Prince of The Abyss

Waking up, Aether found himself covered in hay, coughing. He quickly stood up, finding himself in a barn. He was on the top floor, well, rather on a small platform where the farmers probably kept their stuff. He did see many tools around the place.

Looking over the edge, he saw animals. Cows, pigs, chickens, all the usual stuff you would see. But for him, this wasn’t an unusual sight; he didn’t see animals that much.

He was also... alone. Maeve wasn’t with him. Getting on his feet, he looked around for a ladder and climbed down to the main floor of the barn.

Yet as his feet landed on the floor, a cow just bumped her nose into him, making him stagger. ”Damn it, don’t scare me!” He said, giving it a dead stare, but it just continued eating, completely ignoring him.

”Wow, really cool you are.” He said, crossing his arms, before realizing. ’Why am I... never mind.’ He sighed, leaving the barn, where he saw a big house. And a massive field surrounding them. And it wasn’t the only house; there were many, all with their own fields.

’I mean makes sense: a small farm village, what else would there be here?’

Yet, before he could look around more, a man approached him. He had a funny straw hat on his head, one that barely fit. His clothes were also really dirty, probably from working all day long on the farm. ”Oversleeping again, eh? What am I even paying you for, you little bastard?” He said, laughing, before messing with his hair.

Something he did not appreciate.

Pushing his arm away, he put a smile on his face. ”I mean, you have to recover after a long day of work. I’m still young, so my body also needs energy to grow, two things taking from my energy.” He didn’t know if he ever worked in the story; no, it was just a guess, one that he felt pretty safe with.

You often have to take these bets; you don’t have to. If you want, you can just act like yourself, or just try to figure things out about the original character before, but he’s developed a habit of trying to figure the character out by just where he was and the situation of the book.

The chances of him either being a worker were high, and even if he wasn’t, and let’s say he was this man’s child, he would still probably have to work.

The friendly attitude of the man actually made him go towards the latter situation, actually.

”Alright, I’ll forgive you, but you have to get your schedule right. How are you going to take after your old man and inherit the farm if you can’t even wake up right, huh, bud?”

Aether sighed; he would have rolled his eyes if he were to let his real personality out, but for the time being, he had to be someone else.

A completely different person. He had to be this man’s son, someone who worked on the farm.

’Funny, I could probably break his arm if I shook his hand too hard. And yet I’m supposed to act like a powerless child.’

”It won’t happen again, I promise.” He said, a part of his eyes sparkling with conviction, as he tried his best to step into the role he was assigned.

A wide grin appeared on the man’s face. ”That’s my boy! Better be true, because tomorrow’s a big harvest day!” He said, laughing, before leaving.

As soon as he turned away, Aether finally rolled his eyes... ’But wait, if I’m his son, why was I sleeping in the barn and not the actual house...?”

Turning his head towards the house, Aether walked towards it, grabbing the knob.

The inside was... pretty good. For a small village, it looked really cozy; he would have liked to live in this place... but apparently the original character didn’t think the same. ’All made out of wood, what if there is a fire, huh? What then?’

”Aether?” His eyes widened as he turned his head to see Maeve. She sighed out of relief as she saw him; she must have been really scared to see he wasn’t with her. Walking up to him, she said in a nervous voice. ”Is this normal?”

Aether tilted his head, confused at first by what she meant, but he understood after a bit. ”When entering a book with someone, you can enter further away from each other; it just depends on the characters you take over. Usually, they are close, but it can vary. Never been in a book at all?”

The woman shook her head. ”No, not at all. I’ve heard of stories, but never been in one myself... did I just take the life of another person... Isn’t that... evil?”

Aether laughed. ”They aren’t real; it’s better not to think they are. Also, do try to act like the original character, as much as you can; that way, things don’t get weird, and we can just get through it.”

Maeve cracked one of her fingers nervously. ”But I don’t even know who I’m supposed to be...”

Aether put a hand on his head, thinking of it. ”If I had to say, you are probably supposed to be the wife, since from what I found out, this whole place is the house of a man with a child, being me, and probably a wife.” He pointed towards her.

”Oh...” Her tone seemed quite off... she probably reminded herself of her husband, who had died; she probably thought she was betraying him. ”You don’t have to act like it if you don’t want to. Even if it gets weird, I’ll find a way to get out of here, and if you’re really uncomfortable, I’ll know a way to get out.”

Aether smiled. ”He’s probably an important character, so killing him should probably be enough. And if it’s not enough, I can go further.”