CHAPTER 158: UNDEAD

Aether groaned in pain, as in the darkness that enveloped everything around him, a small light, which started to get bigger with every second, yet for him, even a second was a year of agony, with the adrenaline rushing, his brain could think at an unnecessarily slow pace. His vision continued to darken as he slowly entered his Trial.

He had to survive, he had to redeem his sins, and become a Seeker; there was no other way. He couldn’t let himself die; he wasn’t going to die, not now.

Yet... even after becoming part of the book created just for him, for him to pay for his deeds and become someone new, a newer and purer soul, he was still dying, he couldn’t fight, it was too much pain.

Yet, he was able to see some people rushing over to him.

He was saved...

In the end, he wasn’t going to die...

...

Aether spat out blood as one of the men stabbed him, with a hungry smile on his face.

What was happening? Why were they attacking him? Why were they going through his pockets... were they bandits?

The bandits continued to stab him, accelerating his death... and so it wasn’t long until-

...

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[You have died]

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[The Demon of Dread welcomes you into his The Tides]

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...

Aether suddenly rose up, clenching his chest, where the hole in his body had been, almost trying to find it, but unexpectedly, it was gone. He examined his body and found it undamaged.

He lifted his shirt up, noticing how even the many scars he had gotten from the many years inside the Withered were all gone. His body was brand new, like nothing had happened. Just like the day he had left his Kingdom.

But... how, what had happened?

...

His head started to hurt as he slowly remembered everything... His rebellion had failed, all members of his personal squad were killed, and to try and survive, he had tried to challenge his trial... yet when he arrived... he died...

There was a vague message from the Codex that he didn’t remember, but somehow he was alive... the only one left.

...

"No, I’m sure they survived... there’s no way they didn’t find a way to survive. Riven probably waited for Lilith to forget him, and use his affinity to leave, and Lyra used hers to follow Riven; that was why she was hard to detect too."

They were dead, there was no question about it.

"And Milo probably used his smoke to make it hard for Lilith to see him and for the others to see him."

Aether smiled.

"They all survived, just like me, they’re just waiting for me to get back, and when I do, well, just continue our rebellion."

...

His smile turned upside down, as his eyes lost their color slightly, before being filled by a wave of rage.

Of course, they didn’t survive. They had all died in front of him, and he even remembers the ways they were killed.

They had died, and all because of that... monster.

He gritted his teeth.

...

"I’ll kill him, I don’t care how much it takes, the one who will take his life will be me..."

...

He looked around, blinking slowly to let his eyes adjust.The first thing he noticed was the color; everything was washed in a deep, bluish-green glow, like the whole place was sitting under a silent ocean. The air wasn’t water, but it felt thick enough that it might as well have been.

Tall, uneven stone blocks rose around him, stacked in strange shapes that looked more natural than built, even though the edges were too sharp to be anything but unnatural. Some of them leaned, some towered straight up, and some broke off halfway, leaving jagged silhouettes against the glowing haze.

Weird, coral-like plants clung to the surfaces. Branching pieces, pale and stiff, sticking out at random angles. A few of them pulsed faintly, like they were breathing light instead of air. Here and there, tiny specks drifted lazily upward, not bubbles, not dust, something in between.

Far ahead, past the pillars and shapes, a structure stretched across the distance. A wall, maybe. A fortress. The shapes were too blurred by the glow to make out cleanly, but towers and spires stuck out above the mist, glowing faintly from within. Everything looked distant, even though it really wasn’t.

A thin layer of mist enveloped the whole place, making everything harder to see. But even if he couldn’t see it clearly and couldn’t confirm what it was, he had to get to it. If it were a wall, then it should hold something inside, something important.

Taking his first step, he instantly noticed that the ground was cold as heck! Even through his boots, he could still feel it run through his veins. Well, his boots weren’t in the best condition, even more after his fight with Lilth, but still.

It was hard, but strangely... smooth, like the stone had been smoothed by water washing onto it constantly

There was also a small, thin layer of dampness, almost like algae film. It wasn’t slippery, but you could still notice the moisture.

Also, the strangest thing was that with each of his steps weren’t followed by that crisp "tap" but instead by a dull thud, like it was getting swallowed by the air.

The air was also very damp, he could feel the smell of sea water in his nose, the small hint of salt.

While walking, he passed by many colossal statues that stood completely still. He didn’t know who they were supposed to be, but they gave him the creeps, knights in stone armor. Their bodies look like broken pillars fused together, with tiny cracks glowing faintly like star-light caught underwater.

He didn’t know what they were, or what the meaning behind them was, but he sure wasn’t going to get close to them. After all, he had no idea if they were alive; he had a troublesome past with statues that were alive. And he was definitely not going to touch them; the last time he did that, he almost died.

...

Well, he was dead right now, but still. Or was he dead? What even was this place?

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...

After a while of walking, he arrived at the wall. Looking up at it, he noticed just how tall it was; it was probably tall enough to tower over the whole building, not letting anything inside leave or enter, and more importantly, not allowing anyone to climb on it.

The top of the wall rose in a sharp, uneven pattern. Solid stone blocks jutted upward like teeth, each one worn smooth by whatever strange air drifted through this place. Between them were narrow gaps, just wide enough for someone to peer or shoot through if this were ever meant to be defended. From a distance, the whole line looked jagged, almost broken, but up close, the shapes were too deliberate to be accidents.

The glowing mist wrapped around the blocks, softening their edges, making the stone look almost like something half-drowned. Some of the merlons leaned slightly to one side, others stood perfectly straight, creating that strange rhythm, block, gap, block, gap, all across the wall’s length.

Yet, looking around, there was no entrance.

He sighed, deciding to follow the path. After all, he didn’t have anything better to do, so why shouldn’t he?

So he slowly followed the wall, his hand gliding on the stone, his eyes focused in front of him, clenching his fists as the memory of his family’s death kept repeating in his mind. He really needed to fight something, to punch something, to shout at something; he needed to get his anger out at something or someone.

Following the wall felt almost safe at first, just a straight line of stone and mist. But the farther you walked, the quieter everything got. The air grew heavier, colder, like it was warning you without actually saying anything.

Then the ground simply ended.

No cracks, no buildup, no shift in color. The wall continued, but beyond it the world dropped into a huge, open pit. A perfect square, carved too cleanly to be natural. The mist poured into it like slow-moving water, hiding the bottom completely. When you looked down, it felt like staring into a well that didn’t bother having an end.

The stone around the edge was smooth, rounded, almost polished, like countless things had brushed against it on their way down. The sound changed too; the moment you got close, every noise you made came back softer, swallowed by the echo of whatever waited below.

It wasn’t just a hole. It felt like the world had been scooped out.

Yet, he could see land.

He swallowed, his eyes darting to the wall, where a small path stood close to the wall, big enough for him to get across.

He squinted his eyes, sighing.

Moving closer to the hole, he looked down.

"Let’s hope I don’t fall."