Day: 1009
Days Left: 4471
Lives Saved: 5
Lili wrapped up another training session with Corinna, the young woman becoming more confident in her abilities and reaching higher with her mask's powers, marking up to a metre on the tree.
Ever since the failed negotiations, the thought of a possible attack by the other group occupied Lili's mind the most. Though they barely had a motive to do so, as their leader said, they had nothing they would want; the fear lay ever-present. So, Lili trained Corinna even harder than usual to ensure that she could protect herself.
"Maybe the others should also be training," Lili sighed as she began to pack up her belongings. "We need to prepare for an attack." She saw Corinna's disagreeable expression, and Lili corrected herself, "we should prepare for them to attack us. The chances are low, but they may feel their status will be threatened the longer we stay."
Lili expected Corinna to dismiss the idea, her fundamental belief in the best of everyone; instead, Corinna wrote on her whiteboard, 'you enjoy teaching?'
Lili paused, then replied, "it is necessary for the group to survive."
Corinna wiped away the question mark and motioned to her writing.
"I..." Lili glanced at the ground. "I guess I do like seeing someone making good progress."
'Me too,' Corinna wrote with a smile. 'Seeing completed project'.
"I don't think anyone is ever 'completed' in their learning."
Corinna nodded.
Lili smirked. "Yes, I suppose you were constantly improving your construction projects despite everyone else saying they were already perfect."
Corinna gave a guilty grin. 'You seemed happiest when teaching,' she wrote.
'Happiest?' Lili considered the word in her mind. Was she really? The more she thought about it, the more Lili struggled to find any other memory of when she would classify herself as 'happy'. But back when she was teaching everyone how to fight, holding three lessons a week and all of the little competitions... yes, she supposed that that would be a moment she would define as being 'happy'. She enjoyed those lessons; she... missed them and these training sessions with Corinna revitalised that. Lately, she had been noticing her own change in mood, almost excited to wake up every day, to return after scouting, knowing that there was another lesson.
"Yeah..." Lili finally replied. "I think I was." She hesitated. "It's the same for you, isn't it, Miss Warren? You appeared happy when you had a project to work on." Lili omitted the part about Harmony, who obviously played a significant role in Corinna's happiest.
Corinna nodded, looking away for a moment before returning Lili's gaze with a smile.
Though Corinna had not wholly given up on her construction projects, they were small and insignificant compared to what she used to plan; no longer did she possess such ambitions of building an entire village from scratch and instead took her time to experiment with twigs and then constantly redrafting blueprints for a wagon but never starting it.
Lili wondered how she could help rekindle Corinna's love for construction, just as Corinna helped with her teaching. They were both workaholics, needing busy work to keep their minds stable, unable to relax unless everything was done, but lately, both of them had been drifting away from this, losing their sense of purpose; Lili, with her lack of bodyguard duties and Corinna with no current projects.
"Do you think I should teach the others again?" asked Lili.
'We should not fear attack,' Corinna wrote. 'But if you find it fun yes'.
"You think I should do it because it's fun, not for its practicality?" Lili asked slowly, confused.
Corinna smiled and nodded.
"Do you think anyone would want to join these lessons?" Lili glanced at the campsite, at the other prisoners. "If you do not believe them necessary, why would anyone join?"
'Because they were fun', replied Corinna.
Lili snorted, unable to believe that anyone would find anything she did to be fun.
'Want to improve,' Corinna added. 'I enjoy these lessons with you'.
"You do?"
Corinna underlined her line 'because they were fun' and 'want to improve'.
"Then... I'll consider asking the others if they want to learn," said Lili. "And I'll take on more students."
'I'll try not to be jealous,' wrote Corinna.
Lili chuckled. "What? That I'd be seeing other students?"
Corinna feigned shock as if Lili had admitted adultery before breaking into silent giggles.
"Don't worry, you're my favourite student; you always do the homework." Lili smiled. "Don't tell anyone else that, though. Unless that would persuade them to work harder, of course."
The two continued to talk about what they enjoyed about teaching or construction, the idea of seeing progress and how satisfying it was, and the need to have something to concentrate on, neither of them having ever been able to relax without so many thoughts on work consuming them.
Before she realised it, Lili found herself sitting underneath the shade of a tree with Corinna, talking for the longest time she could ever remember. Did this count as talking about work? She was discussing teaching, but it wasn't focused on the lessons but on how she felt about teaching. Was this a real conversation? It seemed so easy and natural. Had she finally achieved a normal social interaction?
Perhaps all she needed to do was not force conversation, to let it happen naturally. Though Corinna initiated the conversation, Lili still felt a sense of accomplishment, finding herself wanting to continue talking even when it grew late. Despite the topics being perhaps unproductive, Lili moved on to how she structured her lists and organised her day.
It wasn't until Ivette called for them, telling them how late it was, that Lili and Corinna halted their conversation and returned to the campsite.
Day: 1015
It had been two weeks since Queen Corinna gave her sister Alfreda the ultimatum, and the choice was not surprising; Princess Alfreda chose to remain stubborn and stay in the Eternal Abyss over apologising and being free. Whilst anyone could predict the outcome, a part of Queen Corinna had hoped for the opposite. Despite their history, the two sisters could start anew and repair their relationship, but it appeared that enough damage had been done to make it unrecoverable.
With Alfreda's decision clear and not likely to change, Queen Corinna initiated her plan; she finally allowed her cousin, Duchess Sophia Vipond, to see the fake Princess Alfreda, who was posing to be bedridden from an incurable illness that even their most powerful mages could not heal. Sophia seemed to buy it, being her usual dramatic self, as the fake Alfreda, a golem controlled by the queen, explained her long absence from the public.
The ploy was to go on for a few months or so, with Alfreda becoming weaker until eventually, she would pass away for realism, and then a public announcement would be made.
Yet with each day, the queen hoped once more that her sister would change her mind in time...
But alas, Alfreda did not, and the queen had to plan a fake royal funeral for her, leaving Sophia the only living relative of hers.
Now more than ever did the queen need to sire an heir.
*
It was Corinna and Dex's turn for night watch, staying up to watch for any signs of danger or attack from the other group. Dex took the southern side of the camp whilst Corinna watched over the north; through the tree tops, she could see the perpetual storm in the Raining Marshes.
Before, Corinna would be riddled with anxiety every time she was on night watch duty; however, with Lili's lessons, that fear weakened but was not truly gone.
To keep herself occupied throughout her shift, she would occasionally talk with her fellow night watcher or draft blueprints for new construction projects, which she never got around to.
As the conversation can go stale after a couple of hours, Corinna and Dex resumed their individual hobbies, content to patrol in silence for the rest of the shift. Having redrafted blueprints numerous times over, Corinna opted to wander around the perimeter, listening to the deathly quiet of the night, occasionally hearing the trees whistling in the gentle breeze and Dex's sighs of boredom from the other side of the camp. If this weren't the Eternal Abyss, insects would be chirping and nocturnal animals scurrying around. Instead, the night was empty with a stillness that comforted and terrified Corinna.
It should be the opposite way round, thought Corinna. I should grow braver, not more scared of everything the longer I'm down here.
She looked at the ground, hesitating to take another step further away from the campsite. How long ago was the last time she left the camp? When they went to collect water from the Raining Marshes the very first time? Yet she still could not dare to leave the camp, even with a mask and training. What would it take for her to have the courage to step outside finally?
Corinna glanced back at Dex on the other side of the camp, then to the ground before her. She sucked in a quick breath and then took a step forward.
There, was that so difficult? All it took was for you to get some guts and finally-
Corinna froze, unable to move another step forward; her courage from before had already dissipated. A part of her wanted to return to camp, but the other side fought against it, unsatisfied with the meagre progress she had made. However, the fight was quickly won as Corinna gave in to her fears and anxiety.
She was about to retreat when she saw a bright light in the distance.
The portal in the Raining Marshes had opened.
Without hesitation or doubt, Corinna ran, darting through the forest towards the light. There was no thought or reason why; Corinna's body moved by itself, but she wasn't going fast enough; the portal may be growing brighter and bigger, but it would likely close before she managed to reach it.
Corinna donned her mask, her body consumed in light and fading to a blue glow of constellations, her feet leaving a trail of singed grass in her wake. The celestial darted forwards, in a blur of light, propelling and launching herself distances in mere seconds until eventually, she finally reached the Raining Marshes' border.
As she breached the perpetual rain, the water hissed and evaporated as it came into contact with her celestial body, creating a glowing halo of her silhouette.
The portal shone directly above the large pool of water, like a stage spotlight, illuminating the water nymphs' gaunt faces and rotting skeletal bodies. Some nymphs managed to reach the surface, their hands raised towards the light as if they could catch it or be beamed to freedom; they struggled to stay afloat for too long before sinking back into the black water.
The celestial stared up at the open portal, its body glowing even brighter under the spotlight. Then, after a moment of deliberation, the celestial's body shrunk and shrivelled into a speck of light and zoomed upwards in a blur, high above the ground, before returning to its original human form. It reached its arm out, nowhere near the portal, and fell back down.
Before it crashed into the pool below, the celestial regained its power just in time and shot back up in a ball of light, launching up high into the sky, its feet scraping the water and fizzing with jets of steam.
But once again, it could not reach the open portal and dropped back down after its own light diminished, its body darkening. As soon as its skin brightened and the constellations glowed again, the celestial made another attempt, travelling upwards in short bursts to conserve energy, reaching even greater heights.
Every time, each attempt, the celestial narrowed closer to the open portal in the sky, able to almost touch the light.
However, the portal was slowly fading in brightness, waning, darkening.
The portal was soon going to close.
No...
No...
I need to...
With the celestial growing recklessness in desperation, it continued its pursuit in escaping the Eternal Abyss, risking falling from such great heights and crashing down into the water, almost ensnared by the numerous water nymphs inhabiting the pool below, attracted to the light.
The portal was now barely a speck above, about to close. When the celestial's powers recharged back to max, it zipped up into the sky with bursts of light, its body burning up like a comet towards the portal.
It imagined what was on the other side.
It reached out its arm, feeling the warmth of the portal's light.
Freedom...
The celestial was almost there.
The sun...
Just a bit further...
Home...
Just a bit...
And then the light encasing the celestial snuffed out, freezing mid-air before gravity finally took it for its victim. Then, as the celestial fell, it gazed up at the last light from the portal before it closed, and all there was left was darkness.
The celestial crashed into the dark pool below, the water bubbling and hissing furiously, exploding up and out, the nymphs screeching and howling from the heat.
Corinna flailed her arms, too exhausted to swim from using her mask, sinking into the watery depths. The haze of light she emitted caused the nymphs' faces to appear even more gaunt and terrifying as they surrounded her. Corinna noticed the numerous cracks in her body, likely from overexerting her mask's powers. She attempted to fly up and out of the water, but the celestial's glow fizzled in and out.
Once the bubbling hot water cooled, hands grabbed her, nymphs gnashing their broken teeth at her.
Another grabbed Corinna by her dress' collar and pulled her up, frightening the nymphs from their sudden appearance. The arm wrapped around Corinna's waist and scooped her up and out of the water.
Corinna gasped and spluttered out the water clogged in her throat, then looked up and saw Dex holding onto her, his short mohawk of soft curls drenched and sopping down his face.
Over the downpour of rain, Corinna could not hear what her saviour was saying; all she could do was gaze up at the sky, at where the portal had closed on her, where her chance of freedom had disappeared, and then she broke down into uncontrollable silent sobs, cradled in Dex's arms.
*
Dex and Corinna sat opposite each other at the border between the forest and the Raining Marshes, resting their backs against trees in silence, the only thing that could be heard was the beating down of the perpetual rain to their side whilst they rested for Corinna to regain her strength to return to camp.
She stared at the celestial mask in her lap; it glowed fainter than usual.
As she had left her whiteboard at camp, Corinna wrote in the dirt, 'are you not going to ask?'
Dex looked at the words for a moment before shaking his head. "No," he hushed. "We all try to escape from here eventually; I've tried before too."
Corinna contained her urge to look back at the closed portal and instead focused her attention on the ground.
"When I first got here," Dex continued. "I tried to escape when another prisoner was being freed, same as Clarence tried to. Didn't even know the guy; I just stumbled upon him being freed and saw the portal, and I-" Dex swallowed. "Well, you saw what almost happened to Clarence. I got shot by some sort of magic to stop me from escaping and fell off the platform. If it weren't for Kai, I would have cracked my head on the ground and lost all of my memories for good."
Corinna noticed Dex's body shaking as he clasped his hands together.
"I would have lost all of my memories of my kid for good," Dex mumbled. "I was so desperate to escape and get back to him that I almost lost him in the process. I owe Kai a lot for saving me that day; so fortunate that he was around and met him that day." He sucked in a quick breath, then forced a weak smile. "This place drives us to do some reckless stuff. Of course, we can't escape here, but sometimes our mind loses any sort of logic and..."
Corinna nodded as Dex grew silent again.
Why did she try to escape herself?
She did not even know the answer. It wasn't like she could remember if there was anyone up there like Dex. No, it was because she could no longer stand to be down here in the Eternal Abyss.
Some days it was easier to endure, but others days, it was...
Was this how Harmony had felt? The Eternal Abyss had worn her down to the extent that she would risk everything to escape, and now Corinna was finally its victim too. Before, Corinna could always stay positive, at least enough to endure the rest of the day. She always had a plan, always had a project, always had a smile, and now... now it was difficult to do anything. Each notch she made in her notebook, counting down the days to her release, no longer felt like progress. Corinna had been in the Eternal Abyss for a thousand days, over three years with twelve years left. What was worth that? What was worth staying down here for twelve more years?
After a long moment of silence, a rest that Corinna needed to clear her mind, she regained her energy to walk back to camp with Dex. She controlled her breathing, trying to stop herself from crying when she realised that she had abandoned her night patrol duties. Though everyone was safe and sound, the guilt that they could have been attacked due to her absence continued to gnaw at her stomach.