Abyssal Awakening

After talking with Ria, Alice's speaking had improved a little but was still rather disjointed. During the talk, Ria would often correct her and give her the proper sentences that she was trying to use.

"Seems like we've taken a bit more time than expected. Want to head back? I'm sure Allura is waiting for us." Ria asked with a smile.

"Okay… Erm, let me.. go grab my… stuff?" Alice replied, trying to correct her way of speaking.

"Try to sound less confused at the end ahaha, but yes. I assume your stuff is the blood cloths that you hung up over night?"

Nodding her head, Alice made her way over to the tree and collected all of her test samples.

After all, she can continue to see how her blood changed over time. The only issue she could think of is the stench since calling it unpleasant was putting it lightly.

"You really want to keep them?"

"Yes… Can be helpful, when I see how they… react over long time." Alice nodded her head.

"If you say so. Though you'll probably need to get a suitcase from Allura or something since I don't think the driver would be too pleased to smell this scent for several days." Ria forced a smile.

She wasn't even sure if the inn they were going to would allow Alice to keep her blood cloths.

"Hmm… Okay, I can test in future." Alice shrugged.

It wasn't too big of a loss since she had already discovered plenty of useful information from one night of testing.

Once they reach Zadash, there were two goals for her.

First was to obtain the Bestiary so she could memorise the book. It'll make her ventures out to the wilds a lot safer if she knew what she was up against.

Second was a set of equipment that'll let her extract blood. She needed a less… dangerous way of extracting her own blood while also needing a way to harvest the blood from beasts. As it stands, she has no way of properly harvesting the useful materials from the beasts she kills. A big waste of resources that could help her in the long run.

Gathering all of her equipment, she separated the pile into two. One for things that she can still use while the other is for things she should throw away and destroy.

Just as she was about to leave, Ria grabbed her shoulder and pointed at the pile she left behind.

"Don't think you should leave what you don't need behind."

"Huh?" Tilting her head in confusion, Alice wasn't sure what Ria meant.

"Were you never taught that you should throw your trash in the bin? Leaving out like this is bad." Ria furrowed her brows in confusion, but Alice shook her head.

"What?"

Watching Alice walk over and pick up the trash she left behind, Ria was left somewhat conflicted. She felt bad for saying that now since it seemed as though Alice's parents were also bad.

Scratching her head awkwardly, Ria sighed and made her way over to Alice and helped with picking up the trash.

"Sorry." Ria apologised but Alice shook her head.

"Is okay. Thank you for telling me. In future, please tell me more. If I make mistakes."

Picking up the trash, the two made their way back to the camp but the atmosphere was now silent while Allura was left confused.

'I turn my head for two seconds and these two argued???' Allura thought to herself in disbelief.

Sitting on the back of the carriage, Alice sat silently while both Allura and Ria sat inside.

"What the hell happened?" Allura whispered while Ria explained what had happened.

"Oh yikes. Maybe I should go have a talk with her, figure out her background a little." Allura sighed.

Climbing out of the carriage, she sat down next to Alice who was surprised that Allura was sitting here.

"Ria told me what happened. Anything you want to get off your chest? You look like you have a lot of things on your mind." Allura asked.

Seeing the conflict in Alice's eyes, Allura couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

'It must be a difficult past to talk about. Though I suppose I can guess what happened with how she's acted so far and how bad she is with talking to people.' Allura thought to herself.

"Erm… Ria told you?" Alice asked as Allura nodded.

"Then do you know… How to get rid of these?" Alice sighed while pointing at the trash she had collected from the forest.

"Huh?"

"Ria said I shouldn't leave these out… But don't know how I should get rid of them. What's bin? She said these should be put in bin. But I don't know what it is." Alice scratched her hair in frustration.

Hearing this, Allura burst out in laughter.

"Ahahahaha, seems like both me and Ria misunderstood you."

"What did you think… I was talking about?"

"Ria thought you were sad being reminded of your past since she asked if you were never taught." Allura smiled, pulling out a cigarette.

"Why I be sad over it? It just makes me angry." Alice frowned as Allura patted her head.

"Well Ria was just worried since we don't know much about you. We thought you'd be more upset since some people are just like that."

Hearing this, Alice understood where they were coming from.

'If we're going to spending more time together, perhaps it's better if I tell them a little about what had happened. Otherwise, Ria and Allura might have similar misunderstandings in the future.'

"So what do you… want to know?" Alice asked, hoping to answer their questions.

The rest of the journey towards Zadash was filled with Ria and Allura asking Alice questions about her past.

While she kept most of the important information to herself, such as her body being special and that she was captured for experimentation, she didn't shy away from telling them about where she got her information.

How she was separated from her family since she was a child as they were the ones that allowed the experiments, how the scientists 'taught' her everything she knows regarding Abyss Blood and certain Abyss Beasts.

While Ria was listening to all of this, she was bewildered by how nonchalant she was regarding losing 10 years of her life to this. She couldn't imagine what it was like to try and adapt to a new world. To put it bluntly, Alice was essentially a child's mind in an adult's body. Her mental age and physical age wasn't matching up.

As for Allura, she was more confused as to why Kaden chose Alice in the end. She heard about how he broke into the prison and got her out. But with her knowledge of how Kaden was, there had to be something more. Not only that, there was some discrepancies with Alice's explination. If she indeed suffered lots of experimentation, even if they 'healed' her later, effects would show up.

'The b*stard does things on a whim. If he sees a heavily guarded place, he'll break through just for the hell of it. That does explain everything though. If it was enough to interest Kaden, why was Alice captured in such a place? Moreover, what did he see in Alice for him to plant the Eye in her.' Allura thought to herself.

She had to admit that Alice was a little better at fighting than the average hunter and had the creative mind to match but that wasn't enough for Kaden to give her the Eye. If it was enough, they would've just given the Eye to Ria.

'Well if Alice doesn't want to say, it's probably something serious. Kaden wouldn't just give the Eye to anyone either. I'll trust his judgement.' She sighed, feeling annoyed that Kaden left all of this to her without saying anything.

He didn't reply to her mails, nor sent her any mails. All he did was drop Alice into the Abyss with the Eye and called it a day.

'Next time I see his raven cloaked ass, he'd better wish he improved his defences after all these years.' Allura thought to herself, feeling her rage rising with just the thought of Kaden.

While it was reassuring that this part of him hasn't changed after all these years, it was still annoying that Kaden left everything to her.

With the matter of Alice's past now understood, the group was a day or so from reaching Zadash.

Compared to the coastal city of the Slaughter Docks, where the land surrounding the location was a mix of Abyss Water and tall cliffs, Zadash was surrounded by mainly forests, flat plains and caves that reached underground.

Despite the journey being a day away, the group could already see the city of Zadash as Alice was speechless. While she knew that Zadash was going to be big based on Allura's description of it being the hub of young Hunters, she didn't expect it to be a colossal sprawling metropolis built upon the side of a mountain erected in the middle of the plains.

A myriad of tall towers with pointed roofs, spiked fences and bridges connecting the path between towers could be seen, acting akin to a fence for the under city. Faint mist from the top of the mountain drifted down, blanketing the city with a air of mystery while the tall buildings peeking out from the mist looked as though they were the sharp teeth of a beast.

Flickering lights shifted from beneath the mist while a purple moon hung over the city.

This is the city of Zadash, the city of young Hunters.