The Beauty of the Abyss

And so, Claire decided to ask for help from the queen of the abyss, that is Cthylla.

"I need your help. I'm a bit lost and I figured seeing you here is an opportunity.

Since you exist which means somewhere there is another version of Mr. Smiley that exists as well."

"His name is Luke. You are correct, there are a lot of versions of me and the others connected in the abyss.

Many worlds are waiting to be seen by Travelers from another world.

But the Luke in your world is still alive."

"Alive? You're telling me that bozo is still breathing?"

"Yes but he is in his own Dreamland."

"What is Dreamland?"

"It's their own world of dreams during their long slumber, all people dream of their own world as gods or just a spectator waiting to be awoken."

"I see."

"There is a prophecy, about a goddess who will pass the trials of the Pandora.

It is written in the center between the abyss and the nightmare dungeon.

You'll see a civilization for ghosts, protected by the seven Great Death Angels, they foretell whether the souls of a certain world are delivered to a designated place.

For those who are lost, it is a great place to search for the specified place you are looking for."

"I see so you want me to go to that place."

"First, you have to test yourself if you are that prophesied goddess."

"I'm just a human being."

The light source coming from Claire still glistens as they speak.

Knowing the answer is already present.

"Your glowing yellow light shows you are a potential goddess."

A long pause of the moment occurred as they pondered something important. But Claire had no time to spare so she speaks frankly to her about her problem.

"I don't mean to be rude but there is someone chasing me, one of Mr. Smiley's maids, Phillia. So I need guidance as soon as possible."

"Oh right. Phillia, the one who killed me. It's like a dream, well I'll deal with her when she arrives at the caverns of the abyss."

"Alright."

"Also, you need allies in order to face the adversaries in the journey. You're gonna need it."

"Who is it?"

"For now it will be my own secret."

"I see. We'll I better go now."

As soon as she is eager to go, Cthylla speaks loudly as she remembers something important.

"Claire."

Claire looks back. "About your slime... nevermind, take care."

"Bye bye!"

Claire gives her farewell to Cthylla as she opens the large doorway again and sees a different place, it's like a dimensional door that changes places just by opening the door.

"That slime, it might be Luke's... For now I will give her luck on the journey."

---

*Flashback begins*

Cthylla once met Luke in the abyss, the same way as Claire did.

At that time, Cthylla observed humankind for eons since the beginning.

Watching them undergo a memorable dream where they interact with other humans or other questionable beings as they enjoy being one with another and utterly forget at the beginning of their waking life.

At first, she gazed at ordinary dreams to a very specified long lucid dream of that someone.

Rarely, she was noticed by those dreamers and soon that person panicked and their world was completely destroyed for some reason.

Since the way they interpret of seeing the queen of the abyss as a nightmare, Cthylla however hadn't noticed it yet and she thought of considering that she wasn't friendly enough.

But this one strange boy is an exception, he was able to speak to her without getting freaked out.

"Oh hello there, I'm Luke. Who are you? Where am I?" This boy named Luke asked Cthylla.

They both stared for moments and soon Cthylla got flustered and Luke apologized for staring at her beauty for a long time.

"Sorry for staring for too long. I guess when you put it that way, You're beautiful."

A shock of a words she heard from that boy.

"Well... Umm... Most people would be terrified when they see me. So calling me beautiful is strange."

"So what's your name?" Luke gives his hand to Cthylla.

"I had forgotten about it."

"Why?"

"Well... I don't remember." In her lifetime, she had forgotten her name and his origin story since it had been a long time.

"So what should I call you?"

"I'll think about it..."

Then, a nostalgic voice was heard, it felt like she heard that voice before saying,

"Cthylla." That voice speaks that word in her mind.

"You can call me Cthylla."

"Cthylla? You mean from H.P. Lovecraft? I've recently read it before!"

"You know the name Cthylla?"

"Yes."

And so they continued their conversation and soon Luke went back to his own Dreamland.

Cthylla made an attachment to Luke so she waited for the chance for him to visit her again.

So she waited and observed Luke.

And finally Luke came back.

They had a ton of things to talk about. For the first time, he brought something with him.

"Is that a slime?"

It seems Luke is carrying a blue slime with him.

"Yes, isn't that amazing? I fell in love with fantasy like this. Fantasy is sure amazing."

"So why did you bring it?"

"Well, I think meeting new things and new people would motivate you to come out of your shell."

"You mean you want me to be set free? I have a lot of responsibility as the overseer of the abyss."

"So this is the abyss. It's beautiful."

"You mean terrifyingly scary? Most people would be scared to a place like this, where light is rarely visible to this place."

"I see, but why am I so mesmerized by it?

The abyss, and you, both of you are beautiful. You don't need to if you don't want to go outside.

I can visit here if that's okay with you."

Luke gave a smile to Cthylla. This is how love at first sight occurred.

And so, Luke and Cthylla never met afterwards which it turned out in the present, the reason why Cthylla didn't went outside, she waited for him to show up all this time just for him to see his smile once more.

Truly a bad ending for Cthylla.

It's like Luke's memories with Cthylla had forgotten just like a dream.

*Flashback ends*

----

Claire enters, and sees a room that has other three pathways, she got a bad feeling about it since she might easily get lost so she mark on each pathway and finally move to the next dark room.

And so the story continues...