What is culture? To those of Me, it is our songs, it is our wear, it is people and our way of living. For those of the abyss? It is survival.

  Despite one of my favorite pces in the world - my world at least - being my only little quiet pce in the Freezke woods, I'd never been much of an outdoorsy type. No, in all honesty I much preferred the warmth of home. A nice cushioned seat to sit on, a book to read, and a firepce to keep me warm. A list of comforts the abyss did not offer. Instead I had to settle with the constant biting of the wind. Accept the fact that the only cushions I had to seat myself upon were my own. Oh, and books were probably almost non-existent down here.

  The only joys I had were Fisher's company and the thrill of magic. Which, all things considered wasn't all that bad.

  Well... It wasn't that bad at first. But travel has a way of dulling the mind. Of giving a mind too much space too wander with very little to do. Plus, practicing magic wasn't an always ready or avaible option. To do so we would have to pause, to stop, and that spending less time moving. Which was okay during the night, when I was already tired and getting too sleepy to do much of anything but rest. But during the day? Less so.

  There were other things out here in the woods with us.

  Other Abyssals, none of which were like Fisher. They were monsters in truth. Creatures made of jagged edges and sharp points. Others that were softer, twisted into wrong shapes that beggared the imagination. Horrific things really.

  We did the wise thing and avoided them. As, even after Fisher's gain in strength and stature and my growing skills in the art of spell crafting, fighting the horrors we saw seemed... I'll advised at best.

  So we went around them. Which made our trip through the woods, even longer than it might have been. Despite that, we eventually, after three whole days of travel, made it out of the continuous shroud of hook shaped trees. Which were soon repced with much taller, thinner ones, with ice blue leaves and bark.

  The ever biting wind, of course, began to bite even deeper then as well.

  That cold, an invasive thing, invaded the confines of my dress as we went. The forest around us no longer the same as the one I'd been originally transported too. There was an edge to the air. A feeling like danger was poised, like the forest was alive and ready to pounce.

  "Something's coming." Fisher said, and came to a stop, eyes roaming about, looking for whatever it was he detected.

  It did not take us long to find it.

  Several feet away from where we stood, there sat a creature not unlike a crab in shape. It was of course much rger than any crab I had ever seen, or heard of by at least ten times. Which put it around the size of a rge dog. Or maybe even the size of a great sea swallower. Large fish that were known for swallowing other fish - or anything that could fit in their mouth really - whole.

  This crab, though, was a dormant thing. It sat where it was peacefully, watching us. I was content to leave it to do so. But no sooner than I tried to take a step forward, did Fisher put a hand on my shoulder and stop me, his eyes locked onto the crustacean before us.

  He hissed at it, and that was when the crab decided in all it's seaworthy wisdom that the jig was up.

  Like some abominable mushroom, it rose out of the ground. It's crab like appearance immediately revealed to be nothing more than a disguise. One that rested at the top of a tower made of thin red root like tendrils that rose out of the ground beneath it. Each one of those tendrils as tall as the trees that surrounded us. Which is to say, that the 'crab' at it's full height was absolutely massive.

  It easily could've contended for tallest thing in the forest. It was definitely the tallest living thing I'd ever seen in my life. And somehow, I doubted it was friendly. I wasn't going to stay around to find out, though. No, I did the smart thing and followed Fisher's lead.

  Or in other words, I ran in the opposite direction as him. Both of us heading off as fast as we could, in some sort of attempt to disorient the giant. Make it choose between chasing one of us or neither.

  That, of course, didn't go nearly as well as I would have liked. As, rather than py by the rules, the giant crab decided that it was going to chase both of us. And it did so by causing grasping roots to surge up out of the ground behind us. The red, oddly fleshy, tendrils reaching for our legs.

  A tactic that it would have had much greater success with if it could burrow through the ground with it's many limbs any faster than a crazed mole. Which, in its defense, was still impressively fast. Allowing it do dig it's way up out of the earth in a matter of seconds.

  It was just, well I could see where it was going to strike next. And changing course from there wasn't all that hard. At least, not at first. But after a few minutes of running like my life depended on it, which it did, I began to tire. And that meant I slowed down.

  Sharp turns away from where the crab would strike next came more slowly. My stride, at first an even thing minorly broken by the burden that was my chest, just became broken. I was stumbling, more focused on staying upright and keeping my breath in my lungs than on the ground.

  And that was when it got me.

  I felt a tendril wrap around my leg. Felt it grip me with no intention of letting go. And I knew, I just knew, that it was over.

  But as, I was never quick to give up. And when the monstrous crab started lifting me into the air, I didn't. Instead I got to work on a spell. Shape coming to my mind, a cut, and then the power to fuel it was willed into pce. The end result was a ssh through the air. Something there that couldn't be seen, sharp and precise, quick.

  It only cut halfway through the tentacle of a limb that was holding me. But that was enough to make it drop me. My captor recoiling in pain for a moment as I fell to the ground. A drop that I quickly deduced definitely wouldn't be painless.

  So I shut my eyes.

  And when I opened them, I saw Fisher running below, arms held out to catch me. Which he did. Near sagging to the ground as I nded in his outstretched grasp. Eyes going wide as he no doubt realized how heavy I was. Too heavy too keep holding.

  So instead of doing that and getting us both killed, he gently let me down. And I sighed in relief at the feeling of ground beneath my feet once again. A feeling I hadn't realized I had taken for granted.

  That relief, though, was extremely short lived. As, no more than second ter, the crab turned it's eyes on us. Six of them, beady bck orbs that looked as if they might penetrate to the soul of given enough time. They were filled with hate too. I could practically feel it radiating off the towering crustacean lookalike.

  That, combined with the more threatening posture it designed to adapt, told me all I needed to know about our situation.

  We needed to get out of here.

  Unfortunately for us, I don't think the giant crab monster was going to let that happen. Not without a fight at least. One that we definitely weren't going to walk away from alive. Not when my magic was barely enough to scratch it. And I wasn't sure what Fisher could even do to it.

  The answer to that, as it turned out, was scream. Really, really loudly. A piercing screech that left me with no choice but to cover my ears. Eyes squeezed shut as I waited for his shrieking to pass. And when it did, I couldn't help but speak the first thing that came to mind.

  "Ouch." I said, and I meant it.

  The same could not be said for our towering foe, however. It seemed completely undisturbed by Fisher's assaulting noise. But not un-bothered. It was looking around now. It's eyes searching for something that wasn't us.

  That something came out of the treeline like a raging bull.

  A four armed monstrosity running on six legs. It's eyes held aloft by sharp bck stalks. It's mouth was a gateway filled with razor sharp teeth. And it must've been the size of a rge carriage, horses included.

  Whatever it was, it came at the crab like a deranged bear. Cwed hands wrapping around it's newfound prey's tendrils like they were it's throat. Which it promptly began squeezing the life out of.

  A distraction we wisely took advantage of. Running as fast, or in my case jogging, as our legs could carry us. And we didn't stop till both the crab and the thing that had attacked it were long out of sight.

  By that point I was, once again, completely out of breath, covered in sweat, and dealing with the aftermath of one huge adrenaline rush. But I was alive. Which was in my own humble opinion, kinda amazing. Magical even. A thought that came unbidden, but with it's passing I was left feeling 'giddy'. Bubbly even, and enough so to daringly ugh out loud.

  Which got me a side eye from Fisher. A look questioning my sanity on his face. And I didn't bme him. I'd look at me like I was crazy too if I were him. Or maybe not. Maybe I'd realize how insane this all was. That I, a Me-born mage without any magic had gotten myself trapped in the abyss because I got scammed, and with barely any magic I'd just survived some sort of horror that even an experienced combat mage would have struggled with.

  Or maybe I was going insane.

  It was hard to tell at this point.

  Either way, not long after I'd finally stopped ughing, Fisher stopped looking at me and started to stare at the ground. His eyes contemptive.

  "We should make camp." He said.

  And I didn't argue with him. My legs felt like weak pieces of wood, liable to fall apart at any minute. So I just nodded in agreement, and watched as he walked off to go collect some firewood.

  A task that didn't take him long at all. And when he was done, the wood piled up in the center between us, I set abze. Fire springing forth from my hand and consuming the wood with ease. Smoke rising from it as I allowed myself to rex. Take a deep breath, and ask myself a question.

  Was I ever going to get out of here?

  What with the monsters all about, the dangerous ones, and the ones that were even worse than that. Would one of them kill me? Consume me, take my light and my strength and add me to some list of it's victims? Was all this for nothing?

  ... I didn't know. Couldn't know. Didn't wanna think about.

  "How far are we?" I asked instead.

  And Fisher shrugged. "Don't know. I've never been to the amber territory."

  Every instinct in my body screamed panic at that. It screamed despair and failure and hit me with the urge to give up. And I ignored it.

  "Why not?" I asked instead.

  Again, he shrugged. "Too dangerous. Bigger things like to hide in the pces in between. Like... Like those things back there."

  I leaned back, chuckled as my breasts sagged onto my p, and smiled at the sky above. "Ya'know if I wasn't so tired right now, I might've spped you for that. Not mentioning it earlier and all."

  He smiled. "Yeah. I think I would've too."