“How are you able to make so much Abyss diving?” the politely curious question of the tavern owner directed Demi’s attention to her.
Nexiv Glauwyrm, the Iridescent Madame, was a Vulpen, one of the races of the world who took after animals from Demi’s world.
The Vulpen were visually similar to foxes, being one of the few Anima who could transition between a more humanoid form and a werefox-esque form. As was common with most Anima, they seemed to favor the ears and tails of the animal Demi thought of when he looked at them, keeping them in most of their guises.
It was early morning, so Nexiv was cleaning the morning dishes while Demi ate his breakfast, the toast, eggs and bacon flavourless much in his mouth as he consumed what his body needed to survive.
“Pays good.” Demi answered curtly.
Despite his rather short response, he didn’t hold anything against the Madame. He enjoyed sitting in her company, and acting as a ‘guard’ on his days off.
He also just wasn’t a talkative person. Which after four months of living in this odd world, the Madame had come to appreciate.
“Nope, I want an actual answer. Most Abyss Divers make enough to stay afloat, but not enough to reliably dine at a well off brothel AND pay for regular visits with my more popular workers.” She smirked at her supposed joke, before using her amusement to soften what felt like an accusation at him.
Demi sighed. He didn’t want to explain why he got paid well, since if it got out, there would be fools who would think they could manage it, and fail horrifically.
He was only tolerated because he kept far away from the Guild unless needed, and because he earned more than enough to satisfy the risk of what he could do.
“So you know how Abyss Divers dive for Ether chunks and artefacts?” Nexiv nodded. He knew for a fact enough Abyss Divers came here that most of the Workers knew the basics, since Abyss Divers often felt a compulsive need to vent to someone.
The Sex Workers Guild often cross trained their more experienced Workers with the Mind Healers Guild, so it was often a free service included for those who wanted the ‘Stay the Night’ option.
“Well, theres more to it then that.” Demi slowly looked around at the empty brothel.
It was too early on a weekday for patrons, and not late enough in the day for the previous nights’ patrons to be waking up.
The quiet moans drifting down from above atleast confirmed he wouldn’t be easily heard.
“So, the Abyss is divided into two zones: the Abyss, and the Void.”
He took the cup he had been using for water, and turned it upside, before placing it back on the counter.
“The glass itself is the Abyss, and the hollow interior is the Void. With me so far?”
Somewhat bemused, Nexiv nodded again, one of her bright red tails lazily waving back and forth.
“So, you can go deeper into the Abyss,” he traced his fingers along the glass, down to where it met the counter, “but you can’t get into the Void, because by doing so, you’d break the Abyss. The deeper you go and the closer you get, the better Ether and artefacts you can get.”
“Kind of like a volcano?” she asked, having finished her cleaning and now pulling up a stool to his left, facing him.
Demi mused on the comparison. It wasn’t a bad one, but it still wasn’t accurate.
“Partially. The Abyss is Nothingness filled with Something, whereas the Void is pure Emptiness. If you break through the Abyss, it causes the Void to become the Abyss, which causes a severe spatial quake, and increases the appearance of vyrms. Whereas a Volcano is essentially like a pimple, where something unusual gathers underneath the skin of someone unless it bursts forth.”
Nexiv made a face at the comparison.
“So more like the difference between the shallows and the deep ocean?”
“Thats more accurate, but still not quite right.” Demi quickly glanced around again, not seeing anyone.
“What I’m about to tell you, stays between us, okay? The Divers’ Guild won’t take kindly to people finding out.”
Seeing how he was actively looking around, Nexiv was quick to realise he was serious.
She took out some paper, and drew a small circle of entwined fox tails.
“Would a geas ease your mind?”
Demi looked the Vulpen right in her emerald eyes.
A geas weren’t to be wasted on trivial things, so she’d apparently understood how serious he was.
He politely declined the spell.
“No, I trust you enough to know it isn’t needed.”
The sun shined in to the tavern part of the brothel, and blinded Demi the moment a very slight blush spread across the Vulpen’s face.
“Very well, go on.” She said as foxfire devoured the paper, ensuring the geas was erased before use.
“So, the reason I can earn enough money to stay here is because I can void walk.” He stated quietly.
It wasn’t considered a taboo, since a few Void Walkers appeared every generation.
But those Void Walkers knew how they did it. Demi had no clue, he just could.
Which was the main reason behind the secrecy he was using.
The Divers’ Guild didn’t want people to know that it was a possibility.
The other known Void Walkers usually were masters of a discipline that enabled them to make an opening in the something between the Abyss and Void, and thus made it known only true Masters could manage it.
But Demi was the only Void Walker of this generation, so no one could go down deep enough to verify it.
Nexiv tilted her head, a look of confusion spreading across her pretty face.
“Void walking?” she asked quietly.
Demi looked around, and saw two large shadows still lurking within the parlour. Beyond the fact that Viva Anima was the first place to give him a home, the brothel itself natural had many places for large shadows to form no matter the time of day.
“I’ll show you.”
Nixev looked concerned, but she didn’t say anything or move to stop him, so he took it as permission to show her what he meant.
He stepped into the shadows on the right side of the parlor, and felt the Void pull lazily at him.
“Now, I need you to turn to look at the shadow on the other side of the room.”
The second her eyes fell off him, the shadowy tendrils of the Void pulled him into the shadows and willed himself to the other shadow.
“You mean over WHAT THE HELL????” Nixev jumped back out of her stool, managing not to fall over.
Running footsteps could quickly be heard.
“Are you okay, Ma’am?” one of the Floor Managers called down, his flowy robe only barely covering his lithe form.
“Yes, I’m fine, thank you, Henry. Go back to preparing yourself for a full work day.” She stated loudly, throwing her voice to ensure the other Floor Managers who hadn’t shown themselves got the message.
“How the fuck did you do that?” She whispered once they were both sitting back down.
“……it was pretty fucking cool, now that I’m over the shock.”
Demi shrugged.
“No clue. Current theory from the Guild is that its how my personal ether is manifesting, since my Knack isn’t as strong as they believe it should be.”
He, for the third time, looked around the room, and up at the railings.
“Honestly, I step into the shadows, and feel the Void pulling me. So long as no one is observing me, I can let the Void take me.”
“But I thought teleportation required a spell circle and ether?” Nixev asked, scratching her head.
From what he knew, her ether and Knack was more Emotion aligned, so it made sense to him she wouldn’t know why what he could do was problematic.
“It does. I didn’t teleport, I just moved my existence.”
The confused looked she gave him was a combination of ‘you’d better not be back talking me’ and ‘how the fuck would I know the difference?’.
“Have you ever been to one of the Light Spirit shows, where they play music while enveloping you in light so bright you feel like its consuming you?” He didn’t think she would, since from what he’d learnt of her, she valued her individuality fiercely, and those shows didn’t sit well with them.
She shook her head.
“Nope. I always thought they were kind of dumb and headache inducing.”
Demi pushed on anyway.
“But you’ve heard people talk about the experience?”
She nodded. Good, he could work with that.
“So, theres a theory that Light is the second existence to manifest, with the first being Darkness. Meaning that Darkness is everywhere Light isn’t.”
She nodded slowly.
“So thats what happened. The Void pulled me into the Darkness of that shadow, but since the pull isn’t strong here, I willed myself over there.”
“But when did it happen? I took my eyes off you for a second!” she stated, her curious eyes blazing with a need for an answer.
“Exactly. In that brief moment you weren’t paying attention, I void walked to that shadow. In the Abyss and the Void, perception is reality. Not just your perception, but the perception of everyone who can see you. The second you couldn’t perceive me, I perceived myself over there.” He hadn’t shared this secret with anyone.
Nixev just stared off into the kitchen for a few minutes, processing what he said.
“I’m not gonna lie, I don’t quite understand it. Its a bit too much for this early in the morning, so I’ll need to dwell on it for a while.”
She suddenly shot up straight, before fumbling around in her robe.
“Shoot, I forgot your payment for this week.”
She was quick to slide a small coinstring towards him, an amused smirk as she played her part of their weekly ritual.
“Much obliged.” He took the coinstring, and put it in one of his pockets, before waiting shortly.
“And here’s my payment for room and board.”
He pulled the exact same coinstring out and returned it.
The Sex Workers Guild required those staying in the establishments to hand over the payment for any services, and rarely allowed exceptions.
The Divers’ Guild didn’t allow Divers to work second jobs, due to complaints from other Guilds at their workers just suddenly going missing.
So Demi had to pay to stay.
Nixev wasn’t allowed to pay for the work he did for her.
This loophole of a ritual they’d figured out satisfied both Guilds, and it always amused the bureaucracy-phobic Vulpen when they did it.