Aether breathing was heavy; he gripped his chest, almost as if he was having a heart attack, but looking around, everything was normal. He was inside the Infinite Library with the party that his father had assigned to him, so they could help him clear books.

He didn’t need the sync anymore, but some of the members still needed a little more before they could challenge their trials, meaning he was going to help them, so they would help him with the Trial. Plus, maybe he could get some more shards, and maybe… even some relics!

Yet, even with everything normal… why did he have a faint memory of… wait, what was he talking about again? A being made out of pure light.

Something like that Can’t exist.

I mean, it made no sense, even if it felt as if it was, he was sure it was just… a hallucination.

Either way, he needed to find a fitting book.

‘One not too hard, since we don’t want to waste essence, but at the same time one that gave us enough.’

One of his party members ran up to him with a book.

Aether tilted his head as he picked it up. The book was a Reader Echo, so it wasnt that hard to beat, even more when you had five people who were almost all at the Enlightenment level. But funny enough, the enemies inside this book were stronger than the ones inside his Trial.

Really, he didn’t get the rules of the Codex sometimes.

I mean, he got them. They were supposed to make the reader redeem their sins, but still, wasnt it unfair that some got Seeker Fragment books as he had, and some got something absurd like a Seeker Titan, I mean, how was a Reader even supposed to be able to clear that?

It was ironic that both ended up in the same spot, really. He had heard stories of how it feels to ascend, for the Codex to assess your actions to create your path, since it’s mostly created after what you do inside the Trial, since it’s like becoming someone new after redeeming your past self.

Not many, though, about it in this way, but ascending in class is just… rebirth.

You are killing your past self and becoming someone new.

He wondered how ranking up was; he wasnt even close to doing so, but it was something he wanted to know. How did it feel? What did it mean…

“Since ascension meant rebirth, what did ranking up mean?”

“From what I heard its letting go of your humanity.”

Aether’s curiosity perked up at the comment of one of his friends. He looked towards him with a gaze that was evidently saying to explain what he had just said.

The one who had talked was a young man, from what he had heard, his name was Riven, he had come all the way here from a place inside the neighboring kingdom, from what he remembered, it was called…

…

…

“The Withered?”

…

Why did that name feel familiar, I mean, he of course had heard of it, from Riven, but why did it feel as if… he had some sort of connection to that place?

But before he could dwell on that feeling, the boy spoke up again.

“From what I’ve heard and figured, by ranking up, you get rid of your human self, to in the end create a vessel to accept godhood.

‘Ah… I see… scary.’

He smiled back at Riven, thanking him for his explanation before continuing to look at the book another member had given him.

Her name was Lyra from what he told him…

Which again… their names felt… familiar, but not because they were members of his party, but for another reason he didn’t get. Plus, she was also from that place, which made things even weirder.

Yet, he shrugged his shoulders, looking back at the book.

From what he could see, it was about a lonely boy who had unfortunately had to see his own mother die. It was sad, really, since he also had his mother die, not in front of him, but still, he related to the boy.

It was just that he wasnt alone.

This boy had wandered alone for a while before he was killed by bandits, but instead of dying, he had opened his eyelids in a different place, one that looked as if it was underwater, yet there was no water in the air. It was weird.

The boy had made his way to the city, but he felt as if something was following him. He had tried to get the being who was following him to show itself, but in vain.

He had really gotten crazy from trying to get it to reveal its identity.

So he hid inside a building, that way the only way it could follow him was by walking inside with him, and showing who it was.

…

He waited and waited until it finally revealed itself.

When the door opened, a being made of pure white light stood in the doorway. As much as he stared, it didnt seem to have a face… then the book ended.

“Crazy… what a book.”

…

“Wait, how am I reading a book without entering it?”

He looked back up to see that everyone around him was gone, and that the sky inside the Infinite Library had seemed to have stopped working, and it wasn’t just that, the endless clear sky was consumed by darkness, it had turned night.

Something completely unheard of.

Aether put the book on a shelf before starting to look around. It was weird, but he wasnt… scared. I mean, why should he be? What could harm him in this place?

As he looked around, he saw that strangely the shadows had begun to have… physical forms, wandering around as if they were human beings, they stopped to look at him, to laugh, and then leave. It was strange, and he felt… as if he could talk to them. Even if he knew he couldn’t.

‘Alright… nothing that is happening seems normal… I should just leave.’

And yet… as he tried to leave the Library, he couldn’t, he couldn’t go back to the real world, something or someone was trapping him inside, it wanted him to be here, but for what, and how was it able to do it.

And then he was it, a white being made out of pure light, standing in front of it. It didn’t have a face, and if he thought about it… the being looked almost the same as the one described in the book. Which… couldn’t be posible a monster can’t escape the book it was inside. And definitely not one from a Reader Echo book, I mean, that was absurd.

Aether had wanted to step away, but he found himself unable to. He looked behind him at his feet, but there wasn’t anything binding him, stopping him from moving… but himself.

But… he wasn’t scared….

…

…

Well… maybe a little.

Aether stared into the white light, as it seemed, by what he could guess, to be staring back.

And yet, it suddenly pointed at his arm, which had nothing on it. Another strange and pointless act it did.

Aether swallowed as the being started to point to his arm now.

But why, I mean, there was nothing wrong with his arm.

Yet, as he looked to see… he found his arm to be covered in a black mark, one that seemed to be caused by some chains that had burned his arm by what he could try and guess.

He felt his eyes tremble at the sight… this couldn’t be real, it wasn’t here just a moment ago, so how was it here?

It couldn’t be real!

Yet at the same time, there was this weird, faint hint of familiarity when he looked at it, the same one he had gotten from Riven and Lyra and their weird home.

He had no idea what was happening. After all, he was just trying to find a book, and suddenly this was all happening, but he knew it had to be related to this being; it had to, there was no other way.

Aether’s heart suddenly shot up as he heard the being move towards him.

He tried to back away, but just like his last attempt, he couldn’t.

“Wait, stay away!” Aether screamed at the white being, but it didn’t seem to hear him.

As it slowly got closer, shadows began to watch, laughing, mocking him. He hated how their voices felt so familiar, like he was used to them, to their jokes and mockery, even if this was the first time he had ever heard of them, or at least the first time he was aware of.

Suddenly, as he wasnt paying attention, 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.

…

…

…

“But… why does this feel so familiar?”

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