Chapter 489: Cries of the Lost

Following a Lost, pretty unheard of, after all, who would think to follow a shadow? Most wouldn’t even be able to do it, since they didn’t see them the way he saw them. To most, they were shadows, nothing else; they didn’t notice them moving.

But he did. And while he had no idea if he had been noticed yet, he continued to follow it.

How did he get here? It was a pretty simple story: he was wandering around the castle when he saw it spying on Aeriel. The moment it saw him, it started running, so he went after it. He had ignored it for too long; it was time to get things done.

With his mantle and abilities, he was naturally hard to spot by any human, but at the same time, he didn’t know how well this worked with shadows, after all. There was a big difference: humans used their eyes, but shadows, just like he does with Eden, use their souls to sense things and to talk.

He wasn’t sure if his powers also made his soul harder to spot.

...

What he knew was that he was still on its tail, so at least it hadn’t run away from him. So even if it was aware, it was still leading him somewhere, and if that place wasn’t important, the original point it was supposed to go to had to be near, at least in the direction it first picked.

Dashing through the shadows, he made sure not to make that much noise and kept his distance from it until it stopped at a dead end, falling to its knees and onto the floor. Almost as if it was praying.

’But to what? There isn’t anyone here.’ He looked at Eden, trying to see if his eyes were messing with him, but no, there really wasn’t anything.

Walking closer to the shadow, he tried to make it so it wouldn’t notice, but suddenly it turned to him, staggering, as it instantly started to run away. He didn’t chase after it; its reaction looked as if it hadn’t been aware of him following before, so he at least knew that this was the place it was trying to reach.

But the only bad part was that there was nothing here, at least from what he could see. But it couldn’t be just a dead end; it would make no sense for it to be like that... there had to be something else going on.

Walking over to the spot where the Lost had been praying, he moved his hand over the ground, trying to see if there was anything that was invisible there. But nothing, so he moved to the wall, the dead end itself.

He ran his hand across it, dust getting all over it, but there was something strange he noticed: on a specific spot in the wall, it felt... easier, more hollow than everywhere else. But whenever he pressed on it, nothing happened; there was also no brick sticking out to open a secret door.

...

But he knew there had to be something there; his instinct told him that there was something.

Taking a step back, Aether let out a big sigh before dashing forward and kicking the wall with his foot, breaking through the wall to a small room on the other side. As light entered, his eyes came across a book on a table.

That was it; all there was inside the room was a book, but at the same time, it was still something. Smirking, Aether walked over to it. ’Well, let’s see if I can ever read this thing. After all, it’s been a while since I read a book; I hope the story is good.’

Picking it up, he wiped the dust off, revealing the title. Aether tilted his head at it, surprised. "Nothing... that’s the title you chose. The word ’nothing ’, what kind of misunderstood author wrote this?" He chuckled, opening it, only for his smile to fall the moment he saw the first page.

"Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry, Cry.

Why... It’s the same as the description of the ability of the weird rock relic I got... but what does that even mean? That they are connected somehow, but if the rock is from the past, what was it doing inside my memories... the damn black desert, I still have no idea what it was doing there... the Abyss said it wasn’t his memory, but It’s also not mine... so what the heck."

Only now was he starting to see just how little of the past was actually documented; after all, all he had done is find things in the past that keep linking to each other, but that make no sense, since he knows nothing else.

How deep did the Abyss’s history go... and really, even beyond it.

’If the rock wasn’t connected to the Abyss, but is connected to this... then does this confirm that the Abyss has nothing to do with whatever is happening?’

It wasn’t that big of a shock; a big part of him already believed he had nothing to do with it, but he wanted to be wrong, since this was even more confusing than before.

’Then... whatever is going on has to be connected to that black desert somehow...

His eyes widened as he suddenly remembered something. What happened when he was dangling from the tower in the Tides: he suddenly blacked out due to a soul attack, where the Awakened faced a shadow figure; it had white eyes and wings.

And horns.

But was it really the thing he had dreamt about? It had the horns, but at the same time, from what he remembered, they didn’t exactly look the same; they were actually quite different. And even more, he would have remembered the wings, and if not, then the eyes definitely.

The biggest difference was that, back then, shadows had come to cover it; they didn’t seem to like it, which was exactly the opposite of what was happening now, with a Lost just praying.

He had no way of confirming if it was or wasn’t. But at the same time, he knew one thing: that it was a possibility. But if it was, then that would mean that he somehow had to link Demon of Dread to his whole board of knowledge, since it would prove that not everything inside of it was specific to it.

Which was both good and bad, since it gave him more information, but also more questions and many more headaches. His board was already starting to overflow with stuff, and he still lacked the missing piece that would just figure everything out.

Oh, how much he wished to finally find it.

Turning the page, it was just the same thing over and over again. It sure seemed like whoever had written the book wanted him to cry. Quite funny, that is, if this book didn’t have a lot of weight to it.

Putting it back onto the table, he was about to sigh when he heard a giant bell being rung... and from what he remembered from what Aeriel said, that bell meant that people had invaded them.

The Kingdom was being invaded, just as expected. He was going to have to pause all of this, since if they lost the battle, they also lost the Kingdom, and if they did, he wouldn’t be able to openly explore like this and do whatever he wished.

Summoning Voidpiercer, Aether sighed, looking into the distance as he walked out of the hidden realm, as smoke rose in the air.

He wondered if Aeriel had already joined the fight... it was also going to be interesting to see his powers, since if he was also a Vessel of the Abyss, he should be similar to him, that is, if he wasn’t just unlucky, and all the other Vessels had been really strong.

’I wouldn’t be that surprised if this was the case.’

...

Rushing over to the center of the town, where a massive fight was going on, Aether noticed Merwin, instantly dashing to him, but the guy was able to block his attack with his sword. He looked confused as he looked at him. "Who the heck are you? And where did you come from?" He said, pushing against his blade.

Aether smiled as he challenged his strength, trying to push him back. "I? I’m just a Reader." He said, pushing harder, as Merwin’s eyes widened.

But then he let out a big laugh.

...

...

"Oh, really? That’s nice. It’s been a while since I killed a Reader...

...

I’m not sure if I remember correctly, but his name was...

Orion."