"Shit, shit, shit!"

The alleyways were dark, covered in fog. Or was that just his vision? Everything spun around, as if the world were constantly being tilted. He couldn't keep his balance for even a second, having to rely on the walls to keep himself from falling down. And even then, it wasn't so easy.

He ran his hand through his hair, gripping it with great force. He was doing everything he could to survive the pain he was feeling. It was much worse than the one from his chains, so his resistance to pain was not helping him a little bit.

Blood continued to leak out as the poison continued to spread inside his body, killing him from the inside out. But what was it even?

His body seemed completely fine, in the sense that nothing had swollen, and his skin looked normal; it hadn't changed color. The pain was also something he had never felt before.

...

"Soul attack?"

It was the only logical answer, but the worst of all the outcomes. If this was really a soul attack, then he was done. He had no idea how to get rid of it, and since Praise hadn't done anything yet, it was safe to say she knew as much as he did.

But who had even hit him with the arrow? So far, out of the five remaining Knights, he only knew that The Jack and Queen were immune to soul attacks, or at least on paper. He didn't know if they could also use it. But even if they could, The Jack wasn't someone who would use a bow; he was more of a close combat guy.

And the Queen... she was too proud to resort to such a tactic as to use a bow to kill him. If she had come to end his life, she would have done so in a way fitting of her title.

So then, who had done it? Were there more who had some sort of connection to soul attacks?

He also knew that it couldn't have been a civilian, or at least he didn't think so.

Clenching his chest with his other hand. Aether cursed under his breath as his knees finally gave up trying to keep him up, and he fell onto the floor when he tried to walk. And now that he was there, it was going to be impossible.

"Damn it, am I really going to die here?"

After coming this far, getting past people who could have killed him in one attack if they just wished to, was he going to die to his own weapon, or was it a dirty alleyway? He couldn't, not now that he heard the news that he had people who wished to follow him. He couldn't let them down.

"But what could I even do?"

His vision darkened as he felt as if he was losing himself through the cracks of his fingers with each passing second. He finally understood why The Ace kept going back after every time the poison started.

It was better to risk his life than endure this pain. But sadly for him, he didn't have this option.

He cursed, hitting the stone floor with his last strength, crushing his knuckles and making even more blood leak out. And either due to a lack of blood or his soul slowly being destroyed,

he lost consciousness.

...

...

Aether jerked up, hitting his head on something.

"What the hell?"

When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a wooden cabin, sitting on the top of a double bed. He looked around, as if he remembered this place, but he couldn't figure out where.

Deciding to explore, he jumped down and opened the door.

The other room was the living room, a pretty lavish place if he had to say so, of course, not as good compared to the building of the Second Ring, but better than most he had seen until now.

At the end of the room was a giant brick fireplace, the type that you used to sit around every night whenever it was good and cold, or when you came from playing outside, to warm up your hands.

The bricks seemed slightly cracked, but he didn't judge. There was a fire behind some iron gates, and yet the flame seemed to be stuck in one place. How strange.

A wooden table was set in the middle of the room, crafted thoroughly so it wouldn't break. Surrounding it was a couch and many armchairs, specially crafted to be the most comfortable they could be.

Above him was a chandelier with many different types of light, some were even shining with different colors. The light coming from it shed itself upon the heads of many animals.

And a human head.

He swallowed, but didn't let himself be intimidated. After all, he was used to seeing human remains, even a lot closer than this.

Aether stared at the blood flowing from his eyes, but somehow it didn't fall from his cheek. It was as if time was frozen.

...

He continued exploring until he found another door, which proved to be the back entrance.

Outside was a lake, with a single stilt. On it stood an old man, who looked familiar, which was weird since the only old people he knew were his grandparents.

The man held a lonely fishing rod in his hand and a bucket near him, but it seemed as if he had yet to catch any fish.

Aether approached, putting his hand on his shoulder, but suddenly, the head of the man turned around, revealing that both his skin and muscles were gone, and only the skull remained.

He staggered, falling on his back, and when he got up and looked around again, he found himself sitting in one of the chairs, sitting at the table, face to face with the fisherman, or whatever remained of him.

With a plate of fish in front of him.

Why had everything that he had seen until now seemed as if it wasn't the first time it had happened?

...

...

He slowly opened his eyes, finding himself back in the dark alleyway. He instantly got up, his wound opening again, causing deep pain. He lay back down, trying not to kill himself.

What had happened, though? He remembered that he had gotten poisoned and had fallen trying to go against it. And he found himself in that cabin again. But from where did he know it?

...

"It's the same cabin from when I awakened."

But why had it appeared in his dream? Did it want to ask him something?

But more importantly, if it wasn't a dream, would he have chosen to redo everything?

From the shadows, he heard someone scoff. Someone who recognized the voice.

"Jack?"

The tall Knights emerged from the shadows, glancing at his pitiful state with their golden eyes, as if trying to look into his soul and see how it was doing. His raven hair could hardly be seen in the darkness. But he was still someone you couldn't miss.

"The one and only. You know, that arrow caused you some real problems."

He knew about the arrow? But how, there were only two options. He had healed him, and so automatically, he had to see the arrow buried in his chest to heal it. Or he knew who had shot him. It was one of those two.

The Jack laughed.

"Both. I know what you are thinking, and it's both. And I can tell you who it was, if you would like."

Aether stared dumbfounded. Had J. predicted what he wanted to ask? Well then, at least it sped up things so he could ask questions faster.

But when he tried, nothing would come out. His voice was gone. So he just nooded.

"Very well, the one who shot you was The Nine. She's someone who can use soul attacks, but isn't immune to them. But more importantly, she's the daughter of the fisherman, the same daughter he thought was dead."

...

How did he know this? About the fisherman and his daughter, and how she was still alive, it didn't make sense. Also, was that the reason why he had relived those memories in the cabin?

Either way, as he was trying to figure everything out, even though it was proving to be more of a hassle than he expected, The Jack continued talking.

"Now, I do want to ask Aether, if you could go back to before, or the day you killed the fisherman, would you do it, to change the outcome?

...

Would he? It was something he never thought about.

...

"I guess I would."

...

"I agree, if I could turn back time, I would have never started working on the sun. But that isn't possible, so we have to keep going. But now that I've healed you, but you aren't immune to her attacks. What is your next step?"

...

...

"Isn't it obvious, I'll kill her."