Chapter 55

A week had passed since Vincent's return, yet the war never ended as it continued to rage on. Ħèkk continued training Vincent in his dreams. What Vincent found most ironic about the whole situation was that out of all his instructors, Ħèkk was the one spending the most time training him these days since Alex and Elizabeth were nowhere to be seen. According to James, Elizabeth was handling some affairs outside the kingdom while Alex was fighting in the war. For the first time in months, Vincent was stuck at home with little to do. He was no longer fighting to survive alone in the forest or helping the villagers. He was no longer training under Alex and Elizabeth. He rarely got to go to the castle these days, and he got to see Victoria only once since his return. Vincent was restless these days. He trained at swinging the sword for hours, only taking breaks for one of four reasons: to study and practice his aquamancy, to eat, to use the toilet, and to sleep. Even when he slept, he trained with Ħèkk. This entire week was long and monotonous. Vincent thought today would be another boring day when he exited his room early in the morning to begin his daily training. Yet in front of him stood James. The man looked tiered and weary as the ongoing war was clearly taking a toll on his father.

James: "Come, Vincent, I have something to show you."

Vincent perked up in interest. Would this be a break from his monotonous cycle?

Vincent: "Where are we going, dad?"

James: "We are going to the royal castle."

Vincent: "Will we be seeing Victoria?"

James: "Indeed, as a matter of fact, what I'm about to show you will also be relevant to her."

Vincent: "What do you mean?"

James: "I was ordered by his Majesty to show it to the both of you."

Vincent: "Show us what?"

James: "You will see soon enough, however, that this is not the place or time to discuss it."

James remained uncharacteristically quiet during the whole carriage ride to the palace. Vincent rarely saw his father this quiet. James would often mumble incoherent things to himself when he worked. Yet today he said nothing the entire ride, nor did he even breathe loudly as if something was pressuring him to remain quiet. In the castle, a maid led Victoria to James and Vincent. It seemed like she had already been notified about what was going to happen today, like Vincent, who still knew nothing. James led the two to an underground chamber. In the centre of the chamber, there was a spherical object made out of some sort of metal that was surrounded by a red circle. Only half of the metallic sphere was visible, with the other half remaining hidden.

James: "Your father wanted you to practice opening it with your royal magic."

Victoria nodded her head as she stepped forward. She moved her hand forward as she shouted Jibrish. Yet the sphere began to rotate as it opened up to expose a stone staircase.

James: "I'm sure you have many questions, and I'll answer them soon enough. Before we can do that, I need you to help us carry these."

James pointed at what looked like three large bags with all kinds of strange equipment strapped to their exteriors.

Vincent: "You don't expect me to carry all three?"

James: "No, you will carry only one. while I will carry my own one, and Victoria will take one too."

Once everyone took their respective bags, they walked down the stairs. The stairs were surprisingly wide, as they were wide enough for multiple carriage lanes. What was even more shocking was that when Vincent looked down, he could see no end to the sairs. They continued onward, down and down, into an endless abyss. Once they took about five steps down, some of the electronics attached to their bags began to glow, allowing them to see their surroundings better.

Vincent: "Where are we?"

James: "Wellcome to the underground; soon we will reach what lies below."

Vincent: "What lies below?"

James: "Aruably the most mysterios place known to man, more coloquially known as the Nolight Abyss."

Vincent: "The Nolight Abyss? Why do they call it that?"

James: "In about one thousand steps down, you will start to see."

While it was still dark, there was still light coming down from the entrance up around. The entrance was underground, but it still had magic lights and torches lighting up it, and some of their light still reached Vincent's eyes. Vincent looked at his surroundings, but there was nothing much—just this endless stairway and the earth, dirt, and rocks that filled the gound that surrounded the sairs. Interestingly enough, Vincent did not see a single speck of dust in this expansive tunnel. Step by step, the trio went down lower and lower into the unknown. After a thousand steps, Vincent could start to see a sudden change in his surroundings. The dirt had been replaced by metal, and the stairs were no longer made of stone. Vincent was not sure what these stairs were made out of, but they weren't the same grey stones that he walked upon the entire way down until now.

Vincent "Is this the Nolight Abyss?"

James: "This is the outermost layer of what we call the Nolight Abyss. It will be around three thousand more steps down until we make it to the next layer."

Vincent: "Whoa, that's a long way down."

James: "Indeed"

Vincent: "What is royal magic?"

Victoria: "It is a form of magic that has been passed down in our family for generations."

James: "The royal families of both our kingdom and all our neighbours have this magic. Some say it's both the most powerful and weakest form of magic. I don't know why, but no matter where you are in the world, royal magic will work the exact same way with only one execution. For some unknown reason, it works differently in the Nolight Abyss. Many spells that work outside the Abyss do not work down here, and many royal spells work sowly down in these depths.

After a long time, Vincent once again saw a sudden and even more intense change in his surroundings. Where there was once metal, there is now nothing but darkness. Vincent started to sense the enormity of his surroundings. It looked like there were black walls on each side of the stairs, yet when he reached out with his arm, he saw there was nothing there. Those weren't black walls, but darkness that spread out to no end.

James: "Be careful not to fall off the edge. It's very dangerous."

Vincent nodded as he tried to be as close to the centre of the stairs as possible. Luckily, they were so wide that a pesant's house could theoretically fit on these stairs.

Vincent: "How much further will we go?"

James: "Much, much further."

By now, Vincent understood why this place was called the Nolight realm. Even though the entrance was wide open, he could not see even the smallest sparkle of light coming in from above. Maybe it would be different if the entrance opened up to somewhere that was above the ground during the brightest part of the day. The trio continued to descend down and down into the depths as they even ate lunch on the stairs. It ended up that the bags had pole-like pretrusions that stuck out of the bottom of each bag. When a certain rope attached to the bag was pulled, the pole-like pretursions would elongate and turn the bags into specialised chars, specifically suited for the stairs of the Nolight Abyss.

James: "We will win this war; I am certain of it. However, it will leave our kingdom weakened. In case of an emergency however counterintuitive as it may seem, the Nolight Abyss would be one of the safest places you can hide. The equipment we brought with us is extremely rare and was made by those who do not only know of the Nolight Abyss but understand it well. If you flee to these depths, few will even know where to search for you, and even if they come for you, if they try to rest, they could lose balance and roll off to their demise. Especially if they try to sleep on their way down. Our bags do not only turn into chairs but can also become beds that are designed to stop their owners from rolling."

The trio continued downwards for an unknown amount of time. However, they had not only eaten lunch but also supper. Eventually, they turned their bags into beds as they slept down in the dark depths atop a stairway that had no end.