Prince of The Abyss

Aether stood in a pool of blood, the bodies of those he had killed all around him, as if they were watching him. Among them stood the dead Jaguar, their protector, the person who was their home and salvation, dead, just like them.

All because of one person.

Aether stared, clenching his blade, blood running off its black surface.

Suddenly, he felt something grab his leg from behind. It was a young boy, staring into his watery eyes; he could feel the sadness and agony as he crawled on the ground, his lower half completely gone, and with his intestines sticking out.

He remembered his face; he had killed him in the massacre, cutting him in two... but he had also cut his intestines so... something wasn’t right.

The boy cried at his feet, but Aether didn’t budge; he stood still, staring right into his eyes.

"H-How could you do this to us? What did we ever do to you..."

Aether smiled. "I didn’t need to; I had no reason. I did it for my own selfish gain, working to get stronger. So, I guess you could call me pure evil. But death was made for a reason, even if we weren’t the ones meant to decide it."

Looking around, many of the other dead bodies started crawling to him and grabbing at his legs, yet he didn’t run away, not even an inch. "Interesting." The boy said. "You aren’t scared; why is that? Death is crawling at your feet, and yet you do nothing."

Aether chuckled. "It’s not death grabbing me, but rather the dead. Big difference, you know." He said the last part in a more mocking tone.

The boy rolled his eyes. "You’ve changed a lot. You used to care for us; what happened? Why have you become so merciless?"

Aether tilted his head, smirking. "Oh? But how do you know about my past if you’re someone from this book? Hm? Make that make sense."

The boy groaned before he disappeared, alongside all the bodies around him; there was no point in them... rather, there had been no point in the first place; he had not believed it one bit.

"I see you caught on." A figure appeared, one that shared his exact appearance, to the littlest detail; there was no doubt that it was him. But at the same time, was it truly?

"Haven’t seen you in a while," Aether said, waving to the silhouette.

It chuckled. "Has it been that long? Did not think you would get so attached to your God, did you miss me?"

Aether’s smile widened. "Of course not, I mean, come on, you know I hate you, and that we are the opposite of best friends."

The ’Abyss’ Sighed. "Has anyone told you that you have a weird tendency of making people think you’re going to say something other than you actually are going to say? You first started doing it all the way in Frozen Crown."

Aether scratched his chin. "Well, not really; this is the first time... but does it even count if the one saying it is me?"

The figure’s eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

He scoffed, annoyed. "Isn’t it obvious? You aren’t the Abyss, after all. I didn’t have my Affinity in Frozen Crown, so he couldn’t have known anything about how I acted. He also wouldn’t care to give examples; that’s more of a me thing, you know? Like right now, my example of me giving an example is me giving an example..."

...

"Maybe I should really stop."

The figure nodded. "Definitely." It laughed. "But if I’m the Abyss, then who am I?

Aether sighed as they both responded at the same time.

"You’re me; you know everything about me, my past and present.

"I’m you; I know everything about us, our past and present."

Aether rolled his eyes. "That’s not funny, and you know that, since you’re me... what do you even want? Why appear in this nightmare..."

...

The figure’s smile fell, turning serious. "Chose the latter, for us."

...

...

...

Then he awakened, quickly staggering up. But before he could even think about what happened, looking around him, the room was filled with people, all staring at him with frowns.

"Hands behind your back, you are going to prison for killing a guardian and their protected village, alongside being a dumbass."

Aether’s jaw dropped, staring dumbfounded. ’Since when is being dumb a crime... and I’m not dense!"

The men started to walk towards him, ready to force him into submission. He had wanted to get his blade out and kill them, but he realized something...

He sighed, letting the men force his hands behind his back and stand him on his feet, searching his body for any weapons, while Aether just let them; his face was filled with annoyance and didn’t change once during the whole search.

And when they finished searching him, he was finally done with them.

"Sena, stop this, this isn’t fun."

...

...

"Yes, it is!" A voice was heard from behind the door, before it slammed open, with the girl standing in the doorway. "It’s really funny, but I’m surprised you figured it out. What gave it away?"

Aether chuckled as the men let go of him. "I’m not telling you; hope you can figure it out and it won’t haunt you all day." That was exactly what he wanted to happen.

Fate rolled her eyes before spreading her arms. "What do you think of my toys?"

He looked around, at the men, who now stood soullessly still, their eyes hollow, as if there was never a soul possessing their bodies in the first place. It was scary, really scary to see what Fate’s powers could do...

"This is what you wanted to do to me too, when you asked me to be your pet."

Sena quickly nodded, clapping her hands at his guess. "Exactly, but you were mean and declined."

Aether had wanted to say something, but he knew there was no point arguing with her on this. So he changed his mind. "Can these guys even fight?"

...

"We’ll just have to find out later today."