Chapter 174: White Light

The elevator rose for a lot longer than usual, which surprised him. He had cleared more floors than he could have expected. He knew the palace was tall, but… he had to have gone through five floors now. He didnt know how much longer he could hold onto his sanity.

…

“Win!”

Aether smiled, looking down at his small rock companion. One of the things he had to face was a little golem, which wasn’t anything special, a Reader Fragment, which made him wonder if the monsters in the Trial were chosen based on his power, after all, he had heard stories of terrible monsters inside the Tides, and while he, of course, couldn’t ask for their class and rank. He didn’t think they were of the Reader rank.

…This was a Titan Book after all.

Really, it was weird, how talking to rocks was his only skill, while abilities were hard to get, skills weren’t, I mean, he had gotten his from speaking to a rock after being alone in the Withered, so he would have thought he would get many.

But had he gotten good at something? Or had he done something for days, since you can’t get good at speaking to rocks?

’No, not really.’ So how could he have gotten a skill? As disappointing as it was, and a little strange since he has done so many things, he has not gotten good at anything… his skills with the blade were mediocre at best, and even that was an overstatement, I mean, he could hardly win against enemies who looked down on him when only using his blade.

And while he had learned many things about Shadow’s Speech, it was an ability, so he couldn’t get a skill out of it.

What about stealing?

’The earring did all the work…’ He didn’t want to admit it, but really, he was only able to steal before, and while the rebellion was still starting because of his earring, he wasn’t good at it, and he hadn’t scammed anyone in a while, and plus, he used his affinity to do it.

For a skill to be awareded you have to truly be good at the essence of something.

…

He sighed, kneeling down next to his small rock. Tickling its head as if it were a pet.

’Well, at least I still have my loyal skill of talking to rocks…’

Well, it wasn’t really… talking, he was just telling them a word to repeat, I mean, he could be saying something really sad, and the rock would just make fun of his story, because that was the word he last said to it.

He was bored, really bored, but at least he didn’t have to worry about his marks activating in this place, since the Tides were usually lit up by the blue light that was everywhere. And the lift had light too.

He did wonder what he was going to do about it… Maybe he was going to get a skill that would let him endure the pain, or maybe an ability. Or a relic… well, he doubted, since this was the first time he had ever heard of a soul attack.

But still, it was annoying being on a timer every time he went into the shadows. The shadows were supposed to be the place where he was at his peak, his natural element, even if so far it didn’t help him with anything but making him harder to see.

But he wasn’t bad mouthing it, after all, it had saved his ass more times than he could count, if it wasn’t for it, he wouldn’t be here where he was right now. Without many of his… useless abilities, he wouldn’t be here. I mean, looking at his relics, you have Voidpiercer, which wasn’t even really a relic, since it didn’t function like one. His cloak, which… he had to thank his master for. His paintbrush, which he bought himself after getting out of Frozen Crown, led to the start of a whole rebellion.

And finally, the most useless out of them all, the relic which allowed him to grow his hair. It had helped him sometimes, making traps, and more importantly, making people trip. But they were a hassle to do; he had to waste essence to make his hair grow, cut it, and then make them trap with precision.

And he hadnt found any other role for it other than maybe him trying other haircuts. Or just regrowing his hair if something happened to it. But… if he had to sacrifice one of them, it wouldn’t be it.

Really, as much as it was useless, it was from his master, just like the cloak. Sure, it wasnt given as a present, and it led to her death, but it was still one of the only things he remembered of her.

…

It was one of the most treasured possessions he had, maybe… maybe he valued it more than his cloak, since when using it, he saw memories of them together, memories the cloak did not have. Sentimentally, it was over even Voidpiercer, but if he had to, he would choose the blade, since he knew how important it was… plus, it was his only friend… that was alive, which was ironic since he wasnt really alive.

…

But if he had to say, the thing he treasured most wasnt even a relic.

Aether sighed as he took out the pin from his head, letting it fall to his sides. He examined the moonflower pin. It used to belong to his mother, but that is already known. It held many memories, memories he would have forgotten about. It also held the memory of the moment his father gave it to him.

…

He wished he could go back… yet at the same time…

He knew he was a hypocrite for saying that.

Since he could have done it, he could have been free right now, sleeping in his bed again, and yet he had rejected that freedom to continue his rebellion.

How could he say that he wanted to go back even after he had rejected just that?

And to make it worse, he knew that if he were in that exact situation again, he would still choose the same thing. He would still choose the rebellion instead of freedom.

Which… was weird, since for most of his time in the Withered, it was his goal. He had gone to Frozen Crown to get stronger, for revenge first of all, and freedom.

So why was it that he stopped chasing it…?

…

It was simple… he realized he had another thing he wanted to do more than freedom. That being…

revenge?

…

’Yeah… revenge.’ Aether was a little troubled by that word, since he knew that by chasing it, it had let do the defeat of his rebellion…. so was it really what he wanted… did he not know what he wanted?

His eyes widened at that realization… but before he could think more about it, the elevator had reached its destination… After a whole hour of ascending.

Aether looked around, finding just like any other room inside this giant but hollow palace, an empty room, yet in this one specifically, there was a throne in front of him. Made out of a white light, the same light that he saw when looking up.

Did this mean he was at the top, that this was the final floor. But then… what was so special if this was the last thing that kept people from leaving, where was he?

Really, it was standing right in front of him. From the throne of white light, something stood up.

A figure that, if he had to say, was his height, and weirdly enough, their bodies looked exactly the same. The figure was pure white, no face, and while the submerged were like that too, they still had some resemblece of being human, of having a face, even if they didn’t have eyes or a mouth.

Yet it was different, its face was completely white, glowing, to the point his eyes started to water slightly.

The figure started to walk towards him, which made him take a step back without even realizing it. He felt a weird feeling inside of him while looking at it.

He summoned Voidpiercer, trying to take a stance as it got closer, but he was just too nervous to do so.

With the blade in his hand, you would think he would want to fight, but he started to back away until his back hit the wall.

He looked to see what had stopped him, but when he looked back, the figure wasnt there anymore.

That was when he felt something touch his shoulder.

He knew what it was, that was why he didn’t look, trying to figure out something else… but it wasn’t going to wait.

It grabbed its chin, forcing him to look at it, to stare into the white glow, as his vision started to slowly get corrupted by it.

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