Chapter 494: Two Faces

The news of Merwin’s death had spread far throughout Wonderland; everyone knew about what had happened at the battle between Aeriel’s Kingdom and Merwin’s army, at least everything outside the Daemon Lord.

At that point, either everyone was dead or had run away.

It had been a huge loss for the Wonderland’s alliance; after all, Merwin wasn’t a nobody. He wasn’t the strongest, but he had a lot of influence. Plus, Aeriel had also died, a very valuable person whom they could have used in the future.

It was a bad day, to summarize everything.

Even for Aether, since some of the people who had escaped had seen his face and his battle with Merwin, his disguise was gone; he couldn’t use Elpis’s face ever again, as he had gotten a bounty of his own, higher than his original one.

...

But he was never going to let that stop him from entering the cities.

...

Both his faces had been discovered, as well as his mantle. He could still try to disguise himself; after all, he had something that could help him, even if he didn’t like the idea that much.

If he grew his hair, he looked an awful lot like a girl. He knew this since he was young; it wasn’t the first time he had been forced to dress like a girl. Just that this time it was for another reason, and he had only grown his hair and put on a mask; when it came to clothes, it was just some he had taken off a dead body.

...

’I’m against stealing from the dead, but the situation needed it.’

Walking through the street of a big civilization in Wonderland, he noticed his reflection inside a puddle; he almost couldn’t recognize himself. Wearing a black hat and mask to hide everything except his eyes and blonde hair. He also wore a black oversized jacket and pants.

His body was a dead giveaway that he wasn’t a girl, so he tried to mask it as much as he could.

Passing by a wall, he noticed all the posters on it, filled to the brim with them... yet at the same time, looking back at how they were before... there were a lot fewer than before. It was... scary to see just how many of them were slowly dying.

One by one.

Everyone he knew was dying.

Looking at them, the only one from his team who was alive was Elise.

And him, of course; his poster was also here... both of them.

...

How much of this hell did they have left? Was there even any hope... what were they even supposed to do? He had been wandering around for ages, trying to find the exit... and while he was supposedly getting closer, based on what he heard from locals, shadows, and small maps. He still felt as if he was so far away.

He wanted to take the risk; he knew that there was a high chance he was going to die at the entrance, with the Breaker there. But he needed to get back to the real world and see what the situation was there.

If he didn’t try.

...

...

Then everyone in the expedition was going to die.

Luckily, his sister was still alive. He didn’t know what he was going to do if he ever saw her poster ripped... She was the only person he cared for in the whole expedition; he wasn’t saying that he liked the others dying; he had been sad about Orion’s death... it had taken a small toll on him.

...

That was why he was going to keep going and find a way out. As fast as possible. Even while he wasn’t looking, Inky was, and while the bird needed some rest, he would take its place. If, in its direction, it didn’t find anything interesting, he would change slightly until they found something.

Looking away from the wall, he passed it, continuing to walk towards the place he was going to sleep that night. A small abandoned shed that Inky had found yesterday. It was the second night he was going to spend in this place; he didn’t like it. He wanted to stay only one day in each place. But at the same time, he did need to rest.

And above all, he did need to think; after all, there was a lot on his mind. With the whole Daemon thing... who he was.

He really had no idea what to say... a part of him wanted to say that he and the figure he had seen in Demon of Dread were the same person, but thinking of it... he really didn’t like that theory. They looked nothing alike, and he was able to hear the Daemon Lord of the Abyss fine, but he wasn’t with the figure. Also, the connection he had before with the shadows and Rock was gone.

Since the Daemon Lord had killed them, and it was also evident that the Lost were worshiping the Abyss... of course, it still made no sense how the Abyss had no connection to the rock. While everything he had seen pointed to it.

It could be that it was just a coincidence, that the Lost were worshiping the Abyss next to that book. But still.

...

The weird part was that the Daemon Lord of the Abyss seemed to have no connection to the book or rock at all. So then, why it was there and what it meant, he had no idea.

...

Really, he could just be overthinking it, and really, a big part of him did feel like it. That the book was just written by someone else who was depressed, and it was just a coincidence. He felt as if it was better to believe in this theory than the other two that made less sense.

He was annoyed, since for a moment he really did think he had found the identity of the figure from back in Demon of Dread... but he was going to learn one day who it was... not now, but soon.

For now, he had other stuff to do, like getting out of this place.