One With The Abyss

When I finally regained consciousness I was lying in a patch of grass. Looking around I was in an opening of a forest, though this was not like any forest I had seen on Earth.

The bark of the trees was grey like ash and the leaves hanging from the branches were crimson red, like fresh drops of blood hung from the wood.

Feeling discomfort on my face I felt that the blood below my nose had dried.

"It's been a while since I was transported then..." I muttered to myself before feeling anger build up within me, "THOSE DAMN BASTARDS! THEY SENT ME HERE TO DIE!"

In the small clearing I stomped and yelled, my anger bubbled over but there was no way for me to vent how I felt. I realised how idiotic I had acted only a moment later when the sound of heavy footsteps came from within the forest.

3 figures stepped out from the trees, but these were not the comforting silhouettes of humanity but rather something much more sinister. These beings stood at 8.5 feet tall, red skin like blood and covered in grey tribal marking tattoos. From their lower lip were 2 tusks that looked like they could pierce the hull of an Earthen battleship, seeing these monstrosities caused me to freeze in fear.

We looked at each other for what felt like an eternity, but soon a toothy grin spread across all 3 of their faces and they began moving towards me.

I slowly backed away, knowing I couldn't fight whatever these things were. Soon I ran out of space, they were going to eat me, I was going to die.

I couldn't allow that to happen; I had to get my revenge on the people who had tormented me my entire life, I deserved to get revenge for what they did to me. I resolved myself and ran forward. I didn't need to beat them, just escape and survive long enough to discover a way to get stronger.

It's a common cliche in books right? I had thought, The pathetic MC finds a powerful artefact or technique that makes them the strongest.

I was grasping for straws, desperation had eroded my critical thinking to the point of believing myself a hero in a book. But still, I wouldn't allow myself to die, I would do whatever I could  to survive.

I rushed forward and the monster's faces changed slightly, for a moment I thought they may back off. Like a black bear, being threatened when a person makes themself look bigger but I soon recognised the look they directed towards me: Mockery.

Even if they thought so little of me I would charge forward anyway.

"AAAAH!" I yelled, trying to manifest some bravery from deep within me, "I WON'T DIE HERE!"

I swung my hand down at where I believed a joint may have been, trying to knock it over and bypass the encirclement. But this didn't work, it would never have worked. As my hand descended I saw a flash of red, so fast that I could not ever hope to perceive it. And then I felt it right before I was sent flying back into the tree.

Looking down I saw my arm, a mangled mess of blood and flesh, twisted in ways I had never thought an arm possibly could. Parts hung from what looked like strings of muscle and enough blood flowed from the injury that I felt it could fill the grand canyon. It was hard to see my arm through all of the damage.

"ah... ah... AAARGGHAHAARH!" Soon I writhed around on the ground, screaming in pain; though to me the pain was not the worst of my suffering.

It was the thought that again I was a failure: Born a failure; lived a failure; died a failure. Even now, as my arm was little more than meat paste, my suffering was observed and mocked by another. I would quite literally die, having achieved nothing, under the derision of a superior being.

My vision was blurred and I struggled to remain awake through the pain, but I did, watching as the mocking laughter died down and one of the red monsters approached. 

Get up. Get up. Do you really want to die like this? It was that voice again, the one in my head. The one that had stopped me from killing myself so many times. At points I thought it was some kind of deep survival instinct, but it didn't ever sound like that. It was more like some kind of existence within me, preventing me from ending myself.

And for the first time in my life I was thankful it was there, with the voice in my head I stood. Shaky legs and tear covered face. The red monsters looked at me, with both shock and curiosity, like they had not expected this. I looked at them, stared them down like a predator would a prey; and then I ran.

I turned and ran, it didn't matter where, I simply ran. A raucous laughter could be heard behind me and then the steady fall of heavy feet. This was no longer and execution, but a hunt. A hunt I would not allow myself to fail. I was the prey and they were the predator, but this time the predator would go hungry.

I couldn't tell how long I ran for. Nothing seemed to matter at that point, no time, no space, no anything;  it was just running as the sound of laughter and thundering feet echoed behind me like a cacophony of conquest. Every moment of it was torture, the pain was almost unbearable and blood gushed from me with every step. It was only that little voice that kept me going, that voice - so desperate to live on.

But I soon made a mistake. I became cornered, at my front were the 3 tusked creatures, to my back was a ledge. Under normal circumstances the fall would not be deadly, but my arm was so horribly destroyed that I could not hope to make it down the slope without slipping.

Don't die. Don't die! DON'T DIE! The voice only got louder, yet it gave no solutions on how to survive, or even how to live just that few seconds longer.

"Hah, hah. If I'm going to die... I'll die how I want to..." I said through laboured breaths, throwing myself down the rock hill. I did what I could to shield my head, feeling my ribs cracking as they smacked off of rocks on the way down like glass against the floor.

Then I was free falling, it seemed that was a sheer drop at the edge of the hill. Hidden behind a large rock and now I was falling to my death. 

At least it was my choice. I thought.

Eyes closed and all senses shut off I simply fell. Until I was no longer falling. Yet there was no pain, beyond what I was already experiencing, no it was beyond that. My arm felt soothingly cold.

At once I opened my eyes and saw a blue gelatinous blob in front of me. I was laid upon a mattress of slime, with my mangled arm embedded deep within it.

"Ha... Ha... HAHAHAHA! I'M ALIVE!" I yelled out, I had survived the hunt. At least for now I had.

I went to get up but felt I couldn't. My arm no longer hurt but I could not pull it from the slime. It was then I realised that escaping the red monsters had merely taken me out of the pan and into the fire.

The slime moved, wriggled around and from it tentacles grew to surround me.

"AAAAAAAH!" As if that wasn't enough it felt as if a fire was burning along my entire arm. I had fallen into a slime and now it was dissolving me, even to the weakest monsters in existence I was merely food.

If only it wasn't for this goddamn useless talent! I thought, my mind screaming at me to not die. Then I felt it again, that sensation when I had touched my classmate before being dragged away. A flow of something coming into me.

The slime also seemed to notice as I watched my hand dissolve at a much faster rate. Like it knew something bad was happening to it. My arm went from mangled flesh to twisted skeleton until eventually there was nothing left, just a stump that looked as if it had been cauterised halfway down the upper arm. With this, and a foothold I was able to pull myself away from the slime.

Yet the monster was vastly different, if before it was a water bet, now it was merely a cushion, like something had been stolen from it. 

Is it that energy I thought, deciding to take the risk and placing my good hand on the slime.

Nothing happened and I wondered what I was doing wrong until I tried to remember the situation, I was pulling while thinking about my talent. As that thought came to mind the feeling of flowing energy returned and the slime continued to shrink, until nothing but a small black rock was left on the floor.

I wondered for a moment what had just happened when something began occurring to the stone, while it had previously looked slick and wet, cracks appeared along its surface. Like it was undergoing rapid desertification.

Then it reached a tipping point and burst into sand, a dusty remnant of what was once there. After that a system message appeared.

[You have killed a <Greater Slime Core>]

[You have gained +<0> level(s)]

[You have killed a monster 10 levels above you: <+David> Title]

[You have killed a monster 100 levels above you: +<Goliath> Title]

"What the hell?" I muttered to myself. I was incredibly angry at some parts and pleased at others: I had apparently killed something at least 100 levels greater than me but gained no levels from it. However, I had gained 2 titles from it. Malleca had not explained or even mentioned titles, but surely they could only be positive.

Looking through the notifications I saw that I could send them away but first I looked closer and decided to alter their settings. On closer analysis it was possible to set a preference for when they would appear. The only thing I did was entirely mute level increase notifications considering I was incapable of receiving anything but a +<0> notification, but since I was weak and new to this world I decided to leave the kill notifications on so I knew if what I killed had actually died. Other than that, the reward title notifications were left on as well.

"She said there was a system but I hadn't expected it to be so game-like." I muttered, laying back. My arm felt weird, or to be more specific, my lack of an arm felt weird. I was left handed so missing my right hand was not especially bad, another reason I was seen as 'imperfect' since the Ambrose family still maintained old fashioned views like that.

I felt pains where my arm should have been, likely phantom pains that I had read amputees felt.

It was unsettling, but I had to ignore it.

"She said there was a system and I've just seen it. So how do I open it." I began racking my brain but all the words I could think of gave no reaction, I kept trying but nothing I did worked and I started giving up.

"You just have to want it to open. No words needed." A voice said, I jumped up. More danger had presented itself and I wouldn't allow it to take me down; the only benefit of meeting the slime (besides the titles) was that most of my pain was gone now that I was lacking an arm, that and I was no longer losing any blood - even if I was a bit woozy. Standing on alert in my dirt uniform I tried to locate the source of the noise.

"I'm here." As if reading my mind the voice called out again.

"Well I can read your mind." The response was horrifying but it allowed me to locate the source, much to my dread.

Like a broken toy my head lowered, slowly and mechanically I looked down. On my good arm there was a mouth, I stared at it. That was all I did as I was too terrified to do anything. Somehow this was more terrifying than the 3 times I had thought I was going to die, was it because it was my body.

"Perhaps, but you have no need to be scared. I'm here to help." Again, it answered a question I had not asked of it. Though no less scared I found myself able to speak again.

"What... What are you?" I asked, "Some kind of parasite?"

"I'm you." The answer only opened up more questions and increased my fear, "We are the same, hence I am you. To be more specific, I am the abyss."

This gave a little more explanation, with this it looked as though it was part of my talent - though the talent had no mention of growing mouths on my body.

"The talent didn't grow the mouth." It said.

"Stop doing that!" I yelled.

"Okay... Geez, sorry. Anyway this isn't part of your original talent - it's from another." It explained, leaving me even more questions, but before I could ask; "We should move, blood ogres never give up on a hunt, we aren't safe here."

Blood ogres? I thought, Does it mean those red monsters?

"Yes, those. Now let's move." It said, once again tapping into my mind, "That cave over there. That'll do for now I suppose."

For some reason the mouth seemed somewhat trustable, though I did still take caution as I had seen something similar when I was summoned, and headed into the cave. When I felt I was deep enough I began asking some questions.

"What the hell are you?" I asked.

"I'm pretty sure I've already answered that." It responded.

"Bullshit! You think you can get away with that 'I am you' crap? No, what are you?"

"Fine. I am the physical manifestation of the one with the abyss talent. Is that enough?"

"Keep going, give me some more."

"... The abyss is an endless existence, and you are it, simply given physical form. But you still possess a mind unfit for witnessing such power; hence me. I exist to assist you in your ascension, until eventually we merge and become one being. Meaning we are one, we are the same."

"What the fuck! You're going to take over my body!"

"Were you even fucking listening?! I am just a manifestation of the abyss, you are the abyss, I am just a part of you. Like your heart or eyes or fingers." It sounded a little bit annoyed now.

Again I felt as though the voice could be trusted, if what it was saying was true then it was merely another of my body parts - perhaps that was why I trusted it.

"Fine." I said, "But why have you only appeared now?"

"Well... It's because the first gate is open."