Prince of The Abyss

To think how fast he had eaten all that meat. That was how hungry he had been. But after so long of walking without eating or drinking anything, he was going to devour anything that was put in front of his eyes, no matter how good it was.

It was a good thing that Inky was able to find a river, since he had needed a way to wash it all down his throat, and he was really thirsty... the only thing was that they weren’t so sure just how healthy the water was.

He wasn’t that scared of it carrying any diseases; that is, if they were the ones they knew, if there was a new one specific to this part of Wonderland, then they might be done for.

But it was a risk he was willing to take; after all, neither he nor Lilith could have ever thought to buy some water purifier or anything like that. They didn’t even really expect to need to actually survive, to hunt and find water.

Lying on the ground, Aether rubbed his belly with a big smile on his face. ”That feels really good. Is it only me... or does food taste really good if you starve yourself?”

Lilith hovered over him, looking at him. ”I don’t think that is important at the moment.” He smiled. ”After all, we need to find others, either with the rest of the team or any other; we need to stay together and find a way out.”

Freedom backed away, giving Aether the space to get up. The Forgotten groaned as he pushed himself up, sitting down now, using his arms as support. Watching as Lilith stared into the distance, almost as if trying to see if he could find anything.

”Your bird, or whatever it is, could you send it to find people?” He said, not even turning back to Aether.

It... could be a plan, but in his eyes, not a very good one. After all, he needed to use a lot of essence for it, to let it go for who knows how much distance to find people, and he also had to fuel its way with his essence. And then even more essence to let it guide them.

If he ran out, Inky would return to him... which was only bad on the way to, but he had no idea how to know when it found people, so he couldn’t just get it back when it reached the people, so he doesn’t waste essence.

Plus, it just meant he was useless in battle, since using essence on it would just be very risky.

”I could,” he said, tilting his head. ”But trust me when I say this, it’s not ideal at all. It’s better if we go and try to find them ourselves.”

Lilith turned to Aether, shrugging his shoulders. ”If you say so. I don’t know your ability or whatever it is; better than you do. So I’ll trust your words.”

He walked over to Aether, who had also gotten on his feet himself. ”I’m just a bit... I don’t know how to describe it; at the same time, paranoid, but also a bit in a rush. After all, how many could already be dead...”

Freedom sighed. ”I wasn’t exaggerating when I said earlier that we needed to find each other; it is probably the most important thing to stay together. In such a dangerous place, being alone is a death wish... I’m quite happy I found you so fast.”

Aether looked away, embarrassed. Since he was also really happy to have found him back in the village, he felt a lot safer with him around, and he actually had someone intelligent to talk to and discuss.

”What about the Kings? Do you think they are aware of the incident?”

Lilith sighed. ”Hard to say; as much as I want to have an answer, I don’t.” He said, putting his hands on his hips.

”Before, when it was just a party, and we were just exploring the normal Wonderland, we used to come back after a certain amount of time, and one of us would leave and talk to the King if something happened.

...

But for this expedition, we already established we are going to be staying for some time, so they shouldn’t be expecting us, which isn’t great. The only thing that could allow the Kings to know is if the guards saw what happened... if they weren’t also dragged into it.”

He chuckled, turning to Aether. ”If Silas does know, then he is sure happy he didn’t let Iris join any team. As much of a friend as she is to me, she wouldn’t have survived.”

Aether tilted his head. ”What about Keres, isn’t he his son? So wouldn’t he be scared for him?”

”Eh...” Lilith said, raising a finger. ”Keres is probably the strongest person outside the Breakers, so it’s hard to be scared for him, but at the same time, every parent has a fear for their child, no matter who they are and how strong they are, so maybe he is slightly scared for him.” He smirked.

”But not nearly as frightened as he would have been if Iris was here.”

Aether examined Lilith’s face as he laughed...

...

...

”Are you scared?” Freedom stopped all of a sudden, surprised by Aether’s sudden question. He turned to him, glancing at his hands for a bit. ”I mean, It’s hard to say I’m not, after all, in my mind, if I imagined myself in this exact scenario, I’m terrified... but

...

I don’t really feel anything at the moment... It’s like my mind doesn’t want to accept that this is real.”

He clenched his fists, looking back at Aether. ”What about you?”

Aether chuckled, lifting his hand at Lilith, a hand that was shaking slightly. ”Does this answer you?”

”Hard not to be scared for your life when you can be seconds away from death.”

He clenched hard, stopping his hand from shaking.

”But I’ve been scared a lot in my life.

...

What matters is to continue through it, and not freeze...”