Prince of The Abyss

Resting is good before setting out for a long journey, and the voice had made it clear: it didn’t want them back until they had at least killed one of the guardians, and even then, he wanted them out and back to killing the next day.

Could you call this abuse? I mean, he could make a call for child support.

’Enough with these stupid jokes...’

...

Aether moved around in his bed, not being able to sleep quite yet... ’Are my habits from Stormfell coming back? After my rebirth and ascension, I was able to lose them; it would be a waste if I just started again.’

Becoming a Seeker is no easy feat... it might seem so, but that was just because a lot of high nobles rush to become Seekers, and well, not only them, but they have it the easiest.

He wasn’t even going to bring up the history of the Withered, because the fact that there have been few Seekers in all its history is already known.

Becoming a Seeker is an opportunity everyone has, with money, but at the same time, powerful awakened made the most money; powerful relics make more money by being sold than any normal job. So if you think about it, how could a Reader with an Affinity with no offensive gain enough money to pay someone to help them reach the Seeker rank?

There are who knows how many Readers in this world, after all; everyone is awakened, everyone has been and will be a Reader.... and yet the number of Seekers is quite low...

And he understood it...

After all...

There was no reason to get stronger. There was no evil in the real world, outside of the war between his home Kingdom and the Blue Rose; there hadn’t been anything else.

If you have a life and a job you enjoy, becoming a Seeker is useless...

Actually, if he thought about it, if something were to happen to their world, it would be extremely bad, something all the Kingdoms would have to team up for.

After all, not only did they not have the numbers, but most people who had reached Seeker were Fragment, because they had someone to help them. Outside each kingdom’s army and high nobles, who fight for influence, there weren’t really people who wanted to get stronger.

...

Actually... funny enough... among all the Kingdoms, the place that had the most potential when it came to hunger...

...’ Is the Withered...’

The people there want power... because they need it to survive. Normal jobs are useless; their only salvation is strength... But no one pays any attention to the Withered, because of what it is.

...

Aether clenched his fist, looking up at the ceiling... ’If... there is no one to do it...’ He smiled. ’Then I will do it. After all, I have no other use for my anchor either way... I will make it a place for the Withered to be reborn... that is the first step.’

Did it seem impossible, even in his eyes? Yes. But at the same time, it wouldn’t be the first time he had seen the people of the Withered work together; they had proven it in the rebellion, and all he needed to do for them was give them a chance.

...

And it was needed... he knew that the world had done good without people chasing power... but... while he wasn’t sure... there had to be something wrong with the Wonderland... if it really was the same one from Frozen Crown, then there might be a catastrophe awaiting them.

One that the people of their world were in no way prepared for.

And if his father and all the other kings won’t realize that, then he will.

...

’Though... I should probably talk this much after I get an anchor... I need to clear this story first... but how do I do that... what do I know?’

It was good to have a plan before setting out tomorrow, better than wandering around without anything.

’There is little I know about this world, just what the voice told me, and the description. Both have something in common: the Guardians... yet the voice told them they were evil, but the description is confusing; it asks the same question I have: if they are good or bad.... However... what’s next? I feel like it’s important, another question... one I didn’t think of myself... What is the evil of the world exactly...’

The weird part was that, for someone as important as he was, the voice was never mentioned in the description, yet it was clear just how much importance he had in the story... they were his so-called children, yet at the same time, he didn’t think even for a little that was true. At least not biologically.

They had been raised by him; that was clear. He wouldn’t have asked them if they were finally prepared; this quest must have been something engraved into the minds of the original characters, something they had known since youth.

The true question he needed to answer was if the voice talking to them was evil or not; after all, if all there was to the story, and the only thing that could be evil or not, were the guardians, that last question in the description wouldn’t exist... There was a serious chance they were meant to be villains in this story... but if they were, did that mean that he had to go against it... to try and kill the voice instead, would that give them a good grade by the Codex... what had happened in the original story, had the original characters killed all the guardians and opened the seal of the voice, or had they also went contra him.

This was the hardest thing... he understood why this was a Seeker class; you didn’t have that much freedom. In all his other Reader books, he was free to do what he wanted. In this one, if he went on this path, he had to choose one of them, and one of them could lead to them not changing the ending and being trapped; well, at least that would have been the thing that happened if this was in the Infinite Library.

He had no idea what happened if you failed to clear a story in the Wonderland.

...

Aether sighed. ’I should probably try to get some rest... we will look for the first guardian, kill it, and see what happens. As much as I trust my gut, it’s not good to act so recklessly, even if it’s part of who I am.’

...

...

Waking up the next day, Aether didn’t see Sena around, which was surprising, but he knew she couldn’t be far away. So he walked out, where he saw her resting on the trunk of a fallen tree.

”Did you cut it down?” He said, looking at the fallen tree sitting just near her.

Sena chuckled, playing with a small purple string on her finger. ”Yeah, want to see?”

Aether quickly shook his head. ”No thanks, trees help with oxygen, so it’s better to keep them.”

Sena rolled her eyes, but not out of annoyance, since she was still smiling. ”Do you think the voice is evil?”

His eyes widened for a second; he hadn’t expected her to also think the same thing, maybe because he thought she was too dumb to think that far... but it seems she’s proving him wrong.”

Aether chuckled. ”There’s a big chance, and really I don’t care; I just want to figure out which path the original characters took so we can take the opposite.”

Sena’s smile fell for the first time, but not from anger, but from interest. ”You’re saying if you have to, you will be the villain and lead to the death of this world.”

...

”Yes... and I will take responsibility for it. I will be selfish... and I’m aware of that, that I’m flawed... but doesn’t that make me more human than if I were to desperately try to save everyone no matter what, than trying to create a perfect ending?”

Sena looked away, losing a lot of her interest, which made Aether sigh. ’She’s smart; I know she knows what I’m saying. She just isn’t interested in using her knowledge that much, kinda frustrating.’

”Sure, whatever...” Sena said, continuing to play with the string.

”Alright-”

Before he could finish, Sena stood up and leaned forward into his face. ”What is your goal? It’s confusing; I don’t understand you at all. What is it that you want? Why did you come to the Blue Rose? Why do you want to get stronger...”

Aether staggered back a bit, surprised by how sudden she had acted, and how out of character it was.

He cleared his throat, a bit nervous. ”Well... for the most part, when I made these decisions I wasn’t sure myself... with time I’ve started to have some goals...

But only time will truly tell what my true goal is. So you will just have to wait and see.”