Prince of The Abyss

He... did not expect to find himself in this situation. After all, it was weird for him to be so close to Sofia... he was happy to see her; he really was. Seeing that she was alive meant the world to him.

But at the same time... he wasn’t ready yet, not mentally prepared for such an encounter. He was even worse than before, as his mind had gotten worse than it had been when they last met.

Funny, but he didn’t even realize when his body summoned the mantle and covered itself; that was just how bad this was, that it was an instinct of his to hide himself from her. The bad part was that he didn’t know why, to this day.

He had no idea why he was so scared of it, why his heart ached at the idea. What was it that he was scared of, that she wouldn’t recognize him? That she had moved on, and that she didn’t care about him anymore.

...Well, it couldn’t be the latter, since he was sure she still cared; after all, she had made it clear without saying it. The bracelet she wore and her conversation with Keres made it obvious.

And he really didn’t think she wouldn’t recognize him; it was true that he hadn’t gotten recognized until now, but that was because he’d only been around people who never really cared about him, people who he didn’t even know, mostly.

But Sofia was his sister; she had seen his face thousands of times, and probably still remembers his child face to the littlest detail to this day.

But if not for these reasons, then what?

Aether clenched his mantle, sitting behind the tent’s door, scared to leave.

’She probably still doesn’t know, even if she was the one who found me... or maybe she does? If I leave this tent, will she know who I am, and will she approach me as a sister or just another Reader?’

He took a deep breath, looked at the tent’s door, and, with all his courage, he opened it, taking a step out into the camp. Looking around, there were many people talking and discussing. Really, he was a bit surprised by this number of people, and how this place, even without being hidden, still stood.

He lifted his head up slightly, feeling the cold wind brush against his cheek; instinctively, Aether put a hand on that same cheek, turning in the direction from which the wind had come, where there was a fire burning brightly, with others around him, including Keres.

...

And his sister.

Aether looked at her, through the darkness of his mantle. ’How funny even fate is messing with me...’ He clenched his fists as the girl suddenly felt his gaze, turning to face him. She seemed shocked to see him, almost as if she couldn’t believe it.

She turned to Keres, whispering something in his ear, which made his eyes widen.

If he had to make an educated guess, this reaction was because of his sudden healing, the one that he also had no idea how it had happened.

Looking at him, Keres smirked, gesturing for him to come to him. Aether followed his command, but a bit more hesitantly than Keres would have probably wanted.

"You’ve woken up, huh? Are you feeling better?" He asked, looking straight through the darkness of his hood... he was mocking him, and he knew. Keres knew who he was, and he also knew the power he had right now. He could tell Sofia the truth whenever he wanted.

Aether nodded, trying not to use his voice.

The Honored Bastard chuckled. "That’s great to hear. Well, with such a powerful healer like ours, it was bound to happen... but not this time." He stopped, turning his head slightly towards Sofia. "When I asked the doctor about his condition, and if he thought he was going to survive or not, he said no. And yet here he is, looking as if he wasn’t even hurt in the first place."

Aether scoffed, a bit too loud, as both Keres and Sofia heard. The girl frowned, opening her mouth to say something, but before she could, Keres spoke out first. "Oh, but I’m not accusing you of anything, really. I believe you don’t even have any idea what’s happening... but I have a guess. And I’m sure you want to hear it, so why don’t you sit down."

Aether didn’t want to; after all, if he did, he was just going to spend more time near Sofia... but at the same time, he really wanted to know the truth about what had happened, or at least, an idea of it.

So he sat down near the fire, on a little wet log. The heat of the fire massaged his face as he stared right through the fire. I was warm... very warm.

"A lot of things have changed since entering this place. The Codex doesn’t exist; that’s the main one, but you want to know what else has changed. Our entire progression."

Aether’s eyes widened as Keres crossed his arms. "There’s no such thing as sync... from what I believe, we are almost the same as the Readers alive before the Codex, which also means that we get abilities differently. Sadly, I have no idea how, or how to force it, but it happens; it isn’t the first time someone in this camp has formed an ability.

That’s probably also what happened to you."

’An... ability?’ Normally, this would be impossible; after all, to gain one you have to rise in sync, and there’s only a chance of it happening, but if what Keres said was true, and their system has really changed... then it... made sense, and it cleared up the mystery completely.

After all, there was a difference between whenever he gained an ability and someone else gaining one; he had to go through a trial. That was what the black desert was: his trial for that ability...

The bad part was that he had no idea what it did exactly. From what he could make out, it healed him, but he had no idea what its limitations were or how to activate it, as he didn’t believe it was something passive... his body felt normal, nowhere close to how it had felt after healing in that trial.

Before he figured it out, he wasn’t going to try to use it; it was not that good an idea to just rely on it aimlessly.

Aether nodded. Which Keres took as proof that his theory was really true.

But someone wasn’t really happy with his lack of words. "Is he not going to talk? I mean, I get it, be mysterious, or whatever; I really don’t care who you are." Keres burst out laughing at that, but Sofia just rolled her eyes, continuing. "But you know that you can use your voice; I doubt that we would recognize it, and I doubt even more that either of us will remember it."

Keres pushed Sofia’s shoulder playfully. "Come on, Sofie, I’m sure he has a very good reason why he isn’t revealing his voice." He looked at him with the most entitled smirk he had ever seen. "Am I right?" He winked.

Aether frowned deeply under his hood but nodded.

"See? Well, either way." He leaned towards him. "I’m sure that both of us are happy you are alive... probably one more than he or she realizes at this moment. You can go now, were not going to hold you here. Rest. Tomorrow, if you want to stick around, of course, we’re leaving."

Sofia looked at him, confused, but didn’t question it; after all, she was used to all his stupid jokes and pranks.

She really didn’t want to engage in them; if she did, he was never going to stop.

Aether happily got up to his feet, bowing down respectfully, taking one last look at his sister as he left.

He sighed, relieved. ’That could have probably gone much worse than it has... and really, it’s all because of Keres... It’s weird he’s being so helpful, to me of all people.’

...

Though, he had a very hard decision to make: whether he should continue with them or not... it was... a really difficult question for him to ask himself. His gut was screaming at him to leave; not only was Sofie here, but at the same time... he was terrified of his curse. After all, there were so many people here, and even more, with Sofia here... he didn’t want to say it, to even think of it, but what if his sister also died because of him? Would he even continue? Did he have anything to fight for? I mean, there was no one he held dear anymore inside the Wonderland.

And neither did there seem to be a way out, so why even try?

But... going alone would be a risk, and really, in a group, he felt as if they could do a lot more than alone.

’Damn it...’ He sighed, "This is the last time I go against my gut."