Prince of The Abyss

To think that summer had finished so fast... he would have never thought before, after all; a part of him expected it to be just him repeating the same day, with nothing to do. But he had gotten caught up in a lot of things.

His anchor was doing fine. He had reached level seven, which hadn’t given him anything, but it was going fine. He had some problems with it, like finding out that if you’re outside the anchor, you won’t always get the experience and coins from your facilities, at least at a lower level. But still, he adapted.

Inky was doing just fine; he had gotten it to over twenty growth points, but more importantly, he had taught it to finally fly, so it could actually do something instead of just standing on his shoulder. But that was about it for it. Talking was far above anything he could teach it, after all; there’s a reason why animals can’t talk.

But more importantly... Maeve had reached Enlightenment, just like he had promised. All the books he had challenged with her hadn’t gone to waste. She had achieved something that the majority of people in the Withered don’t even dream about.

’The Authority to challenge the Trial of Salvation.’ Now, it was all hers. He couldn’t do anything to help her, though... the only thing he was sad about this summer was that he hadn’t really done anything for himself, except just treating himself to good food and other random things... that had brought his total money to four silver coins. He hadn’t really gotten stronger, not even trained.

If it wasn’t for the few beasts he had met up with, he wouldn’t have even used his blade for anything other than cutting his hair.

The only place he could say he improved slightly was his ability to change endings, most times getting a good ranking when he was Maeve.

Outside that, no new skill or relic, and of course no new ability, since his sync couldn’t raise from Reader books, but also no shards since all the beasts he killed were again, of Reader class, since he never wanted to take Maeve in a book with more powerful monsters, even if he was confident he could win, it wasn’t his life he was gambling with.

’Today is the last day of summer, which means most people will return tomorrow; only those that are still inside stories will be a bit late, but either way, the Academy will start again... which means I will have to go to class again...’

Aether sighed. But at least the people he knew were going to be back, so he was going to have things to do in his free time...

But at the same time... he didn’t wish to have that fun; he had things to do... after all, news of Maeve’s ascension had spread, and while he doubted he was going to be allowed inside the Withered... there were still people from the Withered inside the Blue Rose... people with conviction ready to be used.

Aether glanced at the black sky; it was almost midnight, meaning that the last day was ending... but there was still one thing he needed to do before the day passed; he still had to keep his promise after all.

...

... Reaching the Library, Aether noticed Maeve already standing outside, talking with Rune. He had tried to get the boy permission inside the Blue Rose, maybe to stay with him in the Academy, but it was quickly declined, meaning he couldn’t take the boy with him to train him.

And so Maeve talked to his uncle, who, just like her, had lost his lover before he could have a child of his own. He and Maeve weren’t close because of some past events, but he cared a lot for Rune, thinking of him as his own child, so she knew he would be happy to take care of him while she was away.

After all, neither she nor Aether had any idea just how much time she was going to spend inside her trial. It shouldn’t be dangerous for her, since she hadn’t killed anything in her whole life, but at the same time, it was still a Seeker trial; she didn’t have that many challenging stories, after all. While he tried to teach her some things, he did most of the stuff, and while theory is nice, practice is needed.

Still, since trials don’t have endings, and you are needed to make one, she won’t be trapped forever, just until she manages to make an ending. He just hoped she finished before winter, since in that time he would be busy with his own progression. And he won’t be able to greet her and introduce her to his Anchor, since that was his plan: if Withered people to Seeker, he could give them a place to train and to live a life close to one of the outside world, at least before the Third Rebellion came... which was going to take some time, since he did need to get a lot stronger if he wanted to stand against the Blue Rose and actually have a chance of winning.

He wasn’t going to make the same mistake he had done first time.

When Maeve saw him, she quickly smiled. ”You’re here... I was starting to think you weren’t going to come.”

Aether chuckled as Rune ran to hug him. ”That’s just stupid,” He said as he rested his hand on the boy’s back. ”After all the work I did, I would not be here to see the results?”

She laughed, but her smile quickly fell as Rune turned to face her... she could feel her eyes starting to tear up, even if she didn’t want to.

”I...”

”You don’t need to say anything,” Aether replied before she could say anything. ”Don’t worry about anything, alright? Rune will be safe.” He said, ruffling the boy’s face. ”And you don’t have to worry about me. We will be here when you come back, ready to welcome you back as a Seeker, right, Rune?”

The boy nodded quickly.

”When you get back, I’ll be sure to get you a gift.” The boy said, as a tear escaped from his mother’s eye.

”I can’t wait,” she said. Wiping her tears again before opening her arms for him. And hugged him as he ran to her.

She leaned forward, kissing his forehead, before pulling away to look at his face. ”Be safe, alright? I will be back, I promise.” She said before disappearing completely. Leaving the boy alone.

...

Aether walked over to the boy, seeing him cry for the first time...

He smiled. ’To think he was able to hold his emotions inside just to keep his mother from being worried...’ He put his hand on his head.

Staring at where Maeve used to be.