Aether was staring at nothing, almost as if his mind didn’t understand what was happening. He touched his chin, a faint memory of a being touching it ringing in his mind. But why did it feel so blurry, like his own mind was trying to hide it from him?

“Aether, are you done spacing out?”

He shook his head, coming back to his senses, as he looked at the old women that had called out to him. Her amber eyes and hair radinated autumm, the feeling of leaves falling from trees, and everything turning into the colors of autumn.

He jerked up, shaking his head to come back to his senses. After all, he and his master had an important mission. To surprise a family with some needed money.

It had been a long time since he decided to come to the Withered. His father was very happy when he heard that he wanted to come to this place, so that he could help others in need.

The Withered was poor, yet the people here were very educated, killing was unheard of, and it was considered one of the most innocent places on the whole earth. Sadly, it was said that Praise had not blessed this place yet, so he had decided to do it himself.

He was the living Vessel of Praise after all, who else could do it if not him?

When he had first arrived, he had met this old woman called Clarisse, who was nice enough to take him under her wing, to give him a place to stay, and help him with helping people inside this wonderful place.

Today, they had decided to give back to the merchants who constantly provided relics and stuff for both the Withered and the Blue Rose. After all, it wasnt easy to get these relics and to sell them at such a low price for the Withered compared to the Blue Rose; it was obvious they cared for their home and people. Trying to help eachother.

It was not the first time he had done this, giving back to merchants, and every time he looked at their faces after he gave them the money, that happy smile… it was enough for him.

He enjoyed giving more than taking. He just… did.

He and he walked through the streets of the Withered, greeting people as they walked past them in the gaze of the sun. It never rained in this place; it was almost as if the sun never wanted to leave their side. It was weird.

As they reached the Marketplace, he and Clarisse split up so they could get to as many.

Aether approached a merchant and threw him a twenty silver coin, which was in no way small. To give someone this much money for nothing, it was unheard of, even more for free. And I mean in the Withered, using twenty silvers was probably common in the Blue Rose.

But either way. He loved the face of the merchant light up after seeing the money. Him questioning if it was for him, and for what in exchange.

He loved this place… where no one killed, no one stole, where everyone was grateful for what they had… it was amazing.

Aether shook the hand of the merche-

…

…

Aether froze for a second, as with the corner of his eyes, he noticed something on his arm, a mark, a mark that, by what he saw, seemed to be left by some chains.

“Why… why do I feel like I’ve seen it before?”

But he couldn’t have, after all, he would have remembered getting a mark like this.

He looked back at the merchant, but he wasn’t there anymore.

Aether raised one of his eyebrows in confusion.

He looked around, seeing that the sun had left them, and the sky had become corrupted by darkness… and was this rain falling onto his skin? But how, why? It never rained inside the Withered, so why was this happening?

…

He walked to the city, seeing the hateful gaze of the people…

‘Something isnt right…’

Aether bit his lip, realizing something very strange was happening; none of this was normal, none of this was possible. He was in absolute denial.

And all of a sudden, he started to feel a powerful pain coming from his arm. The same arm with the mark.

Aether fell to the ground in pain, clenching his arm with his other hand… he screamed, rolling around and trying to dim the pain, but in vain.

Around him, he watched as shadows gathered to watch him in agony.

How… how were they moving, and why did they seem to have physical forms…

And what were these voices talking inside his mind, why were there so many… why couldn’t they shut up.

Really, he couldn’t decide which was worst, the pain coming from his mark, the pain that had caused him to fall to the fall as he screamed, or the many voices talking inside his mind, making him go insane.

He didn’t understand why this was all happening all of a sudden.

Before, he was giving back to the merchants with Clarisse, and now, now he was in complete agony. With the only things to watch being the shadows. And they werent even trying to help him… they just laughed in his face.

…

He… he hated their gazes, he hated their smiles, their laughs… he wanted to destroy them, to….

kill them.

How dare they laugh at him? How dare they…

…

Wait, why was he saying all of this… this… wasn’t like him.

…

…

As he blinked, he found himself in his castle, looking in a mirror; he was a lot smaller than before. He was a child, again…

Yet… the castle wasn’t like he remembered; it was dark, and he couldn’t see anything outside the windows, like he was stuck inside the void.

And worst of all, his father had left today, so he was left all alone in the castle… his father had a lot of trust in him; even if he was really young, he knew he could handle himself, even if he was only eight. But still, it was scary being all alone while the castle was in complete darkness.

…

He was also quite hungry… so he decided to walk out of his room, into the giant hallway, which was empty… with raging thunder going outside…. but how… while he was in his room, there wasn’t a thunderstorm…

…

Or was there? He didn’t remember.

Either way… he was scared… scared of moving inside the darkness, so he waited, for it to thunder, that way he could move in that small fraction of time where there was light.

His steps were small, to the point he was hardly making any progress… he was scared, that was easy to see. But at the same time, you never know what is hiding in these wicked shadows.

….

Aether continued to walk for, not expecting, that when thunder hit, the hallway would light up, for a being to suddenly appear.

He stopped in his tracks, paling, frozen in place.

In the darkness, something started to glow. His eyes traced over the lines of the light, realizing they made a human frame, a being made out of pure light, without a face.

…

This wasn’t real; this was all a dream of his. It couldn’t be happening; this being wasn’t real, it was just another hallucination of his. It was due to the lack of his sleep; it wasn’t real, just his emotions taking over his mind. It was just his fear trying to scare him.

…

It wasnt real…

…

The being slowly started to come closer, with each time it thundered, freezing in place, yet closer, each time it got closer and closer.

Seeing this, Aether realized he had to decide if he was going to let it come to him or if he was going to move while it was dark; that was the only way he could keep the distance.

He bit his lip, and when the light from the thunder dimmed, he moved; he finally moved, he couldn’t see anything, but he was moving. He didn’t know where, or for how long… but what mattered was that he did it.

After he considered he had gotten enough distance, he looked back, and when the light came, he realized it wasn’t there anymore… he had done it, he had escaped.

His face lit up in a smile as he looked back in front.

…

Where it saw it standing right in front of him.

He froze in place as 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.

…

…

Aether put his small hands onto its hand, trying to take it away from his chin…

“I… I remember who you are, you bastard… I know you’re real…”

…

…

“In the next run… I won’t deny your existence anymore…”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep