Prince of The Abyss

The cold wind blew against their faces as the group made their way towards the mountains.

The farther they walked, the colder it got, and the harder it was to ignore the biting wind. Aether pulled his mantle closer around himself; with it not completely healed, it could keep him warm again, yet... even with an ability to make for temperature, it was having a hard time.

And looking around, everyone else was... not in the best shape.

’Great. Just great.’

He glanced ahead, looking at the mountains in the distance. They were much closer now, their peaks disappearing into the clouds; they looked nothing like they had in the drawing. They were a lot bigger... and definitely a lot colder. But the path leading towards them was also getting a lot steeper with every passing minute, something else that hadn’t been drawn on the map.

It made him wonder just where Keres had gotten them, and just how much they could trust them.

This already wasn’t a nice journey, and he knew it wasn’t going to be a change; it was only going to get worse... everyone else probably also knew that... and yet, they seemed more alright with that idea than he was.

Looking around, Aether could see them struggle with the cold, yet none complained; all tried their best to fix their own situation rather than go to another and cry about it. He hadn’t seen this before; most people would try to get hope from others, and yet, they weren’t. ’What kind of group have you created, Keres?’ He thought, looking at the front, where Keres led them.

He sighed, looking down at the path beneath his feet. The ground was uneven, with rocks scattered everywhere, making it difficult to walk without paying attention. It was making his feet hurt like crazy; he had forgotten what it was like to walk in these kinds of conditions, since whenever he was in charge, he just went around the roads in these conditions.

Every now and then, someone would stumble, only to quickly regain their footing and continue walking. He had said it once, and he was going to continue to say it; their ability to continue growing was surprising to him. It was shocking, really, the effect Keres has had on them.

Meanwhile, Keres seemed completely unbothered by the whole situation. The man was walking at the front of the group, just like he had said before, occasionally turning around to say something to the others, his usual smile never leaving his face.

’How the hell is he not cold? Well, he is a Harbinger...’

There were so many things that he was supposed to be worried about now, like their lives; after all, this was supposed to be a dangerous zone, and yet he was smiling as if they were walking through the park.

He was something... he couldn’t fully understand, and probably, he won’t ever completely understand the man. But neither did he want to. And plus, it’s not a bad thing to be unpredictable; he thought that was a good quality of his.

He looked up once more, watching as the clouds slowly drifted over the peaks.

’Well, at least the view is nice.’ But that was about it, a nice view; when looking at everything else, there was nothing like it. The next city was outside the mountains, and there wasn’t anything that naturally grew or lived in these conditions, meaning they were going to get through this part of the Wonderland as soon as possible, at least if they wanted to survive.

...

He also felt watched; he didn’t know from where, or by what, since he couldn’t see anything, and neither could he sense anything with Eden, but he felt it. His gut was telling him about it; he just didn’t have any proof.

...He could just be overthinking it, and his gut was just wrong, since, by what it seems now, that was the case. But... he could also be right, and if he was, then something was truly wrong.

But before he could worry about something like a monster, they first had to survive the normal things; he had already talked about food and water... but those weren’t the only things that could kill them. The cold was one thing, and really, it was a very dangerous thing; everyone had their own limit, and you can’t know another’s, so he wondered how Keres was going to handle the whole situation.

If he stopped each time for everyone who was suddenly close to death, they were going to lose a lot of time and resources, and they might not ever get to the end. But if he doesn’t... people will die.

’Still... I think he’ll make the right decision. If I had been the one making that decision, we would already be on the other path, and if these were also the conditions we would have gone through then, then there was no doubt in my mind that we would all have died, since that path was a lot longer than this one, and we would have had to endure this nightmare for almost three times longer.’

Aether pushed through the crowd, walking close to Keres, to have a better look at what he was doing. The Harbinger, just like before, seemed quite unbothered, almost as if the pressure he had on his shoulders didn’t affect him at all, which, at least in his eyes, was insane, since he had the lives of so many people in his hands.

And they were all so fragile, ready to break at any rough move he made.

...

Their relationship was complicated, to say the least; after all, a part of him held a deep hatred since the first day he got trapped inside the Withered, since he was there that day, part of the group that trapped him and tried to kill him.

He was also the person who had killed his master and brought him so much suffering, someone who had chased him in his time before the Rebellion, someone who mocked him with all his heart... and yet, another part of him couldn’t help but respect him.

And this wasn’t about his powers, after all; when it comes to achievements, he had enough. After all, he was the youngest ever Harbinger, without having anyone else to carry him to that rank, all by himself, and, more importantly, the youngest Harbinger Titan.

Those were things everyone could acknowledge; what he was talking about was his ability to lead others. He felt like a true leader, someone who cared for his people and knew how to take care of them, to make them believe and not lose hope, even in the worst moments.

As they continued, Aether felt his feet start to hurt from walking on such uneven ground, and he wasn’t the only one that has started having problems; a lot of them had, just for different reasons.

Seeing this, Keres commanded they rest for the day; after all, it was just the beginning. If they forced themselves too much at the start, they were never going to reach the finish.

As camp prepared itself, Aether waited in line for his portion of food; it wasn’t anything grand or a big amount, just enough to survive, but that was what you had to do, at least, when you knew you’d have to save your resources for a long journey.

Sitting down to eat, Aether had to say it was well cooked... he didn’t know if the taste came from his hunger, or if it was just that well cooked, but he had to say, it was delicious. ’Praise for the chef, what can I say more.’

Finishing his food, Aether returned the plate before sitting back down, rubbing his stomach; it hadn’t been enough to make him full, but what could he do? It was better than eating it all now and now having none next time. ’These small sacrifices need to be made.’

Aether watched as people continued to eat and talk among themselves, cheering each other up about their journey. It was a nice thing to see that Keres wasn’t the only one helping those who were having a hard time, but the others too were helping their own.

It made him smile; it really did. He just wasn’t sure why; it was just normal human empathy, and yet it made him happier than a lot of things.

As night settled, people began to gather around a campfire, while others went inside their camps. Aether stared at the fire, leaned close to it with his hands, to the point that it burned him, before getting back up to his feet and going to his tent.

He was going to have to preserve his energy.

Entering his tent, he groaned slightly; the road had not been that nice to him.

Yet as he was about to take his mantle off, he sensed someone enter his tent. Quickly turning around.

He saw Sofia.