Prince of The Abyss

Standing inside the empty Inn, Aether watched as Sena poured herself a drink.

"You know, it’s weird knowing we’re the only people alive in the village."

Sena glanced at him while taking a sip of her drink. "You care?"

Aether shook his head. "Not really." He rested his head on the counter. "It just came to my mind, and I wanted to point it out." Watching her drink, Aether chuckled. "Make sure not to get drunk."

Sena scoffed. "It’s my first drink of the night. If you really think that’s enough to get me hazy, you’re delusional. We’re Seekers, so even if I was weak against alcohol naturally, your body has a higher resistance to it, so I would be fine."

Aether lifted his head, covering his laugh with his hand. "That’s also what you said when you last drank, when we killed the six guardians. And remind me what happened?" Aether stared at Sena, while her face reddened. "I got drunk..." She said hesitantly.

She frowned. "But that was a milestone, so I had to celebrate it!"

Aether rolled his eyes, leaning back on his stool, but not enough to fall off.

"Why don’t you drink?" Sena asked, surprised she had never seen him take even a sip of alcohol in their time together, which had been pretty long; a whole month of living and going through everything together was enough to get to know someone, and let your guard down around them. It’s what she had done, and it wasn’t like he hadn’t.

Aether tilted his head. "I should?"

He sighed, leaning forward again and leaning towards Sena. "We’re underage; that’s why I don’t drink."

Sena stared at him, unimpressed by his answer. "Cut the crap, you don’t care about age. Why would you? It’s not like you have a parent to scream at you that you can’t, or a bartender that won’t sell it to you. So why?"

’Of course she sees right through it, because why not.’

Backing away, Aether rested his hands on the stool. "I just don’t like the taste. It’s too bitter. It’s not some crazy reason; I’m just not a fan of it, simple as that."

Sena didn’t respond, just watching him, before bursting out into laughter. "That’s your great reason." Aether just stared at her, asking himself just what of what he said was a knee-slapper. But he couldn’t, maybe because it wasn’t funny, and wasn’t meant to be funny in the first place.

"I promise you, with how much stuff there’s in this place, I can make you a drink that is definitely not bitter. And quite easily."

Aether rolled his eyes, still not interested in the idea. Sena groaned, annoyed, knowing she was going nowhere with it. So she just switched the subject. "What do you think the next guardians are going to be? That way we can prepare in time?"

Aether put his hand on his chin, thinking about it, but then grabbed their map, put it on the table, and examined it.

"Well, most were animals that represented or lived in that region, so while not that well drawn, if he was to get what the region was, we could try to figure it out."

Aether lifted his finger, pointing to a place on the map that was entirely purple, with small skulls around the place. But that was it; that was how badly drawn these regions were.

"While something like this doesn’t exist in our world, if we were to go by Reader mentality, a purple landscape reminds me of something like a witch, like curse stuff, a witches domain but with the skull stuff, I’m not sure if it makes that much sense, so then again, another place that I’ve read about that has the whole curse feel, is a graveyard, which makes sense with the skulls."

Sena leaned in, still taking small sips from her drink. "So you think it might be a skeleton or something... wait, no, because all of the other guardians have been animals, so it just wouldn’t make sense."

"True," Aether said, backing away a bit to look at Sena. "But at the same time, the skeletons don’t have to be human; they can also be animals, so I wouldn’t just cross that possibility off."

He sighed. "But if we were to go strictly about animals, it can only be two things, at least in my opinion." He raised one finger. "If we were to keep the witch connection, it could be a black cat, but at the same time, I’m not sure of it; cats are more domestic animals. I don’t think there has been a domestic Guardian. Which only leaves me with one option."

He lifts the second finger. "A Raven."

Sena, finishing her drink, pushed it away. "Makes sense... but at the same time, just knowing what it is won’t help; we also need to figure out its ability... but what powers would a Raven have?"

Aether thought about it for some time; after all, he wasn’t so sure what ability they could have. Of course, just like the Owl, he expected it to be able to throw its feathers as arrows or something like that, but just like the Owl, it was bound to have some abilities that they didn’t expect.

"Maybe something to mimic human speech? And if I’m thinking about the whole graveyard thing and death, maybe something related to rot? Like the wounds it inflicts get to rot. Did you see any potions related to rot anywhere in the canyon?"

Sena shook her head. "No, not really, but can’t your healing ability help with that?"

Aether tilted his head, thinking about it. "Not sure. Haven’t tried it, you know?" He chuckled. "It’s not that powerful of an ability. I will also need to fight at night if I want the healing. But still, while It’s able to heal wounds, I’m not sure if it works on rotten wounds. I still don’t know its full capabilities."

...

He smiled. "We will just have to wait and see if I die."