Prince of The Abyss

Aether rubbed his stomach, finally seeing it full after days of it being completely empty.

And how good it felt. He could take a long nap right now...

”Do we still explore the tower?” Kade asked, not allowing him to even think about going to sleep. And how much he wanted to let his eyes fall for just a second, at least.

But it was a good question... were they going to still try and explore the tower, even while knowing what was under.

”I guess... are you good at jumping?” Aether asked Kade, who was confused by this sudden question, without any context behind it.

”I... think I am?”

Aether chuckled. ”Good, then follow me.” With that, he quickly ran towards the door of the tower, jumping above the basement, his arms swinging in the air, and catching himself on the ladder.

He turned to look back at Kade, blowing the hair out of his face.

The boy was speechless. Confused on what had just happened.

”What are you waiting for? Come on, jump.”

The boy pointed at himself, not sure he was talking to him, but of course, he was walking to him, who else? He knew that, but he just didn’t believe that Aether really wanted him to make the jump.

Aether sighed, slowly climbing down the ladder until the final steps. ”If you don’t think you can catch yourself on the ladder, just jump and catch my hand.”

He said, leaving his hand hanging in the air, ready to be caught if anything happened, and the boy didn’t make the jump

Kade took a deep breath, looking around him for something to help him make the jump, but he didn’t see anything... meaning he was going to have to jump.

”Have mercy.”

He said, before he started running towards the tower, jumping on the last second...

And catching the ladder... and higher than he did.

Aether looked at the boy, confused.

”Why the heck were you acting nervous? You were never going to fail the jump... and are you sure your foot had not fully healed?”

Kade looked down at him, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

”I didn’t know I could!”

Aether rolled his eyes, a bit annoyed that the boy had jumped better than he did. I mean, he was supposed to have the better physical qualities, not only because of how much his body had endured, but also because of his rank being higher than his.

”Just... climb.”

And they were going to be climbing. He couldn’t see anything with Eden, meaning there was probably something blocking the top for a good amount of time.

It was a good thing that he had eaten and drunk, since he got some of his energy back. Of course, it would have been amazing to also get that sleep, as he had said before, but what can you do? Sometimes life isn’t fair, but you have to keep going.

’Or something like that... but come on, can’t it be fair once, because it’s sure doesn’t feel like a sometimes, but rather and always!’

Also, an interesting thing to note.

This was probably the first time that Kade was the one leading the way, and not him. He hadn’t even realized this, though, the boy was walking as if he was leading the way, and he just had to follow.

Well... he did say that he could rely on others, so maybe he should take this break and enjoy it, being the one who follows... even if the road is only straight up, and really no one is leading anyone, because it’s the only way you could go.

’Forget it.’

He sighed as he continued to slowly climb up the ladder, sometimes rubbing his hands on the wood... There was no need for him to do this or anything like that; he was... bored?

I guess you could say that after constantly being hit with adrenaline, needing to fight skeletons daily, climbing a ladder is pretty boring, huh?

...

...

...

The climb had not actually lasted that long, as he had taught.

Kade was the first to reach the top, the last room of the tower... well tehnically the second, since there were only two floors.

The room opened up as Kade pulled himself over the edge.

It was… bigger than expected.

Not wide in a grand sense, but enough to feel different from the narrow climb they had just finished. The air inside was still, heavier than below, as if it had been sitting here for years without being disturbed.

Aether also got up, stretching his body from the climb. The first thing he noticed was that shelves covered the walls.

They stretched from one side to the other, tall and uneven, filled with books that didn’t seem to follow any real order. Some were placed properly, standing straight, while others leaned or were pushed in halfway, like they had been left in a hurry.

”Well, this guy was definitely not a librarian...” Even he had a better small library in his room when he was a kid, not as many books, but at least he took care of them, and didn’t organize them in a rush.

In a few places, the shelves had bent slightly, and books had fallen on the ground.

...

’What book is that heavy, break a shelf, or was it from the pure amount of books? But if so, why only this one... or maybe it didn’t have anything to do with the books in the first place.’

Who knew what the owner of this tower was doing up here to break the shelf?

Scrolls were everywhere.

On the floor, over each other, some still rolled, others were completely open. The paper looked old, edges rough, ink faded in places.

’This guy is really pissing me off right now... like how can you be so messy... not even he was, and he had lived most of his life in one of the most chaotic places. Not even he or anyone he knew in the Withered was this messy.

’The damn library I lived in, while inside the Withered, is better organized, and tidy, and it hasn’t been touched once since Clarisse died, and it’s not like nothing happened around it.

Aether stepped forward, his foot brushing one aside, the dry sound of it dragging against the ground echoing faintly in the quiet.

There were bottles too.

Some stood on small tables or between the shelves, empty, with a thin layer of something dried along the inside. Others had fallen, a few broken, glass scattered across the floor. Dark stains marked the spots where they had once spilled, long since dried.

’Is this guy also an alchemist or something?’ And if he was... how on earth did he get anything done around this place, I mean, he was surprised he could even live in this place, but make potions. He didn’t know if he should be disappointed or impressed.

Dust covered most of the room, settled thick on the shelves, along the edges, even across the floor where it hadn’t been disturbed. The light coming through the narrow windows barely reached the corners, leaving parts of the room dim.

’At least they aren’t broken.’

Yet the center was different.

A pedestal stood there, rising cleanly from the ground, its surface smooth, untouched by dust or time, like everything around it had been ignored, but not it.

And on top of it…

...’ A single book...?’

Aether slowly walked up to it, confused, as he didn’t see any name on the cover, not even a title. It was not only a book written by an anonymous writer, but it was anonymous itself.

’Really helpful... at least it’s well kept, surprising with everything going around it.’

Aether grabbed the book, interested in seeing just what this no-name book had inside of it... Yet as he shuffled through the many pages, there was nothing written inside of it; the whole book was empty, not a single letter was written inside of it.

”Completely useless... did I really endure all that time in the basement for this?”

Aether was disappointed, but then Kade approached.

”May I?”

Aether’s eyes widened, confused as to why the boy would want the book; after all, it had nothing inside of it, and neither did it have an author or title; it was just an empty book.

”Sure, do what you want with it.”

Kade smiled as he slowly took the book out of his hand.

The boy started the book cover for a long time, before looking through the pages himself, stopping sometimes for some reason.

Though it was weird, watching his eyes, it felt as if he was reading something, but what would he be reading? There was nothing inside the book, so it made no sense for him to be reading something inside of it.

Kade suddenly closed the book.

”Aether... you... can’t see the words written inside the book?”

...

...

...

Aether blinked twice, staring at Kade.

...

”What!”