Abyssal Awakening

"An Outer God, right?" Zal-Ka’Rith grinned as he stepped through a portal, causing Alice to frown.

Allura, on the other hand, simply raised an eyebrow as there was no hostility in his voice.

"F*ck you want, parchment?" Alice glared as Zal-Ka’Rith simply shrugged his shoulders.

"How harsh! And here I thought we made an alliance."

"The alliance was only for your help regarding my mother’s condition. It has nothing to do with what you’re trying to do now." Alice shook her head, but Zal-Ka’Rith simply pulled out a single book.

"The condition was to ’save’ her. We’ve done little to save her when the pages are still showing signs of being taken out. And let’s just say..." He revealed a toothy grin.

"The path you were walking down was removing a few pages. So, as a show of goodwill, I decided to pop over and have a look. And to my most unexpected surprise, you were trying to make yourself an ’outsider’ to the rules of this realm."

It was at this point that he lost his smile.

"I believe the basis of our agreement is for you to give me the most sublime story while I help you find a way to save your mother. Anything else can be discussed at a later time. However..."

He appeared behind Alice.

Within the missing upper half of his head, words began to string together to form the shape of an eye.

"Depending on how you plan to make yourself an ’outsider’, I believe we may have to reconsider our agreement."

Even Allura was now interested, as the knowledge she had on Outer Gods and outsiders was limited to simply Outer Gods and the fact that they were a danger to this realm.

"Reconsider? Why?"

Zal-Ka’Rith tilted his head for a moment before taking a few steps away.

"In terms of ’outsiders’, there are a few categories, you see. First, you have the Neighbours. Residents of other realms that practically border this one. They form a link, and there are no issues with travel and so on.

"So Neighbours would be the Abyssal Realm and the Void Realm. By extension, the Nightmare Realm has also become a Neighbour." Zal-Ka’Rith held up three fingers before creating a projection of their realms.

Three spheres that overlapped one another with a fourth protruding from the Void Realm.

"The next kind of Outsider is ones like the Outer Gods. Invaders who are trying to take pieces of your realm. They are an active danger, and the realm’s rules are placed against them. Though for this collection of realms, a certain fallen God placed a barrier that reinforces this protection."

Then, around these spheres, a barrier appeared.

"And then there’s the third kind. Observers that cannot interfere no matter what due to various rules. Beings outside our flow of time, cosmic beings looking in from afar with rules of their own. Destroyers and creators beyond the scope of our comprehension and power.

"They who can erase entire timelines, alternate worlds, and even you and I with a wave of their hand. Of course, this one is more of the extreme rather than a standard." Zal-Ka’Rith shrugged his shoulders.

"The issue comes with what you’re trying to do. If you turn yourself into the first kind, you will still be bound by the rules. The second kind, you’ll be restricted in what you can do, even if you ignore rules.

"But if you become the third kind, an Observer, your ’story’ in this realm comes to an end."

Alice folded her arms.

"Can’t you still get a story out of it? As long as you’re observing, that is." Alice asked, but Zal-Ka’Rith shook his head.

"In the moment, perhaps. My observation of you will anchor you down and record you as a story. But the moment I take my eyes off you, the story of you anchored to this world will be erased.

"As for the consequences... the moment you lose your anchor to this world, unless there is someone who can observe you properly no matter what, you won’t be able to materialise here." He shook his head.

Alice exhaled and sat down on the grass.

"Got a suggestion then? I’m sure you know that I can’t just continue as it is." Alice rested her chin on her palm.

"I need a way to avoid the rules so that I can use my stuff without fear."

"Who said you can’t do that without becoming an Outsider?" Zal-Ka’Rith tilted his head, confusing Alice.

In order to avoid being bound by the rules, didn’t she need to make herself an exception?

"Lady Apostle, do you mind if I give her a possible answer? I know you’re trying to train her, so I wouldn’t want to get ahead of myself." Zal-Ka’Rith looked towards Allura.

He wanted to make sure he got her permission before saying something he might not be allowed to say.

"Oh? Quite the polite invader, aren’t you? Go for it. It seems like you’re on somewhat good terms with my daughter. Whether or not your advice is helpful or harmful to her, I’ll judge once I hear what it is." Allura nodded.

With Allura giving her permission, Zal-Ka’Rith smiled and turned to Alice.

"Create an internal realm. Impose your rules into your own realm and use it as a shield against the rules of this world.

"Just like how the Void has its own rules, if you create an internal realm, you’ll be able to coexist with this realm while keeping yourself separate to some degree. However, to do so, you’ll need to find a way for this internal realm to become an alternate source of power."

Snapping his fingers, he opened a library of sorts and brought out a single book.

"I believe this one should be rather... helpful for your case. It’s something I recovered from a foreign land. The rules there and here are very much different, but I believe with some... modifications, you should be able to achieve something of a similar nature." Zal-Ka’Rith tossed the book over to Alice.

Catching it, Alice glanced at the title.

A Tale About Spirits and the Spirit Realm.

Alice tilted her head before wanting to ask Zal-Ka’Rith some more questions.

Only to find that he had already left.

"That’s quite the interesting friend you’ve made." Allura chuckled, seeing Alice’s frustration.

"Somewhat."

"Can he be trusted?"

Personally, Allura didn’t trust any of the Outer Gods. But there were always exceptions, and one must keep an open mind at times.

"A little? He doesn’t like the nature of Outer Gods since their titles are spoilers to their story, and he hates that. What he wants from me is something satisfying for himself, so... I guess as long as I’m entertaining, he’ll be on our side." Alice scratched her head.

"How peculiar... Well, having more allies is always useful. But always be careful of betrayal. Especially from exceptions such as himself." Allura warned.

Alice agreed, as she was of the same opinion. However, it must also be stated that the help he had given couldn’t be denied either.

With that being said, Alice started to flip through the book while Cayla recorded everything down.

Confusion naturally spread across Alice’s face as she wasn’t quite sure what they meant by ’Spirit’. For her, spirits were beings such as ghosts. Beasts that lacked a physical form.

However, based on this book, Spirits were more akin to elemental beings than beasts. They were ’mostly’ friendly with humans, with each having a ’focus’.

Fire Spirits, Water Spirits, Nature Spirits, and so on.

They were mostly responsible for the behaviour of the elements around the area they governed, and the ’Rank’ of the Spirit determined how much they could control.

Certain people who made contracts were able to ’absorb’ these Spirits into their inner world, allowing them to make changes and thus adjust the host’s affinities.

Absorbing a Fire Spirit would increase fire affinity.

Alice furrowed her brows.

Based on the book, it seemed like this inner world was very different from what she had.

Her mindscape was... a hub of sorts where she could talk to Cayla and Alyss. The three could interact, and to begin with, this hub was a feature that came with Cayla rather than her own creation.

But for these Spirits, these hubs were essentially a second home. One where they could impose their own elemental rules...

Alice glanced down at her own hand.

While their world had elemental beings, they weren’t quite the same as Spirits.

The closest thing would be sources of energy.

In her case, her affinities would be Abyssal, Void, Eldritch, Flame, and Divinity. There were others, but these were the ones that were constantly with her.

Cayla would represent Abyssal. It was only natural with her status as the Eyes of the Abyss. Would she qualify as an Abyssal ’Spirit’?

Alyss would be an Eldritch Spirit, which now left Void, Flame, and Divinity.

To create a balanced inner world where she could apply rules, she would need to create Spirits, or rather, vessels for all three.

"Void Fang can be a vessel for Void. Ruinous Void is highly adaptive. Even with its nature being close to that of the Void, I can probably meld it with my Divinity to change its base nature." Alice mumbled.

Which now left the strange fire that was a result of Nyer’s experiments. One that was filtered through Alyss and served as the foundation of her being.

The Violet Flames.

At the end of it all, it circled back to her original power after all.

A helpless smile appeared on Alice’s face.

The Violet Flames were created from a mixture of beasts and concepts. Null being one of them.

There was only one vessel in the world that could hold this kind of power.

Herself.

Exhaling softly, Alice understood what she must do.

She must turn herself into a proper vessel, a Spirit, for the Violet Flames, which meant understanding its core concept and power.

Alice activated her Sigil, Revenant Recollection.

The target?

Was it not obvious?

Naturally, the target was...

Herself.