#peerlessmight

So you wanna know about that big ol’ hole in the ground where people die, right?

Yeah ok. Let Bondrewd tell ya about the Abyss.

Set in a fictional unnamed world, Made In Abyss is a tale about people delving into a giant death hole located on a small island in the middle of the ocean. Around that hole, there is a town called Orth. 

Orth was created for the sole purpose of exploring this giant death hole, and it has the look of a Seventeenth Century coal mining town.

Now, why do people go into the Abyss? Why would anyone want to ever go down there?

For Artifacts and riches, why else.

Literally all over the place.

Cave raiding became a big then when people found out there was magic shit down there that when you touched it could stop time or shoot laser beams. Sells for a shit ton of money, and that’s the main source of income for Orth. They raise orphans and townsfolk into Delvers, who go into the hole to retrieve relics, which they then sell for money to fund the town, the cycle continuing on forever.

Quick stop, best time here to explain what the Delver levels are. You don’t start out as Rambo and go guns blazing into the Abyss, you start as baby.

Bells: Stupid babies who can’t do nothing but learn fundamentals of the Abyss, can’t even touch the bad hole.

Red Whistles: You can go down to the first layer, congratulations, have fun. 

Blue Whistles: Can go down to the second layer of the abyss; actually helpful and not a burden on society.

Moon Whistles: Teachers, gonna tell you about how to be a Delver. You get to go down to the third layer safely, but if you’re an idiot, you can go to the fourth.

Black Whistles: Actually really cool guys, basically the best most people will ever reach in their lifetime. Can go down to the fifth layer and hang out with Bondrewd.

White Whistles: THE COOLEST OF GUYS AND GIRLS. All you gotta do is have someone who loves you a lot die in front of you and entrust their wishes into you. They then turn into a whistles which only the person who was entrusted with can use. Have fun kids. Can go to the Sixth Layer and below, which is referred to as the Last Dive (Aka the curse will kill you if you try to climb back up, but hey it’s not like White Whistles have anything better to do.)

Alright we got that out of the way.

Big whoop, right? Sounds like a normal good time, but here’s the problem.

There’s a fucking curse in this death hole and it’s gonna fuck you up real good.

You see, the Abyss isn’t just one big hole; it’s separated by layers, and each layer has its own FUN WACKY EFFECT™ When you try to climb back up the hole. Going down is fine, though. It’s a one way trip if you aren’t experienced. 

Alright, lets go step by step, since this is basically the meats and potatoes of this post. 

THE FIRST LAYER,  Edge of the Abyss

Depth: 0~1350 meters

This is the first layer and consists of everything below the entrance of the Abyss up until the second layer. It’s a super easy place to start out, and it’s where most Delvers begin their careers.

Strains of ascent: Light Dizziness and Nausea, not bad, right?

THE SECOND LAYER, Forest of Temptation

Depth: 1350~2600 meters.

It’s a forest located on the second layer. Shit gets real here; there’s deadly monsters and poison plants.

Once you hit around 2,000 meters, the forest inverts and becomes known as the ‘Inverted Forest’. Located there is a base set up by the White Whistle Ozen.

You can go hang out with her. 

Strains of Ascent: Heavy nausea, headache and numbness of limb. Get them vomit bags ready, since you’ll be experiencing that every 10 meters you climb.

THE THIRD LAYER, The Great Fault

Yeah fuck you, it’s about 4000 meters of sheer cliff face.

Depth: 2600~7000 meters.

Literally just a cliff you need to find a way down. There’s holes that rodents have dug into the walls that Delvers use to climb down, as trying to scale down with rope is probably gonna get you killed. There’s a bunch of flying beasts here that will eat you and your family. 

Strains of Ascent: Vertigo combined with visual and auditory hallucinations. Have fun climbing that.

FOURTH LAYER, The Cup of Giants

Depth: 7000~12000 meters.

Not that bad in compare to the Fault, but it’s still incredibly dangerous due to the effects of the curse. The landscape is constantly changing as the Cup of Giants is actually composed of giant plants that form cup shaped heads that are shifting and changing on the daily.

The completely formed ones have water in them.

The ones that don’t have boiling acid.

There’s a lot of stuff here, such as the Eternal Fortunes garden, which is fun. (It’s not. It’s full of flesh eating insects.)

Strains of Ascent: Intense Full-body pain and hemorrhage from every single orifice of the body. Heyyyyyyyyyyy, FUNNY WACKY EFFECTS™

THE FIFTH LAYER, The Sea of Corpses

Depth: 12000~13000 meters.

It’s the shallowest of layers, but it’s also the largest in width (about 10,000 meters). Different from the other layers in that 1. The ground is covered in snow and the tempature is colder than almost everywhere else in the Abyss. 2. It’s also comprised of mostly ocean. 

Once thought to be the furthest Delvers could go, until Bondrewd found a way to pierce into the Sixth Layer.

The location of Bondrewd and his Forward Operating Base, Idofront.

To get to the Sixth Layer, you need to be a White Whistle, as only White Whistles can activate the elevator leading down.

Strains of Ascent: Complete sensory deprivation, confusion and self-harming behavior. Can’t get worse, right?

THE SIXTH LAYER, The Capital of the Unreturned

Depth: 13000~15500 meters.

This mysterious layer is the last stop for many White Whistles. Return from this point on is impossible without the loss of humanity.

Not much is known about the Sixth Layer, but balloons sent up through the Layers have talked about a ruined golden city, and a strange white ring that glows within the Abyss. 

Strains of Ascent: Devastating body alterations that result in the loss of humanity and sometimes death. (This transformation turns people into Narehates, which is the term for those who were affected by the Sixth Layer’s curse.) Yeah it gets bad. At least the next layer spares you this horrible fate.

THE SEVENTH LAYER, The Final Maelstrom

Depth: 15500~????? meters.

Even less is known about the Seventh Layer, except for one thing.

Strains of Ascent: Certain death.

Have fun exploring the Abyss, and remember...

“I know you guys don’t really celebrate Halloween, but that doesn’t really mean you can’t enjoy something... right?” In any case, the clerk was giving free samples of candy that they had recently imported.

     THE CRASH of her resounding arrival in the Abyss’s second layer agitated flora and fauna alike within a mile of where she eventually landed. Had she not broken her fall on the back of a hammerbeak, she might’ve continued her high-speed tumble into the depths of the abyss without nary a chance to stabilize. But no, here she was, crash-landed in the canopy of the upside-down forest.

     “Nrgh! F-Fuck!” Although she had maneuvered herself as best she could, Tanya could only do so much against the forces of physics and gravity. Her left arm had been all but shattered after bracing her fall; it’s gnawing teeth only sinking in after the initial adrenaline wore off. Great. She honestly wasn’t sure what thing she should consider worrying about first. Well, while she was atop such a massive tree, she might as well see about taking some branches for a splint.

She had to think for a moment for an answer that would satisfy a hardcore delver like Ozen. Why would a foreigner come to the Abyss, aside from wanting to steal secrets and relics while killing any notable delvers who might become a problem. Even in her own opinion, there was a justifiable reason to suspect any foreigner of some kind of crime. 

Though she herself only found it fit to defend herself if someone persisted with harassing her after stating she wanted no trouble. Thankfully that rarely happened.

“If you heard that an otherworldly pit with things you’d never be able to see on the surface was restricted to the citizens and the like of a small island state, wouldn’t you do everything in your power within moral means to explore it to your heart’s content?”

“I’m a raider with no intention of raiding. I only sell low class relics for money to eat and I have no intention of reporting any important or groundbreaking discoveries. This Abyss is simply an endless frontier where I can wander as I wish.”

“?!” 

“Yeah, lunch! ... Wait. ”

Who’s this gigantic grandma standing in his house, he didn’t get invitations out for a party! Nonetheless, that voice never came out of Mitty in the first place! He looked down at the shadow covering his furry body, before glancing back up at the woman’s face in shock.

Then the whistle. Holy shit, that’s a motherfucking white whistle.

!!!

“So... did he enjoy them? The sweets I mean?”

Might as well ask since she brought it up... and hopefully detract from the fact that a certain store was basically stalking her as she wandered about trying to find it’s still absent owner.

Sure... it was good at camouflage, but the fact that the storefront was moving from possible spot to possible spot would start to look fishy after awhile.