The boy sprinted through the forest, hurriedly ducking under various twigs and branches, each of them grasping out in an attempt to hold him for just a moment longer. Yet he continued to push on unwilling to stall a moment longer. He wiped the tears out of his eyes as he glanced back at the large plume of smoke, still visible despite the many trees in the way.

Unfortunately this moment of distraction was an opportunity for a particular root, which took its chance to catch the boy's foot, sending him sprawling to the ground, winding him as his chest hit another protruding root. The boy lay still for a few seconds, winded from the impact and exhausted from the running. Groaning he rolled himself over onto his back, now fully facing his home. He tenderly touched the foot that had gotten caught in the root, wincing as a lance of pain shot through him as he did so.

Suddenly, the cracking of branches ahead took his attention as he stared into the forest, eyes swiveling for any sign of movement. A scream echoed from his home, soon accompanied by the distant sound of running footsteps getting closer. Eyes widening he scrabbled to hold onto a tree, pulling himself into a standing position. A man and woman, hand in hand, suddenly burst through some of the foliage, the boy recognising them as his neighbours. The woman, upon seeing the boy, opened her mouth to call out to him.

Until a black spike that seemed to be made of oozing tar suddenly protruded from her mouth, eyes going blank soon after as she collapsed to the ground, causing the man to trip over as well. He looked around in a dazed manner before his eyes landed on the woman, staying silent for a second before yelling in rage and charging back the way he came. This moment of fury didn't last long however as a black mass flung into him throwing him back onto the ground.

The boy watched in horror as the mans screams were drowned out by the black goo, forcing it's way down his throat and eyes. The man convulsed violently as every time he tried to tear it off it would simply latch back on again. Struggling to hold back the vomit the boy hurriedly began to limp farther into the forest, his vision blurring from tears.

He continued his desperate retreat, stopping after a few minutes to hide behind a tree and catch his breath. Slowly he peeked around the thick trunk of the tree. The screams and gurgles coming from the man had left his earshot a while ago, yet he didn't know if it was because of the distance or because whatever that black thing was doing had finished.

After not seeing, nor hearing, anything he let out a sigh of relief as he slid down the trunk of the tree closing his eyes as he attempted to calm his breathing. That is, until the sound of cracking wood could be heard above him, bringing him to open his eyes. To look at the black spike that had pierced the thick wood right where his head had been. His lips trembled as he silently watched the black spike slowly reverse out of the trunk, causing a few splinters to fall onto the boy.

A clawed hand gripped the tree from his right, it's skin made out of the same tar-like substance from before which bubbled and shifted constantly, occasionally dripping down onto the floor below. Slowly, it pulled, revealing the body of the creature before him as it stepped out fully. It stood at about the height of a normal man, however it was much thinner and spindlier, looking as though someone had covered a skeleton in black goo and allowed it to move. A pair of glowing red eyes stared emotionlessly down at the boy, seemingly gleaming brighter as they did so. And slowly, from within the depths of the goo, a grin of spotless, razor-sharp white teeth began to form, the goo making way for it as though it was afraid that it too would be gobbled up.

Still smiling, it slowly reached it's clawed hand towards the boy's face, taking its time to instill the most amount of fear it could into the boy.

The Abyss Watcher opened his eyes and quickly drew his dagger, despite it's awkward position between him and the bed, and stabbed towards the blue haired woman's face. The dagger stopped however, as the woman's right hand caught the Abyss Watcher's wrist with seemingly minimal effort. The Abyss Watcher blinked as he looked at the dagger, then to the outstretched hand inches away from his face.

The bored look on her face gave way to exasperation, "You sure as hell took your time waking up didn't ya?" She said in a frustrated tone, slightly confusing the Abyss Watcher. Wasn't this woman the one that had defeated him? Yes, that was right. She had suddenly appeared out of nowhere when he was fighting...the...other Adamantines. Yeah, that was what happened. They attacked him! For seemingly no reason as well. Eyes narrowing he made to get up before a hand on his chest forced him back down with surprising force.

He glared silently at the woman, angrily wondering why she was stopping him. The woman, seemingly reading his mind let out a sigh as she let go of his wrist, pinching the bridge of her nose as she shook her head.

"Look, I know that you are very angry with them right now but just calm down for a second please." She said, looking into his eyes. Remembering how she had absolutely wiped the floor with him he decided to comply, albeit bitterly.

Upon seeing this the woman exhaled in relief as she released her grip on him before explaining, "The people of this world are...sheltered." She paused for a bit, considering her next words, "They have had access to the system since they were born and so their society is much more different to the one your recognise. Basically, fighting is the only real way to get powerful, and you need to have a high level to be worth something. Because of this the people here are much more reckless and rash, and quickly moving towards the more violent option even if the more peaceful ones are beneficial. This world is a place of war.

"There used to be eight continents the last time I came here. Now, there is three. Now to you and me, these people are idiotic in their decision making. But in actuality, at the root of it all, the damned system is making their decisions. As for the specific reason why the Adamantines attacked you, I believe that the main purpose was to assess and document your skills. Of course this may have seemed incredibly stupid when they did it to you, but if they did it against another member of this world? They would almost definitely accept any apologies or just forget about it entirely. Hell, I've had to step in five different times to stop this country falling apart into civil war. And I can guarantee that the moment I find who I'm looking for and leave, shit's going to hit the fan real god damn quick."

The woman paused for a second to catch her breath, having said all of that without pausing, "And what I want you to do, for now, is to not engage. Don't fight them, don't forgive them, don't do anything remotely concerning them or even any of the other factions." The woman's eyes turned cold, conveying that this time it was a threat, "This country and world is a bloody mess and you doing anything even remotely near any of the factions is enough to burn everything down. And definitely stay away from the Adventurer faction. If they win the inevitable civil war then they have no way to handle the country. They are, at their core, a mercenary company. And they don't have the capacity for politics."

Suddenly standing up she clapped her hands together, "Okay! So, when we go down there you aren't going to get angry with them, but you aren't going to forgive them either. In fact, what you are going to do is take the two shitlings you're bringing along with you and walk out the door. I'll handle them for now, and when I find who I'm looking for you can dip your head into that sewage drain as much as you want."

Finishing that she turned around and started walking towards the door, picking up her sheathed katana which leaned beside his own sword against the door frame. Her hand wrapped around the door knob before stopping as she turned her head slightly, "And remember, this is an order. Not a request." She threatened before walking out into the hallway beyond.

Well.

That was intense.