Prince of The Abyss

Aether watched as Lucien and Kade slept.

It made him wonder, just how had they ended up like this?

Whenever he left the Tides, he never thought he would find himself in this situation, a student, but also a teacher for one, and probably soon two people who were his age. Well, one is just a little younger than him, and the other is probably older.

Speaking of it. Had Kade's birthday passed? He didn't remember? If it hadn't, he would have to get himself something.

It was pretty ironic, a Will-less leading two newly born Will users...

Well, he wasn't really a Will-less, after all, he was a Reader, but no one knew that. Well... he had really not done such a good job at hiding that there was something wrong with him.

After all, he had been speaking to shadows with Kade around, so the boy probably considered there was something wrong with him... plus, there was Voidpiercer, whom he lied about being the Master of the Rapier to mask the fact that he could just summon the blade.

But um... a regenerating mantle, that disappears and reappears...

He was sure that the boy just stopped asking questions, not because there wasn't anything wrong, but rather that there was too much that didn't make any sense.

But also, an interesting selection of students he had,

A boy with black hair and eyes like rubies. Someone whose brother he had killed, and who is also one of the only people who use their Will's on their weapons. Someone who awakened his Fire Will, just like the master of the same Will had awakened.

What a promising talent... and the world thought it was a good idea for him to train just as a prodigy.

'I wonder just how much he would have grown if he had a proper teacher... since it feels like danger had trained him more than I.'

He chuckled.

And his other student, a boy with garnet hair and brown eyes, like the bark of an old tree you used to rest under when it was hot outside. Someone who had doomed his whole village and had decided to carry the sin of doing so. Also, a newly born Earth Will user.

'And how am I supposed to train this guy if he asked me to? For Kade, at least he can use his Will on his blade, but I don't know what putting dirt on a blade would do. And I also don't think this guy had ever touched a blade.'

Aether sighed before taking out the second shard he had found.

The guard shared the same pale, ivory-like material as the handle, that strange surface that didn't seem to belong to the same world as the sand around it.

Aether's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at it.

It wasn't shaped like a normal guard.

But it wasn't like he wasn't used to weirdly shaped guards; Voidpiecer had a much more complicated guard, and it worked quite well.

Instead of extending outward in a straight line, it curved around the space where the hand would be, several thin arcs layered over each other, some closer in, others reaching outward, covering different angles without blocking movement. It wasn't messy either; each piece had its place, as if it were made with a specific way of fighting in mind.

Which made sense.

A weapon like that wouldn't be made randomly.

This was also where Voidpiercer was different... it was messy, like really messy.

The white gold veins ran through the guard as well, following its shape, gathering more toward the center where the blade would connect. Not decoration… reinforcement. You could tell where it was meant to take hits.

So it wasn't just elegant.

It was practical.

Aether exhaled quietly.

"…Of course it is."

It was the blade of a Master, someone who was so good with the blade that he competed with the Masters of Wills. People who could control fire and other elements as if they were nothing. He wondered how close he was to them. Probably pretty far away.

Aether took out the handle from their backpack and reunited the two pieces. It wasn't hard to put the guard on. It fit in perfectly, as it belonged there... which it did. Of course it did. If he had to say, it was shaping up to be a beautiful blade, Voidpiercer must be jealous... or maybe it wasn't. He really doubted the blade cared about looks.

Now the hilt was complete, leaving only the blade itself. The question was whether the blade was just one piece or more, and whether it broke. For how long was this journey going to continue?

...

But... you could also ask the question of what he was going to do after he got all the shards and gave them to Kael. When he left, he wanted to return and maybe learn more from the guy... but now, he had no idea. He had two people under him, and you could say that Kade would be fine with training with Kade, Lucien, like he had said. was probably not fond of the blade.

And even for Kade, the boy used a long blade, not a rapier, so he didn't really know if it was a good idea to make him switch completely. After all, when he did it, he almost got killed by the first enemy because he tried slashing with Voidpiecer.

And the beast he was fighting was a Reader Fragment, and he was fighting with a Seeker-class blade.

You could say there was something still left for him to do...

The Tides were still under attack... he shouldn't care... he really shouldn't. It didn't help him with his goal at all. But not only might it be the thing that he had to do to get out of this place...

But he had friends in that place.

The Inn, all the people there considered him one of their own. Plus, the group that had told him about Denial's weakness, even if they got off on the wrong foot, was still his friend.

He could let the people he... cared about die... not again, at least.

If he did, then what was the point in getting stronger? If he couldn't save them, then how could he ever think that he could somehow get them back?

He had to go... no matter what was going on in there.

The question was if he was going to take Kade and Lucien with him... he doubted Kade would want to stay in Layer 0 while he went into the Tides to fight, the boy was stubborn when it came to stuff like this.

'That strong Will of his is going to kill him one day, I swear.' He sighed.

...

'I guess I shouldn't think that much about it for now... were only halfway done... and yet it feels like this has been going on for eternity... Stormfell really is gigantic...'

It was hard to even predict what kind of place they were going to find themselves in next, so it was impossible to make preparations... meaning they were going to just have to go in and hope they had enough to survive.

Aether took out the compass and the map he had bought before entering the desert.

"At least from what I'm seeing, the new location of the shard is not in the desert... we should have only one more day in this place before we leave... wonder what will be next? A tundra?" He chuckled.

'At least if it is a tundra, I have already handled one before... Frozen Crown truly is filled with bad memories... It's crazy to think three whole years have passed since... three years and I have only gained one ability, just my luck, I guess.'

Aether stared in the darkness for a while, just... thinking... he was getting quite tired, so he should probably wake up Kade and make him keep watch; it was not a good idea to be tired when tomorrow is the beginning of a whole new journey, since that is what these shards feel like.

It's like a whole different story; you really don't know what will happen.

'Maybe this is why there isn't a full map of Stormfell, you would really go crazy if you had to navigate this whole place, since it's so unpredictable... plus it's also really dangerous, either the monsters or the environment.'

...

'What am I even going to do when I get back home? I'll be a Seeker, sure, but what then? Am I just going to repeat the same thing, to challenge books, just so I can challenge my Bearer trial and risk my life again?'

...

"What a sorry life, Readers have."

...

Maybe the Abyss was right... he should find something he can enjoy... that way he doesn't go even more insane from doing the same thing over and over again.

But what could someone like him even enjoy?

...

'Maybe I should try fishing.'