“Oh, me? Nah, it’ll be alright in the end. You just focus on yourself and I will take care of myself for now. Besides, I have the overlooker’s blessings to be here right now. I doubt she would cause any problems for me.”
‘That damned snake. I wish I could boil her and feed her remains to the beasts in this abyss.’
Zoe cursed as she watched Ava make quick work of the beasts on her floor. This was not even her domain but Ava was not holding back.
Moreover, she had used the cursed magic which would make it impossible to revive these monsters. Ava was crippling Zoe indirectly.
But despite all this, Ava had not lied when she said that she had permission to be on that floor. Zoe had given in and allowed Ava entry into the Death Pool.
‘If only Ava had not promised her Lady Clara’s soul fragment in return. I would have never agreed to her demands.’
The fact, however, was that Ava had discovered a way to take advantage of Zoe’s flaw and was doing so to her greatest advantage.
“I can’t believe she consented to shove the contractor into the enchanted pool and sacrifice her. Either Ava has placed too much trust in Aurora, or she is a fool who wants to perish in the water with these people.
Zoe complained but she knew in her heart that Ava had won this bet. Aurora was not someone who Lady Clara could ignore.
She had no been able to get past Aurora’s charm in the past and likely would not be able to let her go in the future.
The illusion of the soul fragment that showed the past was already starting to fade away. A soul’s past could not be changed without paying a heavy price but the abyss had a certain fondness for Aurora.
Aurora’s entire being felt like the abyss itself and it was different from their last time.
‘The future is no longer certain. However, those who are meant to die will die regardless. It is futile to wish life on someone who died during their last lives.’
Zoe did not know the rules of this reset hard and fast but she did know some things.
All those people who had died in the last round of this reset would die this time as well. Aurora could try to prevent it all she wanted but that would not change the fact this was the past.
You could change mall things but the bigger picture would remain the same. Those who live would find a way to survive this time as well.
‘But I have a feeling that Aurora’s involvement would change things this time. Am I overthinking this too much?’
In the end, Zoe decided not to pay much attention to what was going on around her. As long as she got her soul fragment, it did not matter who lived and who died.
Still, Aurora was an amusing specimen to study. It was too bad that Zoe could not use her powers to pierce the abyssal barrier around Lady Clara’s soul.
Aurora would have to be the one to drag her out.
===========================
“Would you like to come with me?”
Aurora agreed with Lady Clara’s request easily enough. The elder was her way to get out of this situation.
Besides, Aurora did want to head into the abyss and see what all she had missed. Was the abyss any different this far into the past? Or did nothing change in all the centuries that passed?
Aurora was also curious about the origin of magic and the history of the goddesses as well. So little was known about this period and the original 7 gods.
And even those who knew choose to keep their mouth shut. It was as if they did not want to get this story out there in the open.
“By the way, you have still not told me your name. I can’t keep calling you ‘hey’ every time I want to talk to you, can I?” Lady Clara turned her head sideways and gave Aurora a curious look.
Aurora shook her head at the other’s cute action. For some reason, anything Lady Clara did seemed cute to Aurora.
It was like she was back with Clove and she was having a lot of fun again.
“Call me Aurora. It is also nice to meet you, Clara.”
It was so weird to address a goddess without their proper title but Clara had refused to hear anything before her name.
It did not help that Lady Clara had no divine powers currently. Aurora was curious to know how she gained them at all.
“We should hurry up and go now. The scientists told me that there was something weird going on with the abyss. I wonder what is going to happen next?”
Aurora was less curious about what was going to happen.
Had it been the future, such news would not have affected the lives of ordinary people. The future settlement was built high-up enough to never come in contact with the abyss.
But the settlements of the past were built on the surface. Any changes the abyss suffered would have a direct impact on them.
“Hurry up and wear your sun cloak. It’s going to be a hot day out.”
Aurora followed Lady Clara out into the open and closed her eyes. She expected to feel the coldness of the outside freezing her body but it was hot.
It was too hot to be the cold she had been saved from. The sun could easily be 36 degrees.
“Are you surprised to see the day being this hot? It’s all because of the abyss. This fluctuation in temperature killed off all our crops this year. Now there is a food shortage all around the world.”
Lady Clara explained the present weather phenomenon quite casually. This type of thing no longer occurred in the future so this was something that would settle down if it was given enough time.
“We are here, the abyssal emergency institute. I hope you will have a pleasant time here.”
Lady Clara walked through the gates and Aurora followed behind her. No one as much as dared to stop her entry.
‘Weird. I thought they would stop me at the gates. They don’t know me after all.’
It was all quite weird for Aurora to face. She could see people pointing toward her and whispering behind their hands but no one approached her.
It was only her and Lady Clara that walked the whole time.
The first sign of social activity only occurred after the pair reached the inner labs. Aurora could spot some familiar faces in front of her.
Lady Minerva looked as upright as ever, as did Lady Mei. Lord Karan had an indifferent look on his face. Aurora had to remind herself that this Lord Karan had a different soul.
Besides these three, there were more unfamiliar faces in front of Aurora. Most of them were people Aurora had only heard of before.
Lord Alan, the resistance leader had a bald head and a serious look on his face but his eyes looked kind. The goddess of Victory, Seraphina was all but a kid shy of her teenage years.
Lady Aasmi’s predecessor had her face covered by a cloth which made it impossible to see her read features and she had a small girl held at her side.
Along with Lady Clara, this marked the original 7 gods and goddesses that started the fight against the abyss.
Out of these 7, only five lived to make it to Aurora’s future. Lady Clara died and Lady Asami’s predecessor sacrificed herself.
“Yo, Clara. I see a new face with you today. Care introducing us all to her?” Mei’s loud voice attracted everyone’s attention.
“Mei, please calm down or you will injure yourself. Today will be a big day for us all so don’t cause us trouble.” Lady Minerva interfered. Her tone had not changed a bit in all the extra years she lived.
“That is right, Mei. Try and control yourself a little. You will get plenty of chances to fight once you gain your powers.” Lord Alan’s kind voice interfered.
The more these people spoke, the calmer Aurora felt. The attention was no longer on her but the people in front of her.
“Booo. Such a mean thing to say to me. I just wanted to greet the new person who will be working alongside us.”
Mei seemed to not have taken any of those words to heart. Instead, she had a cheeky grin on her face.
But before any more conversations could take place, the main door opened and a person dressed in a white overall suit exited the chamber.
“Clara, this is the new person you wanted to recommend for our experiment? We checked her bloodwork and she doesn’t have a problem. So we will take her in as your partner. From here on, you eight will tackle the abyss and become the first humans to take in the abyss’s energy.”
“You all would become the foundation to humanity’s survival and do what those poor sacrificed animals failed to do. It is time ‘Project Humanity’ starts for real.”
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