"Huargh!" Lars yelled as he swung his blade at a Pyro Abyss Mage, breaking the creature's fire shield. He followed up by slashing the mage rapidly, defeating it with no problem.
It has been a few weeks since his arrival to this world. Lars still doesn't know how much time had passed. And he hadn't encountered any other humans at all as he explored the Chasm.
He had discovered relics of an ancient civilization with ties to Khaenri'ah. The entire structure is upside down, fixed to the ceiling for unknown reasons. There are a plethora of tunnels connecting it to many other deeper areas.
The ancient city seems to resist the presence of any outsiders. Lars stayed for a time, but had to leave its ominous, upended silhouette behind, not wanting to attract anything unwanted.
And with time having passed, Lars' strength grew. If he pushed himself more, he was sure he could defeat a Ruin Guard without a sweat. But for now, Abyss Mages would do.
Lars heard approaching footsteps behind him before he turned around, pointing his blade at a Fatui Electro Cicin Mage. Lars raised an eyebrow, this would be his first encounter with the Fatui it seems. But weirdly enough, this Mage wasn't attacking him.
"W-wait! Stop! Please don't attack me!" The Cicin Mage shouted at Lars who raised an eyebrow at her.
"You're with the Fatui right? Seems to me that you're with the bad guys here, miss. Why don't you explain yourself first?" The Mage rubbed her arms nervously, mostly because of the blade near her fave and Lars' gaze.
"Katarina... My name is Katarina Snezhevna. My name is the most I can divulge. S-Sorry. That really is all I can disclose..." Katarina murmured. Lars sighed as he lowered his blade.
"What are the Fatui doing here—"
"That's classified." Katarina immediately answered, almost robotically even. Lars blinked before sighing and rubbing his head.
"Bad guys being secretive like always... It's you guys' thing at this point." He grumbled. Katarina couldn't help but giggle.
"Hehe. Well we're the bad guys after all, that's what we do. But I think time's up for the Q&A session. We've got company!" Both of them looked around as they were being surrounded by a group of floating fungi.
"So what are you doing here all alone in the Chasm?" Katarina asked as she zapped a fungus into smithereens.
"That's classified." Lars replied, slashing through multiple fungi swiftly. Katarina rolled her eyes.
"C'moonnn. You really expect me to believe that you're some secret agent? You don't even look the part!"
"Well if you can use that answer, then so can I!" Lara flashed the mage a grin as he then dodged a large bubble from one of the fungi. Katarina snorted.
"Haha... Very funny. " She mumbled, full of sarcasm, zapping down another one of the creatures. "What's your name anyways?"
"Lars." He replied, cutting a bubble in half, before rushing towards the fungus who shot it towards him. It barely had time to react as Lars cut him into pieces.
"That's it? No last name?"
"Nope. Unless you wanna give me yours, Kat." He cheekily replied.
"Excuse me?! I will not thank you very much! And don't call me Kat, I'm not your buddy!" She shouted, her lightning attacks intensifying along with her emotions. The fungi were more like burnt mush at this point. Lars snickered to himself, noticing the small blush on the mage's cheek.
"Whatever you say, Kat." He whistled, clearing out the last of the fungi on his side. Katarina growled, before stomping furiously on a fungi she zapped beforehand.
"That's the last of them...." Lars whispered before he regrouped with the Fatui mage. 'Not a bad performance for me this time, clearly I'm improving as time goes on. Can't wait when I unlock Haki and the elements though.' He thought, momentarily excited for the future.
He stood in front of the mage. He could tell she was glaring at him with her purple mask that covered half of her face, revealing her snow white cheeks and mouth.
"Never, ever, call me by that nickname ever again." She threatened him. Lars raised an eyebrow and held up both his hands.
"Woah calm down Kat—"
"What'd I just say?!"
"Calling you Katarina just sounds... I don't know, too formal! I'm not your colleague or boss or anything. Besides if we're both stuck in the Chasm, I might as well try to make some allies here." Katarina sighed and placed her palm on her mask covered forehead.
"Fine whatever.... Thank you... for not... well... stabbing me in the back..." The mage mumbled, looking down. She felt embarrassed, thanking some stranger when she's supposed to be the bad guy here. Lars smiled sincerely.
"Hey, appreciate it. Same goes to you. Though you sound like you have trust issues by saying it that."
She snorted, trying to mask her embarrassment. "Pfft! How'd you even get that impression in the first place." She said while kicking the ground awkwardly, looking all over the place except at him. "And besides, this isn't exactly the best place to try and hit on me is it?"
"So you admit that you like me hitting on you?"
"What?! No! I didn't mean it that!" A red faced Katarina panicked, waving her arms around in denial. Lars laughed at her. Katarina sneered at him, huffing and crossing her arms.
"What I was trying to say before you interrupted me, was that us being out in the open is dangerous and we would likely get swarmed by another group of monsters. And I have a hideout not far from here."
"Well, I don't mind. It'd be nice to have a break. I really need one at this point. But wow Kat, inviting me over already when we've just met? You're probably the boldest girl I've ever met."
"Just shut your mouth and follow me...." Katarina grumbled, already walking away from him. Though the small blush on her face betrayed what she said. Lars chuckled, following her lead.
They arrived at a small camp. It wasn't much. Just a small red tent, a campfire and a large brown sack with books stacked beside it.
"Please, sit down." Katarina muttered as she searched through her sack. She sighed after a while, looking at Lars who sat near the campfire, staring silently at her with a small smile.
"Are you okay with drinking Fire-Water? There's also hardtack and sour jam to go with it. Enough for a tea party." She grinned awkwardly, trying to appeal to him.
"It's alright. I'm fine with whatever you serve me. Just don't poison my food."
"Now who's the one with trust issues here?" Lars laughed at Katarina's snarky reply. Not long after, he and her were sitting around the campfire, enjoying the food.
"So what are you Fatui even up to in the Chasm." Lars broke the silence first. Katarina cleared her throat.
"Ahem. 'Sharing food and intel at the right moment is conducive to silencing a curious mouth.'...that's what our handbook says."
Lars blinked once, then twice. " Well?.... Where's the Intel Kat?" She smiled at him.
"That was the intel, Lars."
"Huh—"
"Fatui Advance Team Handbook, Appendix 4-4, Article 32: 'Sharing food and intel at the right moment is conducive to silencing a curious mouth.' You saved my life and in return, I divulged classified content from our handbook." She giggled and stuck out her tongue.
"Hehe! How's that for sincerity?"
Lars groaned and palmed his face as she laughed loudly at her success in messing with him. "Oh I got you good.... But jokes aside... I'm very grateful for your help back there. Looking at it now, my kind gesture doesn't mean anything to be honest."
"Nonsense. I'm very thankful that you invited me to your camp. I really needed food and something to drink. So your invitation was a blessing. But seriously, what are you up to?" Katarina sighed at his persistence.
"Even if I told you you wouldn't understand. Outsiders fail to understand the Fatui's cause. But when we aren't talking about what we pursue or which side we are on, we're really just a bunch of ordinary people."
"I'm not saying you aren't a normal person, Kat. In fact, I think you're interesting."
"If that's your attempt at flirting with me then you gotta try harder dude." Lars laughed.
"No, seriously. I can tell you're a kind person. And really strong too, judging by how you fought just now." Katarina remained silent before sighing.
"Thanks I guess. No one's really said that to me before."
"Well that's a lie for sure. No way no one's complimented you before."
"What next? You're gonna say I'm beautiful or something?" She rolled her eyes behind her mask. "C'mon dude, I get that all the time. And most of the time the guy just wants to get in my pants, so I don't even know if they're being sincere or not."
"Well, if they're not. Then I'll be the first to be sincere with you." Lars nodded confidently at her. Katarina stared at him before snorting.
"You're funny, in a lame way. But thanks. Nice to know not all guys are the same. Don't you dare get any ideas though, I'm not getting butterflies in my stomach in the slightest." Lars shrugged, drinking some of the Fire-Water.
"Was just speaking my mind, believe it or not, but that's just who I am. And I'm not one to sugarcoat things either."
"Yeah sure.... Nice to know I guess..." Katarina grumbled. The silence returned once again.
"So like... I hear that the Fatui don't exactly have a good reputation." He broke the silence once more, swirling the tea in the small cup.
"Like I said, outsiders fail to understand our cause. Most of us are just doing our job just to get paid in the end. Besides, all our agendas and deeds are just preparatory work for the final battle."
"The final battle huh...."
"Yes, in the end, all of us shall face a common enemy and the inescapable long night... Everyone in Snezhnaya has been thusly warned. So, every drop of tears and blood of mankind, shed for the sake of this cruel world... They shall not be shed in vain."
"Wow, I don't know if that's for good or evil... but it just sounds badass. Cheers to that?" Lars held up his cup at her. The mage stared before smiling a little, clanging their cups together briefly.
"Yeah... cheers..."
"But you know... " Lars drank some of his tea with her doing the same. " Some people might take it the wrong way. " He said after swallowing his sip of tea.
"Maybe... I don't know, nor do I care to be honest. Hey, you wanted an explanation, and I gave you one. You're free to not find it to your liking. That's all." Lars smiled, before chuckling to himself. He found himself liking Katarina more and more.
"Alright then, ma'am. Sheesh. That's quite a lofty sounding explanation. " The mage grinned before a thought came to her mind. "You know, you should try the liquor and jam from Snezhnaya sometimes."
Lars shook his head. "Sorry Kat. I don't drink. I prefer to be in control and not look like an idiot." Katarina shrugged.
"Was just suggesting...I don't even know why I recommended the liquor, I don't even drink." She mused.
"But the jam does sound interesting though. I presume it's much better than this jam?" Lars pointed at a small tin can full of jam.
"Oh it's muuuch better. I promise you. You're gonna be addicted to it in no time." Katarina nodded confidently, seemingly proud of her nation's jam.
"Quick question, how long have you been in here?"
"That...." Katarina quickly went silent, staring at the fire. " I... honestly don't know... I was sent down here a long time ago. I barely know anything about what's happening on the surface save for the news we get through our supply lines."
"Well I don't see any letters around here. Unless you burned the letters after reading them, I'd say your supply line's long been cut off." Lars commented. Katarina remained silent. She immediately got up and headed to her tent.
"Tea party's over! I need to get some rest!" She declared, entering her tent before covering it.
"But we haven't even started eating yet!"
"You have hands right? Serve yourself then! When you're finished you can leave!" She shouted from inside the tent. Lars sighed, chomping down on the hardtack, which staying true to its name, was hard as a tack.
Silence took over once again. Lars didn't bring up anything once again, giving Katarina the rest she needed.
"Lars... You still there?" He heard Katarina mumble through the tent.
"Mmm?" He hummed, munching on another hardtack.
"I'm just thinking... that if it were you... Please come back another day... if you don't find it too troublesome..."
Lars smiled at her offer. "Sure, Kat. I'd love to hang out with you again." Inside the tent, Katarina smiled at his reply.
"I need to get some rest now. My old injuries still hurt. My apologies."
"It's fine, get all the rest you want."
"And don't you dare try anything, you got it? Or else I'll zap you until you're bald."
"Alright alright, I get it, geez." Lars chuckled. He heard Katarina huff before everything was silent again, just the crackling sound of fire burning the wood.
Lars sighed to himself, staring at the flames.
"Well, at least I got a friend now. Maybe the Chasm isn't all that bad after all."
.....
"Me and my big mouth sometimes." Lars grumbled as he was faced with a Shadowy Husk, a pitch-dark soldier, once a proud warrior of an ancient underground nation. Now, it is nothing but a husk that only bears memories of battle.
This shadowy husk was wielding a bow. It charged up a Cryo arrow before firing it at Lars who jumped out of the way to dodge it. The arrow hit the ground, creating an ice shockwave. Lars shivered a little, feeling the cold from the Cryo attack.
Lars charged it as it was reloading another arrow. The dark soldier blocked his strike with it's own bow. They entered a melee clash. The soldier swung it's bow at Lars who jumped back a little to dodge it.
Lars realized that he gave an opening for it to charge up another ice arrow. He reacted quickly, kicking the bow at the last second, forcing the Shadowy Husk to lose balance and shoot in another direction.
Taking the chance, Lars gripped his blade tightly and swung at it, slicing its arm off. He rushed in once more before swinging once again, this time he managed to decapitate the knight.
Lars breathed out loudly, looking at his enemy that turned to dust. "A shame I can't take the armor, would've helped me a bunch." He mumbled, looking at his blade.
"Thank you Xamaran, whatever you did, this blade's more powerful than ever." He whispered, looking around his surroundings.
"Huh, some dry wood, maybe I could bring them back to Kat. Yeah that sounds like a good plan...."
Life in the Chasm seemed to become interesting again.
To be continued.....