Prince of The Abyss

Meeting expectation... such a curse it is.

The pressure.

The chaos.

The damage it does to the mind.

Truly a sorry thing.

The difference between a child who has nothing but a strong will and one who has the potential to have everything is that only one usually reaches it.

And interestingly, the one that does it is the former.

It shouldn't make sense, and it doesn't. It's stupid, but true at the same time.

And pressure is the sole reason why this happens.

A poor child that no one knows has no expectation to meet, no one trusts in him, so he doesn't have to hurry to do reckless things to reach the level people want and expect from him. They have a clear road that they can take, and because of their strong will, they follow that path, making it their own, and changing it to their liking, until they reach the end of it.

Kade could be an example, a Will-less boy from Veyr, who, before, just watched as his family struggled, and his siblings tried their best to change that, his brother even risking his life to change something.

Only die, and fail to do what he left to do.

And yet, his will drove him to follow Aether, to train, to get stronger.

And if you were to look at him now, he is a different person.

And yet, no one expected anything from him.

...

...

Potential is truly a double-edged sword.

It's something great that allows people to grow, to show that they can make it. It can also make others treat you differently, with more respect and friendliness.

But it's only good if you are able to reach it.

And not all stories are able to do so.

On the other side are people who had the potential to rival the strongest, yet at the same time, the pressure from others around them was too much to handle, meeting expectations became everything, and each time they failed, the words from the people who 'believed' in them slowly broke them more and more.

Until they just... couldn't handle it.

Most either stop or turn to evil things, for the same reason, to reach the level they were expected to reach.

...

...

A strong will is born with hunger, when you have nothing to help you, and yet you still wish to overcome it. Not when you have everything at your disposal.

That's when laziness is born.

Which is the third story that is born from potential, people who only rely on that promise?

...

...

Lucien Vale.

A child with a promise.

Born in the most influential family in the village, both of his parents were Will-users.

And yet, he, in fact, was a Will-less.

A tragedy it was for his parents to hear this, and yet they still believed that one day he would get his will, so they kept it a secret, and the people of the village thought that he was a Will user... showering him in praise.

And yet, his Will never arrived, which not only worried his parents, but also him.

If his secret came out, then what would happen? He didn't want to lose all the praise, the attention.

And then something happened: his parents died. They had sacrificed their lives to save their village, leaving him as the only one left in his family and the so-called leader of the village.

As he was the only 'Will user' alive.

He should have been sad that his family was gone, and he was, yet at the same time, a part of him was happy, since they were the only ones who knew the truth. Now, no one could reveal it; no one knew he was a Will-less.

And yet... the expectation of others got to him, people who wanted to see him use his powers, people who wanted to see what the child of their two powerful leaders could do.

He needed to do something, and that was when he discovered these little tricks. To the normal eye, you could figure out that it wasn't anything real, but to some people who were desperate for a Will user to protect them, it was enough.

This was when he started doing his shows... and slowly the attention and praise got to him.

He started to believe himself that he was Will user, even if he knew he wasn't.

...

But then the village was attacked again, and he tried fighting, he tried using his will... but it didn't work... of course it didn't work, his tricks weren't real.

So that was how he found himself on the brink of death, with a scorpion coming to kill him, only to be saved by a boy with two different eyes and blonde hair.

Alongside his companion... who had a Will.

Aether, he had only spoken to him two times now... and until now, he thought he was only a traveler who didn't know his place, but it seems he was wrong... his friend had a Will, he was what he wanted to become... and yet, looking at Aether, made something burn in him. The boy was a Will-less, just like him, and yet, he was strong, while he wasn't.

Could he also grow strong?

...

But then that beast came out and attacked the boy...

He had no idea what happened... or how he did it...

...

But he had awakened a Will.

...

...

...

Aether sighed, looking at the magician.

This flipped everything around. He saw the flame, but he didn't believe that he was going to awaken. And while normally he wouldn't care, he had not only saved him... but at the same time, he knew that something inside him had also changed.

Lucien's hands were shaking, almost as if he didn't believe what was happening. Was he the one who did that? That was the question that kept coming back to him.

When Kade arrived, he looked at him, confused about what had happened, but when he saw the magician, he understood. After all, he had only recently been in the same situation as him.

"You know... the village is not going to survive... but you can. Our relationship is not the best, but at the same time, my gut is telling me this is the best thing to do. And I tend to trust it most of the time." He extended his hand. "Lucien, on this day, you failed to save your home, heck, you could say you doomed it... and you're going to live with that sin, but if you want to redeem yourself, you have to grab my hand and prove yourself."

The magician looked around them. It was easy to see that this battle was lost, houses were burning down, and there were more dead bodies than humans alive, and the attack didn't seem to be close to stopping. If he were to stay, he would die in the same place he was born, in the same place his parents died. And he would rot with the sin of causing the fall of the village, so many, including his family, had worked hard to keep alive.

He looked back at Aether, hesitant, before taking his hand.

...

...

...

Running away from a fight is considered dishonorable. Elpis would have been disappointed with him, but at the same time, for him, honor was worthless; what was worth more was survival. It was the most important thing for him, and it had been ever since he entered the Withered.

They had left a ruin behind them, a place filled with bodies drenched in blood, where fire was causing chaos, and where dread filled the air, but at the same time, they were alive.

Cowards, but they were alive.

And in his eyes, that was a fair trade.

But the others, they seemed pretty affected by it, maybe because it was the first time they failed, where they survived, and everyone died, the guilt of being the only survivor must be really tormenting their mind.

And maybe it would have been the same for him if a stronger guilt hadn't already been breaking him.

He knew how they were feeling after all, he had also been there.

After they were a good distance away from the village, Aether turned around.

"Let's rest here. You guys sleep first, I'll keep watch."

Kade and Lucien looked at him; the exhaustion in their eyes was evident. It was why he had decided to let them rest first; they needed it more than he did.

Taking the two sleeping bags out of their bag, the two went to sleep. Leaving Aether alone in the night.

...

And yet, hours later, Aether knew that he wasn't the only one awake.

"You should go to sleep; staying awake isn't going to help you with anything."

..."Why did you save me?" Lucien asked.

Aether sighed. "Didn't I tell you, it was my gut telling me to do so. Don't think much of it, I remember, but I forgive."

...

"Is that truly all there was to it?"

Aether didn't respond instantly; he thought for a good minute.

"Yes, that's all there is to it. Now go to sleep before I regret my decision."

...

Lucien sat up. "Before that, I want you to have this." He said, while taking out the guard of a blade."

Aether's eyes widened as he saw it; it was the shard he had been after.

"My father gave it to me before he died, it was why I didn't want to give it to you... But you deserve it."

Aether smiled as he took it.

"Thanks."