Prince of The Abyss

”This is a bit awkward, isn’t it?” Lucien chuckled, being the first to try to make a conversation, maybe because he hadn’t been part of their fight when it had happened, but the magician really seemed to be trying to make them talk. ”I assume you found the last relic, eh, Aether?”

Aether sighed, nodding his head slowly. ”I have, quite fast actually. I only have one last thing in Veyr, then I could continue my plan to get home from this cursed place.” He could have seen Kade’s gaze away with some sort of groan when he talked about the plan.

”Veyr? We were also heading there, we got what we still needed to get from Stormfell, and were ready to return to Kade’s family... You can come with us if you still want.” Kade’s eyes widened as he heard Lucien inviting Aether with them, but one nudge from the boy shut his mouth. ”Isn’t that right, Kade? We can definitely take him with us.” The boy caressed the place where the magician had hit him before answering... ”Yes...”

”Very well, I will go get the ship ready.” Then he left.

Aether scoffed. ’There’s no getting the ship ready; this guy just wanted to leave Kade and me alone. You just summoned the boat, and that was it.’

Kade didn’t seem to want to look in his eyes; he avoided it. But, while it did hurt him slightly, he knew this was for the best; he needed him to stay as far away from him, after all, if he had been with him for the last shard, he would have been caught by the Master of the Fire Will.

If he continued to stay with them, he would just be a gateway for the bastard, an easier way to find Kade.

”You have not changed your mind, have you?” Aether shook his head, with a smirk on his face, one that, of course, was fake; he didn’t take joy in this, but he needed to make it believable, as much as he could.

Yet, as he smirked, Kade finally made eye contact with a smile of his own. ”You know, now that I’m not so shocked and in the right mind, it’s quite easy to see straight through that smile.” Aether’s face dropped? ”What?” He asked, confused by what the boy meant, but a part of him already had an idea of what he was trying to say, and he didn’t like it at all.

”Aether, we have spent I don’t know how much time together, I’ve admired you for so much time, do you think I don’t know when your smile is fake and when it’s genuine, after seeing both so many times?

...

I get that you think that Lucien and I are an inconvenience for you... Two little kids that in your mind you can protect, but we aren’t so powerless anymore, please, understand that.”

Aether frowned. ”What are you saying? That was my genuine smile? And protecting you wasn’t my reason why I left without you, I’ve already made it clear last time-”

”Lies... you’re lying now, just like you had been lying then. I just couldn’t see it because I was rethinking my whole existence... now, I’ve accepted the fact that my world might not be real, as much as I denied it, and as much as it hurt... I realized that dreading about being fake only made it worse. After all, before I knew it, I was living just fine in this false world.

Plus, if your intention was to truly destroy this world, why hadn’t you done anything towards that goal? I get that you had something more important to you, but you aren’t the guy to do one thing at a time if you are able to do another at the same time. You had multiple opportunities, and yet you took none.

...

...

Aether clenched his fists... to think that Kade would make him speechless... he never thought that the boy would learn to know when he was lying and when he was telling the truth, no one had done that before. No one. So how had he...

He gritted his teeth before sighing.

”Fine... I get it, I was lying, but for a good reason!” He said, putting his hand on his chest. ”I’ve put you two in enough danger already. I don’t want you two to die... and I thought that I could protect you, but with stronger threads coming, and other things I can’t even do anything about coming, how am I supposed to protect you two when I can hardly protect myself!?”

He had wanted to say all of that for a long time; it had been hard to hold all his thoughts inside his mind, in a space so cramped, he really had just wanted to talk, to no one, but talk, to just let everything out...

”You don’t have to!” Kade quickly responded, in a raised tone, leaning forward. ”We have grown strong enough to protect enough... and plus, if those threads you talk about are stronger than any of us, then we’ll fight together, isn’t that the only way of beating an opponent stronger than you, by taking him down with someone.

You don’t have to fight alone, not when we’re around... so please... let us help you.”

...

...

...

”Did you two finally make up?” Lucien said, rising to his feet in the boat, as they approached him. Aether had been the first to walk inside, giving the magician a little playful push, as he sat down, with Kade following behind him, with a small smile on his face.

”Do you guys know how to drive a boat?”

...

There was silence; no one said a word. Aether sighed, pinching his own nose. ”How did you guys even plan on getting to Veyr? Without knowing how to drive a boat?”

Kade scoffed before chuckling. ”You are one to talk, do I have to remind you that you also had no idea how to drive a boat when you got us to Stormfell, and I doubt you learned in the meantime, so you are on the same boat as us... literally.

Lucien walked over to the tiller, testing it, before looking at Aether. ”Truth be told, for a while we were waiting for you...”

Aether’s eyes widened. Had they been waiting for him? Then this wasn’t really a coincidence, was it? This meeting. These guys had planned it.

Aether sighed, standing up and heading towards the tiller. ”Alright, I’ll drive, just sit down... and be ready for a hard time.” Lucien raised one of his eyebrows, not getting what he meant. After all, he hadn’t been on a boat before, and moreover, seen the horrors of the sea. Kade rested his hand on his shoulder, assuring him everything was going to be fine, almost as if he was pitting him. Which only confused him even more.

It was just the sea... what could go wrong?

...

”Holy!” The magician shouted, holding the edge of the boat tight with boat hands, before quickly leaning over the boat, putting one of his hands over his mouth. It was safe to say he was sea sick, but who wouldn’t if their first time on the sea, their first time even seeing a sea, was in a damn storm.

Aether chuckled as another wave hit him and them. ”There’s going to be more, so prepare.”

... Maybe this wasn’t so bad... after all, Kade was right, he couldn’t handle everything alone... but maybe together they can survive, by combining their abilities and knowledge, maybe they can put up with the dangers they are put in, no matter what they were.

Plus, he really preferred hearing someone’s voice rather than being alone in the deep silence; it messed with his mind and made him think of things that maybe he should think about. Hearing someone’s voice brought him back to reality.

And the reality they were in right now was that they were fighting a storm while heading towards Veyr, to deliver Kael the blade, and for him to finish his mission.

... He was this close... this close to finally going home, he just couldn’t wait.

...Even if it meant leaving Kade and Lucien behind, at least he could leave knowing they were alright, and that he had helped them grow stronger, into fighters that could protect themselves without having anyone to babysit them ever again. He really didn’t want anyone to be in the place he had been.

Though for him the real question wasn’t what he had to do in Demon of Dream, his plan was already mostly done; it was a bit sad that he hadn’t explored the whole world, but it was gigantic, and he was never going to do it; he wouldn’t have time.

The real question was after... when he went back to the real world, and after he rose in class.

Just what came next for him after he rose in class and became a Seeker?