Prince of The Abyss

He should have probably known this was going to happen. Of course, he was not going to want to sell the shard; he was stupid to think there was ever a chance he would.

Lucien had quickly kicked him out after learning what he was after, using two powerful bodyguards to immobilize him...

But it raised the question of where he had gotten it from. In a blank desert, a place that isn't even drawn on the map, how had he been able to get a shard of a hidden shard of a legendary blade?

To get the first shard, he had to do so many things, and even more if required, a Will-less waiting to retire, so then how had this guy gotten the second?

The next day after the party, the city was full of people, which was unexpected, so many people, why did they want to stay, what made them so loyal?

That was what he had to realize, to find the reason why so many people wanted to continue living in a place not drawn on the map, a place where they could be attacked at any moment, and a place where Lucien ruled, he doesn't seem that good of a leader to him, at least not one worth dying for, not someone you would risk your own life for.

...

And really, there was only one thing stopping him from cheating the system: pride. Not his own, but the one of the shadows, they didn't dare speak to him, just like their masters also didn't speak to him.

Aether sighed..., but then he noticed something: a guard standing near the main entrance of the city. Which was ironic, since the monsters could attack from any direction, and they decided to guard the most obvious one.

'Who makes their tactics?'

Plus, he was sure that before he came, there weren't any, so it had to have been a new decision... but why?

Aether walked to one, leaning against a well next to him.

...

"You know this isn't really that useful..."

Aether chuckled at his own words, which made the guard laugh back nervously.

"I know... but he gave us this position, so there has to be something he sees that we don't, who knows what this secretly does."

And by him... he was almost completely sure that he meant Lucien... but just to be sure.

"I don't see it, as much as I try... I think he should stick to tricks instead of this."

The guard shook his head.

"Lucien knows what he is doing, after all, he is a Will user, he will save us no matter what, no one else, but him."

Aether raised one of his eyebrows... this wasn't just normal devotion... There was something about it...

Then it clicked.

But... he wanted to be more sure.

"Lucien is a Will user? Is he the only one in the Village who has a Will?"

The guard chuckled, nodding.

"He is... the first. Though with him, a lot happened. After all, he's really possessive of us, to the point where he isolated the village from the others, even removing it from the map... but I guess he is right, he is everything we need, if something attacks, he will kill it."

...

He was right.

'What an interesting turn of events.'

This village... it hadn't always been this outcast town before. It was on the map, so rather than this being an old map that he had bought, the old map would have actually had it on it. But there was something very important about this village, it was one filled with Will-less.

Many other villages in the world were like it, but none were in the desert, none were under constant pressure of being attacked.

...So when news spread around that a Will user had been born, they poured all their hope into them. That is, of course, Lucien... just that, the guy isn't a Will user, he was able to somehow do some tricks that allowed him to act as if he had all four Wills, and so if something attacked them, he would easily protect them.

Because of that, the village basically made him their king, which is where he is now... Lucien isn't just some magician who does tricks in his free time... no, these little shows of his are strategic, not to let the morale of his people fall.

So... Lucien was a complete fraud who managed to get to the highest point by pretending to be a Will user...

Which just goes to show what a Will meant to a group of Will-less, compared to one filled with others with Wills.

Also, he was glad he didn't try to blackmail him, there was no chance in hell he could have gotten the attention of the people, they were too focused on their king, on their lord and saviour to care about him...

However, there was something quite interesting to look out for... that being Kade... a newly awakened Will user. If he showed the people his fire, would they also trust them, would they completely switch? It could help with getting the shard... but at the same time, he just doubted that these people, who have stayed loyal after all this time, would just randomly switch up...

The only way they would go against Lucien is if the village were under attack and he didn't do anything.

Though... it did make him wonder, what would happen to the village if it were under attack, since the magician could never protect it, then who... sure they were there, but they weren't forced to help the place, they didn't gain anything from it. So then who?

He doubted these guards could do it when they're so blind that they follow such terrible tactics.

"Well, I guess that for today, it gained enough information." In the end, his goal had been to gain information about Lucien, who he was, and what his deal was, and he had done just that, and quite well. He knew how much of a complete fraud he was.

He now just had to find a way to make him give him the shard, if he didn't want to give it to him nicely.

Returning to the small inn inside the village, Aether slowly walked through the hallways until he reached his room, where Kade was resting inside, practicing controlling his Will.

The boy practiced every time he had the time; he never took a break. It sometimes worried him; heck, there was a chance that if he continued like this, he might grow stronger than him.

Suddenly, as he stepped inside the room, the boy opened his eyes.

"You're back." He smiled.

Aether returned it, moving and lying on his bed in exhaustion.

"I am..." Though... there was probably something he had to break to him. "Also... you should know that the tricks you saw earlier weren't real, the person doing them is a fraud, he doesn't have any Will."

At first, he didn't want to tell the boy about it, but after considering it, why would he keep secrets from Kade?

And plus... he didn't seem to react as he thought he would...

"Oh, I knew... I was just enjoying the show."

Aether's eyes widened. Out of all the responses he thought about, this one he had completely left out of the equation.

He knew? And yet he still looked to enjoy the show a lot... why?

...

'Maybe... you should enjoy something once in a while...' Aether recited the Abyss's words in his mind before shaking his head.

But before he could continue telling Kade about the magician, the boy spoke first.

"I also have something very important to say..." The boy said, with a serious tone, a tone that he had barely seen in all his time traveling with him, which just couldn't mean anything good.

"What happened?" Aether asked a little nervously.

"As you were out, I went a bit in the desert, to see if anything was around, and I traveled a good distance... which was when I was met by a group of four scorpions..."

Four? Aether looked bewildered. And he was alive, and even more, without any injury? How was that even possible? After all, fighting one together in the day was hard, but four alone.

"I thought I was a goner, and for good reasons... yet, they just... went past me... And it wasn't just them, as I switched positions, I met more and more beasts, and yet they never attacked me... they all went towards the same spot..."

...

...

"The village." They said in unison.

'That is... really bad.'

From what Kade was telling him, the village was going to be attacked all at once by tens of scorpions, beasts they had no way of beating. One would have been hard, but this many meant the annihilation of the whole village...

But while this was, of course, horrible.

...

Maybe it could help with the negotiation.