Chapter 167: Note From the Drowned

Aether had decided to go back to the Inn, where the women had let him rest there one night for free, and as much as he wanted it to be more than one, he knew that to be able to keep the place intact, she needed money.

Yet it was strange that somehow, people were able to develop a currency in such a place.

Aether stayed on his bed, feeling the hardness of the floor beneath him, but there was still something between him and the ground, something he didn’t have the privilege of usually.

He sighed, as his hand moved involuntarily to the note he had gotten from the ruins… he really wanted to forget about it, but he couldn’t, he knew he could never pass on the opportunity, and so he opened it.

…

“Burning inside like fueled by flaming coal, shall you head towards salvation. The heart is waiting for heat; shall it see the flame, it shall open, there, you will open the cold. Be careful, as once it’s open, it won’t stop until it unleashes a blizzard on the burning coal. But shall you be able to keep it burning… may the Angel of happiness let you have your life.”

…

A bizarre message, a very vague message that didn’t seem to mean anything from the outside.

But for him… he could see the little hints.

Frozen Crown had taught him many things, but one of the more important factors was the fact that he had learned to see the meaning in things people might overlook, and this was exactly the case.

Really, compared some of Frozen Crown’s notes and messages, it was nothing, it was child’s play really.

He just had to divide each part of the note.

For example.

“Burning inside like fueled by flaming coal.” While at first it might seem as if it is talking about an object that requires heat, maybe that emits it, it didn’t. Maybe some figured it was referring to a person, trying to figure out who.

But really, it wasn’t any of those; it wasn’t something or someone. But a concept.

Will, and hope in general, have been compared to a flame, an ember many times, so the notes were really referring to the concept of a hope fueled by an indomitable will, unshaken by something like the Tides.

This book really tried to try and be cryptic, but it failed to match someone like Frozen Crown.

“Shall you head towards salvation… this one is quite… straightforward.” The trial he talked about, the thing that allowed you to regain your life, what other thing could be classified as salvation but life?

Really, putting the whole thing together, the letter was telling him that if his will was unshaken, he should head and try to conquer the trial to get back to layer 0.

But he already figured this out before going on his walk. He figured that the try was mental, and that maybe even part of it was the Tides themselves, but he did take pride when his theories were proven true.

It made him feel smart.

’The heart is waiting for heat.’… Aether tapped his cheek a couple of times, thinking. What was the heart, well, really, you have to go back to the previous line, one where it says to head towards salvation.

The salvation from the previous line and the heart in this line are related. If he had to guess, the heart was the place where the trial took place, and what better place than the giant castle or fortress… whatever it was, since he didn’t get that good a look at it, in the middle of the city. After all, the heart is used many times to represent the center of a place, so why can’t it do the same thing now?

…”If your will is burning without stop, head towards the trial, the palace is waiting for your hope.”

…

’Shall it see the flame, it shall open, there, you will open the cold. Be careful, as once it’s open, it won’t stop until it unleashes a blizzard on the burning coal.’

It was bigger than the others, but really, they all tied together, so it didn’t make things more difficult; hell, he could argue it was easier.

By his guess, and it has been correct until now, it was still talking about the heart, saying how if it saw his will, it would open its door to him, which allows his salvation, which is his trial, to start. The cold is the monster, or whatever it was, something meant to extinguish his will, to break him. That was its soul role. It wouldn’t stop until he was able to do it.

The last line was simple at first, but then it got quite complicated. It says that if he is able to keep his will strong, he will be awarded with your life back, which is you going back to the real world, successfully surviving this wicked place.

And yet… who was the Angel of Happiness? It was the first time it talked about it. And he had never heard of it in his life. So who was he?

…

Really, in reality, he had probably heard of him the most. Who other could it be? Who was the ruler of the Tides, who welcomed the people after they died, who was the one responsible for letting others out?

None other than the Demon of Dread, really, Angel of Happiness was a weak name; it was just the opposite of his real name.

But at the same time… there was some doubt inside his heart… what if the real name was the Angel of Happiness, and the Demon of Dread was just a name to make him evil.

It was a possibility he wished wasn’t the case.

…

Either way, that was the message of the note… just some unknown person telling him to go towards the palace or whatever it was in the center of the city, and challenge the trial. Really, the guy seemed quite nice.

…

How many people had it tricked?

That was what Aether questioned himself.

Really, the note wasn’t that hard to get, which is why it was so suspicious to him. Also, the place he found it, it was in some ruined guarded by a monster, was it really written by a human, and if so, why had it not been spread around? He wasn’t arguing with what was inside; it was the truth, but he felt as if it was missing something important.

…

Why would a beast write something like that, since he was more than sure it wasn’t a human who had written it? The Tides were designed to crush your hope, so why would it create a note that does the exact opposite? It made no sense.

Except it did.

It used a similar technique as he did back when he was trying to get souls for the Sun; they were trying to create… times he wished not to talk about.

To someone who had lost most of their hope… this note was like a new door. People who read it are filled with newfound hope, which guides them blindly to challenge their trial, where they fail, and in the end, it’s a win for the Tides.

He was impressed… really impressed.

…

He has never seen a place… no, a book this focused on the mind. First with Denial, then now with this…

’Desperate hope… to think I would see it so soon yet again.’ He couldn’t lie that he wasn’t affected; he also wanted to challenge his trial, but he calmed himself down… but that was the power it had on some people.

He knew best… since it was the one who led him to where he was today, the day it had driven him to enter Frozen Crown changed the whole course of his life. If it wasn’t for it, who knows what he would be doing? Maybe he would even be dead.

He remembered his talk with Jack about Hope… and really, he was lost in this subject, before still lost, but leaned into believing in hope. Now… he could see both sides, the goods and the bads…. so what should he do?

Should he trust hope?

…

Aether looked at the window, realizing that it was almost morning. Had he really spent that much time deep in thought? It was crazy to see, really…

And… even after so much time, of just constantly thinking, he wasn’t able to find an answer to his question.

Goes to show that just thinking and not doing anything won’t get you anywhere.

…

He was going to do it. He was going to challenge his trial… the note said that it wasn’t going to stop until he was dead, or at least his hope, but that means that it wasn’t a physical battle where he was trapped in a room, like in Frozen Crown.

He was going to take the risk, even if it meant being hunted by a monster that wanted to break him for a while.

He was going to trust hope, even if all signs pointed against it.

…

After all, if he was confirmed to be safe, would it still be…

Hope?

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