Prince of The Abyss

To think they would walk for such a long time and yet still have no luck- it was getting quite annoying. They had found two more stories, but they were also useless, not good enough. So they had to leave.

The bad part was that he was getting hungry, really hungry.

"I think we should kill an animal; we need to eat." He turned to Sena.

There were a lot of animals around, so they wouldn’t have any problem with it, but at the same time, Sena didn’t look like he was on board with the idea that much.

"Why would we do that?" She said, confused. "We can just buy some from one of the main Anchors of the Wonderland. Well, most likely Silas’s anchor, but you get the idea; we don’t need to kill for food; we have money."

Aether sighed, murmuring under his breath. "Of course... you have money."

"I heard that you know," Sena said with a smirk.

Aether rolled his eyes. "Good. So what are we going to do? Do we go to the Anchor?"

Sena shook her head. "Not we, I will. You’re broke either way, but you also need to stand here so we don’t lose this zone."

Aether tilted his head. "And you can come back to me?"

Sena looked to be getting annoyed; she wasn’t expecting to have to answer so many questions. "Yes... When you enter Wonderland, you can travel to someone whenever you want; it’s like you form a party with them."

That didn’t exist in the Infinite Library... Interesting...’ Though if he had to say, it was needed here, with everything you needed to do. In the Infinite Library, you didn’t need to search for stories; there were enough books around you, and neither did you need to teleport to other places very far away.

Aether turned away. "Alright, go; I’ll continue searching." He said, starting to walk again, as Sena disappeared behind him.

He was alone again... which maybe wasn’t that bad. After all, he really hasn’t been able to test his strength that much. Outside the part where he was alone when he got the record with Lilith, he was never alone, so his Bane had made him weaker.

There were ways to work around it... he had done it in Frozen Crown, but it was hard, really hard; he had to manipulate his own mind; he had to be very negative, and not only was that almost impossible to do with someone you know well around you, but he was also..

Just not the same person he was before.

He couldn’t manipulate his own mind anymore, and neither did he wish to do it. It wasn’t healthy for his mental health. ’And I wondered why my mind was such a mess.’

Even with his bane, he was strong, so he wasn’t so mad about it, but that was also because he had only worked with one person; maybe if he had gone with more, the difference would have been much more noticeable.

Plus... if he ever were to team up with someone like Lilith again, he would definitely trade some of his own strength to have them with him.

...

This was probably one of the only flaws of the Wonderland: how much you had to walk to find a story. It was the fourth day already, and they hadn’t done anything; it was annoying, really annoying.

He needed to find a story before Sena got back.

...

Aether made his way over a hill, wiping the sweat from his forehead, as he reached the top... And looking down, was another story, one that had a tall dark forest around it, and inside it, the same forest stood, blending it perfectly; if it wasn’t for the fact that the sphere was bigger than the forest, he wouldn’t have noticed it.

Aether rushed down the hill. ’I really hope this is the last one.

Entering the forest, he made his way to the center until he hit something and fell to the ground.

[Seeker Aether! Would you like to enter this story?]

[Name-Fall of the Guardians]

[Class-Seeker]

[Knowledge rank- Demon]

[Description- "A world captured by the guardians. Their rule is eternal, never to be ripped away... but why had they been created, and for what reason? And is their presence a good thing, or the fall of the world... what is the evil of the world exactly?"]

Aether quickly got back up to his feet, staring at the Codex with a bright smile on his face. He had finally found it, after so long.... The description was quite confusing, but at the same time, it sometimes happens, and then when you enter and get close to the end, it makes perfect sense.

So he was going to have to learn what it meant.

...

But... before he could enter, he was going to have to wait for Sena to come... it was pretty annoying; if he hadn’t said anything about food, they would probably be inside a book right now.

’I wonder what she’s doing...’

...

...

...

As Sena opened her eyes again, she found herself in a giant market; people happily smiled behind counters as people bought from them. This was the market zone in the Blue Rose’s Anchor; it was pretty known, good, but not the best. Funny how the best marketplace was still the one in the Withered, but maybe that was just because of how weird the books the people from the Withered entered were, plus, they also sold for cheap... well, only for nobles, but who cared... ’They probably care.’

Sena walked through the crowd, seeing even some classmates around, waving at them as she passed, until she reached one of the favourite spots to buy food from.

Behind the counter stood an older man; if she had to say, he had been doing this job for a while, a long, long time, before she was born. He was also older than her mother, but her mother looked younger... well, he was only a Seeker, so you could understand why he looked older than a Harbinger.

She was good friends with him; he even gave her some discounts once in a while.

Walking up to him, his eyes widened. "Sena! How’s my favourite Vessel doing?"

She chuckled, putting her hands on the counter. "I thought everyone’s favourite Vessel was Iris, because of praise, so what’s wrong with you?"

He smiled, a bit embarrassed. "Well, true... Praise is our god, so Iris is someone he has to look up to, but I prefer Fate." He winked.

Sena sighed, laughing. The old man was weird, but in her eyes everyone who sold in this place was weird, everyone who worked who had made a business and so on. After all, she would have understood if they were Readers, she knew that not everyone wanted to climb up the ranks and be strong, but at the same time, they had reached Seeker, so why not go further?

"Can I have a cooked steak?" The man instantly smiled, turning around and getting a freshly cooked steak from under where his fire stood, and put it on a plate.

"Here it is, newly cooked, and with all my heart."

"Thanks." She said, putting the money on the table and grabbing the steak. Was it enough for two people... I mean, normally no, did she care, no, she wasn’t going to spend money because Eden was hungry; she wasn’t that hungry, since she knew to eat a lot before leaving. It wasn’t her fault Aether was a dumbass.

Sena walked away, preparing to leave, but before she could, a familiar voice called out to her, one she despised a lot.

"Sena?"

...’ Speak of the devil.’

She turned around with a frown on her face. "Iris..."

The princess had a bright smile on her face... as usual, she always did. It was something that annoyed her. You can’t always be this happy; it was just not possible. You had to fake it.

"How are you doing? Didn’t expect to see you so early? Have you found a story yet?" Sena stared at her smiling face, not wanting to answer, but at the same time knowing she won’t stop if she doesn’t answer... so she sighed.

"No, I haven’t yet... which is why I will be leaving so I can find one." And before she could ever respond, she teleported back to Aether, leaving Iris alone and confused.

...

As Aether rested against the trunk of a tree, he suddenly felt someone watching him, so he quickly opened his eyes, only to see Sena. "Don’t do that, you scared the shit out of me."

He clenched his chest, slowly getting up.

She chuckled, looking at the sphere. "I see you aren’t so useless; you actually found a story, good job.... but let’s not waste any time."

Aether groaned, walking over to the sphere and next to Sena. "Yeah, fine...

Let’s see what all the guardians are about."