Chapter 19: The Still River

Aether stood in front of the river, washing his body with the water. But it was harder than normal, since, of course, it wasn’t flowing. He had brought some towels from the cabin to dry his skin.

It wasn’t a slow process. But an annoying one, from trying to get the dirt and blood off, to then using the towel for the water. It took some time, yes, but not enough for him to dread. And after a while, he was done.

Interestingly enough, the once-blue water now had a hint of red inside.

It was mesmerizing to see how the world worked with time being frozen, and how much he missed it. It had turned out to be quite a pain recently.

After washing himself, Aether summoned his clock and went back into the cabin, where the odor of a dead animal infected the air.

He held his nose as he grabbed one of the garbage bags and put the animal inside. It was quite a treacherous process; the animal was quite large. And for some reason, which he didn’t get, it smelled.

’How is it still smelling if time is frozen?’

After the long task of getting it inside the bag, he dragged it with his small body over towards the river again and threw it in. Normally, the river would have flowed him far away, but since it wasn’t flowing at all, it would have to stay there until it did.

After getting done with another annoying task, he gave himself a break. Going back into the cabin and eating the leftover fish.

While eating, he noticed the weird gaze of the shadows.

He couldn’t figure out what it was, since it was hard to make something out of a completely black figure. But he saw that they had grown quite distent, almost scared. Today really was a weird day.

After getting rid of his hunger, he felt tired, so he lay back on the bottom bed of the bunk bed. But as his head touched the pillow, he felt something under.

He raised a brow before throwing it aside, revealing a wooden box.

He gave it a curious look. Before giving in and grabbing it, opening it slowly.

Inside were some photos of a little girl and someone who was probably her father.

Aether studied the pictures, and recognized he man as the fisherman.

“Just how old are these pictures?”

Meanwhile, he never figured out if aging was something possible; even if they seemed at least twenty years old in the picture, they could be thousands of years old. It was quite fascinating.

He wanted to ask the man about them, to get more answers, maybe even some information about his child. But sadly, that wasn’t possible anymore.

He sighed, lying down on the bed.

That is a problem for his future. Present Aether was too tired to think too much of it. And with that, he let his mind fall into the world of dreams… did dreams even exist if time if frozen, they should, right? I mean, why shouldn’t they? It all happens inside your head.

[…]

As his eyelids opened, he got right to work, summoning his cloak and leaving the cabin.

Today was the day of his departure, the day he was going to leave everything that had happened behind him. He had been stuck on the second step for a while now, and he still didn’t have even a little idea of how to get out of this story.

Before leaving, he grabbed some of the remaining fish and departed. On the other side of the cabin, opposite the river, was a great forest, one filled with shadows. Normally, he would be very happy to see them, but with his affinity gone, he didn’t get anything from entering them like he did before.

But it wasn’t like he was scared. Animals were frozen, so nothing could harm him along the way. Only humans, but he had hope that there were none inside.

Walking through the endless forest, he couldn’t get his mind off one thing: his skill.

He had tried using it, but when he did, a white mask appeared in his hand. With two wholes shaped exactly for his eyes, under both of them, was painted a tear for the left side, and a star for the right.

The mouth was also weird; some of it was curling up, and the other was down. It was as if one was having the time of their life, and the other was dreading each of its decisions. It reminded him of himself a little.

It was a weird mask, but from its description, it is to be expected. It also didn’t really do anything. Or at least from what he knew, it didn’t do anything. So it was quite a disappointment.

He was also a little annoyed that while they changed his path and gave him an ability, they just restricted his affinity, and didn’t give him another one instead. Maybe it could have actually done something helpful.

After wondering for a while, he grew tired, but the forest still extended way beyond his vision. He rested on a tree and let himself rest.

A moment later, another figure approached him. With its blond hair and striking blue eyes, it observed him. And Aether did the same.

“I see your back? Weren’t you supposed to disappear with my affinity?”

Aether smiled mockingly while crossing his arms at the figure, whom he recognized to be himself.

The other laughed back at him and put their arms behind themselves as they leaned inches from Aether’s face.

“Why should I? I’m you, not some forgotten god.”

Aether sighed.

Of course it was. He knew that very well. But not because it was telling the truth. No, it was definitely lying. He realized this after Clarise’s death that the dreams and the other him were part of the abyss, and appeared because his mental fortitude had dropped far enough for it to take action.

So it was, in fact, not part of him. Just pretending to be. But if so, how was it here?

It was quite simple. And pretty stupid, almost stupidly funny.

It was a dream, after all, why would I not be here?

[…]

Aether flinched as he awakened. He was sitting in the top bed of the double bed. Pinching his cheeks to see if this was also a dream. It was not.

Well, at least one of his dumb and obvious questions was answered; you can dream.

But not back to reality, he felt a disturbance twisted up from his stomach, like something crawling the wrong way.

He sighed, jumped out of his bed, and went into the living room. There was no smell, none at all. After all, in a frozen world, how could there be smell?

But in the middle of the room, a corpse resided. Not one of a dead animal, but one of a human.

The corpse belonged to someone he knew.

It was the dead body of the fisherman.

“Damn it…”

With that, he grabbed a trash bag, just like in his dream, and stuffed the body inside, holding himself from vomiting.

Normally, dead bodies weren’t disgusting to him, but after getting to know the man quite well, he couldn’t say he didn’t feel sad about his death.

“May he rest in peace.”

After a lot of trial and error, he had stuffed the whole body inside. And with his little body, he tried dragging it, but to no avail. He was too weak to do so. But he wasn’t going to let the body inside; he didn’t want to see it every day. So he struggled, and after a lot of time, not that time matters, he pushed the bag inside the river, letting it hover over as it stayed in place.

He took a deep breath, exhausted, before leaving the dead man behind him and going inside his home to eat his food.

He was like a rat clawing at the work of others after biting them from behind.

He stayed there, eating the fish, with a calm expression on his face. As if nothing had happened. That was because for him, nothing really had happened; he made himself not realize what had happened. He didn’t want to.

Before, each of the one he killed, he had a reason. Either for survival, money, or just his own wicked needs for vengeance. But for the man, there was none, none at all.

After finishing his dinner, he wiped his face with a firm cloth, one stained with blood.

The very same crimson blood that belonged to the wise and gentle fisherman.

The same person he had person he had killed with his own two hands.

He wanted to say he had to kill him. But really, he knew it was a lie. He over-exaggerated, he panicked, and buried his hands into his neck, strangling him to death.

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