Day One: Part 1

[Strazio Rockwell]

　　Here we are, in the abyss. My duffel bag felt heavier and I hoped for a decent item. Anxiously and with naive hope I unzipped the bag only to have my heart drop from my chest. A severed arm. It was in that moment, staring down at my supposed weapon that I truly felt vulnerable for the first time in ages. Karl Jak had to have been fucking with me right? Carefully I picked up the muscular dismembered arm and swung it around half-heartedly. Yeah, this was most certainly a run-of-the-mill dismembered arm Karl Jak was certainly fucking with me. Dmitri and Rumford were counting on me and I had to prove myself to Gilgamesh.
　　
　　Very well, we could work with this.
　　
　　First things first though, where in the hell was I? The map was still in the bag, marked with the notes I made in the barracks. Problem was they never told me where I was dropped off. There was a compass too, I want to head south, hopefully I’m not too far from the sweet spot. Through the trees I could make out a few small buildings to the north, I wanted to avoid civilization everyone would probably be heading to Dante’s Town and the clinic to scavenge for supplies. Only a bloodthirsty fool would run into an obvious deadzone like that. No, stick with the plan and head south. Once I hit the coast or a landmark I could figure out where I’m at from there.
　　
　　The map was stored and compass hung around my neck. I downed a water and shed my white cloak, this was a matter of survival not fashion. My cloak would only serve to get caught in underbrush and thorns and if I needed to chase someone every moment would be precious. From what I was told I could only call upon my strongest magicks with this collar on. The second it was snapped around my neck I could hardly feel the gentle ebb and flow of energy through my body. But it was unmistakably still there and with this useless weapon I would need to unleash everything I had out of the gate.
　　
　　Traveling south I noticed a gentle increase in elevation, people naturally travel downhill so ideally everyone would be heading away from me at this point. The meaty arm was quite weighty and I decided to drag it along with me, worst case scenario I could bludgeon someone to death with it. After a few hours of travel I came to the crest of a waterfall. Annoying I thought, this meant a treacherous climb down the edge of a cliff near a raging waterfall. If so much wasn’t on the line I would’ve found a way around, but every moment wasted meant that someone could beat me to my sweet spot.
　　
　　“Quite a drop” I whispered to myself after dropping the arm off the cliff. The arm hit the rocks below with a sickening squelch, it was too heavy to climb down with, and I’m sure the original owner wasn’t in a position to protest the mistreatment of his limb. I paced back and forth for a few moments and thought back to the golden king to galvanize my resolve. I needed to do what he wouldn’t do, I needed to push myself so I could beat him. With a small fire raging in my gut I threw my duffel bag over my bag and began the descent down.
　　
　　The wall was almost vertical, but the rocky outcroppings seemed to be stable. The first few steps are always the hardest as your body strains to keep itself latched to the wall. I trusted my strength and physical prowess, but the true danger was the wall itself. All it takes is for one handhold to crumble from the weight and my Abyss run would be over before it started. About halfway to the ground one of my footholds gave way and my leg skidded against the rocky wall, trying to find a new foothold. Sweat poured from my body and my muscles strained themselves to keep me from falling.
　　
　　“Fuck” I growled and looked down to see the deadly drop below. Am I to die like a fool here? I thought as my leg scrambled to find a hold. Finally I found a small chink in the rock wall, it wasn’t much but it was better than nothing. Carefully I continued my descent down, my arms raged in pain from the strain forced upon them. My boot touched solid ground and I hopped from the wall, glad to have a moment of rest. The descent was much more strenuous than I thought it would be and I took a moment to catch my breath.
　　
　　The stream headed south and I was glad to follow the running water and not have to check my compass every few seconds. Unfortunately the water took a sudden turn west and I decided to pause and check my map. The waterfall was conveniently marked on the map, at this point I knew roughly where I was at. The plan was still on and I wasn’t too far away, eventually I would hit a road and move from there. I thought it was a bit peculiar that I hadn’t seen a soul, but a omen of good fortune was not one I would scoff at.