Arrested by the Abyss

Arrested by the Abyss

He opened his eyes and looked at the board in front of him after taking a deep breath. Millions of posters printed on yellow-tinted paper were scattered and taped together, shouting out their rewards in handwritten and drawn clutter. However, only one of them stood out. oldest in history. the largest in size. highest reward level. It was obvious that everyone’s eyes were to be drawn over there. Just like his were.

The Guildhall of Aglasia in Florentina is where we are now. It is the principal gathering place for this guild's members. A place which felt like home as they gathered to be merry while at the same time, gave them a way to have some adventure in their lives. Obviously, by calling it a job and promising them money upon their return.

The jobs that came in were always posted on these special requests or posters that were put up by the wealthy, noble, and police. Let random people give a try at vanquishing the problems than let the system handle it. Although it was an odd motto, most of the time it worked. To keep the stomachs full, numerous quests were undertaken and completed, and money was earned. Other than that one. the one who offered the most. It caught Salem Knight's attention. He wanted to consume it. Even if he lived a selfishly lavish life, the money was so good that he wouldn't need to go on another quest for a few years. Additionally, it promised a fun adventure. It wasn’t like the usual – procure materials or catch culprits or even destroy the unknown existences. This was entirely different. It was a journey to an unknown small town to report on the community's health. Phantasmogria is said to be a populated area with a large and varied population. Problem is that, even though this poster has been circulated well around, those who picked up on that particular job, never returned. As a result, the number of adventurers choosing that quest began to decrease over time. Thus, the raise in the reward, trying to form a way to motivate them.

That magic should have worked. But there were a lot of people who thought of their families first. Despite the money that was offered, they wanted to be able to live happy lives with them. However, Salem and other lone wolves were attracted to it. They had nothing much to lose. If they manage through, their wildest dreams can get accomplished. For these people, money can buy anything. Salem took his master's old, half-ripped poster and registered for the quest with this new encouragement. He wasn't just interested in the bills; his curiosity eventually won him over as well. The master stared at him for a while and then sadly approved of it with his seal. They would have love to do a farewell party for him. But he shot the idea down. Don't give the impression that he is already dying. He went back to his small abode and packed the things he needed to survive when he goes to Phantasmogria. Since he assumed that the place he was going to would probably be a tribal area who has some sort of traditions and customs. After all, he did study the weather and climate, and just to be safe, he also studied different cultures to avoid offending anyone. That was probably what went wrong with the previous lot. He was really trying to go an extra mile to survive.

He got up pretty early the next day. On foot, with his huge bag on his back, he was dressed in khaki shorts, a plain tee and socks and trekking shoes. He was prepared in every way. All that was left was to hitchhike to the closest area to his destination. From there he would walk. With that in mind, he started off with a train ride.

A few hours in the locomotive and following the handmade map lines, he got off on his decided station. His journey till them wasn’t a bore. In fact, he managed to entertain two kids with his life experience stories. At least, this way he could leave a mark on someone if he left this world for good. Not that he was planning to die any time soon.

He met a lot of people by hitchhiking through carriages and animals. Different castes, adoptive religion, colour and being, his attitude never changed and his interest in making new connections with strangers just grew. He hoped to remember them, thankful to these people who helped him reach his destination. They aided him to his goal. He would forever be grateful.

He got as close to Phantasmogria as he could, especially since everyone knew that the area was surrounded by greenery and that no one ever went there because of a lot of rumors that had come from there. The first thing Salem did was, take out his note book and pen and began to write his observations. He began to walk through the forest whose path seemed walked yet it was very twisted and turned. He continued to follow the trail in the hope that it would lead him somewhere. He only wrote about the free-roaming plants and animals in the book, which he walked for hours and hours. He hadn’t even seen one human and he was already tired and bored of all this green. He sighed. He planned to go back, stay in the nearest town. It was a better idea then set up camp on unknown grounds.

Just as he walked a bit more, he saw small buildings that belonged to the town. Excitement bubbled in him as he made note of it. Yes, he did see that the buildings were decrepit and the surrounding rubble that littered around. It was quite surprising that there were rumours about people when he clearly couldn’t see anything.

Just then a face peeked out and a little girl came running out, joyfully as she chased the chicken she was playing with. Salem smiled at the sight and let out a light chuckle. That caught the attention of the girl as she stared at him. A pause. She then let out a loud scream. It caused Salem to jump back in surprise and he tried to sooth the child with his comforting words. "Hey, young girl. Calm down. It’s just me. I won’t harm you. See! No weapons.” He attempted to inform her. Suddenly a twang was heard and Salem jerked forward as his eyes widened. He stilled as he took out the needle that had pierced his neck and collapsed on the ground. Before closing his eyes, the last thing he saw was a few blobs of neutral color rushing toward him. Salem was long gone. He felt like he was floating in a sea of blackness. There was no sky, no ground. His senses weren’t working any more. He seemed to have lost touch with his body. Did he die? So quickly? Even if he could fight, he wouldn't have survived. Despite evidence to the contrary, he would eventually have to accept that he is long gone. The green grass covering the ground... a sunny day... a man in a loin cloth in front... a huge cloth burden on his back... silver shiny chains... women dressed in tribal browns with whips in their hands...

Salem realized that these were the image flashes his eyes were seeing. That meant he wasn’t dead. Then why can’t he feel his body? He clearly wasn’t in a coma. It took a while but he had understood. The only theory that fit in place. He was under the spell of hypnosis. So, whatever he would do, it would be quite useless as his struggles would go in vain. All he could do was wait it out till it wears off.

Days passed by. Salem was slowly getting his body back. It started off getting his full vision and awareness and slowly moved to his movements. Yet, he pretended to be under the spell. He needed to find a way out or he could be trapped here forever. He needed to plan this carefully. After all, he did find the reason why people never returned back home.

Salem found full control of his body but he had no clue how much time had passed by. He did, however, comprehend that this derelict region did have people—women as rulers and enslaved men as slaves. Their freedom was denied to men. This was their policy.

Salem had no trouble pretending to be in their hypnosis. All he had to do was follow what other men did plus the spell had actually given him the ability to understand their weird language. The only hard part was when the men had to wash the women. The hypnotized person did not react. But Salem is a true man. It was so difficult to conceal in a simple loin cloth because he was bound to react. Even slaves were given some time off to unwind and unwind their bodies. When Salem used to keep watch. He noticed that the men's bodies were bruised and had been shaved bald. No clothes were allowed, except a small loin cloth to cover their crotch. And food was just bread and fruits. Meat was a luxury they only got if the women were gracious. Salem didn’t doubt that he was probably in the same state.

One day, he took his observations to a newer level. He explored the green grounds and came across a few statues surrounded by broken ruined walls. When he entered, he noticed that the walls had marks on them. To count the days, it was completely full, just like in prison. It even had newer markings.

The statues were males dressed in a small loin cloth. It appeared to symbolize the laboring slaves. He nearly laughed at first. Phantasmogria's tribal women were extremely inventive with their hands. That was until he came across a statue, he seemed to recognize. It was a friend from his own guild who had been missing for a long time. Realization hit him. He finally understood what happened to those who broke out of their true roles. They were turned to stone.

A few female hoots were suddenly heard. Salem knew what that meant. It indicated that they were searching for him. He realized that the statues weren't just a few, but a thicket of them, as if they were protecting something, and ran into them in fear. He ran, scared to be turned into stone but had rammed into a statue that carried a heavy green gem on her chest. The one and only female statue made of stone that had sat on the throne with that brilliant gem. The statue was a beauty. A typical female with a perfect body size, unlike the tribals that were torturing the slaves out there. Even in that statue form, she seemed so elegant and would seem not to have any of those wild characteristics. If she were alive, Salem would have probably asked her out, only to get shot down.

Maybe the male statues were protecting her. He looked at the jewel once more and an idea hit him. Maybe this is what was creating the problems in this town. With that in mind, he pulled it out. And oh boy, was that a wrong move. It’s just that he realized it too late.

There was nothing to hold the statue together but a huge hole in the middle of her chest. The statue broke into tiny pieces and blew away as the winds made everything quiet. The throne remained unoccupied. The gem, however, found a new body to inhabit so it grew tiny legs and crawled up Salem’s arm, fusing into his chest.

Salem was lost in the chaos and didn't realize what was going on until the heat started to spread, making his body feel like it was on fire. He let out a large gasp as he collapsed on his knees. His body began to induce the transformation to readily host the large green gem.

Just a few moments, and the heat died down. The preparations were ready. Salem was able to stand again. Despite the fact that he could actually see changes on his body, he still felt strange. His fair coloured skin phased into a dusky tan while his limbs began to grow thinner and longer. In fact, he wasn’t able to breathe because his body felt like it was forced into a tight corset and squeezing everything out. What he didn’t dare to realise was that as his waist was sucked in, he had achieved a heavy hourglass figure. As his face changed to fit the new body, he didn't notice that his bald head was growing thick volumes of brunette hair. Even his tiny white loin cloth and turned into a thinner piece of tiger fur just covering the newly evolved crotch. The jewel however nestled perfectly between his newly exposed breasts.

He didn't realize what was going on until everything stopped for a moment because he was so caught up in his strange feelings. He was able to stand up and look what was done to him. A gasp left his lips. He lost all vestiges of masculinity, but he could still feel powerful magic coursing through his veins. Was this the balance that was needed to achieve this power?

With just these thoughts, the course of actions didn’t seem over yet. He was incomplete as more was yet to come. Out of nowhere, adornments in gold and silver began to appear and dressed the new body. Heavy bracelets on the wrists and ankles, heavy yet beautiful designed chains for the neck and a tribal crown for the head. An immediate reaction of pain coursed through the body as piercings of gold were for the ears and belly button. The new tribal goddess was born.

However, as Salem tried to move in his newly gifted body, he found out he couldn’t. That he was yet in that hypnotized state. He was actually forced to sit on the stone throne that had been waiting for its queen and turn around. Green, lush vines grew around the goddess's body as it was forced to sit down, making her even prettier and more innocent, as if she were loved by nature. In order to complete the image, the body was forced to pose as if it were hugging the jewel and ignoring its globes. And as a result, began to resemble a living statue. Salem then understood that he was truly trapped here forever. That was until, if another unfortunate soul took pity on him and freed him from his new prison.

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