Prince of The Abyss

He hated it, every single inch of it; this waterfall only made him anxious. It was mysterious, yet at the same time, he didn’t want to learn more, something he had never felt before; he had never been put in this situation. And he didn’t know why it had this effect on him.

And yet, as much as he despised it, here he was again, standing with his legs swallowed by its water. It was only water, yet whenever he gazed down, he felt as if something was wrapped around them, keeping him down,

He didn’t want to come here, but since Kael had specified it was a job, he had to. It irritated him because he knew he had to listen to the old man no matter what, since if he didn’t, he would never get the training, even if he defeated Anger.

He thought that maybe meditating in this place would help him, but he didn’t think so; he thought the exact opposite.

And it was ironic, since in his dream, he enjoyed the calmness, that slightly cold temperature of the water, the calm and relaxing atmosphere. Plus, it had been used by Anger as a place of acceptance, trying to trick him.

Or had it been, it was just something he had come up with, and you could argue that Anger changing the dream to a stormy sea proved his point, but at the same time, Denial had been really deceptive, so who said Anger couldn’t also be?

Who said that his doing so wasn’t just a bluff, and he was trying to trick him?

This place used to scream acceptance in his eyes; it was a visible representation of it. Yet at the same time. Now, after seeing the cave, there had been a scream, many screams even, but none were of acceptance... no, rather they had been of Anger.

Anger had chosen the waterfall not to try and trick him, but because it really was a place that perfectly represented Anger, madness.

There was a big difference between the two representations it used.

The stormy sea was obvious, it is what most imagine when they think of anger, and how it would look, a sky covered by grey clouds, covering the sun, and with a dark sea with bad tides and with many monsters moving inside its waters.

Yet, the waterfall might have been better.

It didn’t scream it, as the story said.

You saw a story, rather, of someone who had gone through what he had been going through, living his life day by day, his anger growing, as he continued to be consumed, someone who tried to change, but most likely couldn’t.

It made sense why the man would have wanted to come to the waterfall; it was calming, of course, not for him, but he had a whole other reason. He knew the truth; the man hadn’t.

But why would he want to live in a cave?

If he wanted to isolate himself, he wouldn’t hurt himself.

I mean, he imagined that when you reach a deep point in this anger, you stop judging, and you do some things you would normally regret doing.

Though he had to say, a part of him was slightly scared. After all, the man had spent a lot of time in this space, and he hadn’t been able to get past it, so how much does it take to be able to conquer it?

...

Aether gritted his teeth.

”It doesn’t matter how much time passes; I will do it.”

And with that, he went back inside the cave, feeling something stir up inside of him, as everything came back to him.

He went to a wall, summoning Voidpiercer, and where he had space, he carved a mark. His first day.

...

’First of many.’ He looked at how long the wall was, wondering if one day he would look at it and see it covered in these marks. If one day he would die, seeing it, seeing how much time he had wasted trying to fight it.

He sighed, turning around.

...

But then stopped in his tracks.

His eyes shook, as if in front of him, he saw the outline of a figure, and yet, he couldn’t see anyone standing in front of him, not even a shadow; someone was here... and yet he couldn’t see it.

Someone who had the power to make themselves and their shadow invisible.

Yet, it disappeared just a moment later.

’What... the heck?’

This is what he meant by mysteries he didn’t wish to know.

He hated this place with all his soul.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm himself.

”You just have to mediate, you aren’t here to stay, you’re here for a short while.

And with that, he left the cave, lying down on a rock outside the cave, positioning himself in a position his master had thought of him, crossing his left hand and resting his hand on his knees.

Closing his eyes.

...

He could, of course, still see, because of Eden, of course, but luckily, he could stop the skill. And he did.

...

And for the first time in a while, in months, he was finally back in the darkness... it reminded him of the first day he had tried to master this skill, to learn to see souls, how much time has passed since, it was almost frightening... how fast time passes.

And... how nervous the darkness made him after so much time without it.

He can’t say he missed it, because he would be lying through his teeth if he did.

’So this is what normal people see when they close their eyes, almost forgot how it looked.’

He only wanted to get the skill to be able to fight Denial; he never thought that it would be so useful and something that would become a basic necessity. He had never thought it would become something he saw every second, a new sense.

Either way, when meditating, you have to have a clear head, so enough of that.

...

...

’Yeah, no, I can’t focus at all.’

He said, ruffling his hair, and lying down with his back against the cold stone.

Of course, he had to do this in the winter, when it was absolutely freezing.

As much as he wanted to keep a clear mind, he couldn’t. Not in this place, he felt a weird sensation inside his gut constantly, telling him that he shouldn’t do this, that he shouldn’t be here. That he should leave.

He tried to push it away, to keep going, and maybe it would go away, but with each passing moment in the darkness, it kept getting worse.

He also felt watchful, and remembering what he had seen earlier with Eden, he might as well be, and since he wasn’t using his ability, he couldn’t tell if he was.

Putting his hand on his forehead out of exhaustion, he opened his eyes and stared at the sky.

’Thats... enough for the first day.’

If he had to say, nothing had changed.

...

Back at the dojo, Kael had been surprised to see him home so early, but in his defense, he said that it had been too cold to stay for long, and he understood, after all, he didn’t want his apprentice to get sick again.

He awaited the night with all his heart; that way, he could finally go to sleep and end this cursed day, to leave it behind and forget about it completely.

And so when it finally arrived, he couldn’t be happier; he even went to sleep a lot earlier than he ever did since he got here. His bed felt as if it was the best that existed, even if it wasn’t, for him at that moment, it was.

He couldn’t wait to fall asleep.

...

...

He had a dream, another one.

Strange that he had two dreams after not having one for such a long time, and even more of the same place.

He clenched his fists as he stood frozen, staring at the waterfall.

What was with it? Was it haunting him or something?

This had to be a nightmare.

Yet this dream was different, as while the waterfall was the same as before, and the one in real life.

...

It was red, the sky was red, the water was red, a darker red. And everything was titled slightly.

This only made him want to avoid this cursed place even more. What was up with it? Why did it keep appearing in his dream?

...

Who had been the person who lived inside of it? Why had they gone mad?

There were so many questions, and he didn’t want to have the answer to any of those; he just wanted to walk past them and forget.

But it was as if the world didn’t want him to do so.

He continued to stare until the white outline appeared again, right in his face, as the arm of the being seemed to touch him on his chest, scratching it.

...

He burst up from his bed, breathing heavily.

Looking around, he noticed he was back in the dojo.

He exhaled deeply, putting a hand on his chest.

...

Yet he felt a sting coming from his abdomen

He lifted up his shirt...

And he saw a scratch mark.