but to them it was an entire silent conversation. The minute flickers of the purple and blue light, the slight tilt of a head... Tanya could read the silent question hanging in the air as clearly as if it had been written in a book.

“I would like to see it before I go to bed. I am not that tired to be honest.”

“Of course.”

She could hear him smile underneath his helmet and that filled her with indescribable happiness. Never before had she felt so understood by a person in her multiple lives. Not by her original parents, not by her colleagues and not by her ‘friends’. Only Bondrewd managed to complete her so wonderfully.

∞•۞˂˃۞•∞

“Where are you taking me?” he asked, distrustfully eyeing his alien surroundings.

“I said it already. To my camp.”

“And where is that exactly.”

“A bit further up in the eighth layer.”

“Layer?”

“Oh my... You really look like you have just been born today... Haha. You don´t have a damned clue where you are, don´t you?”

“...No. Should I? The first thing I notice is that I was stuck in that dark capsule-thing and then you show up and drag me through nowhere. Who are you anyway?”

“Mm... I suppose it was rude of me not to introduce myself first.”

The large, hulking figure stopped and turned towards him, the outlines of her hooded silhouette illuminated by the faintly glowing crystals dotted throughout the barren landscape. They removed the strange apparatus that covered half their face and with a shake of the head freed their extremely long hair.

“I am Lyza the Annihilator, White Whistle trapped down here forever and delver extraordinaire...”
She mock curtsied and continued: “Pleased to make your acquaintance, clueless boy.”

“Hey, my name is not ‘clueless boy’!”

“Then what is it? You also haven´t provided a name, y’know?”

“My name is... uh... um... my name is... uhhhh... uhhhhh... What is my name?”

“Ha! You are asking me? Well, a nice, clueless boy like you can´t stay nameless. Else you will only more confused I reckon, so how about a temporary name until you do remember. Mhh... How about... Greg?”

“Greg?”

“Yeah, Greg. I knew a merchant named Greg once. He held his booze like no other. Did even drink me under the table once. Well, and one day that old bastard did drink so much he forgot everything for a whole week. Couldn´t recall his shop or his wife. Haha. Man, did he get a thrashing from her. Good times.”

“Um... alright?”

“Enough babbling, Greg. We still have to walk quite a bit.”

∞•۞˂˃۞•∞

“Do you like it?” asked Bondrewd.

Did she like it? No, she loved it! How could she not?

“Yes! Very much! Thank you, father! You are too kind to grace me with such a thoughtful present.”

“Nonsense. It was a pleasure to build and your joy is reward enough. Without your input I doubt I could have developed a functioning prototype this quickly.”

“It is truly marvellous.” whispered Tanya in awe, staring at the complex mechanism in front of her.

“Why don´t you try it out? I tested it already, but your senses are sharper than mine.”

“If this functions as intended it will revolutionize the world! We will be figuratively swimming in money!” she grinned.

“And you will have the first. Although the production cost is still relatively high at the moment. So it may take a while.”

“Maybe. But one thing is for certain: the automatic coffee machine is one of the greatest inventions of all time!”

NON CANON OMAKE:

*AD starts with the brand logo*

Bondred: *Prepares to descend some kids into the 6th layer* "Oh and by the way! Do you want some Umbra Coffee™?"

Kids: "Whyyy!! I dont want to die please!!"

Bondrewd: "Thats what I tought!" *Hands them a cup of coffee as he pulls the lever*

*Ad music plays*

Bondrewd: "Umbra Coffee™... It ain't worth dying without a cup! Buy now!"

*Camera flashes to Tanya drinking Umbra Coffee™ as she winks at the camera*

*AD ends*

Chapter Text

Chapter 28

“Greg, what’s up with your hands?”

“Mmh? What do you mean, Lyza?”

“I mean the rest of you looks like skin and flesh. Although it’s perhaps a bit on the rubbery side if you get what I mean.”

She suddenly grabbed his cheek and pinched it playfully.

“Heyy! Stwop thwat!” he whined.

Unconcerned with his discomfort she continued: “Exactly. But then your arms are all metallic and clunky. Isn't that strange?”

“Ehm... I don’t know. Feels pretty normal to me.”

“Haha. I bet it does. You think they can do anything special?”

There was an excited glint in her eyes that made him feel slightly afraid. As if she was dissecting him with her gaze alone.

“Maybe? Eh... I tried to remember like you told me to, but most of it is blurry somehow. I can`t get a grip on it.”

The scary woman clicked her tongue in disappointment. Despite how intimidating she was Greg did not want to disappoint his only companion in this strange and unfamiliar place. The weirdly distorted howling noises coming from the distance were not something that inspired confidence in his survival should Lyza leave him here alone.

“But I am pretty sure I can do that.”

He stretched his arm out in the direction of his teacup that was standing right beside the fireplace and concentrated on the charged, coiling feeling in his arm. It spooked him a bit when the hand detached itself lighting quick and grabbed the mug with nary a thought before flying back to him and setting into place once more. Bewildered he stared at the object in his hand that he had grabbed from a few meters away with expert precision.

“Not bad. Extendable arms... If I weren’t on my last dive I could fetch a good price for you.”

“W-what? You would sell me?”

“Relax. I can’t go back to the surface so it won’t happen.”

That was not reassuring at all!

“A sentient relic without memories... Stranded on the eighth layer – or is it still the seventh? Without a clue what is going on. Truly, I pity you.”

“Yeah. You said that before. But what does that even mean? You are constantly talking about layers? Can you explain?”

That burning curiosity inside him was acting up again.

“Ughhh... Alright. Let’s start at the beginning. We are currently inside the Abyss, a large underground...”

He continued to eagerly listen to her fantastical tale until his eyelids began to drop and sleep finally overcame him. Flashes of different times, of other languages that he could somehow understand and of bright lights haunted his dreams, yet when Lyza nudged him awake he could recall none of it.

∞•۞˂Tanya´s point of view˃۞•∞

“Any progress, father?” asked Tanya who was stuck hands deep inside a rather complex machine at the moment. It was one of Bondrewd’s many inventions designed to manipulate the effects of the naturally occurring, abyssal phenomenon called the “force field”. How exactly it did that was not something she understood, but he had shown her the blueprints for this apparatus and expected her to calibrate it accordingly to the noted settings.

Although it was demanding work that needed to be performed with absolute precision Tanya relished the task given to her. It was one of the qualities she liked most about her employer. He respected her and treated her as the adult she actually was and not like some helpless child who wouldn’t be able tell a differential from an integral.

“I believe so. To transcend human limitations one must break away from conventional wisdom, reaching places before unseen.”

Tanya raised a brow, but said nothing, already used to his occasional melodramatic phases. Deciding to indulge him she replied: “And what is it that you have found out?”

“When this relic is pressed and simultaneously pushed on two overlapping, vertical ridges it hides the user's smell from the environment. I am also relatively sure that it will hinder your own olfactory capabilities as well, should you lay claim to this item. Would you make use of it?”

This was an obvious test to gauge her ability to make a logical decision with sparse information.

“My nose was never the finest. I think I can safely navigate without it.” she decided after some contemplating.

“Wonderful.”

Peaceful silence followed as both of them went back to their work. No words were needed as the productive ambiance of clicking and scratching filled the room. In this place Tanya could forget about the outside world entirely, instead focusing on the here and now. All was good with her father by her side, a filling meal in her stomach and electrical heaters providing warmth. Truly, a dream come true.

∞•۞˂˃۞•∞

How had everything gone down the drain so quickly? She had everything she could ever wish for! A stable life, personal connections to the boss, a fulfilling (if not dangerous) job and great career opportunities. And now...

What had she become?

“Oh, how the mighty have fallen...” she thought in sorrow.

“Haahaa!” cried the object that caused her such despair.

What a disgusting monster. To be forced to look after such a vile and repulsive existence was a shame like no other.

“Come on, Tanya! Smile a little!”

“You are not father! How dare you order me to debase myself that much!” was what she really wanted to say, but instead she just forced a strained grimace on her face that vaguely resembled an expression of joy. Tanya was not sure if she would do something regrettable if she opened her mouth now.

“Oh my, so cute!”

Her fury could not be contained any longer and turned her aching lips into a full scowl.

“I. Am. Not. Cute!” she bit out.

“Haahaa-Haaa...”

“Deep breaths, Tanya... Deep breaths. You don´t want to strangle that thing in your arms accidentally. Bondrewd would not be amused.”

Slowly she rocked back and forth in her seat, sporadically tickling the abhorrent thief that sat in her lap and feeding it more cookies to keep it occupied until her father showed up. What was taking him so long? The humiliation of entertaining the origin of her problems grew with each minute that went by. Why was she here? Just to suffer?

“Ah, I’ve finished drawing you both! Your father will certainly treasure this as proof of this moment forever.”

“Noooooo! Burn it! Burn it!”

“He should be here any minute now.”

Tanya plastered another empty smile on her face to greet him in case he came through the door while the threat to her good life merely continued to babble something inane. She did not want to listen to those high-pitched noises so she rubbed its head to placate it for the time being. Why had she not protested more when Bondrewd took it in?

So distracted was she with mindlessly petting the equally mindless creature sitting on her that she not even noticed her employer until it was too late.

“Magnificent. It warms my heart that you get along so well. I am sorry you both had to wait so long, but I wanted to ensure that it is absolutely perfect.”

“You wasted so much effort for this thing...” she lamented mentally.

He placed a large box on the decorated table and lifted the lid to reveal a frankly mouth-watering cake with seven burning candles on top. The aroma, the form, the colouring... It looked better than anything she had eaten in the last decade of her life.

“Hold her closer, dear. Yes. Now blow them out as quickly as you can and think of what you wish for the most. The Abyss works in wondrous ways. Who knows if one day your hopes might get fulfilled?”

“Pffffffft.”

“Quick, Tanya! Help her!”

Reluctantly she blew the last candle out. Stupid thief couldn’t even correctly push air out of its tiny mouth.

“You are an amazing sister, Tanya. Happy birthday, Prushka! You are now officially seven years old. This life is a gift, so never forget to always remain thankful for being able to experience this wonderful world. May blessings and curses alike line your way forward! I love you with all my heart.”

“With all your heart, ey? Where is there space for me then?”

Rationally thinking, she knew that she was acting stupidly. Her father had invested far too much into her already to suddenly drop her for this defected child. It would make no sense and Bondrewd was a man of reason through and through. Still, she felt as if she was slowly getting replaced by Prushka.

“He calls her my sister... Will I become one of many? Am I going to be replaceable? Will he not... love me as much anymore?”

In the beginning Tanya had simply tolerated the silver-haired toddler, because she had not seemed like a threat to her position as Bondrewd’s daughter at all. The small, bleeding bundle was too insignificant for that. A cynical part of her had even believed that the sickly child would die before she spoke her first word. Ignoring her competitor for years had led to her realizing her true feelings about the situation only recently.

As selfish and immature as it was...

Tanya did not want to give up her title as the Lord of Dawn’s darling.

“Why are you looking so gloomy, sweetheart? You should try the cake. I made it for both of you.”

“Really?” she couldn’t help but ask.

“Of course. I was a terrible father for you these last years. I never baked you something as extravagant as this. I apologize deeply for this error. To make it up to you somewhat, I made this one Lino-fruit flavoured. You like them, right? From now on you will get a similar cake every year.”

“B-but the cost of the sugar alone-“

“Hush, my child. Just eat up and enjoy. Your little sister might not leave anything for you left otherwise.”

She would not let that happen! Tanya would not be denied this rare treat! Hastily she grabbed a slice and nibbled at it, savouring the exotic taste. Her eyes closed in pure bliss as the sweetness of the glazed cake exploded on her tongue. Indeed it tasted exquisite – no, heavenly.

“Ahh~”

“You two are simply adorable. I am the luckiest man of the netherworld to possess daughters like you.”

If it meant cake, maybe sharing him would not be too horrible...

Chapter Text

Chapter 29

“Tanya, my dear, let me ask you a question. Think carefully and let the deepest currents of your heart move your tongue, for only the truth may offer solace.”

Neither of them changed their tempo as they continued to jog around the walls of Ido Front. Their daily exercises had become a family ritual of sorts and although running in multiple layers of wool and leather was not very comfortable, Tanya had long since gotten used to it. To survive in the Abyss, one needed to push their limits.

“Yes, father. What is it?” she asked, panting slightly underneath her mask. Despite her constant endurance training, her body was still that of a child and tired far easier than that of her father. She couldn’t wait until she finally grew up!

“How great a sacrifice would overcoming the First Barrier be worth to you?”

Oh... That was an interesting philosophical question.

Bondrewd called the curse of the sixth layer the first barrier, because it was the first true insurmountable obstacle in the Abyss. All the dangers above could be either avoided or neutralized, but the curse of assured death was not one of those. Nobody knew with absolute certainty what lay beyond this point of no return and so her father assumed that there could be many more, possibly even stranger and more horrifying barriers on the way down.

Wherever that path may lead, humanity would never learn if no solution was found. Artefacts of untold potential and power would be locked away forever, stifling the technological progress of society and robbing mankind as a whole of unfathomable treasures. Furthermore, the mystery of the unexplored depth was feeding superstition to such an extent that many fools worldwide were worshiping the Abyss like a god. A pitiful delusion, for she knew that there was no god after all. If left to rot then this stain on the global consciousness could devolve into a cult, feverishly venerating the unknown bottom of a hole.

On the other hand, was it really necessary to discover the deeper layers of the Abyss? If a relic with the capability to change the entire world fell into the wrong hands the results were going to be apocalyptic. Too much power gained over a short amount of time was bound to ensure international conflict on a scale similar to the world wars from her homeworld.

Naturally, human ingenuity and the competitiveness of the free market were going to ensure that society advanced anyway to a point where they would not need relics to do that anymore. The nuclear bombs that had devastated her original fatherland would certainly be developed within the next century or so. Other, more esoteric abilities of Abyss artefacts, like stopping time or producing an unlimited supply of water could also be replicated... Somehow. Capitalism would find a way. It may take several hundred or even thousand years, but Tanya was sure that it would happen eventually.

But all of that was irrelevant, because Bondrewd had addressed the question to her. Tanya’s own subjective opinion was what interested him here, not the larger geo-political implications. Did she want to know what was down there?

The answer was definitely ‘yes’.

“I think it depends. If you mean money... Returning from the sixth layer would be well worth at least a couple billion Orth or even a few trillion if the haul is profitable.”

Carefully she looked over to gauge his reaction. Seeing the violet slit of his visor point straight ahead, she continued, because that was apparently not the answer he was looking for.

“If you mean something more personal and irreplaceable... Everything I possess I owe to your kindness. As long as you’re fine with it... I would give it all up. As dear as they are to me, they are still just objects.”

Another glance at his running form showed no sign he was even listening. Tanya knew for a fact that he was paying attention though. Gulping she went over to the last possible interpretation she could think of at the moment.

“And if that is still not enough... A toe or a kidney would be the maximum of what I would be willing to give. Their loss would be manageable without degrading my overall performance. If I could push the toll on someone or something else though? A price collected from others is always easier to stomach than one we have to pay ourselves.”

That finally got him to turn his head and for a moment she wished he didn’t. There was none of his usual warmth in his voice as he asked: “Oh? What do you imagine that would look like?”

“Ehm... I am no expert in field functions like you, father, but... I may or may not have peeked at the contents of Journal 87b once? Or twice? You said the stuff on the upper shelves was too advanced for me, so I wanted to check... I am deeply sorry, father. I will accept any punishment you deem-“

“Hahaha! No. Everything is alright, my dear. I am not upset that you display the appropriate curiosity for researchers of the unknown like us! Go on, tell me what you saw.”

Her breathing grew increasingly laboured as she fought her way through more sandy terrain. Fortunately, that gave her the time to formulate a response.

“You proposed that the force field of the Abyss can be influenced by emotions and similar brain activity in living organisms... Life reverberating stones are made from people who the user has a personal attachment to after all.”

“Indeed. And to what conclusion did that lead you?”

“Well... you could use strong feelings to manipulate the flow of energy temporarily, theoretically thinning or even bending it around an object for long enough to pass through the field.”

“Marvellous...”

The unspoken order to elaborate further forced her tongue.

“You called it a sacrifice, so I assume it has to be unpleasant... Fear is the strongest emotion and pain the most potent feeling... That is simply the way evolution has shaped us to stay from danger as far as possible... Which leads me to believe that in order to manipulate the strong forces of the First Barrier a large amount of suffering and misery is required.”

The end of their jogging route came into view and Tanya unconsciously licked her lips in anticipation for a cold glass of water waiting on the other side of that gate.

“Pain and frightening hallucinations are already symptoms of the curse on the upper layers... Experiencing them yourself doesn’t do anything... Ergo pushing this burden onto others is the solution... Ahh, my legs... Likely torturing sentient animals should do the trick... Or... Alternatively, using disposable members of society would also be acceptable... For example convicted criminals with no wish to change their ways are the kind of social parasite that nobody would miss... Hypothetically of course... On principle I would argue that every human being can be put to some use under the right conditions...”

Blushing, she noticed that she had strayed rather far from the initial topic of the discussion. It wasn’t her fault that he had formulated his test so vaguely!

Bondrewd chuckled good-naturedly: “Pragmatic as ever I see. Your mind is a treasure trove of wonders the likes of which do not exist anywhere else. Utilizing pure agony to solve unsolvable puzzles... How peculiar...”

When he put it like that, he made it sound like she was some kind of psychopath! Scrambling for an appeasing explanation before he could get the wrong impression of her she spluttered: “I-it’s not like I would enjoy that! Huff... It was merely a logical deduction based on the information presented! Huff... I would not-“

“Be at peace, my child. I was not judging you. Let us discuss this topic more after you showered.”

How could he be so calm? Bondrewd appeared to not even be winded by the multi-kilometre run! Had he even broken a sweat? Tanya was suddenly feeling quite inadequate compared to her senior. She would likely need decades more to measure up to his physique.

∞•۞˂˃۞•∞

“The conclusion you formed was indeed a rational one. Though it is sadly incorrect.”

That was a shame. Well, mistakes were not- Hold on! What?

“Wait... Do you... Have you already done it?” Tanya asked in amazement.

“Indeed. I have found the solution to this riddle of the Abyss not too many years ago.”

The business opportunities that this was going to bring! They were sitting on a literal goldmine- nay , even better than that! With the ideal location of their main base and tons of trained personnel at their disposal they could impose a monopoly on all goods harvested from the sixth layer! Her father’s organization, despite being powerful, was going to become possibly the most influential company in the world! A large, yet alluringly lucrative responsibility...

“Then what is it? Is the process too costly or complicated at the moment? Don’t worry, we will find a way to streamline it come what may! I will double my study efforts if I can be on the team! Please, father!”

If her name was listed on the patent then the royalties were going to fund an early retirement!

“Your enthusiasm is most adorable, my sweet daughter.” He said while rubbing her head like he did so often when he was pleased. The sensation of receiving his affectionate headpats made her only the slightest bit self-conscious about her lacking height anymore. After years under his care Tanya would even go as far as to call it soothingly enjoyable.

“You assumed negative feelings were the key to breaking the curse, but I stumbled upon a different method involving the opposite emotion. Only the truest adoration can overpower death itself to spare a loved one from their otherwise certain demise. The victim has to feel enough love to willingly take on the curse of another.”

Oh no.

Had he lost someone? Of course he had! Tanya had always wondered why a strong, respected, wealthy individual like her boss was not being overrun with suitors! No sensible female in the right age would refuse someone like that! Bondrewd must have lost his romantic partner and discovered this phenomenon by accident! Of course his personal history would condemn this practice and paint it in an even worse light than it naturally appeared. Selling it to anybody as ‘ethical’ would be impossible, especially to her poor, traumatized father!

Now Tanya knew why Bondrewd had not told her sooner.

“I am sorry. That cannot have been easy to experience.”

“It was not. Seeing children suffer is never pleasant.”

She stood up and hugged him tightly. Adopting her and Prushka was obviously a coping mechanism to deal with the death of his biological child. Determined to fill that hole in his heart she tried to provide comfort to his wounded soul, keeping him company and not leaving his lap for the rest of the evening. Rubbing his back with her tiny hands Tanya slipped into a mournful dream.

∞•۞˂Bondrewd´s point of view˃۞•∞

Tanya had not taken his first revelation well. Perhaps he should have waited two or three more years until he shared the details of this particular secret with her. She had sounded so distressed about losing a loved one, despite her earlier calmness at the prospect of torturing criminals. That showed that her heart was still soft and clingy, just as it should be for a healthy child at her age. To be honest he occasionally forgot that he was dealing with a pre-teen as opposed to a very small adult.

In contrast his second daughter was much more normal. She laughed and fooled around as expected from a lively seven-year old. Her growth was even more impressive if one considered the sorry state she had been in when he adopted her. Bondrewd was very proud of her progress. 

An hour ago his little Prushka had been playing tag with a few of his Hands in the corridors and was now happily painting a picture on the floor of her room. Whatever it was supposed to represent appeared to have many limbs.

Tuning the senses of his secondary bodies out, he picked up the sleeping Tanya and carefully carried her over to Prushka’s room. Those two needed to spend more time together.

“Hi, papa!” she beamed and held up her artwork. “Look what I made!”

“Very interesting, my dear. My eyes seem to get worse. Can you tell me what it is?”

“It is you, Papa!”

“Oh? Last time I checked I only had two arms and two legs.”

“Ehm... yeah. I got carried away... hehe... Don’t you think having seven arms would be cool? You could like... eat seven slices of cake simul- ah... si-mul-tan-ly!”

“The word is ‘simultaneously’, darling.”

“Yeah! What I said!”

“Would you mind if I let Tanya sleep in your bed today? I bet you would enjoy cuddling with her and there is enough space for both of you.”

“I don’t mind. Big Sister can be weird sometimes, but I like her.”

“Excellent. I will be leaving her in your care then. Just don’t be too loud and wake her up.”

“Yes, Papa! Aww… I wanna play with her hair! It’s so soft and fluffy!”

Chuckling he left his girls to their bonding time. Soon they would be inseparable, he was sure of it.

Chapter Text

Chapter 30

Waking up in an unfamiliar room was a jarring experience. Had she been kidnapped? Tanya felt like she was being restrained by a weight on her chest that bound her arms. But then… then why were the bindings so... warm?

Cautiously she lifted her head to not alert her captors and scanned the room. Although darkness hid most of it, the furniture and bright pictures on the walls seemed familiar. Her gaze shifted down to her chest and she gasped. Why was Prushka lying on top of her? Was this a failed attempt to suffocate her? How had that tiny girl managed to drag her to this room without disturbing her sleep?

“Ahhh... Papaaa... Big Siiissss... huuugssss ...” mumbled the little gremlin in her sleep, snuggling up closer to Tanya.

She remembered doing something similar in nights when the snow storms hit the orphanage especially hard. Sharing body warmth to stay alive was logical and not at all embarrassing! To be honest, it wasn’t even uncomfortable to let someone hold you like this. In fact, Prushka’s soft breathing was quite relaxing...

No, she had to get out of here fast before she succumbed to the admittedly alluring comforts of this bed! Tanya would not fail her daily morning routine and disappoint Bondrewd by slacking off in her training! It was her duty to prove that she was the best trainee, the ultimate daughter, the-

“Nya, nya, nyaaa... fly little birdie... Papa will catch you...”

On the other hand, this was also work, right? Improving her connection with the younger girl was important if they wanted to work together in the future. No successful businesswoman could survive without “Vitamin R”, so their connection needed to be strengthened from a young age to be as deep as possible. Prushka was most likely going to become her equal in the corporate hierarchy anyways if Bondrewd had any say in that. He simply loved children to a fault.

Ha! Now that she thought about it, this was the perfect plan! She would listen to Prushka’s innermost dreams straight from her raw, unfiltered unconsciousness and use this insider information to make her totally dependent on her wise, older sister! By showering her in affection and intellectual guidance, Tanya could assume the authoritative role in their relationship!

As long as she flexed her control over Prushka not too obviously when in front of their father, he wouldn’t suspect a thing! Indeed, he was going to assume that she was merely mentoring and guiding her little sister, while in actuality she was just conditioning the girl to never threaten her corporate influence! Making Prushka an obedient and capable subordinate would benefit them all!

Feeling strangely possessive of her new pet-project, Tanya aggressively hugged her adoptive sister and let a bone-chilling grin creep onto her face.

“You’re my biggest rival for father’s affection... but you know what they say? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. I’m not letting you out of my sight, you overgrown cuckoo chick! Hahaha, Bondrewd told me how he used love to his advantage... Why shouldn’t I do the same? I am going to make you absolutely adore me! And you have no choice... Hahahaha...”

Unaware of the twisted intentions of her sister Prushka continued to babble peacefully in her sleep, playfully rubbing her tiny nose on the comfy pillow that heated her tummy so nicely.

∞•۞˂Greg’s point of view˃۞•∞

Apparently he was immune to the curse of the Abyss, which was kind of interesting. He had discovered this more or less by accident when he forgot that he wasn’t supposed to ascend more than a few metres at a time. Greg had simply used his extendable arms to climb a large cliff and look out for any potential dangers, especially those scary Skeleton-Ants as Lyza called them. Only in retrospect did he notice that the vertical distance was way more than the allegedly safe ten metres for ascension.

“You feelin’ good up there?” she had chuckled and then proceeded to explain to him that it made perfect sense for a living relic to be immune to the curse. It only hurt his feelings a minuscule amount that she wanted to test that theory regardless of the outcome. Sometimes the powerful woman could accidentally be rather cruel.

They had set up camp soon after to roast some new animal she had hunted. Cooking was one of her many passions and tasting something unfamiliar to human tongues excited his guide beyond measure. Greg on the other hand had nothing to compare his experience to, so all he could offer as commentary was a thumbs up.

“Listen up, my dear clueless boy. This is important.”

He dropped the stick with which he had poked the embers of their campfire and directed his sole attention to her. Despite the short time that he knew her, Greg trusted her immensely. Lyza was his only friend and the person who gave him some sort of purpose.

“I want you to take my stuff –my notes, my discoveries, my whistle, everything... –  and take it back to the surface. Would be a shame if it were to rot down here with me.”

“ Kiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrr!!! ” screeched something unknown far away in the darkness as if to prove her point that the dangers the Abyss could even threaten someone as strong as her.

“I can’t go up. There’s no way I’ll ever see the sunlight again or... Riko.”

Lyza sniffed and cleared her throat loudly before she opened her breast pocket and took out a small piece of paper. Carefully, she held it between her huge, gloved fingers. Greg pretended not to notice the slight tremble in her hands and she showed it to him.

“Here... this is my daughter. When you see her she should be... I don’t know... Maybe ten years old? Eleven? Twelve? Time is hard to keep track of the farther down you go. If Torka hadn’t drawn this stupid picture then I would have forgotten how she looks like entirely.”

Greg studied the image of a little, blond girl with big, blue eyes and a happy smile. She seemed to look similar enough to her mother to be easily recognizable.

“Damn it. My whole life I’ve faced my problems head on. I never ran away! Whenever life tried to destroy me I always punched back and got stronger until nothing could take me down. Adventuring and stepping foot where no one else has ventured before... That was the dream. But now when all my doors are closed... When I’m totally alone, with no hope of ever changing this path... It all comes crashing down I guess.”

She sniffed again, but remained motionless otherwise. Curled in on herself, her expression concealed by the minimal lighting of the diminishing fire, she felt so much smaller than usual.

“Could things have turned out different? Was prioritizing my career really the right decision? The things I’ve done and seen... Was it worth it?”

Silence filled the air as Greg wondered what she could possibly be talking about. Being human appeared to be a process that involved much inner struggle if Lyza’s example was anything to go by. Should he say something?

“I’m not unhappy that everything has come to this... end. It was my choice after all. Sooner or later I would have gone down here anyway. The unknown... I think it was always calling to me. The Abyss is my true home no matter how hard it tries to kill me! Haha... Aghhhh ... Just... I wish I could have seen Riko grow up first, ya know? I bet she is gonna want to step into my footsteps. She will be a fine delver one day... I’ve seen that look in her eyes when she was staring down into the depths. The mundanity of the surface will never be enough for her. Not when my explorer’s blood runs through her veins! Hahaha...”

It almost scared him when she suddenly turned her shadowed face towards him. Her long hair hid her eyes, but her stare nonetheless felt as heavy as a boulder.

“That is why you need to deliver this to her. You are going to find my daughter and if necessary protect her at all costs. Understood? ”

Her tone left no place for arguments; not that he would have refused her anyhow.

“Yes-”

“Say it out loud.”

Why was his throat so dry all of a sudden?

“ Say it! ”

“Ehm... I w-will carry your belongings to the surface and give them to Riko. I am going to keep her safe and watch over her.”

The White Whistle held her gaze on him for a few seconds longer until she began to laugh heartily.

“Hahahahaha... You really are precious in more ways than one. Hahahaha...”

“W-what?”

“Let’s just say that it wasn’t random chance that brought you to me. I am certain of that.”

Only years later would Greg come to understand what she had meant.

Chapter Text

Chapter 31

Riko stroked the fur she had been gifted like she always did whenever she needed to calm down. Over the years it had lost some of its lustre and was frayed around the edges where a puppy did bite into it, but it was still one of her most prized possessions. As a true treasure from the depth of the Abyss the Neritantan pelt managed to remind her of the wonders she would get to experience in the future once she became a White Whistle like her mom.

Her friend, Rose, had not visited her since she left over two years ago, but she had written her three letters. That was not a lot, yet when considering the dangerous ascent to the surface on a mail balloon it was still more than she could ask for. Sending letters downwards was sadly way too expensive for Riko, because not many people were willing to risk their lives for a piece of paper. Nonetheless did she write many responses under candle light, imagining what she could tell her adventurous friend.

Reading the surprisingly elegant scrawls on the yellowing parchment over and over again was a ritual she repeated nearly every week. They described new creatures, lost ruins and many useful tips that Riko couldn’t wait to try out herself. Like a magical window to another world they took her away into the lower layers and made her heart beat faster in excitement.

Of course listening to Leader’s and Director’s class was also fascinating, but none of their classes could ever capture her imagination quite like those letters did. The only other place that came close was perhaps the ‘Centre’. She and the other kids in the orphanage called it that at least, but the actual name of the building near the market was ‘Delving Information Centre & Cabinet of Abyssal Curiosities’.

Behind its colourfully painted door lay a horde of awe-inspiring trophies and drawings. The small rooms on the ground floor were crammed full with pictures of famous cave raiders and posters with selected quotes or stories from those who travelled the netherworld. Even her mom was there! White Whistles got golden plaques with their names and titles on them and Riko marvelled every time at how awesome ‘Lyza the Annihilator’ sounded.

The gilded frame around her painting harmonized beautifully with her mother’s long, flowing hair and her shining blue eyes. So cool... Most other White Whistles wore masks so their faces were unknown to the public, but Riko was sure that none looked as stunning as Lyza.

‘Bondrewd the Novel’ on the other hand was the one with the most information displayed in the ‘Hall of Fame’ as the townsfolk were quick to call it. Entry to the Centre was free, so everybody could visit and read up on the brave champions of Orth. Delvers were celebrated heroes anyway, but seeing their deeds being officially documented for visitors to admire only made them even more famous.

Despite how relatively new the Centre was, tourists and many locals made sure to visit it at least once. Unlike the Delver Guild HQ it was open to anybody and was focused solely on education, not business, giving it great appeal among the populace.

Some already called it a mandatory site when arriving at the island. A queue of visitors stood outside the door at all times of the day, because only ten people were allowed inside at any given time. Merchants sold postcards and similar knick-knacks to those who were impatiently waiting outside.

Yet, as interesting as the delver exhibit was, it could not measure up to the first and second floor in her opinion. Skulls of beasts large enough to devour her in one bite, artefacts and dried plants lined the wooden walls, accompanied by scientific descriptions of both their dangers and their uses.

Ahhh...

In Riko’s opinion this was the best place in the entire city. All thanks to Mr. Bondrewd for sponsoring this cabinet. His long list of accomplishments apparently provided him with enough money to finance the Centre and equip it with exhibits. What a nice guy... When she grew up she also wanted to be able to share her adventure with the world for free.

Ah, she got side-tracked again!

Pushing the soft fur off her lap she took a deep breath and readied herself for today’s haul. She needed to fulfil her quota or else her evaluation would get postponed! If she could not find enough relics this month then she would need to wait basically an eternity until she was allowed to take a test that determined if she was ready to descend lower than a few hundred meters.

Mentally, Riko could only scoff at that. Of course she was ready! She would be a White Whistle in a few years and nobody would be capable of forgetting her name! After studying so hard and having experience with the lower layers, the letters counted as experience in her mind , there was nothing that could stop her. That was why today she was going to venture further down than she was technically allowed to.

If she wanted to find more valuable relics then she needed to go deeper...

Quelling her nervousness she left the orphanage.

∞•۞˂˃۞•∞

 “Aghhh!” she cried as a rock roughly scraped against her leg.

“Ooooaaaarrrrrrr!” roared the monster behind her in return.

Gosh-darn! How could it come to this? Why did a deadly-class beast have to show up now? It was so unfair! She was travelling for barely a few hours and disaster already struck!

“Leave me alone!” screamed Riko in a vain attempt to scare away the monster that was smashing through the boulders behind her. Unsurprisingly, it did not work on the enraged Crimson Splitjaw, which only growled hungrily in response.

The odds of encountering such a creature in the first layer were close to zero, but of course it had to happen to her! It must have been extremely famished to leave its home and come all the way up here in search of food which lowered her chance of survival substantially. A Crimson Splitjaw’s keen sense of smell would naturally identify her as a tasty meal.

Riko jumped over a small ravine, uncaring of the potential fall into the darkness. The image of the monster’s gaping maw was pushing her small body into overdrive and the raw need to survive suppressed caution. She barely made it to the other side, but continued to sprint as fast as she was able to. Judging from the rapidly approaching sounds behind her she would have to come up with some sort of plan soon or end up as in her pursuer’s stomach.

Seeing a smaller cliff to her right, she decided to trust her nearly nonexistent luck and slide it down without checking the terrain first. Dirt and gravel ripped into her clothes as she half stumbled, half fell down the hill. Without proper footing she quickly lost her grip on the slippery ground and painfully rolled down the slope, hitting her head on thorny bushes and other unpleasant obstacles before she plummet down the last few meters into a clearing.

In spite of the agony that was wracking every part of her frame she struggled to her feet and adjusted her cracked glasses. If she had not tied them to her ears like the tips in the Centre suggested then she would have surely lost them already! 

Normally she would have taken the time to admire the imposing forms of the petrified trees that surrounded her, but she was still very much in danger. Limping across the soft moss that had saved her from broken bones, she hurried over to what seemed like a cave entrance.

Here the stone trees stood grouped tighter together, shadowing the area. It was not much, but Riko hoped against reason that it would be enough to hide her from the giant, flying snake hot on her heels. A swift glance over her shoulder confirmed that it was still following though, dashing her wishes.

Merely a dozen meters separated them anymore and she instinctively knew that nothing could save her anymore. Nonetheless, did she refuse to just lie down and let it happen! She would fight till her dying breath like her mother would have done!

Gritting her teeth in pain and pure terror she continued to run, praying to the Abyss for a miracle at the same time

Someone...

Anyone...

Anything to make the horrible beast go away!

And as if the Abyss had heard her pleas, something revealed itself from the shadows. Squinting her eyes through the tears that threatened to overwhelm her, she saw something standing at the end of the tunnel!

There was a boy! He had brown hair and wore a strange, grey helmet with a large lens in the front. His bright skin contrasted starkly with his metal hands that he raised in front himself like some sort of weapon. She opened her mouth to scream at him to run away, but when their eyes met, his face suddenly lit up with obvious surprise.

“Get down!” he yelled.

What? She would get devoured by the Crimson Splitjaw if she stopped now!

Bizarrely the boy looked not afraid in the slightest, but instead appeared totally composed. Was he not aware of the flying death coming for them?

His outstretched palm started to glow in an orange light and Riko chose to trust this stranger. Perhaps he had a plan or a weapon of some kind, because she was in no condition to outrun the monster any longer. Her lungs felt like they were filled with salt and the wound on her leg throbbed with every step. She had never been a particularly fast or enduring runner and it showed now.

Propelling herself forward with one last desperate step she leapt towards the ground in exactly the moment as the boy’s metal glove erupted in blinding light.

Heat washed over her back even though the stranger aimed his weapon meters above her. Bright fire filled the air, the likes of which she had never seen. In the small eternity it took for the thundering beam of destruction to extinguish she was utterly entranced by its palpable power.

Then only silence followed and she dared not to raise her head.

Was the nightmare over? Or would the Crimson Splitjaw come for her when she moved so much as a muscle?

Riko waited for the growling, the pain, the darkness...

But everything stayed peacefully quiet, nature itself pretending to hold its breath. Finally she found the courage to stand up and right her glasses again.

The scene that appeared to the young girl left her stunned.

On one side lay the smouldering carcass of what must have been once her pursuer, although only the placement of the smoking remains indicated that it was indeed the Crimson Splitjaw. Barely anything of it had survived the contact with the stranger’s lance of blazing light, leaving only piles of flesh and scales to cool on the burning moss.

Speaking of the stranger, he seemed to be knocked out at the very least. Oh no... What if he...

Hastily she kneeled next to his slumped over form and searched for a pulse. There was none.

“By the Abyss... I am so sorry!” she snivelled into his neck, letting her pent up tears stream down the boy’s throat. 

After she had cried until her eyes were red and puffy, Riko tried to lift her saviour onto her back in order to carry him back to the surface for a proper burial. He deserved that much at least for protecting her. However, she was surprised to learn that the mystery boy was far lighter than a human of his size should be! 

That aroused her curiosity and she examined the corpse closer. His forearms were made completely out of metal and his skin was unnaturally rubbery and smooth. By taking off his helmet she discovered an odd device over his forehead and the red markings on his cheeks and torso were further clues that he was no ordinary boy.

Could it be...?

He was a living relic! A treasure previously unknown to mankind! Yes, she would become the greatest explorer of this generation! If she managed to reactivate him again then that would be the most awesome find ever! Nothing could compare to an artificial boy! Her artificial boy!

Just how could she hide him though? 

Chapter Text

Chapter 32

Riko somehow accomplished the impossible. Dragging her incredible find towards the surface was a huge gamble and she prayed more than once to the Abyss that nobody would spot her and take the living relic away. The strange boy was hers alone! And she needed to thank him for saving her life as well. Yet, through sheer luck she encountered nobody on her ascent.

Her partner who originally was scheduled to accompany her on the expedition, Teggie, had been bribed with sweets beforehand to ease his guilty conscience, so he had not accompanied Riko on her exploration of the forbidden areas of the first layer. When the Crimson Splitjaw did chase her down that had seemed like a fundamental mistake, but now she was extremely happy that she had gone alone. This way the discovery of her treasure would stay a secret for a while longer. (Not to mention that Teggie’ s less than impressive running speed would have surely ended in his demise earlier. Riko saw this as a win for them both.)

Nonetheless, transporting over half her body weight uphill was no easy task. Especially if the nausea inducing curse of the Abyss twisted her stomach into a tight knot and made her head spin. Soon she reached the first steps of civilization where old dirt paths began to lead into the lowest offshoots of the city.

She craned her neck to get a glimpse of the setting sun high above, taking in the natural beauty of her home with a fond smile on her dry lips. No other place on this planet could be as wonderful as this one. Her life might be hard, but she would not change it for anything.

“Well, the food could always be better...” she thought bemusedly, wiping sweat from her brow.

The draw of the misty chasm behind her was a part of her life as much as breathing or eating was. Riko could not imagine ever giving up her dream. Many accomplished cave raiders claimed to hear this “call from the deep” and she was no different. In her mind, it signalled that she was undoubtedly destined for greatness like her mother.

Shaking those wispy thoughts off, she wrapped her jacket more tightly around her saviour’s hands to conceal the glistening metal from any curious onlookers. His clothes and helmet were already eye-catching enough, but with his steel hand hidden from sight most would think that he was just another young boy who fainted on his way out of the Abyss.

Obviously she could not bring him directly to the orphanage where Leader or Director would immediately notice him, so she had come up with an ingenious plan! Stashing him in the bushes and sneaking out at night to carry him up to the attic shouldn’t be too hard...

∞•۞˂˃۞•∞

As it turned out, finding a spot where the younger kids wouldn’t accidentally trip over him while playing was not as easy as she once believed. The stupid foliage was simply not thick enough to completely hide her treasure! Maybe she could sneak inside and get a shovel? Partially burying him should work. Until now nobody even knew that she was back-

“What are you doing here, Riko?”

Oh no! She was at least an hour too early before her scheduled return!

“Hi, Leader!”

She tried to hide her surprise with a strained smile. Judging from her caretaker’s grim look it did not work.

“Explain.”

There was no malice or forcefulness in his tone, but his serious gaze nevertheless sent a shiver down her spine.

“Ehm... I... uhm... I ran into a Crimson Splitjaw! It must have been really hungry to fly up so high and I barely got away! Its maw was so scary! And then... I ran up as quickly as I could, losing the beast in the process!”

Omitting the truth was much easier than lying.

“Really?” he asked with a deadpan stare.

A bird chirped...

The wind howled...

Sweat drops rolled down her neck...

Riko needed to convince him somehow!

“Yeah... uhm... Ah! Here! Look! I can prove it!”

After some rummaging through her many pockets she produced one of the few intact scales that had been left of the gigantic animal. It was a dull-red patch of skin that sadly looked rather unimpressive in Leader’s hand as he took it.

“Mmmh... These are indeed scales from a Crimson Splitjaw. Although... how did you get that in the first place if you were escaping it? Furthermore... the edges look burned by something. What is the story behind that?”

No! He was catching onto her hastily fabricated excuse.

“Uhhh... I am not sure? It was already that way when I found it. I was going in circles you see... It must have fallen off when it scraped against the stones! Uh...”

“In circles? I thought you ran up as fast as possible to escape? Does that not normally happen in a more or less straight line?”

Riko was regretting her decisions now. Perhaps she should just tell the truth now and avoid getting punished for lying. Just as she opened her mouth her teacher continued.

“Whatever. Where is your backpack?”

“Oh! Darn! I... kind of lost it?”

Leader’s blue eye’s bore into her soul. The loss of a valuable piece of equipment and the relics contained within would bring unpleasant consequences for her in the future.

“I was really terrified and I thought that it would be best to get rid of the weight that was slowing me down. I am sorry. I shouldn’t have-“

“No, Riko. Listen to me. I am not mad at you. You did nothing wrong. Don’t ever let someone tell you that you should prioritize profits over your life. That is the fastest way to get killed and if you are dead then you can’t make any money at all. What you did was a smart choice. However, I have to ask...”

He kneeled down and gripped her shoulders tightly. Suddenly he seemed even more serious!

“What happened to your companion, Teggie? Is he alright? Or has his soul returned to the Abyss?”

Oops. She totally forgot about the boy!

“We got separated earlier. He is probably worried sick by now, but he is fine!!”

“That is good to hear. Let us get inside. Don’t forget to apologize to Teggie later. Also, you are on latrine duty for the rest of the month.”

“What! Why? I thought you said I did nothing wrong!”

“Do not test my patience, Riko. You should have searched for your partner the minute when you noticed that you were no longer followed by a giant, flying snake. Teggie was never the fittest and you left him alone. Now come inside and stop crawling through the bushes.”

As they entered the orphanage Riko was filled with immense relief. Leader did not notice her treasure! Awesome!

∞•۞˂Greg’s point of view˃۞•∞

It was her! Lyza’s daughter! His goal! She was undoubtedly Riko with the same blond hair and clear blue eyes as her mother. To see her was his goal for years ! For her sake he had left the comforts of the village of Iruburu, passed layer after layer and defended himself against countless threats!

But this was not how they were supposed to meet. Greg never considered that she could come towards him as well.

And what was that behind her?

One of those dangerous, flying worms from a few layers below here! They occasionally could shrug off some of his weaker blasts, so he would need to go all out to save Lyza’s daughter! Whatever the cost, Greg had to save her just like he swore to do a long time ago.

Overloading his circuits, he channelled more power through his body into his incinerator cannon than ever before, absentmindedly yelling out a warning before he unleashed every ounce of energy in one fiery blast. The air burned bright enough to blind even his enhanced eyes and the creature turned to ash, yet he still continued to make sure that no harm would come to Riko.

Then the symptoms of overcharging his body like this hit him at once.

One after another his systems powered down, leaving him unable to stand or talk, regardless of his desperate need to share her mother’s message with the girl. His limbs went numb and his eyes closed moistened at the dreadful realization of what he had just done.

Against all common knowledge he hoped, he prayed, he begged... that he would remember something when he woke up again. Anything that made up his mind was irreplaceable; particularly the fateful promise to Lyza which brought him here in the first place.

“ If he woke up again.” the artificial boy thought with resigned horror.

Yet darkness still claimed him, erasing the years of laughter, tears and wonder with uncaring swiftness. As his power fizzled out, the cumulative experience of “Greg” was deleted and Ű̷̹̐͗̓̚͠n̷̹͕͙̭̬͖͑̄i̷̟̱͎̻̟̓̍̔͒̑͜t̶͍͓͙͝ ̷͎̱̱̟̏̈́͗ͅ2̶͉̩͕͔͉̩͕̀̄3̵̧̰̦̈́̒̊̽̈́͝4̴͙̏̌̎͐͜͝1̵̬̣͔̹͈͗͗̎̆͂̃7̸̧̭̲̺̖͕̬̍̈̒͑̄̚-̵̨͔̳̗͉̑̀͜͝Ę̵͖̱̜̗̤̋̌͆x̴̰̥͛͐̈́͒(̷̨̘̼̫͇̩̻̊̑̆͋͛͒b̵̧̢̢̩͍̗̽̑̄̎̍̍)̷̨̮̣̙͓̄̄̈́̅̓͘ was returned to a blank slate.

...

...

ERROR

Chapter Text

Chapter 33

“...- Are you sure about this?”

“Of course.”

“It should have worked! Now the Director will surely notice that the power went out!”

“Well... We could try something different...”

“We tried everything! I even got those coals to feed him!”

What was going on? Who was whisper-shouting in the darkness?

Slowly opening his eyes, he became aware of the duo of arguing children standing at either side of him. The bigger one was a blond girl with glasses and dirty hands, while the other child was an obviously younger boy. This was so strange...

“He didn’t even properly swallow- Oh, Look!” she pointed at him.

“No way...” gaped the boy.

“Hello, Mr. Machine! Can you understand me?” chirped the girl while getting uncomfortably close to his face.

“Y-yeah? Where... am I?”

“Oh, you’re at my home! After you saved me I carried you aaaall the way up the surface! You have no clue just how much trouble I went through to smuggle you into the orphanage unnoticed!”

“Ehm... thanks? I guess?”

“You’re welcome! I’m Riko and this is my friend, Teggie! Who are you?”

Who was he?

He tried to come up with an answer, but to his growing unease no memory of his name resurfaced. Nor of anything before this exact point in time.

“I... I don’t know...” he whispered dejectedly.

“Really? Well, then I will have to come up with a super awesome name myself! I found you, so it’s my right to name you as well!”

Riko’s excitable attitude was somehow infectious, her sheer unbridled enthusiasm lifting his mood, if only slightly.

“Mmmm... How about... Reg? Yes! Your eyes are nearly the same. Do you like it?”

“Reg?”

Hesitantly he tasted that word on his coal-stained lips. It felt right.

“Y-yes, I think I’d like that.”

“Wonderful! We are gonna accomplish what has never been done before! The Abyss awaits!”

Her grin promised adventure and for some odd reason he didn’t mind that.

∞•۞˂˃۞•∞

“She can’t be dead!” insisted Riko, a mad flame in her eyes as she denied the awful truth that the world was forcing on her.

Reg knew not how to sooth the young girl who had been told minutes earlier that her mother would never return from the depths. They had only been friends for a few weeks when the remains of Lyza’s possessions were discovered and brought back to the surface.

How ironically cruel for that to happen the day after the Resurrection Festival.

“Do you see it Reg? This message means that she is alive! She waits down at the bottom of the netherworld for me...”

Her eyes gained this dreamy look that she sometimes had when she spoke about the Abyss. There was longing there and something deeper, more obsessive . Like a mouse salivating over the bait inside a trap.

“Yes... I will find her.”

Riko was dear to him. She was kind and possessed an undeniably bright mind, but she also tended to act a little impulsive at times. Reg tried to dissuade her from whatever reckless plan she was undoubtedly cooking up at this exact moment.

“But, uhm, not now, right? From what you’ve told me the lower layers are way too dangerous for anyone without years of experience.”

Ignoring his question, she waved his concerns off.

“Yeah, yeah, I have experience, you know? I read every available report on Black and White Whistles! I even have a friend who went there!”

“Is that really enough, though?” he attempted to interject.

“Of course! Every delver has to start somewhere and I have the basics down already.”

He wanted to believe her, but it couldn’t possibly be that easy.

“Rose said that ‘teamwork is the key to success’ and I have you! With your amazing cable-arms and my knowledge we can make it! Trust me! We have to find my mom and then everything will be alright!”

In the face of her blazing conviction, what else could he do but agree? Riko was his friend and he would follow her wherever she went. Protecting her... watching over her… that just felt instinctual. 

“If you say so.”

“Wonderful! Ohh... the preparations we’ll have to make... Yes, we need rope, and waterskins and lighting crystals and-“

“Knock Knock Knock”

The door to their room was ripped open as another child – Nat, he remembered – stuck his head through the opening.

“Hi, Riko... eh, your friend is here? Rose? She looked like she was in a hurry?”

Instantly the blonde sprung to her feet.

“What? Where?! ”

“Ehh, at the gate.”

“Come Reg! I have a feeling this is a lucky sign!”

∞•۞˂Tanya’s point of view˃۞•∞

Tanya went over the whole speech in her head once again. This would hopefully not be a complicated negotiation, but it always paid to be prepared. Revealing the truth about her identity and employment now might be an inopportune moment, yet the sooner she came clean, the sooner the wounds of this betrayal would be able to heal. Humans generally disliked being lied to (if not for entertainment purposes), so she was expecting Riko to be fairly upset, regardless of how irrational it was.

Playing- um, interacting with her little sister had given Tanya much insight into the thought process of children. Their moods were fickle things, easily swayed by tickles, promises of cake or other banal bribery. Accordingly, she was not very concerned, because she brought many mildly valuable gifts with her which would most likely impress Riko despite their low market value. Growing up in an orphanage made one appreciate the smaller things in life. Similar to glass pearls traded with the Native Americans.

In an ideal scenario she would let things play out more slowly, but this opportunity was as great as it was fleeting. If she did not act now then another competitor could steal away her biggest PR tool to date!

When she heard that soon after her arrival in Orth the whistle of Lyza the Annihilator had been recovered, Tanya immediately knew what to do. The child of the city’s greatest celebrity was up for grabs and in the race for Riko she believed to be firmly in the lead. Years of letters had made sure to establish a connection to the vulnerable, young girl.

Yes, nothing would paint a better picture of her business than the offspring of a hero as the mascot! Her father would be delighted.

Of course she would need to build up the little, bespectacled girl up into a recognizable and, most importantly, marketable brand, but that would follow later.

First and foremost she needed to sway Riko to her side and offer her better employment conditions than the ‘Belchero Orphanage’. She managed to liquidate an astounding amount of assets in the short timeframe granted to her and fully planned to throw big numbers around in order to convince both the girl and her caretakers to entrust Riko into the care of the rebranded ‘Institute of Dawn’.

Tanya was not expecting an immediate answer today, but getting a foot in the door early was important. Recruitment was all about first impressions after all.

“Rose!”

Ripped from her musings, Tanya straightened her back and smiled at the energetic blonde coming her way. Riko looked remarkably unaffected by what was basically the death of her mother or she was just good at acting. Either way, she approved of such mental fortitude.

“Hello, Riko. It’s a pleasure to meet you again.”

“Oh come on! That’s all you have to say?” whined the orphan and promptly squeezed her in a hug that was made vaguely awkward by the large backpack she was carrying.

Reflexively Tanya’s hand started petting her head like she so often did with Prushka before she caught herself.

“You are right. I am sorry. I meant to say that I am immensely glad to finally see you again. I should have returned to you far sooner.”

“I forgive you.” mumbled Riko into her shoulder.

“Thank you. Could we go inside? We have much to talk about.”

This was bound to be interesting.

Chapter Text

Chapter 34

“You want to... hire me?” asked Riko in disbelief.

“Yes.” replied Rose simply, her expression calm and focused as if this situation wasn’t strange in the slightest.

“Ehm... Why?”

Her friend smiled in a way that indicated that she had expected that question.

“Because I believe you would be an excellent addition to our team of course! From the moment we first met I could feel the potential in you, that is why I sent you all these letters over the years, trying to nurture your education. I know that their contents must have seemed trivial to you, but it was the best I could do to help you along your way towards becoming an accomplished delver. I-”

“Those were amazing, Rose! The other kids were so jealous!” she interrupted. Riko would not let her friend downplay those wonderful gifts!

For a fraction of a second Rose’s eyes widened before her lips quirked up in a pleased manner.

“Thank you. That is nice to hear. Anyways, what I wanted to say is that you have a bright future ahead of you in our corporation. My employer values curiosity, thoroughness and creativity above all else. Do you think you have those traits?”

“Definitely!” she blurted out. “Ehm... Well, l love to learn about the Abyss and I think I am creative? How... Ehhh...”

If her friend was disappointed in her vague answer then she didn’t show it.

“Excellent! With a few months of specialized training you’d fit right in with us! I can promise you new career opportunities beyond what your education here at the surface provides and your salary will also be twenty percent above average, although we can negotiate that later.”

Hesitantly Riko raised a finger just like in class when Director rambled on about a topic. Rose raised an eyebrow but nodded nonetheless.

“That sounds really cool and stuff, but ehm... sorry, but who are you talking about?”

“I was getting to that. Have you ever been to the ‘Delving Information Centre & Cabinet of Abyssal Curiosities’ in town?”

“Yes? I go whenever I can. The exhibition is so awesome!”

Riko tried to mask the strange feeling in her gut by acting cheery which only somewhat worked to distract her from the oddness of this mysterious girl that she called her friend.

“You see... This facility in question is actually part of our company. Riko, I will be frank with you... I have not been entirely honest with you and for that I am sorry. Although it was necessary, I have deceived you about my background and you deserve a proper apology for that.”

“W-w-what do you mean?” she stuttered helplessly. Rose had... lied to her?

“Let me introduce myself again... My real name is Tanya and I am the first adopted daughter of the Lord of Dawn, Bondrewd the Novel. ” said her friend with a deep bow.

Riko’s thoughts were running a mile a minute, switching from shock to betrayal to excitement in a dizzying carousel of emotion.

“My father has many enemies and so I saw it necessary to hide. I wanted to tell you the truth before you can make an informed decision about your future. We at our company take honesty and education very seriously after all.”

A quiet “ehhhh...” slipped out of her mouth as she tried to process this bizarre turn of events.

Undeterred Rose – no, her name was Tanya – continued: “As a small apology I have brought you some gifts as a sign of my regret that-“

“Gifts!? Where?” interrupted a voice from the door.

Riko’s head snapped around so fast that her glasses nearly flew off her nose. Jammed into the doorframe of the room were countless familiar faces, eagerly listening to their conversation and ogling her friend.

Her brow crinkled in anger at their interruption, but Tanya merely sighed and chuckled good-naturedly.

“I suppose that privacy is hard to come by in an orphanage. I should have remembered... Would you lot be so kind as to bring your caretaker here? We have business to discuss.”

∞•۞˂Jirou’s point of view˃۞•∞

“Absolutely not.” he said with conviction that he wasn’t really feeling right at the moment.

Jirou did have his suspicions about who the strange girl with her entourage of masked men was, but he did not dare to voice his concerns to Belchero. Letter after letter had arrived for Riko over the years and he managed to lull himself into the delusion that she was simply a friendly girl with overprotective guardians. After all, she was just a small child, right? The red whistle around her neck denoted her inexperience.

‘She’s harmless’ he had told himself and look where that got him now.

Everyone who spent some time in the seedier bars at the edge of the Abyss heard unsettling tales about the deepest parts of the netherworld. Among them were stories of caravans of children, mostly orphans if the accounts were to be believed, being brought down to the fifth layer, only to never return.

He gave as much on the half-drunken horror stories of these people as he did on the legends of the Golden City deep below the earth, but he nonetheless was wary of the ‘Lord of Dawn’ as he called himself.

However this child, Tanya, claimed to be his adopted daughter and she was obviously a healthy and sane - if slightly creepy - little girl...

“I understand your reservations, Mr. Jirou, but I do not think you realize the incredible possibilities for both you and Riko here.”

Perhaps though, this was no girl at all, judging by how comfortable she seemed at buying other children. He would not let Riko be spirited away to some nebulous place that he had no control over. His promise to Lyza would not be broken a day after the celebration of her death.

Still, against his better judgement he decided to indulge the mysterious not-quite-child.

Looking over at the stern visage of Belchero who was sitting right beside him, he hesitantly asked: “What would those be?”

Inwardly Jirou winced. He sounded like a cow peddler, for Orth’s sake!

“You see, I took the liberty of inspecting your institution a bit and I noticed a certain state of... use . Wherever there are children, there comes disrepair and fixing it can be quite the burden on your finances.”

Tanya smiled warmly, as if she was speaking from experience which bewildered him.

“My father owns ample funds with which to properly modernize and quite possibly expand this wonderful building to bring you and your wards the comfort and safety you deserve. Central heating, a more sanitary kitchen, new bathrooms and much more would be on the table.”

“You are just throwing your daddy’s money around.” his boss cut in.

The blond girl whose arm was clasped tight by Riko had the audacity to laugh.

“By no means. I know that Father would be overjoyed to help children in need, but I am equally as willing and able to contribute. Have you heard of the coffee machine that some of the fancier tea houses around town have adopted?”

What was she getting at? Raising a questioning eyebrow he waited sceptically.

“Well, if our sales reports are accurate, which they one hundred percent were last time I checked , then our backlog of preorders is long enough that we could afford to buy three whole factories on the nearest continent. Seeing as I possess a significant amount of their stocks I am, without attempting to brag , one of the richest people in the city. Discounting my fellow Black Whistles and above of course.”

There were too many revelations and implications in this calmly delivered statement that Jirou couldn’t help but inquire: “Did you mean to imply that you are a Black Whistle?”

Tanya looked not a day older than eleven, except her cold, blue eyes, making him once again wonder if this was maybe some elaborate disguise to appear nonthreatening. There had never been a Black Whistle so young, simply because it was just not biologically possible. The strain of ascent from the fourth layer alone was unbearable even for adults.

Lyza did confide to him that the only reason Riko survived her ill-fated birth down in the Abyss was because she had been transported the entire way in a special, one of a kind, curse-repelling box, yet still her eyesight was irreparably damaged by the strain.

How could Tanya possibly have been able to travel upwards from the fifth layer at that age? And apparently proficiently enough to earn a coveted black whistle? No chance. This had to be a lie or exaggeration of some kind.

“Indeed.”

From below her shirt she pulled out a necklace along with a whistle. Without a doubt it was a real one, with its fine polish and smooth engravings; or it was at least an expensive fake.

“My father lives at the lowest point of the Abyss, furthering our collective understanding of the Abyss and its mechanics and as such I have been required to deal with the curse for a long time. Thanks to the amazing support of Bondrewd and his excellent associates I am proud to have undergone a thorough training in the art of delving. I am sure that if you ask Riko here to present the letters that I wrote to her over the years then they will form a comprehensive picture of most of my many exploits anywhere from the fifth to the second layer.”

Keeping his growing puzzlement off his face Jirou glanced over at his boss who wore an irritatingly thoughtful expression. He needed to cut in quickly before the shrewd, old woman could get the wrong ideas.

“We are still not going send Riko with some stranger-“

Placatingly Tanya raised her free hand and cleared her throat to interrupt him.

“All I am asking is let Riko make that decision herself . I believe that she is destined for great things and that keeping her here against her will would be irresponsible. She can take as long as she wants to come to a conclusion, but at the end of the day it is her life we are talking about here. I am merely presenting her with an opportunity of early employment.”

He frowned.

“This is too dangerous. Her mother left her in our care. I-“

“And for that I am thankful.”

Why did she keep interrupting him? Was this part of her plan?

“Here... For taking care of my friend for all this time. See it as a small token of my gratitude.”

Easily she produced a purse from one of her many pockets, sliding it over the table and making it jingle in a way that audibly demonstrated how full it was. Jirou did not dare touch it.

“As I already mentioned, she can stay here if she chooses to. But if she wants to come with me to join our family and you let her... then I foresee a great many benefits coming your way...” she smiled pleasantly, fixing Belchero with a meaningful stare.

He did not like this. Not one bit. There was some greedy glint entering his boss’s eyes, but certainly she wouldn’t...

“Alright.“

Jirou bit his tongue to stay quiet.

Chapter Text

Chapter 35

In the end the ‘difficult decision’ had been no decision at all for Riko. She needed to go down into the Abyss and who better to accompany her than her pen pal who was also an awesome delver herself? To be honest Riko was even a tiny bit jealous of Tanya’s success. To get to see so much at a young age and already make a name for oneself was a tantalizing prospect that wouldn’t leave her head no matter what.

‘A dream come true...’

In one week they would depart and that felt simultaneously like way too short of a timeframe to say goodbye to her home and also like an eternity of waiting until she was allowed to step into the great unknown.

There was much to do, much to prepare and much to remember before she left the surface for what could be months or possibly years. Nothing was allowed to be amiss for her first actual descent beyond the shallow depths of the first layer! Everything was so nerve-wrackingly exciting!

Suddenly though she was ripped from her blissful daydream as she remembered the only problem that still stood between her and adventure.

Should she tell Tanya about him ?

Riko really didn’t want to leave Reg, her newfound friend, personal saviour and greatest discovery behind! But sharing him was also scary. Reg was a living, thinking being who could have passed off as a normal boy if not for his cool detachable metal hands. She didn’t want anything bad to happen to him if word got out about this one of a kind, Special Grade Artefact.

On the other hand, Tanya had shared so much with her by now and there were certainly more fascinating insights to acquire once she got to talk with her father... Maybe they could even restore the lost boy’s memories?

Yes, it would only be fair to let her new ‘colleague’ - and wasn’t that a funny idea? - in on her biggest secret since stealing Director’s pie three months ago. Hiding stuff from friends was bad and Tanya had nearly always been truthful with her as well.

“Oh, ehm, there is something you should know...”

“What is it, Riko? If you need more time then that is perfectly alright.”

“No, no... It’s, ehm... A friend? Who will come with us? You should really meet him by the way.”

“Come with us? Ah. I know that you have friends here that you will have to leave behind for a while, but I can’t really bring any more children with me. The Abyss is a dangerous place without having to escort any more... untrained personnel.”

She groaned. Tanya could make things so difficult at times!

“Just come with me, okay?”

With a raised eyebrow her fellow blonde followed her up the stairs, staying mercifully silent as Riko wrung her hands in anticipation.

“Ta-daa!” she proudly exclaimed, slamming the door open where she had hid him.

Tanya seemed to struggle for words for a moment.

“That is a very nice room, Riko.”

Ah, right.

“Reg, you can come out. It’s safe.”

Hesitatingly his head peeked out from beneath the sheets and eyed them uncertainly.

“Hi?”

It sounded more like a question than a greeting, but she knew how shy her robotic friend sometimes was. How silly.

“Reg, this is Tanya. She is the one who sent me the letters. Tanya, this is Reg. He saved my life!”

“Ah, in that case, I am very happy to meet you, Reg. Many thanks for saving my friend Riko. Any friend of Riko is a friend of mine.” she smiled and strode over to shake his hand.

“Yeah. Nice to meet you too.”

They were getting along so well already! Yes, everything would be wonderful once they became all best friends!

∞•۞˂Tanya’s point of view˃۞•∞

Man, this guy had a strong grip! Looking down she studied his bulky metal gloves more closely. These definitely had to be artefacts; no material that she knew from the surface world was so smooth and perfectly crafted. What did they do though?

“May I?” she inquired to be polite and brought his outstretched hand up to her face.

There was a lens of some sort inset into the palm and the fingers looked to be fully covered as if-

“These are prosthetics, aren’t they?”

“Well, kinda? Actually no.” he replied, obviously uncomfortable with the question.

Understandable, as the surgery must have been quite invasive.

“Those hands are a part of him!” Riko interjected.

Tanya fought the urge to touch her throat where the accursed medallion had fused to her skin, reminding her each day that Being X was a conniving bastard. 

“That’s why I wanted you to meet him. Reg needs to come with us, because he... Uhm, he isn’t exactly human .”

The last part was whispered, but to Tanya’s ears it sounded as loud as the roar of an Angeltoad during mating season, freezing her in place as the implications of that statement sunk in.

What?!

“I found him down in the first layer, or I guess he found me, hehe ... Reg is a real wonder. Like I said, I owe him my life! He totally destroyed that Crimson Splitjaw with his amazing fire beam and BAM! I wonder where he gets that energy from, ya know? I tried to feed him coal, but he much prefers human food. Uh, Tanya, are you alright?”

He killed a Crimson Splitjaw on his own? Obliterated it even?

Such power in the form of a little boy...

Now that she knew, more signs of Reg’s abnormality were beginning to show, like his golden eyes or too perfect skin.

But an ancient relic, masquerading as a human was beyond ludicrous!

The repercussions of sentient, humanoid artefacts were simply staggering.

Father described strange unknown wanderers in the dark. Multiple times he offhandedly mentioned figures which eluded his vast array of sensors and that only traversed the edge of perception through the grey muddy wastelands of the fifth floor. Had those merely been anomalous cave raiders, or were they similar creatures, robots designed by whatever ancient civilization constructed the Abyss?

Tanya felt herself getting giddy with excitement just thinking about all the tests they could run.

“Hey, Tanya.”

A small hand was shaking her shoulder.

“Yes? Oh, forgive me. I was lost in thought.”

She involuntarily blushed in embarrassment for spacing out like that. How unprofessional!

“No problem. You are not... weirded out, I hope? Reg is wonderful and we will get many opportunities to hang out together!” her soon to be junior enthusiastically smiled.

“Indeed.”

It would be a terrible shame to lose out on such an incredible find.

“Uhm, Riko? What exactly are you talking about? Are we going somewhere?”

Slightly confused, the android was glancing meaningfully between them both. Of course he couldn’t know the arrangement that they had formed a couple minutes ago on the first floor.

Deciding to build some positive rapport with the artificial boy, Tanya was quick to reassure him.

“Not right now. Riko graciously chose to accept my offer for employment and wants to accompany me into the Abyss for further training. Ideally that would happen next week, but we can also postpone that date if you want to bring your affairs in order. I assume you will be joining her, right? You seem very close already.”

Playing on Reg’s supposed bond with the girl to guilt trip him into following was apparently as simple as it was effective.

“Absolutely! I go wherever Riko goes!”

“Wonderful. Do you want a present? Sadly I previously promised most of them to Riko, but I think I have some pretty crystal shards left. Wanna see?”

Underneath the mistrust in his eyes, the tiniest amount of curiosity flared up like a spark in the darkness as he focused on her backpack behind her back.

Oh, this excursion was already paying dividends! Father would be so proud of her! And her sister was also going to love her new playmates. Prushka desperately needed more social interaction and undoubtedly this mission would boost her growth tremendously.

Tanya grinned gleefully. 

∞•۞˂Bondrewd’s point of view˃۞•∞

‘Success!’ echoed from half a dozen minds that were one and also not. Across his different bodies, the Lord of Dawn allowed himself to feel a small measure of satisfaction at a job well done.

His fractured mind grew hungry for knowledge often and there was nothing more intoxicating than wresting the deepest secrets of this world from the Abyss. Observing a piece of information from multiple eyes, to touch and understand something with clarity beyond a single human brain was so incredibly liberating.

Bondrewd’s attention receded back to his main body, permitting his other extensions to roam independently, yet always at the edge of their shared consciousness. The experiment was most insightful and so he was content to spend some time with his third favourite activity:

Playing with his youngest daughter.

“Papa!” screeched his little girl the moment he entered her room.

Unheeding of the grime on his robes she threw himself at his leg and hugged it as if she had not seen him just a few hours ago. Rewarding her adorable obsession with a deep chuckle and plenty of headpats, Bondrewd lifted her up so that Prushka could properly cling to him as she was prone to do.

“I missed you.”

“I know, darling. You have been very patient today.”

“Uh-huh!” she instantly agreed, causing him to chuckle again.

Both of his daughters were so delightfully pure and sweet in their own ways, continuously reminding him of the humanity he had willingly given up in times long past. Although he certainly did not miss his early limitations, Bondrewd was nonetheless appreciative of the experiences and knowledge it had provided him.

“And I think that you deserve a treat for that, don’t you think?”

“Yeah! Papa you are the best!”

It always filled his many hearts with joy to see her radiant expression be directed at him.

“Then let us go to the surgical lab. My men have captured a previously unheard of fish in the eastern ponds and after we vivisect it you get to name it. How does that sound, my dear?”

“Yayyy! Oh, how big is it? Is it beautiful? Does it have large teeth?”

“We will just have to find out. You’ll be one of the first to ever lay eyes on such a creature.”

“Awesome!” chirped the grey-haired girl, now riding on his shoulders.

Indeed, witnessing the sheer drive , the intense curiosity of his children that he had done his best to cultivate over the years, made him yearn even more to share his gift with them. Little Prushka was still too young to properly understand such a proposal and her fragile mind would most likely shatter under the strain of the Zoaholic.

Meanwhile Tanya had displayed a mature way of thinking since he adopted her from that frozen orphanage at the fringes of civilization. Her rational and receptive intellect made her often come across as an adult wearing the skin of a child, surprising him regularly with its inventiveness and discipline. 

If there was anyone whom he trusted to appreciate the genius simplicity behind his immortality then it would be her. Of course he did plan to inaugurate her ages ago in some form, but raising two children had made the time fly by so fast that he honestly had never found the right moment to finally do it. There was constantly something novel and interesting to teach and learn, so much – dare he say – fun to be had that risking her adoration in a calculated gamble seemed to never be worth it.

Would Tanya, against all odds, feel disgusted by his greatest secret? Betrayed or scared perhaps?

Nobody could say, and that made him push back the important day of revelation farther and farther.

Not anymore!

As soon as she returned from Orth, he would show her. His eldest child deserved that much. How could he deny her such pleasure, when she proved herself capable and reliable without a doubt?

It was time to show her everything at last. Misguided fatherly protection should not interfere with the development of his precious daughter!

Resolve set, Bondrewd vowed to reveal the cipher to his thrice encoded notebooks to Tanya at the earliest opportunity. 

Prushka audibly gasped as they crossed the threshold into the laboratory.

“Woooow! That is a big fishy!”

Despite the thick bindings fixating the beast in the water tank obscuring much of it, its over two meters of length were still quite impressive.

Setting her down the Lord of Dawn calmly asked: “Would you be a dear and bring me the dissection set from the cupboard? And the tranquilizers too. Can you tell me what else we need?”

She put a tiny finger on her chin, wracking her brain for the correct answer.

“Uhm, a bucket for waste, a notebook and the big clamps for keeping its belly open?”

“Very good. You are becoming just like your big sister.”

His adorable daughter preened at the praise and went to fetch the discussed items.

Hopefully, in time she was going to be ready too. They all had a role to play and what hers would be, only the Abyss knew.

Chapter Text

Chapter 36

The sun had barely crept over the horizon and as such the valley leading into the earth was still cloaked in shadow. Few people were up and about due to the icy morning fog which made walking about decidedly unpleasant, but for Riko the empty streets were less foreboding and more exciting.

This was her big day! The day when she would finally descend as a real delver and become more than just some nobody dirt scavenger who never left the safety of the first layer.

“Wake up, Reg! Come on!” she whispered impatiently into the ear of her robot friend.

“Uhh-huh?” he mumbled half-awake which was kind of cute. Why would a artificial human even need sleep though?

Who cared? Adventure awaited her!

“Oh, this is gonna be great! I can feel it!” she joyously proclaimed, much to the chagrin of her fellow orphans on the other side of the thin wall.

∞•۞˂˃۞•∞

After another tearful goodbye, despite having organized a minor party with the funds Tanya graciously provided for her on the day before, she and Reg left the orphanage on their way to the agreed location on the edge of the slums. Poorer districts in Orth generally lay closer to the rim of the Abyss where the houses desperately clung to the steep cliff face away from the sun and traffic of the inner city ring. In contrast, all the estates of the merchants and emissaries were situated right on top of the circular hills that formed their atoll.

In short, it was the ideal place for delving into the netherworld when one wanted to remain unseen.

Tanya was somehow already waiting for her, casually leaning against a wall and fiddling with some unknown object. She was quite obsessed with punctuality.

“Hi! We’re ready!” Riko announced proudly.

Her blond friend hastily hushed her.

“Not so loud! Do you want to wake up the whole block? We’re being watched by at least three people right by now.”

“Sorry... My bad...” she rubbed her head sheepishly.

This whole ordeal was just so exciting that she kind of forgot how obsessed with secrecy her friend still was. Really, she called herself by the fake name ‘Rose’ for years to obscure her identity, she shouldn’t expect any different.

Reg pointed at the thing in Tanya’s hands: “What is that?”

Before she could answer a lanky, soot-covered boy waved to them from across the street.

“Bye! Good luck, little sisters, little bro!”

Was he mocking them? He was attracting all the attention!

“Who are you?” she inquired, because she had never seen the young man before.

“Oh, just a guy, ya’ know? Just passing through...”

“Well, that doesn’t sound suspicious at all.” remarked her friend with obvious sarcasm.

“You wound me!” grinned the stranger back.

“Mmph. Then let us be off.”

“Heh... Maybe I should leave the city too...“

“Why so?” asked Tanya blandly, barely paying him attention as she adjusted the straps and buttons of her clothing.

“Well, haven’t you heard what is happening in the city? The curse has hit the slums the hardest, but it’s already spreading.”

“What is spreading?” Riko interjected, mildly curious.

Even she could tell that this guy wanted something.

He lowered his voice conspiratorially: “They call it the ‘ birthday disease ’. Children will just go to bed on the day before their birthday and never wake up! Or they look in the mirror on their anniversary and as soon as they see themselves they fall down lifelessly! Already a dozen kids have been claimed by the curse and no one has any idea how to prevent it.”

“That sounds rather exaggerated. How come nobody has ever heard of such an illness before?” Tanya questioned incredulously.

“It’s true! I’m not lying! The Morrimans even sent their son back with the latest ship to the mainland in hopes of saving him!”

“Mmph. On the off chance that you speak the truth, I will investigate this. My father might be able to do something about this... phenomenon .”

“Hehe... I certainly hope so! My fifteenth is coming up and I wouldn’t want to get thrown into the Abyss with all the other poor sods! Hehe...”

As they left the chuckling boy behind, Riko couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit uneasy about their conversation. Had he made up that story or did she really miss the news of something so spooky going on? To distract herself she got an idea.

“Say Tanya, you haven’t spent much time in this layer, right? It’s probably not lucrative enough...”

“Yes. Why do you ask? Do you want to show me something?”

“Yeah! Have you seen the praying skeletons? They’re so creepy!”

“I only heard about them. Are there any graves nearby you know of?”

“Ehm... I think? Uh, that rock over there... Yep! I know where we have to go! It won’t take long!”

Following the barely visible trails where wildlife and adventures trod sporadically, they soon arrived at a small outcropping she had discovered years ago. Two giant slabs of stone formed sort of a miniature cave and by crawling inside and lifting the loosened plate in the middle one could gaze upon the half-buried form of a long dead man.

His bones withered by age, but still in surprisingly good condition. The skeletal hands were folded together in apparent reverie. Despite how creepy that scene was, it also filled Riko with a strange sense of calmness and amity. Thousands of years ago this person must have found some sort of peace before they died here, preserving their pose forever.

“Disgusting...” Tanya snarled in contempt.

“What?”

Her friend seemed to be of a different opinion on the matter.

“He died begging for help that never came. How foolish to rely on some higher power to intervene when you can’t save yourself! Remember Riko, there is no god . That is a delusion propagated by the lazy and insane to excuse their most nonsensical actions! If you die then make sure to go out on your own terms instead of those of a being you never met or that never did anything for you!”

“Wow, you’re really emotional about this, hehe...” Riko laughed awkwardly, unsure of what to make of her friend’s reaction.

“I apologize. I got carried away... It just seemed... such a waste how all these people died while doing something so useless.”

“Ehm... ok. Well, let’s get going then!”

Tanya solemnly nodded and they went back on their way towards the middle of the great hole at the bottom of the world. Hopefully things would get less weird after a while.

∞•۞˂Reg’s point of view˃۞•∞

He was by no means getting tired, but they had walked all day and he would certainly not be opposed to doing something different than simply wandering around in silence. Reg wanted to have an easy going conversation with Riko the same way Tanya could, but what did he have to say?

‘Nice grass? Look at those bushes over there!’

In spite of apparently coming from the Abyss he had absolutely no knowledge of its inner workings. There was nothing of value, no fond memories, no insightful tips that he could share. In a way, he was more inexperienced than his friend at delving even though he wasn’t even really human! He didn’t mind her head start over him, but he also wanted to protect her. How could he help keep her safe when he was the weakest link in their group? Just listening to what the two girls in front of him were talking about made him feel inadequate…

“What do you think?” Riko asked kindly with that cute smile of hers.

All he could do in response was stutter: “U-uhm, sorry... I wasn’t listening.”

Absolutely embarrassing. Why was he feeling so odd recently?

“That’s alright. Uh, Tanya? How long do we have to go? Because I think it’s getting late.”

The blonde who claimed to be a seasoned Black Whistle stopped and looked up at the sky.

“Indeed. Please forgive me for not taking that into account. I am merely accustomed to longer marches.”

Idly he noted that she didn’t sound apologetic at all.

“Mmm... We made good progress today. The entry to the second layer is just around hundred meters below us, so there is a heightened danger from migrating predators, but I will stand guard just in case. Yes, the plateau over there should do. If you would please rest here while I set up camp.”

Astonishingly, she managed to hammer eight tent pegs into the stone with her bare hands which was a feat he was uncertain that he could repeat himself. While she worked Tanya absentmindedly talked about what kinds of tents she preferred and how to care for them which he supposed was useful information. Maybe he should ask her if he could try out her technique tomorrow. Then he would be able to always keep Riko warm...

Plopping down on the ground next to them the girl began to rummage through her backpack and ultimately produced a roll of dried meat and a few bags of zwieback.

“Spreading smoke or other strong smells here would be unwise, so we will have to contend ourselves with the dry rations if we want to make sure that we are not discovered.”

Already chewing Riko piped in: “Yeah, Crimson Splitjaws have an excellent sense of smell. Wouldn’t want to meet another one so soon, hehe...”

“You have to thank Reg for surviving that one. Even taking on one with three other Black Whistles and planning was a hairy affair for me. However I was more worried about Corpse Weepers, though they are rarely found up here. All in all, this height is still relatively harmless, but... what did I say Riko?”

“Risk mitigation is the first step towards not being made fun of in the history books.” repeated his friend dutifully.

“ Exactly. ”

Meanwhile Reg only wondered how it was possible for any meal to be so tasteless.

Chapter Text

Tanya as a Umbra Hand

Here is my design idea for what Tanya will look like late in the fic. (It will be a long while.)

I intended for the top-half of the mask to look like her military cap. Of course her glowing lense is shaped like a cross :)

The hanging cloth below is to obscure her glowing Type 95

In her pocket is a modern pen that she has developed because ink pens are too messy for her.

Her black whistle is special gift by best dad and the orange thing on her shoulder is a cave lamp, because she has to be able to do her paper work in every situation.

It is surprisingly difficult to upload pictures to this site btw., so this was mostly a test.