A grey-haired man of dark grey skin with a well-trimmed hiatus beard awoke with a shudder to the blaring of his phone. He groaned, stirring from his wake as he massaged his temples. 

When he picked up his phone from the console table besides the couch and saw the caller ID, Ilya Harker, he sprang up from the couch he was sleeping on and rushed to his bedroom. He answered the call on the sixth ring and put it on speaker.

“Jacob Eames,” he said as he closed the door of his bedroom behind him. “What is it, Harker?”

“Sorry to disturb you on your day off, Eames, but we have a code red,” said a woman from the other side of the phone. “There was an explosion in downtown of Silverlock, at Blossom Avenue. There are quite a few casualties.”

“What else?” Jacob asked. He was taking off his undershirt and boxers the moment he entered his room and tossed his phone onto the bed. He was changing into a respectable looking suit complete with a tie and jacket. “You won’t be calling me if it’s just an explosion. Is it the work of the Blights?”

“I wish it was, Eames. It would be less complicated then. But sadly, no. It’s worse.”

“Who?”

“We don’t know. All we know is that heavy traces of Abyssal energy have been detected from that explosion. The reading was off the charts.”

“Abyssal energy?” Jacob blurted in response as he fastened his harness and fixed his weapon holsters in place. “Is this confirmed?”

“Triple confirmed, Eames. There’s no doubt about it.”

Jacob took out a handgun and a pair of retractable short swords from a vault at the bottom of a shelf. He secured those weapons of his into their respective holsters on the harness. “Are the authorities already on site?”

“They have already been dispatched and they are en route. They will reach the scene before you.”

“Well, just make sure they know who I am when I arrive and also make sure the Manavirs don’t get presumptuous. I don’t want a repeat of New Harbour.”

“I will make sure of it personally.”

“Good,” Jacob said and put on his jacket, donning over and concealing the weapons he was carrying. “I’m heading out now. I’ll call you back when I get there.”

“Another thing, Eames.”

“What?”

“Be careful, alright? I’m sure you did not forget your time as a Hunter but it has been twenty years since. In any case that you did forget, please remember the dangers of the Abyss.”

“I know, Harker. How could I ever forget that time? I doubt anyone could.”

“Be safe, Eames. Hate to lose such a good Sentinel.”

“Good Sentinel? I’m sure the council begs to differ.”

“They are just vexed by your methods, Eames, but your results are unquestionable. Otherwise, they would have kicked you off the order already.”

Jacob tutted as he marched out of his room, heading to the door of his apartment. “Just tell them to get off my case about my methods. You can’t expect good rain without any mud.”

“I’ll tell them just that, Eames. Just be careful, alright?”

Jacob laughed. “I’m old enough to be your father but you’re the one being a mother.”

“Someone has to.”

Jacob sighed. “I’m hanging up,” he said and ended the call right after. Putting on his shoes and leather gloves, he strode right out of his apartment.

****

Chloe dreamed of Collin, her boyfriend. She dreamed of the dates they had gone on. She dreamed of the time she had spent with him. She dreamed of the promises he made to her. But then, her dreams veered into a dark path. She dreamed of him being in a room, alone with a Dark Elf girl she did not recognise. She couldn’t move nor could she make any voice. She was forced to witness her boyfriend getting all intimate and touchy with this Dark Elf who was dressed in an attire that barely covered her private parts.

Her blood turned cold from the despairing and dreadful sight she was forced to witness. She couldn’t even turn her head away. She couldn’t even close her eyes. 

As the pair got more and more intimate, her despair and anguish grew larger and larger. When she heard him whispering the same sweet nothings to the accursed Dark Elf, she shouted at the top of her lungs but there was no sound coming out of her gaping mouth. 

They appeared to notice her presence after their brief session of making out. They stared straight at her as their lips curled into a mocking grin. They were uttering something at her but she couldn’t hear what they were saying. She couldn’t hear their voices. She couldn’t hear anything at all.

As if that was not cruel enough, her vision began to blur and whirl. Everything was out of focus. She couldn’t blink. She couldn’t move her hands to rub her eyes. She couldn’t do anything but let her vision devolve further into a muddle.

She couldn’t even tremble in fear and distress. She could do absolutely nothing.

Her already blurred vision began to turn white. A dazzling radiance was consuming her sight. It was bright enough to burn her eyes but she could only let her eyes be hurt. There was nothing she could do but wallow in her despair and self-pity.

You’re a fool, Chloe! An absolute fool!

She admonished herself inside her head.

You should have known. You should have seen it coming. There was no way that someone like Collin would ever have chosen you as his girlfriend without some ulterior motives. You’re a naive fool, Chloe!

She could only not as those self-reprimanding voices grew louder and louder inside her head.

You were always so blind and dim-witted. You could never see anything in front of you even if the writing’s on the wall. What do you even have eyes for if not to see? Don’t just let them stay close. Use them. Use your eyes, Chloe! Open them, goddamn it. Open your eyes, Chloe! Open them!

 And Chloe did.

She opened her eyes as she lurched up into a sitting posture. She was drenched in a cold sweat and she was panting. She found herself completely basked in darkness. She could barely see a few feet in front of her.

Chloe did not know how long she had been unconscious but all she knew was that it must have been at least an hour since her joints were creaking when she tried to move.

She looked around but the darkness surrounded her on all sides. She could only rely on her touch. The ground was solid and rocky. She stretched her arms out and easily touched the walls on her left and right. She came to realise she was in some kind of enclosed space with rocky surfaces.

As her eyes grew accustomed to the dark, she was beginning to see a path stretching out before her. The ceiling was low but still higher than she could reach even if she jumped.

Where am I? How did I get here?

She was asking herself these obligatory questions. She remembered there was an explosion and she was caught in it. The explosion threw her off her feet. She hit something and then she hit the ground. And then she was unconscious. She couldn’t remember how she got here at all.

She fished and fumbled around her clothes for her phone but she couldn’t find it. 

Did I drop it when the explosion sent me flying?

She began to quiver. Her sole lifeline was gone and she didn’t even know what happened to it. She wasn’t one that was overly attached to her phone, staring at it all day, but without such a handy object in such a dire situation, it was certainly a good cause for fear.

Where is everyone? Where is Collin? Where is—

Her mind fizzled out at that thought. She was reminded of the sight she saw before she was plunged into her current quandary.

Collin… He… He was cheating on me. That damn fucker! He was cheating on me all along!

She stomped the ground hard as she shouted in her heart. She would have shouted out loud for real too if the growl of an unknown creature came a second later. Her body stiffened at that sound. She was not alone.

A growl? Did I hear wrong? It sounded close. It sounded like it came from behind me…

Swallowing a lump in her throat, she slowly turned behind her. A monster that she had only ever read about in the history books entered her sight. It was a creature of the Abyss.

Around two hundred years ago, entities of another world, the Abyss, tore through the fabric of space and invaded Earth. The sapient races banded together and formed an organisation called the League of Hunters. For around two hundred years and so, the Hunters fought mightily and desperately. In those years, Hunters became a symbol of status and pride. They were well-celebrated everywhere they went due to the good work they were doing. 

But that was twenty years ago. The Hunters had won. They had successfully repaired all the tears in the fabric of space. No more creatures appeared from the Abyss ever again since. With the Abyss no longer being a threat, the Hunters gradually faded out of relevance and prevalence.

However, their feats and accomplishments were forever etched in the history books and records. The Hunters and the Abyss became common knowledge among the public. It was assimilated into the course syllabus of the compulsory lessons. Even the unlearned had heard of the Hunters and the Abyss through word of mouth.

Right now, such an entity was approaching Chloe on all fours. It resembled a wolf at a glance but no wolf she knew was as large as the average person. No wolf she knew had longer hind legs than its forelegs. No wolf had opposable thumbs on their forelegs. No wolf had reptilian-like scales instead of fur on its skin. Certainly, no wolf had a pair of bifurcated lower jaws. 

The most distinguishing Abyssal feature of all was the vividly glowing purplish veins that ran along the creatures' whole bodies. Chloe had seen it countless times on various forms of media. No matter the various depictions of an Abyssal entity in the media, the one feature it shared amongst the multiple depictions was the glowing purplish veins. Therefore, Chloe was absolutely sure this creature before was a creature of the Abyss. Which meant—

Am I in a dungeon of the Abyss?

A dungeon of the Abyss was an intermediary realm between Earth and the Abyss. It was a bridge between the two worlds, so to say. It was referred to as a dungeon due to its uncanny resemblance to that of dungeons. The last dungeon that had appeared was around twenty years ago, on the fifth of October.

Why am I in a dungeon? How am I in a dungeon? What the hell is going on?

The growl of the Abyssal monster grew louder as it stalked closer and closer to Chloe. The appearance of the creature became ever the more clearer.

Am I going to die?

The glaringly obvious question crossed her mind. She had never been in a proper fight before. She got into fights with other girls when she was a child but that was a catfight and could barely be considered a fight.

Suddenly, clouds of twinkling mist appeared out of nowhere and flooded the entire length of the tunnel, dispelling the darkness. Everything became bright and clear to Chloe. Most glaring of all, the mist around the Abyssal creature was brighter than the mist permeating the air. As she squinted her eyes, she saw the Abyssal creature was emitting the mist from the pores of its skin and through the gaps of its scales.

What the… How am I able to perceive such fine details? And this mist… could it be… Mana?

Chloe was unconsciously stepping away from the Abyssal creature while she was deep in her own musing when she tripped on a stone. She shrieked as she felt the pull of gravity. She fell onto her rear harshly.

It was simply being wary of Chloe all along as it knew not what she was capable of. When she tripped and fell, she showed her vulnerability. The Abyssal creature took that as a sign and lunged at her.

Dodge.

A deep feminine voice shouted in her head. She didn’t know whose voice that was but she heeded it nonetheless. She dove to her right and avoided the creature’s lunge but the creature was already turning around, preparing to lunge again.

Rock.

The voice was vague with its words but somehow, Chloe knew what the voice meant. She grabbed a rock slightly larger than her hand that was just beside her legs as the creature lunged again.

Hit. Dot.

The shimmering around the creature converged into a dot on the side of its head. Left with no other option but to obey the voice, she swung the rock in hand into the glowing dot on the creature’s face. There was barely any strength in that swing of hers. However, the creature went tumbling to the side, missing her as it dropped.

The creature screeched and flailed around erratically as it clutched the part of its face that was hit by Chloe with a rock.

Run.

“W-what? Who is this? Who’s talking to me?”

Run.

The voice simply repeated what it had said without any hint of rush. 

Seeing the Abyssal creature slowly shaking off its concussion and getting to its feet, Chloe stopped retorting with questions and sprang to her feet and started running. She didn’t know where she was running to. She just knew what she was running from.

Thankfully, she was still in her work attire of a dress shirt and slack, which was easy to run in. She had planned to go shopping for a nice dress during her date with her now ex-boyfriend. Her fear was momentarily cast aside when the thoughts of Collin filled her mind. Anger and indignation coursed through her as she replayed the moment she caught him making out with that Dark Elf, Cynthia.

Duck.

The voice dragged Chloe out of her terrible reminiscence and she did as the voice bade. She lowered her body and the creature, with its claws bared, went over her. It landed right in front of her with an infuriated snarl as if it felt humiliated by the fact that a meek and feeble-looking girl like her managed to dodge two of its lunges.

Throw. Dot.

It was a succinct and familiar instruction. Chloe still had the rock in her hand and she did not realise it until the voice told her to throw it. She took aim, as good as she was able to, and threw the rock in her hand at the glowing dot that had formed on the creature’s knee. However, her throw was off and the rock merely scraped the side of its knee.

Oh hell. I missed… What do I do now?

Chloe asked the voice in her head but it did not respond.

“What do I do now!?” she shouted out loud.

The Abyssal creature misconceived Chloe’s outburst and snarled lividly in response. Having two of its elaborate attempts eluded, the creature resorted to other means of attack. It approached Chloe with small and leery steps, its gaze trained on her.

Rock.

She looked to her right and found a sharp rock a few feet away from her. It was shaped in a very shiv-like form, perfect to be used as a makeshift blade. Chloe had a lot of questions and all were regarding this strange power she had and the strange voice she was hearing. However, no was not the time to be asking for answers.

The creature was getting nearer by the second and she had yet to move an inch.

Rock.

The voice spoke again.

I know, damn it! But how am I supposed to get it? I can’t outrun the creature!

Run.

Was all the voice said.

Run. Fast.

More than fear, she was maddened and feeling frustrated by the curt responses. But she didn’t have better ideas or any ideas at all. She bit down on her lips and dashed for the rock.

The creature, spurred by her abrupt action, also broke into a dash. To Chloe, a single stride of the creature was akin to a leap. It could reach her in just three strides and the rock was still some feet away from her reach.

She kicked against the ground and spurted into reach with a lunge. She scooped the rock into her grip as she went tumbling to the ground. As the surface was rough and hard, she was riddled with scratches and scrapes when she rolled to her feet.

The Abyssal creature was on its third stride and it pounced.

Eye.

Chloe quickly spun around to face the creature who was already falling towards her midair. The glowing spot shifted to its right eye from its knee. She wasted not another second and plunged the rock into the creature’s eye as its razor-sharp fangs dug into her left shoulder.

Chloe screamed. She screamed the loudest she had ever screamed. The pain was unprecedented. It was more painful than anything she had ever felt. It was severely more painful than the time she had a leg cramp after a hard day at the gym. The pain was as sharp as the fangs that caused it. She wanted to just curl up and writhe in pain but she didn’t dare to take her attention away from the Abyssal creature despite the amount of pain she was in. 

The Abyssal creature wasn’t faring that much better. It recoiled away from Chloe and went staggering and stumbling around as it cried out in agony from having its eye pierced. In a way, it was suffering a worse injury than Chloe. The rock was still lodged inside its eye. It tried to pull it out but the promise of further pain made it hesitate. 

The creature gazed wrathfully at Chloe. It wanted to just tear her apart but it was held back by the fear of being surprised by her again. It had been surprised by her a total of three times and the third surprise came at a price of its eye. It feared that it would only suffer another grave injury if there ever was a fourth surprise. It wanted to go against its bestial instincts but it couldn’t. In the end, it reluctantly retreated, growling as it did so.

When the Abyssal creature was completely out of her sight and the darkness of distance had swallowed it, Chloe breathed a sigh of relief. And she no longer felt like screaming then. The pain had turned into numbness but not completely. There was still some throbbing pain and her wounds felt like they were on fire.

The numbness spread to her legs and she gently lowered herself onto the ground before her legs gave out entirely. She slumped against the wall with a soft gasp, clutching her wounds. They were bleeding badly but she had no knowledge of medicine. There was no way to treat her wounds.

What now?

She asked herself. 

How do I get out of here? How do I even get back?

Those two questions were one and the same and it was the million-dollar question. She had gotten herself out of a plight and even if she managed to heal her wounds, all those meant nothing in the end if she couldn’t find her way back home.

Alright, calm down for now, Chloe.

She told herself.

You have read a lot of books about Hunters and the Abyss. Try remembering what you have read.

She began rummaging through her memories. Though she had read a lot, that was when she was still in school. Now that she was working, her interest in books had faded over time.

After wading through two decades worth of memories, she finally found them. The tears in the fabric of space were also known as rifts. The Hunters went in and out of dungeons through these rifts. They were basically a portal that linked the two worlds. 

Sure sound simple enough but… how and where am I going to find this stupid rift?

Let alone knowing the location of the rift, she could not even move her left arm at all. In fact, she could barely move her body at all. The pain had left her on the brink of exhaustion. Her eyelids were heavy. She was going to faint, again. She tried her best to not faint. She was afraid she would be in someplace worse when she regained consciousness.

Mom… Lena…

The face of her mother and her best friend drifted across her mind as she was gradually losing her mental battle with her exhaustion. In the end, she lost and her consciousness left her.