Prince of The Abyss

As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t stay inside the hut all day; after all, he didn’t have any water or food with him. The Seeker body could handle more time without them than a normal one, and he also had Gravewalker to save him for the worst-case scenario.

It was definitely a good idea to try and find a place to get some resources.

And while it might have been a lot easier if the world of Frozen Crown hadn’t merged with Wonderland, there had to be other books inside with cities around... or at least he hoped there were.

After resting, Aether left the hut, already holding Voidpiercer in case anything happened. But he didn’t need to for long, as after walking for a while, he finally got out of the region and into a new one.

A pretty weird one, if he had to say; everything looked... burned, ash was everywhere, even in the air. And the whole place felt a lot darker than it had been. But it could just be his imagination.

In the end, he did find some kind of village near a giant volcano that didn’t seem far away from erupting, but at the same time, that might just be himself; after all, he was in no way an expert when it came to volcanoes.

The village was built in this very dark wood, which looked burned more than anything, but it wasn’t; it was pretty sturdy, actually, as he had tried to push against it to test it.

’I need to be a little careful.’ He thought as people passed him through the streets, not thinking anything so far. But if he was found to be a Reader, the whole village would be after him, and he didn’t remember anything similar to this in Frozen Crown, so this was probably from another book, which he felt as if it made things worse.

’It does make me wonder, since these are still technically books, does that mean that if I were to kill everyone and destroy the village, would I get any sync?... Sad I can’t test it.’

Without the Codex being here to award it to him, could he even get it? Even more, the Codex telling him the amount and why.

There was still a lot about this whole Codex disappearance that he had no idea how exactly it was going to affect things. Could he even get shards? I mean, he hadn’t, or probably hadn’t, killed any Seekers to gain any shards, but if he did, it wouldn’t announce it, so would it also not award him any shards?

’If so, then this is really unfortunate, since I’m wasting so much time on nothing.’

Gripping his chin, Aether looked around at the many venues selling food and drinks; he almost felt himself salivate, but at the same time, he had no money... but how did currency even work in this place? After all, how could they use money if there were hundreds of books with their own? That would be too hard.

So he took interest, asking some guy at a stand, and from what he heard, instead of paying, you do a favour. One that the owner chooses, determined by the thing you want to buy. It worked, definitely better than having hundreds of different currencies and having to change each time you reached another village from another book.

Aether smiled at the man behind the counter, ready to buy some food, but as he opened his mouth, a siren was heard, and a voice started speaking.

”Alert, a Reader has entered the Village. I repeat, a Reader has entered the village.”

Aether stood frozen as the man started packing his stuff, trying to leave.

’They aren’t talking about me, are they?’

He shook his head. ’No, they can’t. There has to be someone else. I tried my best to fit in, so there is no way they were able to figure me out.’

In reality, he hadn’t done anything to fit in; he had just not done anything to make himself stand out, which had the same effect, if you think about it.

’But if not me, then who...’

As the man finished packing and left, suddenly, a young guard flew into the stand he used to sit at; he looked... dead. He wasn’t going to sugarcoat it; he was definitely dead. He seemed to not have any injuries, at least on the outside, no cuts, but he was bleeding on the inside.

’Probably got hit by a burst of energy or something... which can only remind me of one person.’ Aether frowned as he followed the man’s flying trajectory until he finally saw the person who had done it

”Can I really not get away from you?” Aether said, staring at Lilith in the face as he approached.

He was trying to act mad that he was here, but in reality he was relieved; he was happy to not be alone, and even more so with someone of Lilith’s strength.

If there had been someone else with his strength, that would have been perfect, but it was better than nothing.

Lilith chuckled, approaching him. ”Didn’t expect to meet you so fast. I knew you were hard to kill, and it seems I was right.”

Pointing to the people around them, as more guards approached, Lilith looked at Aether. ”Do you know anything about them?”

Aether nodded, summoning Voidpiercer. ”Yes, apparently, this part of the Wonderland has many stories merged with it... they are aware of what and who we are, and hate us, and I mean hate.”

...

”To the point they want to kill us.”

Freedom chuckled as his marks charged slowly. While turning to look at the guards approaching to fight them. ”Let them try; the only ones dying today are them... I have no idea what’s going on with this place, but I know that I won’t die in this place...”

Gripping Voidpiercer, Aether turned to the other side, putting his back against Lilith’s as guards cornered them.

”I was thinking the same thing.”