Prince of The Abyss

Aether groaned as he tried to take a breath. ”This is insanity!” He cursed as he kicked the head of one of the skinless hounds he had killed, the first, and maybe even the last. One of these beasts was a Reader Echo rank, just one hound, and they were supposed to be in the weaker group. What the heck was he supposed to do?

He, Kade, and Lucien had decided to split up and meet up at the center of the city, where a lot of the others were, but so they could take care of more of the monsters and save more people, they decided to take different paths. He would have never thought that these kinds of monsters would be here.

Looking up, the sky didn’t look like it was infested. Among the giant beasts that came from the ground, just like the sentinel, there were these giant ships in the air, filled with skeletons, alongside undead crows that just drove from the sky to your head. He had already seen it happen, and it was terrifying.

To say that this war was nothing like the last one he had fought in, that would be an understatement. And yet he continued marching forward, even if he was massively overpowered by almost all the beasts in this place; when it came to base strength, he still kept going.

If it wasn’t for his relics and skills, he would have long been dead, but he was surviving, just barely, but he was. The fact that he could have died many times already while fighting the hounds was another thing.

It was hard, it really was. He had no idea how he was about to fight a Seeker beast and come back. But before that, he was going to have to survive. Though monsters weren’t the only danger for humans in this war, but also the environment, because it was collapsing, whole buildings came down upon them, and he had seen many get crushed by rocks falling faster than they could react. It seemed as if you could die any moment.

Plus, the giant monsters didn’t make it easier, as you had to dodge their feet. There was this cyclops, who had to be close to one hundred meters tall... and he was his opponent? How on earth was that fair? What could they ever do?

It was true that the Will users had started bombing them with attacks, fire, water, all kinds of stuff, just to stop them, and these were strong Will users, only to hardly do any damage, since they had started, they had only taken the life of one of the bigger monsters, and tens have died in the process... maybe actually in the hundreds.

It was... a one-sided war. But he continued, since what could he do?

Running the corner, Aether was met by some sort of babies made out of wax, that were tearing a civilian’s body whole, though as they noticed him, they instantly ran towards him. This was probably his worst type of opponent, many and small. Aether tried to hit them, but they dodged his attacks, climbing on his body and starting to tear his body... but he had his mantle, luckily.

Aether frowned, letting Voidpiercer back into his arm, as he grabbed one of the babies and crushed it with his hand.

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Baby Wax]

Then he grabbed another, his grip tightening enough that its body was crushed.

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Baby Wax]

Noticing this, the babies slowly started to move to places the mantles didn’t protect them, specifically their faces.

Aether screamed in pain, but that pain only filled him as he started to grab more and more, one by one.

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Baby Wax]

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Baby Wax]

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Baby Wax]

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Baby Wax]

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Baby Wax]

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Baby Wax]

...

Aether took deep breaths, wiping the blood from his face, but it only came back, maybe because the babies had torn the skin from his face. It hurt, it really did...

But he needed to get going.

...

...

...

Reaching the center of the city, Aether noticed a sight he had not been expecting: hardly anyone was still here. Kade and Lucien were doing most of the work, both using their Wills to take care of the hounds and the other monsters relatively easily and without being in danger.

It made him laugh; it was just another piece of evidence of how much stronger they had gotten. A lot stronger than him, they were never going to die in this war.

As they saw him, they quickly ran to him.

”Aether, we need to retreat now!” Kade quickly said, before he could even take his breath.

Aether’s eyes widened. ”What? Why?”

Kade groaned, moving his chin to make him see everything around them: death and destruction.

”Everyone is either dead or dying, and most of those that are still alive have raised the white flag. There is no way we win this war, so they just switched to evacuating the people... we can’t win this... helping them out is the least we can do.”

Aether opened his mouth, trying to say something, but he couldn’t say anything.

Normally, he would have said to continue fighting, but not even he was that absurd and mad to think that they could win this war... and Kade was right... ironic, but fighting to protect them would only get them killed; they needed to get them out of here.

Aether sighed, then nodded. ”You’re right.”

Lucien stepped up, wiping the sweat from his forehead. ”You should help evacuate those from the Inn, we will hang around the center trying to buy some time, alright?”

But Aether didn’t instantly accept, it was clear he was still hesitant... but one reassuring mind from Kade finally made him let go... ’They could protect themselves.’... He would have never thought that he would actually believe this, but here he was.

Then he left; he couldn’t waste any more time.

He chuckled a bit. ”It was going to take some time to get those guys out of their home, so I have to cut some time on the road.” He said, climbing on one of the houses, since moving on their roofs made him faster, and also made him encounter fewer monsters. The only thing that most collapsed, so he had to be fast.

But he was fast, after all; it was pretty dark inside the Tides. So he reached the general area of the Inn quite quickly; all he had to do was search for it, but since he knew where it was, it should be easy.

Or that was what he expected... as he just couldn’t find it through the many ruins around it. It didn’t make sense after all, he knew where it had been, so why wasn’t it here anymore... but then he stopped. Looking at his feet, where a ruin stood, and among the concrete and wood. Was a sign.

”Inn inside the Tides”

...

...

...

Aether stared, for a good two minutes, not moving a muscle, just staring, before he blinked once. Cold, and looking in his eyes... a massive part of his flame was gone.

...

”Again?” He said, exghasted, as he noticed a hand sticking out from below the ruins, one that belonged to a woman he knew quite well. He clenched his fists tight to the point his nails dug into his skin, before letting go. He knelt down, taking her hand. It was cold.

...She was dead. But he already knew that.

He spent another good minute there before taking the ring from her fingers and putting it on. And leaving the Inn behind, alongside all the friends he had made and spent months with.

...

”If they hadn’t met me, would they have survived?” That was a question that he kept asking himself. As he continued walking back to the center, not even having the energy to climb on the roof and move on the houses, so that he would reach Kade and Lucien faster, he needed time to think.

And the Tides weren’t going to give it to him.

Among the many bodies on the street, one was familiar to him.

...His master.

No one else but Kael.

Aether titled his watching staring at his body, it was cut in two, his lower have gone, and the upper have eaten almost, by who knows what monster, there were too many to take a guess... he had thought that maybe here, where his hands were normal, that he could do something, but... ’I guess it was too much for him, too.’ He chuckled... but then quickly frowned.

Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself, or at least enough to make his body move again. What was inside his mind was too complicated to describe, and truly, not even he understood.

’I... I’ll just find Kade and Lucien and get out of here... I’ll think everything over after.

...

...

...

...

Though they do say that bad things come in threes.

As Aether reached the center again, he saw only blood and bodies. He had no idea what had happened, what kind of monster had come to kill them all. But what he knew was that he knew two of the bodies.

...

Aether stared, slowly walking to the dead bodies...

of Kade and Lucien.