Chapter 18: 18. The Abyssal Realms

“Well, my situation is quite complicated and to be honest, if I explained everything to a version of myself from a year ago then even I would not believe it.”

Elyssia laughed in self-mockery, remembering how she had been a bumbling fool when Arthur had explained things outside of her common logic.

“To give you the simple version, I used to live in a different world, but was forcefully dragged away to this one. On the way between the worlds, I met a close friend who taught me a lot about magic and other skills.”

Elyssia’s anger started to show on her face as she was explaining, remembering the sight of Hecate being thrown into the coliseum wall.

She had decided to give a simple explanation and not mention Hecate as she did not know enough about this society and how they would take someone claiming to have met a goddess. It was better to keep things simple without too many complications that may impede her.

Hearing Elyssia’s response, Hilda took a step back with a pale face, moving to protect Kara.

“Y-you’re from the Abyssal Realms!?” She shouted in complete panic.

Confused and concerned by Hilda’s response, Elyssia tilted her head and asked.

“What do you mean by the Abyssal Realms? They sound quite ominous.”

After taking a deep breath and realising that Elyssia didn’t seem to know about the Abyssal Realms, Hilda decided to sit at the table and explain.

“Kara, can you go downstairs and help your sister?”

“Yes mum.” Kara left the room seeming quite dejected.

“There are apparently 9 Abyssal Realms, each ruled by a Demon Prince who usually cause catastrophes all over the continent. I remember my mother telling me a story about a traveller she had met who stayed in this inn. Apparently, he had travelled north after a cult who worshipped one of these princes destroyed his hometown.”

Taking a breath, she continued.

“He had been trapped with other survivors in the lord’s mansion until help came from the imperial legions. He had spoken about the horrors he saw while leaving the town after the battle. There were half eaten bodies of the residents strewn across the destroyed streets, blood splatters paining the walls, and the corpses of a variety of atrocious monsters that the legionaries had killed at great cost.”

Hilda shivered remembering what her mother had described to her.

Understanding Hilda’s reaction from her explanation, Elyssia could imagine the horror involved with the Abyssal Realms.

“I can see why you would be worried about me coming from such a place. I can assure you that there were no monsters of that sort where I came from. The world was dominated by humans and honestly quite peaceful. Birth rates were high, death rates were low and most people across the world lived quite comfortably.” Elyssa clarified with a serious look on her face.

“That’s a relief. Still, to think there are more worlds out there…” Hilda trailed off, deep in thought.

Deciding on something, Hilda looked up at Elyssia, a warm smile on her face.

“Your situation is definitely strange, but it is certainly believable. I can tell you I have heard of crazier things that will blow even your mind, that’s for sure!” Hilda heartily laughed.

“Enough of all the dreary talk, I will go get you a set of clothes so you can come down and have something to eat. Kara told me you healed yourself with magic?”

Elyssia smiled at how quickly Hilda accepted her situation and how she quickly changed pace.

“Yes, I did heal myself and am back to full health. You don’t need to worry about clothes, I have some with me.”

“Don’t be silly! Your clothes were in quite a state when you were here, so I washed them, and they are currently hanging outside to dry.”

Lightly chuckling at Hilda’s reply, Elyssia lightly waved her hand to the side and pulled out a dress and boots from the black rift she had created.

Seeing Elyssia’s actions and magic, Hilda just stood there slack jawed looking at Elyssia in complete bewilderment.

Elyssia glanced at Hilda to ask for some privacy to get changed but stopped realising that she might have done something that was considered abnormal.

“Is everything alright Hilda?” Elyssia asked tentatively.

“W-Was that s-s-spatial m-magic?” Hilda managed to get her sentence out with great effort.

Realising the likely reality of Hilda’s reaction, Elyssia decided to ask more and try and figure out where she stands in this world.

“Yes, it is. I assume from your reaction it is a rare type of magic?”

Trying to compose herself, Hilda takes a couple of deep breaths.

“It is incredibly rare. I hear that only the Grand Archmage in the Imperial Mages Guild of Aldorgrad and a few of the senior mages can use it.”

“I see. What can you tell me about the magic people use here then?” Elyssia enquired, a glint of excitement glowing in her eyes.

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Sighing after realising Elyssia lacked common sense, Hilda looked down.

“Sadly, I cannot tell you much. The only things I know are from the tales of passing travellers. You see most Norsemen don’t particularly use magic as it is widely looked down upon, especially in Havall. The only exception are the shamans who use nature magic.”

“You could try talking to Frida, she uses some simple magic so may know something.”

Hesitating, Hilda continued.

“But if you desperately want to find out more, you can try talking to the imperial mage assigned to the Jarl, but I have heard that he is quite… unpleasant. Just make sure to be careful where you use your magic, or you might find yourself in a lot of unwanted trouble.”

Hearing this, Elyssia nodded and deliberated on what to do.

‘Unpleasant? That’s just unneeded trouble so that’s someone to avoid. Besides, it seems like I need to thank Frida so I may as well seek her out first.’

“I think I will go and speak to Frida. I need to thank her for saving me after all.”

Hearing Elyssia’s response Hilda smiled cheerfully.

“In that case let’s get you fed. You have been asleep for half a day already!”

Slightly surprised that she was unconscious for so long, Elyssia nodded and waited for Hilda to leave before she got dressed. The clothes Elyssia had in her special storage were all crafted by either her or Hecate throughout their time together. Hecate had taught Elyssia practical sewing, needlework and embroidery saying that ‘you never know when it will be helpful’ like she did whenever teaching her obscure types of magic.

She put on a plain but warm black long sleeve dress that went down to her calves, black tights, and knee-high leather boots.

She also brought out an additional black hooded cloak so that she could at least cover her face. After all, the reality of the medieval world was not all fun and fantasy like modern culture likes to fantasise. R*pe and violence were prevalent, so walking around with her beautiful face exposed was inevitably going to draw the attention of the less than reputable parts of society.

While she would use her magic to keep herself warm, Elyssia kept following her plan of avoiding trouble and at the very least dressed the part.

Walking downstairs Elyssia found herself in a medieval tavern. The bar was right next to the stairs with a line of kegs set up behind the counter, while there were a large number of tables and chairs filling up the rest of the room that were currently unoccupied, but hinted at how the inn would be busy in the evenings.

Mounted on the walls were a number of stuffed animal heads, some of which Elyssia could recognise. There was an oversized boar’s head alongside and a bear’s head, both looking quite ferocious baring their teeth, along with what looked like a sabre tooth tiger and a pair of tusks that looked like they were from an elephant.

What really caught Elyssia’s attention was the particularly out of place cockerels head without its eyes. From the size of the mounted head the bird must have been the size of a car. Seeing its lack of eyes and particularly large size, Elyssia had the crazy idea that it was the head of a cockatrice.

‘But surely not, right?’ Elyssia contemplated.

“Elyssia, come sit down over here, I will bring your food out in a minute!”

Hilda called out to Elyssia after seeing her standing and staring at the head.

Elyssia glanced over and saw Hilda standing behind the bar, so walked over and made herself comfortable on one of the barstools.

“That is the head of a cockatrice, I assume from the look you had on your face you don’t have them in your world?” Hilda asked with a hearty laugh, pointing at the stuffed cockerel head.

“We don’t have them, but we have depictions of them even in ancient literature. I assume that the knowledge was brought to our world by someone like myself.” Elyssia answered, thinking back to her family’s history.

Hilda nodded in thought.

“Hmm, that makes sense.”

After a pause she puffed out her chest with her hands on her hips looking quite proud.

“Well, you see that one was killed by my Husband Gunnar!”

“That was before he became lazy.” Hilda finished with a frown.

Stifling a laugh behind her hand, Elyssia felt like Hilda only brought the cockatrice up to brag about her husband.

Suddenly, a dissatisfied, gruff voice shouted from the door behind the bar.

“Who are you calling lazy, leaving me to do all the cooking while you chat!”