Chapter 15: Run, Little Shadow

“Through the cracks!” The voice of the shadow reached his brain, and his body lunged between the cracks of two buildings, crawling to the other side.

Now on a different road, he looked to his left, where he saw five guards running towards him.

He cursed his past self.

’Damn it, bastards, give me a break already!’

Not wasting a second, he dashed to his right.

His crimson blood was no more at the moment, replaced by complete adrenaline surging through his veins instead of his scorching blood.

He didn’t know what was happening, but the Withered was suddenly filled to the brim with guards. If before he thought that it was hell, then this must be the deepest layers of it.

He didn’t know why now, or when they first arrived, but he knew it had to do with the noble he killed.

’That damned imp.’

Aether learned only later that the person he had killed was the future heir of a Celestial family. And only then did he realize his mistake. But what could he do now?

And to make it worse, when the knight first infiltrated the district, Aether stumbled straight into their camp by pure luck.

And sadly for him, meanwhile, his cloak had the ability to clean itself, the smell somehow still remained, its ability probably only hid its crimson color, but not its odor.

So it was inevitable that the guards would make him a suspect for the killing; that was why he ran. But these damn monsters ran after him, and here we are.

That is how Aether found himself being chased by countless guards.

The only reason he hadn’t been caught was because of the Withered nature of shifting around; he didn’t know why, but the Withered was different every day, making it almost impossible to learn your way around.

Well, maybe if you haven’t lived most of your life here.

But Aether has, and he knew that the people of the Withered always leave traces and connected paths with symbols.

So, meanwhile, he didn’t recognize every street he walked; some he did, and that helped him navigate while the guards struggled.

And there was also shadow speech, which, even if it was a grave risk, was better than falling into the hands of these bastards and probably being interrogated for answers.

But even with all his advantages, it felt like it was going nowhere. And even with his adrenaline surging straight to his brain, he still felt a wave of fatigue overwhelmed him slowly but surely.

He gritted his white teeth, scraping the upper lip, and cursed without stopping.

He couldn’t go home; if he did, he would just be leading them to his hideout.

“Fast, run, there are shadows in front where you can hide!”

Aether quickly gazed at the helpful shadow, showing a smile of appreciation, after all, so far shadow speech had done nothing but save his life. For once, the shadows were honest, how much he dreamed of this day.

And with his legs burning, like they were drowning in a volcano, he accelerated, the veins from his face popping out.

As he ran, his balance was almost thrown off by the dawning pain, but he struggled through it; he neglected his physical pain even if it was at the cost of his mental health.

[Mental Fortitude: 65]- Maybe it would be better to just… give up.

’Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!’

It was infuriating, frustrating, and absolutely infuriating.

First was the repeating dream, talking to himself as if that bastard didn’t already know the answer, then it was that figure that took his look and wrapped its arms around him and put evil thought inside, and now a voice echoed, not from the shadows, but from himself.

It was his own voice that was speaking,

’Maybe it would be better to give up, huh? Then stop giving me reasons to continue!’

Soon, he finally reached the shadows, hiding inside with his hands covering his mouth. He closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down so he wouldn’t do anything that would make a sound.

He didn’t know how long it lasted, nor how long he had been inside the darkness; all he knew was that the footsteps of the guards were getting further and further away, until they finally disappeared.

Only then did he allow himself to breathe.

The longing silence that came after, though, was just as breathtaking.

Soon, Aether realized tears started falling from his face. He forced himself to smile, realizing that now, after the adrenaline had been completely exhausted, not only was his body in a hell of its own, but his mental health had been deeply fractured.

He fell to the ground, curling up into a ball and expressing his emotions.

“I… I’m not sure if I can do this anymore without you…’

[…]

“Aether, what is it that you desire?”

He started at the figure just as usual, his eyes now drowned in deep sorrow, and his cheeks puffy from crying for the whole day.

He wanted this to stop; it had to stop, he couldn’t handle it anymore.

He took a deep breath, trying to hold back his tears that had come back for another round.

Seeing that Aether wasn’t responding, the figure raised its eyebrows and got closer, poking its forehead with its finger.

“I wonder what is going on inside that mind of yours.”

Then it laughed, looking down on Aether with its usual mocking gaze.

Honestly, there wasn’t anything going on inside his head at the moment; he was too tired to think of anything.

Or at least that was until his heart descended into hatred.

He clenched his fist to the point that blood started to flow from beneath. He was done with letting people bully him around; he was done with running away like a coward.

But more importantly, he was tired of being too weak, too weak to save those he treasured and loved.

“You want to know what I want. Then fine, I’ll tell you, bastard. I want to be strong enough to rip you to shreds.”

His tone was serious and ice-gripping, as if a tundra had manifested around them. The murderous intent caused wreck all around them, and it was all pointed to one person: that being himself.

He was going to destroy the weak boy he was and rearrange himself as someone strong enough to face the world on his own.

He was going to kill himself and be reincarnated.

[…]

***

[Character Codex: Sync Stable]

Name: Aether Moirai

Age: 14

Race: Human

Affiliation: Royal Family

[Path]: —Vessel of the Abyss—

> You were never meant to hold this power. And yet… the Abyss has chosen you.

Knowledge Rank — [Fragment]

>35/1000 knowledge shard

Codex Class — [Reader]

> Sync Rate: 9%

Affinity — [Abyss]

> A slumbering void stirs within you. It gazes back.

[Affinity Bane]: —Stranded Resolve —

[Mental Fortitude Thresholds]

> 80 — Clear Mind: Subject resists Abyssal influence entirely

> 60–79 — Subtle Echoes: Whispered thoughts emerge

> 40–59 — Instability Detected: Reflexive Abyssal traits may emerge

> 20–39 — Possession Risk: Abyss seeks control

< 20 — Vessel Breach: Control lost temporarily

Mental Fortitude: 65/100

Status: Unstable — Abyssal Influence: Minimal

[Abyssal Pulse Log]

[Mental Fortitude: 65]- Maybe it would be better to just… give it up.

[Skills / Abilities]

Abyssal Abilities — [Shadow Speech]

Skills— [Echo Word]

[Relics]

—[Hair extension]

— [Cloak of Dread]

***

Aether stared at his codex, a feeling of unease washing over him.

“Is this… going to be enough?”

He had finally decided what he wanted to do, what he desired. And the first step of his rebirth was challenging and surviving a book by himself.

But at the moment, he was still he cowardly boy he was before, even with his rough speech from earlier.

So he had decided to inspect the codex and try to find a book that would be easiest to clear with his aspects. And more importantly, to understand their root.

First, he started with his affinity. Meanwhile, he knew it had to do something or at least be related to shadow; he didn’t know what it was entirely, but he never really bothered to check the description of his powers.

[Abyss] – Bestowed the power of a great being, you dwell in the shadows to be forgotten. Most of the world has rejected you, but many others welcome you with open arms as one of them.

’Most of the world rejected you? What the hell does that mean? And does this mean there are others? And what’s with the whole forgotten thing? I don’t hide in the shadows because of that!’

It was not that difficult to realize his affinity didn’t quite help him understand the root of his power.

[Stranded Resolve]- You are a being forgotten by mortals and rejected by gods; you searched for one to accept you, but in vain. Only then did you realize you weren’t made to work with others. Your bane does not allow you to work with others; when you do, your powers become weaker.

Stranded Resolve was his bane. And banes were the counterpart of one’s affinity, the biggest weakness of a reader’s affinity. And his was much crueler than he had expected. His bane meant that he could never fight in a group; therefore, he would have to be alone forever, well, at least when it comes to fighting. But even that doesn’t make it better, after all, he had hoped that in the book he entered, he could get the help of some people who lived inside the story. But that option was just blown out the window.

Now… it was time for his path. One of the most important parts of one’s codex.

[Vessel of the Abyss] -Born of two worlds, yet welcomed by none. You are the last vessel of a Forgotten God. The one that was forgotten by the world and rejected by hell. Now, it seeks a body to take over, and you have been chosen.

Aether palled. ’Vessel of a forgotten god?’ He tried to swallow, but his throat was sore.

But that didn’t make sense. There were four great gods, and all of their vessels have awakened already, so what did it mean by a forgotten god? Was it speaking about another lesser deity?

But then would have really have the power to embody a vessel…

Was there a fifth god all this time?

He shook his head.

“No, that’s not possible, and even if it was, it isn’t time for that now.”

…

His class was still the same, but he had gained some knowledge shards from killing those he scammed.

After awakening and becoming a reader, you become part of both the living world and the infinite library, that was why he gained shards from killing humans from the living world. Because they also belonged to the world where every book was held.

Though even if his shard number had increased, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed; he had spent weeks going around and both finding and killing his victims, so still being so far away from ascending in his rank… felt unfulfilling.

Now it was time for his abilities and skills.

[Shadow Speech] – You can understand the words of those forgotten and outshone. But be wary of those loyal to their masters; they may lie.

Class-Reader

Knowledge rank-fragment

Wait, so shadow speech allowed him to speak to those forgotten? But then, why did it work on shadows? And why was it even in its name? Were shadows once forgotten by the world? Or had they always been forgotten?

Either way, it was weird. So when his affinity said that others welcome him with open arms, was it talking about the shadows? It made sense; he felt most at ease inside them. But he couldn’t understand why it kept referring to them that way. And not only that, he also spoke about them being rejected by the world just like him. But it didn’t feel like they were, it was more like they were part of the world, so how could it have rejected them?

He sighed.

“Nothing makes sense…”

For his other skill, he already knew what it did. It had been his first skill, so he instantly checked it out. Only to be disappointed and let down. It allowed Aether to make a rock say one word of his choice. He could also choose the voice, so that was a boon at least.

Well, meanwhile, at first he didn’t feel useful even all, he even considered getting rid of it. He quickly found it quite helpful when it came to scams, so he kept it. But he wasn’t sure if it was going to be as useful inside a book, but who knows?

It was a reader class ability of the fragment rank, so nothing special. But at the same time, shadow speech was also of the same class and rank, and it was very useful to him.

Well, now it was time for his relics.

[Hair extension]- There was once a beautiful princess trapped in a tall tower. She waited for a prince, but it never came, so she used her unworldly long hair and climbed down.

Category-Tool

Class- Reader

Knowledge rank-Fragment.

Abilities-[Growth]

He didn’t have to check the description of his relic’s ability; by the name and from his experience with using it, he could deduce that he could grow his hair as much as his essence held.

But meanwhile, he already had an idea of what his first relic did. He wasn’t the same for his second. All he knew was that it couldn’t be stained, and people tended to stare at his face for whatever reason.

[Cloak of Dread]- It was once worn by a proud merchant. Sadly, on a faithful day, he was stabbed to death while wearing this clock. Legends say his soul still lingers inside.

Was his relic a curse or something? His soul still lingers inside. Well know he definitely felt uncomfortable wearing it.

Category-Garment

Class-Reader

Knowledge rank-Echo

’Echo?’

Echo was the rank just after fragment in the ladder of knowledge ranks. Normally, it isn’t quite an astonishing thing, as if you think about it, there isn’t much of a difference between a fragment and an echo. But for relics, the knowledge ranks determined the amount of abilities.

’Meaning it had two abilities!’

Abilities- [Vail of shadows], [Unbothered fabric.]

[Vail of shadows]-A deep lair of shadow hides your body from the gaze of others.

’Well damn me, that’s actually a great ability for once!’

Oh, and it was. It was perfect. It made things easy for him to infiltrate and retreat without being recognized, but it could help him in many other ways.

[Unbothered fabric]- The fabric of the cloak doesn’t bother getting stained.

He already knew the cloak had something related to this. After all, he had worn it for weeks, and there were no specks of dust. But he felt disappointed that it wasted an ability for it.

Well, either way, that was all. He had seen all he could about his codex.

Now he just had to choose a book that was best for what he had learned.

“Wait, but what did I learn?”

He froze for a second, that question lingering in his mind.

“Nothing, I learned nothing.”

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