---

No.

There was no way she could just ignore this, not now that she knew. She wasn't so foolish to think she could do much of anything to help, but the more she thought about it the less she could stand for doing nothing.

Grabbing her frayed grey longcoat Teacher had given her she called upstairs that she was going out again. There was some kind of response Kryss couldn't make out but at least it didn't sound like a 'no'. Teacher was always telling her anyway that she needed to go outside more. She knew the woman meant play in the sun for once or make friends but this would have to do. Kryss quietly closed the door behind her and throwing on her coat she started towards the orphanage at a quick pace.

She didn't make it that far before something terrible happened. The marketplace was usually noisy and crowded so she didn't notice the yelling nor did she see the girl trying to save an artifact from going over the edge. But she heard the scream, and judging from the reaction of the crowd it was easy to guess what had just happened. Word spread like wildfire nearby as well confirming that someone had just fallen over the edge. A cold feeling came over Kryss hearing these things and she found herself pushing through the throng of people trying to see.

The scene before her was strange, with most of the crowd forming a ring around the area with a few people inside that near the edge of the Abyss. She didn't see any guards at first like she thought she would, but she did spot an older boy just as he started climbing down. Her first thought was that it was crazy for a kid to be going after someone that had fallen until she noticed the whistle around his neck and reconsidered.

Of course, every second counts if that girl is alive. If anyone had hesitated that night I would be...

In that moment the appearance of what looked like one of the guards lifted her heart. Maybe there was hope? But he didn't seem to think so from his next remark and his dismissive change of attention to the exchange between shopkeep and masked boy. It was shocking to see how quickly the girl was written off as dead by an authority figure. She had come to think of delvers and guards more or less as heroes.

This was a harsh reality check for her.

When the boy in the mask claimed he was going down after the girl too Kryss found herself stepping forward as well. She approached the guard and looked up at him imploringly. "Aren't you going down there to help? S-she might not be dead, right? Right? If she's not then there's probably not much time...

Her brief boldness flagged then and she trailed off mid-sentence. Who was she to talk to an adult like she knew better? Her track record for mistakes wasn't actually very good. And this was a very different situation from what Kryss had gone through. She had never taken a serious fall and it wouldn't matter if she ever did. But a normal girl falling into the Abyss like that... was there actually any hope? And what exactly did she plan to do? Climb in after the two boys?

The thought made her shudder.

What then? Do nothing? Don't get involved like everyone else? Like I don't already plan to find out what happened to the kids that went down into the Abyss from the orphanage... What am I thinking? What am I going to do?

Conflicted as she was Kryss went to the edge and looked down trying to see for herself if hope was even something she should waste time on. Or would they be pulling up a dead girl?

When Juuzou let go of the little man he could immediatly see how vicious he was against other commoners like him. Juuzou seemed a bit confused at first but went with it. A smirk proudly stood on his face as the boy had his knife at the ready while claiming he didn't wan't help and only wanted to go after the girl.



That man spoke with a smirk on his face, he did not care what this kid thought of him or would have come up with his mind to do to him in any fasion. Juuzou joked an awfull lot and would irritate loads of people with his talks. Juuzou held his arms in inviting manner towards the abyss as for the boy to follow. He waited for the boy to leave and turned around to see a petite girl in a simple dress stand in front of him. He gave a somewhat caught off guard look before swuating down onto his heels to level his eye sight with hers. He gently put hid hand on her head and patted her head to comfort her.





As Luna grumpily put down the birds besides the man he did not even fret. He made no single move, it was like he was in complete trance. His eyes staring everlastingly forward as he patiencly waited for the few of them to arrive back at him. He could not care any more about some small matter like that.



It had been some time now since the brave boy had started decending. It would take about an hour by climbing with good gear to get to the first layer of the abyss. Night had already started to fall making the abyss inevitably growing darker then before. Despites the lack of sunlight there were still plenty of other sources of light in the abyss that would provide enough light to at least see most things properly and with the help of the full moon tonight there was almost not fretting.

The boy had stepped down onto the first platform of the first layer. The grassy platform seemed sturdy enough to set your house on so it was a safe spot to take a small brake for the muscle acing of all the climbing. The platform was decently sized and didn't seem to fall down at any moment. At the end of tbe platform a dim light of the flaming arrow could be seen standing in the ground. It had made its way up till here but seemed to have stopped with no sign of the girl in sight. There did seem to have been left another clue in the platform. The arrow had been decently on point but did seem to have been the only thing that had been stopped by the platform.

There was a big gaping hole in the end of the platform. It didn't seem like it would have always been there. The gaping hole had pierced right through the end of the platform. Despites the edge not looking so sturdy it would have taken more then a picaxe to break through. It did seem to have been the only clue regarding the girl. Following the angle of the hole down more would have been the wisest option for now. Upon further inspection the only conclusion came out that the hole was perfectly round shaped and didn't even look like the work of what any human could do. The adventure continues.



After dinner they had some play time where as most people would spend their time in their room resting. The kids had been completely drained of energy from looking for the others all day long. They even requested to start earlier tommorow as to make more progress of finding them. It did not take much longer for the night to overwhelm and turn of the lights. Everyone had been put to bed and was sung or read to their favorite song/book. It would comfort them to do stuff that their parents wouldn't be able to do any longer. For rags it would have been a song her mother would have sung to her on those lonely cold nights to comfort her from the misory they went through. They tried to make a warm night out of it.

The dim candle light of Chris his office still illuminated the hallway with a small warm light. You could quietly hear his pen scribling as he went through the daily reports and dairies he kept for the kids and himself. Sweat was on his forehead as could hear soft other sounds in the background of the room. They were light pants and cruel pain induced yelps softly voicing over the communication artifact. It had been going on for a while now. He could definitly not sleep sith such horrifying sounds coming from one of his children. It had only been this and crying. He was on the edge of his seat with each pant sounding. He knew there was something wrong but it was not clear what or where. It wasn't untill he could hear the sudden shifting of Karen and a loud hurted yell come from the communication artifact. It sounded like she had broken something and could not move, but for some reason she had been very quiet all this time. Chris was atleast glad she was still alive so he could still rescue her but he did not hear anything from Yuzu yet untill a loud terrified yell erupted over the artifact making Chris jump and dropp his pen and ink onto the ground.

---

---

Rags looked forward to lights out. She had no strong feelings for sleeping, never slept very much anyway, and was very hard to exhaust or tire. No, she liked lights out because the songs they sang to her, she recognized from when her mother used to sing. When they first started to sing these songs to her, she used to weep without understanding why. Even today, when she no longer wept, the songs brought on a longing and a yearning to be held and cradled by an adult. Sometimes, in moments of particular vulnerability, she asked to be held as she fell to sleep.

Tonight, however, her slumber was cut short by her finely honed primal instincts waking her after mere hours spent asleep. It was enough for her to be rested, however, and she tried to work out what had triggered her survival instincts. She scanned her environment with all five of her senses. She couldn't see anything unusual. There was no change in wind. Nothing in the air tasted or smelt strange. But focusing hard, she could hear a very faint sound of human distress. Her hackles rose as she slipped her clothes on and snuck out the room, heading towards the source of the sounds of faint distress, and small objects clattering on the ground. She determined that the noses were coming from Chris' office. She might get in trouble if she interrupted him when she was supposed to be asleep, but she was too curious, and too worried. What if Chris was hurt?

She gently opened the door.

"What...happen?" she near-whispered

@liferusher

With a hand in his hair he stood up and stumbled over his chair as he dropped his hand onto the desk with a heavy thud. He was breathing heavily at barely the thought of his children being down there in pain. He couldn't do anything for them at all, he didn't have the money for a professional search team and he couldn't go down there on his own to search, it would have been to dangerous both for himself and the children up here. They would get the idea to help him and come down too resulting in only more casualties. He swept his hand over the table, letting more items clatter onto the ground. He put both hands on his head wanting to scream and shout but he kept himself composed only screaming somewhat internally.

He dropped himself down into his chair once more while dropping his hands past his sides. The soft creaking of the door followed up by the soft gentle voice took his attention. He turned his head to the side seeing the young primal girl standing in the door opening. He simply gazed at her for a moment seemingly quite sad about the situation. He had to have a moment to gather his thoughts and words right now. After having seen Chris like this it might be better to simply tell her. It wasn't that big of a secret but it was quite disturbing to hear these things over the artifact. Chris stood up and walked up to the door putting his hand gently behind the back of the girl to lead her into the room.



Chris gestured towards the bed for her to sit on and turned his back to her for a moment to put on some hot water on the small fire stove he had in his room to warm some Tea. It only took a few moments for him to ready the tea. He poured some tea for himself and Rags and put it both on the desk of him as he sat down. He was quite for a moment as he lightly sipped his tea. He had to think for a moment as to what words to use for the girl to understand.



It was known for children to have the most creative minds. Perhaps Rags could think off something that Chris wouldn't be able to think off.

@liferusher

Every word only made the young boy angrier as Juuzou failed to soothe thr bubbling cauldron of emotions in Kais stomach. To his thinking it seemee obvious to go down and recover the girl, or proof of her end, yet every adult within a mile radius just stood gawking at the spot she had fallen with concern but little else. Even the damn shopkeeper, the one responsible for this mess, was struck deaf and dumb.

"Your words, without action, are spit and wind to me."

Walking by, Kai mumbled a vague insult below his breathe as he thumbed through his gear. Rope, hooks, a hammer, standard equipment for descending a steep incline. Without food he would need to forage, but Kai had no intention of staying that long.

Approaching the edge of the abyss his knees shook with sudden fear as the father mask slipped back into his satchel. At the very mouth of his destiny he was shaking like a damn baby goat. Afraid of the height or the situation he could not say, but the boy knew it could nor be avoided.

With a series of slow breaths, Kai planted the rope around a sturdy fence post nearby and inched his feet across the open air as gently as possible until at last he found a foothold.

The first step to my destiny. Father! Wish me luck! he prayed, inching himself slowly further and further. The process would be slow as he went down at an agonizingly weak pace, finding appropriate spots to place a large screw deep into the stone and securing a new strand of rope to it, before scaling back up to grab the previous nail.
It would take a long time but it was his only option. The gods willing, he would reach the bottom in time to find the other boy.

@liferusher

Drat. Sieg cursed to himself as he yanked the flaming bolt back, to conserve ammunition. His eyes strained as he eyed the consistency and make of the hole, kneeling carefully and driving a finger through the edges.Crumbled. And perfectly circular. He grimaced as thoughts and ideas came to his mind. It's not very...reassuring. He paused, and checked his tools. The handle artifact was firmly strapped at his waist, and he took a look at his crossbow. Still well after the descent. Good.

He reloaded another bolt, and did a double check on the area. He needed to keep descending following the hole, that much was for sure. He unslung the Shopkeeper's device. Let's see if this thing works. It's going to be annoying on the way back, I am sure... He grimaced as he restarted his descent.

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---

Rags obeyed the Orphanage leader, and sat down on the bed he gestured to her. His promise to tell her something struck her as strange. Did it have anything to do with the sounds she'd heard, or the obvious despair or distress she'd seen him exhibit. As he made some tea, Rags thought more about the communication artifact. She understood the basics of its nature, and wondered if the screams on the other end were of the children who had ventured down into the Abyss. When the tea was served to her, she blew it over and over again, and even then, when she sipped it, pulled a face like it was still too hot, put the cup back down and panted with her tongue out for a minute. She decided to let the tea cool after that, listening to Chris instead. The fact that they hadn't responded but could still be heard through it could mean a few things; They could have their communication artifact in their packs, or it could be lying lost, yet near enough to pick up sounds from them. That or Chris didn't know she'd heard their voices and was trying to claim he couldn't get anything at all from them. He finished off by asking Rags for her thoughts and ideas.

"I found. Yesterday. Place they go down. If smell still, or foot marks, I track?"

@liferusher

Finally having managed to left the more than chaotic scene, Luna found herself on the correct path towards her home again. The thought about both the poor little girl and the strange guy that jumped after her still lingered in the redhead's mind for a while since her walk home was more or less a rather lengthy one. However she finally came to the conclusion that they were not worth paying too much mind to. After all, occurrences like these, or rather, tragedies were a common thing when it came to the Abyss.

After a while the girl eventually reached her destination and entered her home. Just as expected, her parents were not home at the time. They had announced to Luna earlier that they would be gone for a day or two (or more), meeting up with a client who was interested in buying some of their salvaged artifacts. This was the perfect oppertunity for Luna to gain some experience diving down into the abyss on her own. She had planned this for quite some time: A dive without any assistance by her parents that went deeper than the second level. Luna didn't know what her parents would think about her attempting such a feat on her own, which is why she waited for both of them to leave for a few days so that she could return before they would! ..If she managed to return that quickly from her dive. Obviously, she was confident enough in her abilities to actually accomplish this goal.

Inside of her home, Luna only grabbed her backpack which she had already prepared earlier that was filled to the brim with her own gear. While it was true that Luna was confident in her skill, she knew how important good equipment was. For her, "good" equipment was not nearly enough, she needed "excellent" gear that would make her journey through the unknown easier. Everything inside of the backpack she had already prepared earlier that day... the girl was really convinced to do this. "I'll just reach the entrance to the first layer and then I can go back up." she began talking to herself, as she always did when she was alone. The redhead barely paid it any mind, it was a thing that she basically did passively. Giving herself a final look in the mirror, Luna said enthusiastically: "You got this!" before she headed for the front door of the house that they lived it. While the house itself was no mansion by any means, it was a beautiful house with a relatively flat roof, multiple extraordinarily large windows on each side and each floor combined with a neutral color on the outer walls. The insides were more spacious than they seemed from the outside. It was almost a shame that this house was left alone so frequently by the dwelling family that lived within.

It was when she touched the doorknob that Luna finally remembered one important thing that she had almost forgotten. It weren't her own thoughts that reminded her, it was the growling sound that erupted from her belly when she was about to leave.
"ugh..."
She was so into the thought of doing this self-made trial, anticipating it with much enthusiasm, that she had forgotten to eat beforehand. Surely it would become a huge disadvantage to dive down being this hungry, hence Luna turned around, placed her backpack near the door that functioned as both the entrance and exit to the house, then proceeded to head back inside and prepare herself some food.

Roughly 40 minutes later it was finally time; The excited girl left the house with her equipment for real this time. While her expression was still as warm as snow from the north pole, she couldn't be more happy to do this. After all, diving was more than just a way to make money for her, it was a passion which she would do until the day that she dies, she was fully convinced of that thought. Of course she had no intention to actually die during this dive, in her mind this was a piece of cake. Still though; That signature neutral, maybe cold expression on her face never quite left it while she was now making her way towards the entrance to the abyss, her blue whistle swinging left and right in front of her chest being the key to a world so full of wondrous, fantastical beings and entities, unknown and lost leftovers of civilizations long gone, beautiful and magnificent landscapes that would seem as if god had handcrafted them carefully by himself and of course mysterious and incredibly useful artifacts which were littered all over this both ominous and awe-inspiring place that was called "The Abyss".
Thinking about it that way, it was easy to see why so many people were almost magically drawn to a large hole in the ground. It almost got a smile out of Luna.

Sieg decended further down into the abyss with his newly found device. It worked like it was suppose to. The decent went about 20 percent faster so it wasn't the best thing in the world but what could he possibly complain about. It was only a few hunderd meters more down before he found the following platform which his arrow had hit on its way down. Upon setteling down on the second platform he could see more clues on where the girl had gone too. The arrow was sticking to the side of the platform again, after getting closer you could clearly see that the edge of the platform had been clawed at with normal human sizef hands. There was a hint of blood indicating the girl had received a few minor injuries. The girl herself was nowhere to be found and it was almost as certain that she had fallen down from the side of the platform even further down by the clawing marks on the side of the platform. The next platform could be seen but not as clearly as it should have been as it had been blocked off by some clouds that floated around in the abyss. What would our brave adventurer do now.

Kai had finally reached the first platform after a long decend. He had remarkably been faster on his way down then he thought he would be from his strength and agility he had build up over the years making some paces to catch up to the boy. Upon arrival he found the exact same clued that the boy had found before him. He could notice the holes in the wall that had seemingly been from Sieg his further decend down. There was nothing more to be found on this platform.





Chris managed to make himself blush a little as he was talking. He did not mean to let himself get so talkactive at the moment but he was seriously surprised to hear about the girl being able to do things like this. Perhaps they did have a chance. Chris got his face a little closer to the girl hers.



Chris put both his hands on his knees and bowed in deep manor towards Rags as to ask her a favor. Perhaps it was the first time anyone would see Chris in such distress and weak state. Chris sat in the same pose to the whole time waiting for Rags her answere while he bit his lips in anticipation.

After Rags her answere (which will hopefully be yes or otherwise we will do a story scene of Rags living happily ever after as farmer or something.) Chris turned his face back up with the look of pure happiness in his eyes. He stood up from his chair almost kicking it back as he hugged the small frame of the girl. He held her tight for a minute before letting her go again and settling himself down on the chair once more as he took a quick gulp of his tea.



Chris opened up a drawer behind him and grabbed something out of it. He let his hand with the item hover over hers before he dropped a blue whistle out of it.



Chris gave her a caring smile as he patiently waited for the girl to reply and perhaps... Empty her heart onto him.

---

---

Rags didn't take any offense at being compared to an animal. After all, she had spent much of her life living in awe and in fear of them. She had developed survival skills and psychical prowess that her fellow children couldn't match, by merely watching and mimicking animals. In her eyes, it was an honor for a human to be compared to an animal.

Suddenly the tone on the conversation changed, and Rags noticed the shift. He asked her to save the two orphans who went missing, before bowing! This was not what she had known adult to do. This was not how she had known adults to behave towards children, and it shocked her. He was asking a favor as an equal, and it was something she had wanted to do anyway. She cared about the children here as friends, but they were never family. She couldn't pretend she was the same as them, or liked living just like them. She didn't belong here and wasn't always happy to follow all these rigid, nonsensical rules. Plus, the children who went missing weren't trained for survival. They were trained for short delving trips with adults and backup and provisions. She would be the best help they could get, student-wise.

"I will." She answered, nodding.

She was taken by surprise with the hug, but, knowing what was about to happen, and that she's shortly be leaving the closest thing to a parent she had, possibly forever, she hugged back as tight as she could, burying her face in his chest. When he let go, she followed suit reluctantly after a second. She wasn't crying, but her face had become grave and downcast as she listened. She apparently need to find somebody. A friend or somebody she had seen before. She had made good friends at the orphanage, but...she wasn't sure she should take any of them with her. They did belong here. Their lives were made for order and instruction and education in a way that Rags' wasn't. Her thoughts moved to that older girl who had asked about the children earlier today. Maybe she was better suited to be a partner, if only Rags could find her. Another surprise; Chris gave Rags a blue whistle! This is what all the red whistles had been training towards! And it wasn't expected that any of them would reach this level until they were 15! When asked what to tell the others, Rags thought.

"Tell them...I run away. You not notice. And it was...fun..."

Rags trailed off, as the tears started to roll down her face, and she smiled up at Chris. With a nod and a grin, she turned and headed out of his office. With extreme ease, she escaped the orphanage, alerting no patrols, and ran across the building's yard, to the rock she was sitting at earlier, and sniffed around for the trail of Kryss. She found it, and started to follow it, but the moment she stepped on foot over the boundary of the yard, she looked back at the orphanage behind her, and started to sob.

@liferusher

@liferusher

Sieg drew his finger yet again and examined the bloodstains. They were, of course, as expected, fresh. His gaze straining, trying to pierce into the mists beneath to no avail. This was getting really dangerous for his lacking, and he was beginning to consider that his fast acting could have been a folly. His eyes wandered to the path he had taken down. Was that someone following? He felt relieved for a second, then frowned at the second person's tardiness. He had hoped he had some real top notch equipment to justify the late arrival.

But there was no time for this. Sieg, once more, braced himself and stared down into the Abyss. If he was going to chase that demonic human that a White Whistle was, he would have to be much tougher and daring than any youth had right to be. So with that in mind... he grabbed the device once more, and this time, alternated between activation and inactivation, thus making a faster, yet still controlled descent. A little girl's life hanged on the balance, he could not afford any second more than necessary. Considerations of the ascent would come later.

Kai struggled to keep pace, dexterity and confidence could only carry you so far when the fuel that kept you going was a mixture of pride, anger, and the strangest bit of shame. Keeping up with the other figure was not in the cards but Kai had come too far to quit and admit he was completely unprepared. With the first platform at his feet the young boy took the chance to rest and view his surroundings.

The platform had a hole in it, a scorch mark marring it, and little else. Sturdy as it seemed he was no expert as to how long that would last with what little luck he had. Putting on foot over the other a few minutes after touching sown, his pace descending into the abyss was slowed as the sun set and visibility shrank. Every footfall came with caution, the hooks attached to the walls were ever shorter spaced as a necessity to speed.

"Father, guide me." The words flew into the night air, a whispered prayer for comfort. Kai knew the risks of the Abyss but could not ignore his goal. Finding the girl would be the first step to conquering this place.

---

---

Though the guard's words and gentle touch were meant to comfort her Kryss was far too​ anxious to take solace from the kind gesture. Already concerned over what she had heard not too long ago, this incident happening almost right in front of her had her shaken to the core. This man seemed nice enough bit if she was reading things correctly he was likely going to wait for backup and a proper team before going down to see what had become of the girl. Sensible, but Kryss shared the opinion of the two boys that had already decided they were going down now to try and help. She still doubted there was much chance of her being alive but if she was... Death would not wait politely for the adults to get organized.

Sniff...sniff sniff

Rags, still teary eyed, and her face red from crying, had her nose to the ground and her eyes to the road, utilising her senses of smell and sight to track the trail of the girl she saw earlier, who had asked Aya and herself about the missing children from the orphanage. The trail, beyond the senses of most humans to track, was as easy to read as the pages of a book to the young savage (in fact, it was easier than a book to Rags)

Before she realized what she was doing, Kryss found herself standing near the edge of the Abyss once more. Time is life. Death waits not for one to be ready. Climb or fall... The Abyss, and everything that could be waiting for her down there still terrified her beyond reason, and yet she started shedding her light boots and discarding her shoulder bag on the ground. She looked back at the man behind her who was no doubt wondering what she was doing. Quickly she thought of a lie on the spot to prevent him from stopping her.

"I-I'm actually a Blue Whistle, it just got cracked and it's getting fixed. We're going on ahead until more help arrives. We.. we'll do our best, too!"

Rags caught up to the trail in time to see this scene play out, and made a mental attempt to muster as much english knowledge as she could. Her brain was working on how she could help. This girl was the other delver who would help her descend the Abyss. She was sure of it now. Why else would she be co close to the edge? Rags stood up and brushed herself off to look as normal as possible before approaching, and held out her own blue whistle.

"It’s okay! I have your blue whistle. It is fixed now! Let’s go!"

As she got closer, she leaned in and whispered to Kryss. "My name Rags. We go down Abyss together. Yes?"

Kryss startled having just gotten herself over the fence. She recognized her as one of the girls from earlier who she had meant to catch up with and talk to about the missing children. This was the best turn of events possible, not only would Kryss be able to ask Rags about the other missing children but the rescue party now had another pair of hands and on top of that she just helped Kryss with a very risky lie without hesitation.

Kryss smiled and nodded, trying to look as if she knew Rags well. “T-thank you! Your timing is amazing, like always! Let's get going then!”

Quickly, but carefully Kryss started climbing down the near vertical rock face without gear and without a second thought. It had been a long time since she had done any climbing more serious than a library ladder. However, as her toes and fingers made contact with the stone old instincts kicked in and she started finding hand and toeholds as if it were second nature. it's like I never left… She thought to herself, moving down and to the side several feet. She looked up at Rags to see if she was coming along alright on her own.

Any concern Kryss might have had was misplaced. Rags wasn’t descending the rock face footfall by footfall like a professional climber, but in stomach-churning leaps more reminiscent of a mountain goat. This little savage kid was truly without fear when it came to climbing sheer cliff sides. She’d seem oblivious of the dangers if you didn’t look at her face and note the look of deadly serious concentration with every leap she made further down. There wasn’t even a sign that her hands or bare feet were suffering or sore in the slightest from this rough treatment, which really made one wonder how tough her skin was.

Kryss stopped where she was and stared at Rags, mouth agape. She had yet to see a human adult climb quite so competently and she had imagined no child could be so skillful. Even the two boys that had gone down first were using the usual climbing gear but Rags was barefoot just like Kryss and easily matching her. She couldn't help but admire Rags’ technique and lean muscle.

Is she really human?

Despite how dire the situation was and how anxious Kryss was to be going back into the Abyss after all this time, she felt a rush of excitement. She took a few deep breaths to try to calm and center herself, closing her eyes and feeling the rock, remembering it. Remembering the Abyss.

Opening her eyes Kryss started descending at a faster pace. She started taking leaps like Rags was, tentatively at first, but more confidently as she realized she could still trust her body. She had a lot of questions for Rags but those could wait a bit longer; she didn't want to risk distracting the other girl.

We'll make great time at this pace. Just hang on a little longer, we're coming.

After scarcely a few minutes of climbing, they finally reached the first layer of the Abyss. Rags dropped the last couple of meters and landed on all fours, unharmed. This girl was 1005 biologically human, but there was still something very animal about the way she moved in the wild, free of the shackles of decorum and expectations. She dusted herself off and looked up at Kryss, smiling and unhurt. She was panting but didn’t appear completely exhausted. "Never seen climber good as you!" she beamed with a wide childlike grin.

Rags smile was infectious and she couldn't help but return it with a light blush, especially after her compliment. “Thank you, but I'm nothing special, really. You're the one that makes it look easy. That's your blue whistle, isn't it? It really shows, all the work you put into your delving.”

Kryss walked to the edge of where they had stopped for the moment and looked down, and then up. She had forgotten how different the Abyss seemed once you were down in it. On the surface it looked almost distant and somehow small. It was all that open sky she supposed, giving a perspective to scale that had taken some getting used to.

Kryss looked back down trying to see either the girl or the boys ahead of them but both were still out of sight. So they will probably reach her first I think. That's good, Rags and I can help once we catch up. Between the four of us we might be able to bring her up without having to wait for the adults.

“Um, Rags? Thank you for covering for me up there. I know I'm taking a big risk lying like I did but I couldn't just stand up there and do nothing. I… I think I had already decided I wanted to help you find your friends. This just…. got me back down here sooner than I expected.”

"Is not work. Is fun!" Rags replied, grinning innocently. "I also taking risk. Ran away Orphanage to help friends down in Abyss. Came to find you. Ask to help me. But you were here…..what word………...wanting! Wanting to go down Abyss too!"

This girl… here we are in what many would say is the scariest place in the world, the place where the worst things in my life have happened, where I haven't dared set foot in so long… and she's making me smile. How does she do that?

“I guess it is a little fun in a way. But you know we're down here for a very serious reason, right? No, I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. Of course you must know that.” Kryss looked away, thinking about how brave Rags was, running away from the orphanage to find her friends.

Her brow furrowed in thought for a moment as she peered over the edge, looking for the best start to the next part of their path. “You're not wrong, I do… want to go. I-I mean I want to help. But you came looking for me? Why… why me?”

Rags looked at Kryss in confusion, as if the concept that serious, life or death struggles couldn’t be fun was something completely alien and nonsensical, as it was to her. Maybe she meant that they had to hurry, and there, Rags agreed, but Kryss is the one who wants to talk, and Rags didn’t believe that seconds or minutes would make much of a difference. They’d been gone since last night. If they were in immediate danger, they’d be dead by now, but Rags knew the wild wasn’t that cruel if you were smart. She had survived for years in the wild, being younger than her two friends were, and they’d been trained and taught things! Rags learned most of her knowledge through doing.

"Why you? Hmm..." Rags thought about that, before giving an honest answer. "Nobody from Orphanage ready, but I needed help. Remembered you from today. Followed trail. You older and wiser."

Kryss stared and Rags in surprise. “Older and wiser? Uh, I'm not so sure about that. M-maybe, but…” She trailed off, a sad look crossing her face as she remembered what she felt were far too many terrible mistakes. “I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound like I don't appreciate the compliment, it's just.. w-well nevermind. Let's help save this girl if she's alive, then let’s get back down here to look for your friends. I think that's what I had already decided to do. After all, I was on my way to the orphanage to ask you about it when this happened.” As she talked Kryss decided ease herself over the edge to start climbing down again, taking it slow at first. She remembered how with no problems but her stamina was probably less than it used to be. She would need to be careful of that.

Rags was surprised to hear that Kryss was going to return to the Orphanage herself. She had never been taught about the concepts of ‘coincidence’ or ‘destiny’, but at this moment, understood them both perfectly. She followed Kryss in descending further down the Abyss. Rags was no more careful or conservative here than she had been before, but was taking it slower just so she didn’t leave Kryss behind. During the descent, Rags landed on a thin ledge that crumbled under the impact, and she plummeted for a few seconds before she caught hold of another ledge. She didn’t seem to be afraid or panicked at all from this, as if it was something she was used to, or just a regular part of climbing. Even so, she decided to take it a lot slower afterwards, matching Kryss’ pace and care.

Kryss watched admiringly as the energetic Rags took the lead, as confident and carefree as Kryss was reserved. She looked so… free. Though a little envious she was mostly just happy to see Rags unburdened by doubt or fear or-

The sound of crumbling soil and rock. Kryss’ reaction was reflexive, her head snapping to where the sound was, her wings twitching under her dress. Everything was fine in another split second, Rags reflexes being even faster than hers. Even so Kryss hung loosely from the rock, ready to drop at any moment, until Rags was no longer at risk of falling.

It took a while for her heart rate and breathing to slow down after that. She felt much more relieved to see her slow down and match Kryss’ pace, though now she was checking nervously every few seconds to make sure their next few feet of cliff side was safe.

Rags reached level ground first, and was glad to feel grass under her feet again. She looked around, and sniffed around. She could smell blood. The first thing she noticed was the arrow sticking out of the ground. This was a recent addition. Further exploration solved the mystery of where the smell of blood was coming from. There were marks indicating that human hands had been struggling to hold onto this edge, and there were red spots nearby. There were two sets of fresh footprints, but they were very, very fresh. Rags couldn’t suppress a suspicious snarl. These were boys, and weren’t from the orphanage, or at least weren’t people Rags was friends with. Just what was going on here? Was a rescue party already descending?

@liferusher

Sieg had decided to head down further after seeing the slide marks at the end of the platform. With his trusty tools he headed down further into the 1st layer. The next platform was already in sight, it looked way more sturdy then the platforms he had came across before. Unlike the other platforms there was way less grass and more dirt and dry land like platform. Upon looking down he could definitly see some marks at the bottom but still unclear from up here. It didn't seem like the girl would have been able to fall down any further from the width of the platform.

There was a cave like entrance in the side of the abyss. It did seem like a place the girl had gone off too after having fallen down in order to hide. The darkness of the night had made it quite harder to see what was further on the platform. Seig slowly settled down onto the platform and immediatly noticed the marks on the ground. They did not seem like marks that would have been left by the girl but more like some abyss like creature that had been left by it.

The marks made sense when the two big eyes suddenly popped up right by Seig from a nearby bush. It had been hidden in the nearby plantation at the side. The head curiously snapped around like any bird as it had somewhat noticed Seig having entered its territory. The bird stepped closer a few times as it calmly started to explore what Seig was suppose to be. Some common knowledge could be used right about now to survive.

---

Kai had calmly been decending down the last few meters as his vission started growing dimmer. It had been rather dangerous to go down during this time yet he still managed to get quite far without much of a problem. He could see the next platform below him quite clearly though, maybe 30 more meters before he reached it but was unlucky by a loose rock in the side of the wall. He lost his footing and his first hook came undone. He fell about 20 meters before his second hook took the hit of the fall. The rope slowly started to tear itself apart by the weight of Kai certainly bringing up a sweat and eventually had teared as well. Kai fell down even more missing the platform by a short shot and fell down to the level Seig was on. He only had a small shot at making it down in one piece but he was sure to survive.

@liferusher@AtomicNut

Kai was quick, reflexively, but the rock had cost him. His ropes had lessened the fall but the snap of weak chord had been a nail in the metaphorical coffin as the world spun with his descent. A saving grace was the boys resilience to fighting off panic as he tried to grab hold of literally anything that could break the building momentum and prevent a fatal fall.
For the most part it was successful till the platform passed, a mere inch from his grasping hands into a plummeting free fall.

A loose root, a jutting rock, anything at all would suffice as the young lad desperately tried to correct his momentum, sliding a few inches before returning to free fall. When the terrible momemt had passed his vision swam, everything around him already blank from the nights sky had become even more indistinct as he groaned, eyes blurry, trying to make out the shapes in front of him.
It looked like a.. person? And something else. Too far away and too dizzy, there was no certainty to what he saw. Self preservation had him fumbling with the knife blissfully secured to his belt. On his chest he felt the reassuring presence of his father mask.

Unknown to Kai, the food he had mamaged to bring had been squished in the fall instead.

@Zelosse@liferusher

Okay Sieg, don't do anything rash, size up the threat... The young knight apprentice thoughtfully assumed a stance slowly, either to evade or fight, as the creature approached, curious. It didn't seem to assume a fighting stance just yet. Now slowly, draw a bolt...He added, as he took one of his ammunitions as impromptu weapon. If he wanted to get serious, better had a weapon at hand. Well, let's just try to back off real slowly...

He began to measure his steps, his senses keen, when a large jolt made him open his eyes wide.Clumsy Oaf! He cursed as he contained his breath as the other person fell nearby. Without exchanging a glance, he knew exactly who he was. That rabid boy of the market. Sieg didn't even hesitate. Despite the lush vegetation and breathtaking views of wondrous creatures, the Abyss was a battlefield. It was kill or be killed. Using the distraction that the other young man brought, he delivered a bone shattering kick to the bird's body. From what he had known about birds in general, from its game is that they had traded flight for hollow, fragile bones.

And that eyes, in general, were a good spot to stab, as he furiously and without warning aimed to kill the bird in his follow up, by stabbing it in the eye with the bolt, before it could react.

---

It wasn't easy to miss the sight of blood and the perfect hole nearby when she and Rags reached flat ground again. Kryss was a little stunned. A hole like that was not natural and it certainly wasn't what she expected to find down here. But she did feel relieved in a way that they had not encountered a mangled corpse. Instead if she was reading the scene correctly it looked like the girl had briefly clawed at the edge of the hole.

Alive.

Kryss joined Rags near the edge on the ground where the other was sniffing scents that were probably beyond Kryss. She inched forward intending to ask what Rags smelled exactly when a growl from the girl startled her and Kryss reflexively pulled away, thinking the growl was directed at her. However, Rags wasn't even looking at her so she breathed a sigh of relief and looked down the hole.

She was quick to duck back out of sight again at what she saw farther down. The two boys were farther down on another platform and one of them was facing off with a large bird. Recognizing it as a threat from that glance her instincts told her to hide and get away while it was distracted. However, thinking about it she knew that's where she and Rags needed to go and the boys might need help. Turning to catch Rags attention she whispered as quietly as she could while still being heard.

"The boys are already down there, and there's a bird down there, too. A big one. They might need our help.

Easy to say, but what can we do from up here? The last thing I want to do is get its attention but maybe I should? Kryss pried up a loose stone from the dirt and peeked over the edge again. It was a good distance away but she was still mostly sure she could hit it. She just wasn't sure it would help much.

---

---

Rags had been so focused on the signs still to be read from this platform that she hadn't even looked over the edge to other platforms yet. When Kryss brought it to her attention that the boys were down somewhere that could be seen, and there was a large bird down there too, Rags first thought was not 'the boys might be in danger', it was 'that bird will be our next meal'. She didn't want the boys to hog all the meat for themselves. They both had to get down there fast.

"I head down now. Kill bird. Will tell boys wait for you." she whispered back, not entirely sure why they were whispering.

Before Kyrss could stop her, she rushed back to the arrow lodged into the ground on their platform, pulled it out, and held it in her teeth as she leapt over the edge and started to descend in her Tarzan-like style, yet even more reckless than before, freefalling entire stories before catching hold of a razor-thin outcrop of rock to slow her fall enough to be able to grab on to the next one, then repeating. Seriously, how tough where her fingers?

When she was about 3/4 of the way down, and the boys had probably heard or seen her at this point, she took the arrow from her teeth to her hand, and pushed off the cliff face, plummeting straight down towards the bird. She wasn't falling from a high as Kai fell, but his fall had been an accident. Rags had voluntarily leapt from such a height, arrow in hand, planning to stab the bird from above.

The big bird had certainly taken notice of Sieg as it stepped closer and was curious about his shiny weapons. The great creature was a hammerbeak bird. It loved shiny things and only seemed interessted for the shiny before Kai ruined it with his tud on the ground. The bird immediatly turned to the sound deflecting the arrow with a spark of fire of off its skull as it had taken notice of Kai. The kick definitly hit right on the wing of the bird, bones could be heard cracking as the beast erupted it skreech to the wide and open. The hammerbeak turned back to Sieg and bashed its head towards him in order to hurt him real bad.

Kai on the other hand still felt dizzy from the fall and felt like he had definitly hurt something in his right leg during the fall. His lunch had been squished between some of his clothes not making for a defty look. The bird its attention was not set for the boy right now so he had some time to recover.

The duo rags and Kris had been close to them to the point they could hear the bird its skreech and the fighting that had been happening. When Rags had landed on the platform she could definitly tell the girl her smell was going the opposite way of the directions the boys had gone too. The girl had managed to climb up the last platform and make her way further alongsides the wall. There were footprints that showed some sign of odd random steps that definitly seemed like the girl had been stumbling around for some time. They could both hear the boys though and immediatly took action as to hell them out. Through the cloud Kriss was able to make clear that there was a hammerbeak doen beneath them and had already prepared her stone to drop while Rags had already began decending.

While the bird was busy attacking Sieg Rags had managed to get above him on the rockside and jumped down with arrow in hand to land on its back. She was rather succesfull and hit the beast straight in its neck as it screeched out. The bird rolled over to get Rags off while it kept screeching and bleeding from the neck. The beast kicked itself off the ground and lightly flapped above them in the air while lashing out its claws at Sieg in attenmpt to hurt him.

Kriss had been idely sitting above them with a rock ready to drop but still found it quite hard to hit the bird on point while it was rolling and flying around. She had a 1/3 chance to hit and even a small chance to hit one of her companions.

---

As events below unfolded Kryss hesitated. What she had first thought might be a more dangerous creature turned out to be only a Hammerbeak; not to be taken lightly but hardly comparable to an aggressive predator. Also with Rags and the largest boy attacking it at once she was more likely to hit one of them now, and she doubted the poor bird would last much longer the way things were going. If she had seen correctly the boy had broken its wing.

As good as a death sentence.

Unconsciously her own wing twitched in sympathy as she put the rock back where she found it and looked for a quick way down. Rags had said she would wait for her but that might delay the search and rescue. Or search and recovery though Kryss could not see a corpse and she doubted the girl could have missed hitting the ground below. She didn't think wasting that time climbing down was a good idea but if the others saw her wings her life in Orth would be over.

Wait, they're all distracted by the fighting. If I'm quick enough maybe I can do it and no one will even notice!

Kryss hesitated a heartbeat, convinced someone would choose that moment to look up. Another heartbeat. All eyes remained on the fight. Go, just go! She stepped forward and dropped over the edge. Her heart rate and adrenaline spiked as she let herself freefall for a few short seconds. The fierce wind from such a fall was exhilarating and her wings knew just what to do and when to do it. Just like climbing a few minutes before it felt as if she had never stopped using her wings. They spread out and caught the air, cutting the speed of her fall not far from the ground. Her feet hit first with a solid thud. She had miscalculated slightly and landed harder than expected but she stopped the worst of the impact dropping to all fours.

Giddy from the experience Kryss had to repress a burst of laughter which definitely wasn't appropriate for the situation. She rose to her feet silently instead and made sure her wings were tucked safely back under her dress before anyone decided to turn and look her way. She scanned her new surroundings, avoiding looking at the hammerbeak. Even with all the scattered brush she couldn't see a girl's body, but she did see a nearby cave and she dared to hope this night could have a happy ending.