In The Abyss
They walked across a wide tunnel from Deep Hollow to Waking Light. When the realm created the new abyss continents it created elaborate covered bridges between the continents and tunnels within the various layers and the ground of the abyss.
These tunnels carved through both the layers and the ground they were illuminated by light magic. The ones carving through the layers were forever battered by the magics of the abyss and were constantly repairing and stabilizing themselves. The ones carved through the ground and the covered bridges spanning between the continents were all calm and serene.
A person could casually walk across either them to the next continent, like these people were, enter them and instantly teleport to the abyss continent of their choice, to a continent above, or to a known point in the abyss.
To explore you had to know where you wanted to go from a known point. You actually needed to have a location in mind and the abyss would know and accommodate for the travel.
The seven continents of the abyss were already heavily populated. There were mostly Fasarians but many of the or people of Trannisa moved below for various reasons.
This did not mean that travel would be easy it just meant that the abyss would not actively act against a resident of the realm. Once it understood your intention it allowed for the interaction.
The group currently in the tunnel consisted of the Mliana, the Antrunie, Anis, Mis, and Emil. They were all curious about the continents of the abyss and they all wanted to make sure that the people were thriving and were safe.
The tunnel was transparent, but any from the inside out, and well illuminated. The tunnels and the continents were all domed in the same crystalline material because the abyss was still a dangerous place And interesting things dwelled in the dark. The realm had placed the continents in the four safe abyss locations known to the residents of the realm plus three that were unknown.
All were away from territories of things humanoid species should avoid. But this was one of the reason why Rachel wanted to see all seven continents. One she needed to always be familiar with the continents of her realm and two she needed to know more about the abyss.
She felt Milana had been remiss in not extensively exploring the abyss. Even she put more thought in the exploration of other realms making her just as at fault as the others.
The three continents in unknown areas were; Shatter Lake, Wither Mar, and Dark Peak. Rachel had already visited all seven new continents in her spirit body. She also made fate maps for each.
The fate maps were of no use. There were unexplainable gaps in each which told her that her fate was intertwined with each of the continents. This should seem natural to her because this is her home realm and she was its protector. But those maps were just superficial fate readings meaning her fate was more than deeply interwoven with them.
Knowing fate could cause a person to jump to conclusions she was trying to remain rational in her thinking.
"We have ten days to explore. Maybe we should test the teleportation features."
Rachel smiled. "We have a lifetime to explore Mis. You always get so excited when you discover something new."
Mis' eyes darted between his sisters and brothers but no one said anything.
"Let's begin in Shatter Lake." Rachel looked at Ambruce. "Please mark this location. There is something below I want to investigate later."
Anis, Mis, and Emil all looked down through the transparent floor as one.
Rebecca shook her head. "All of you need to be more aware of your surroundings."
Rachel and the Antrunie felt the mark as it resonated below them and all eight of them disappeared from the spot.
Shatter Lake was a dark continent, like the other abyss continents, but it had a spark of light green light at its center.
As soon as Emil was there and was aware, after the disorientation of the teleportation, his eyes widened as healing magics rushed towards him. Rachel allowed him to absorb some and then put a shield around him so that he did not harm his soul well.
Because the magic continued to want to reach him green sparks of like continually ignited around him.
The soft green light at the center of the continent was a well spring of the realms inner healing magics. Because there was so much healing magic within the continent the plants and animals there were ideal nourishment and sometimes even remedies for ailments.
When Rachel visited the new continents she saw that the three in unknown areas had magic springs like this. Wither Mar had a yellow magic well spring and Dark Peak had a purple magic well spring. Rachel already decided to see these three continents first.
As healing magic welled inside her she gained insights to several of her healing magics. This told her the magic here was coming directly from the origin well.
Curious.
She cut herself off from healing magic and focused on the continent itself. It was rich in minerals and resources. The plants and animals here were larger and somehow different on a molecular level as if they had been made by some alternate process.
Then she allowed her perception to delve below the continent and what she saw and felt down there caused an elegant eyebrow to arch. The abyss had a bottom. In some places it seemed bottomless but it wasn't. Here under Wither Lake was on of those seemingly bottomless places.
When Rachel's perception reached the bottom she saw an amber adder nest. Amber adders were not dangerous. They were very rare creatures. They were a deep golden color and exuded healing and mental magics. They also made very good familiars due to their intelligence and capacity to increase their skill and magic levels.
Her eyes gleamed. She wanted one. She listened to the others talking and wondered if an amber adder could be an Antrunie.
Rachel quickly descended into the bottomless trench with her Antrunie close at her heels. She was on a hunt. A hunt for something wondrous and she could feel it dipping into and sparking against her soul. There was an Amber Adder below that was actually calling to her and as she descended it ascended towards her.
Her name was Jin and Rachel could feel her body undulating as it rose higher and higher to meet her. She could feel the corded muscles that ran along the Adder's body and the exertion she was using to push those muscles dangerously close to their breaking point.
And then there was an ethereal yellow glow a short distance ahead and she felt her Antrunie tense. She smiled wide.
"Calm yourselves. This is Jin my new familiar. Now that she sees us we can begin returning to the surface. Ambruce, Smral did you two collect anything good?"
"Yes!"
They both answered in excited voices in unison.
Rachel smiled and shook her head.
It took them another hour to reach the underside of Shatter Lake. Mis was waiting for them with wide eyes and a slight bounce. Rachel smiled.
"I found her Mis. Are you ready?" she stopped and looked back down into the trench, her Antrunie hovering beside her. Before Mis could answer a great snake burst from the darkness with no warning.
She was a sleek specimen and her dark amber scales, flaked with brass and silver tones seemed wet and slippery. She rose high above them, even above the top side of the continent, rolled several times, and then descended back to Rachel's position.
As she got closer to Rachel she changed. Her enormously long, sleek body shrank and she changed to a humanoid form, much like Smral's when he first took on a humanoid form.
She was all snake with rounded adder like head. Her torso was rounded like a snake and extended down into a tail that had two elegant legs on either side. She had long arms that seemed proportionate to her body and she walked then bowed before Rachel with an elegance that seemed impossible for her.
"Ssssister. I have waited ssssso long to meet you."
"And I you. Stand Jin. Allow me to introduce you to some of my siblings and my Antrunie."
Jin stood and smiled. She looked to the others and bowed.
"No need sssssister. We are one. I already know them all." And she proceeded to say hello to them all, one by one, by name.
After Rachel described Whither Mar to them the group decided to skip it and go to Dark Peak first. When they arrived Rachel, Anis, Ambruce, and Smral were all enveloped in fate magic as soon as they stepped on the continent.
Anis closed her eyes and absorbed way more magic than she should have but she was a higher being, very close to Rachel's level, so the excess did not harm her it only enhanced areas she didn't know she had and awoke things she didn't know were possible.
Rachel monitored her and the others carefully. Ambruce, in particular absorbed even more magic than Rachel did. Theresa's a vortex swirling around her even as the others had stopped absorbing and began to "see" what had been opened up within them.
Mis began exploring the continent with Emil and the other Antrunie. It was a continent covered in forests and there were already several cities and towns deeply entrenched on the continent. The Farasharns had carefully carved settlements into the great woods.
The ground and tree trunks were black and the leaves on the trees were varying shades of purple. And in a sparsely populated area there was a huge dark purple mountain peak standing all to itself.
It looked quite unnatural and very beautiful and mysterious.
This was what gave the continent its name and, according to Rachel, was the source of the purple, or fate, magics.
This is what Mis wanted to see.
Compared to the other three continents Whither Mar was an abomination. The soul magic on the continent was dense and they all, with the exception of Rachel and Rebecca, were taken aback by the depth of the magic here.
It was as oppressive as the continent's humidity. But Rachel had felt a pull from the moment she step foot on the continent this time. There wad someone at the center of the continent that she had to get to.
But it was like they were not actually there yet. They were in some sort of flux and she was not sure if it was due to the deep soul magic flowing throughout the continent or if there was a fate line that was crossed, frayed, or broken.
They did not stay on this continent for long. The spirits that had gathered there were far to aggressive. Rebecca made a mental note to have an Alyanna collection squad come and collect some of the more aggressive spirits for the Alyanna.
While Rachel made a mental note to return for her two new Atrunie when they were ready.