It hurt, it really did hurt.

He didn’t know why, but the scratch stung like crazy, as if he had knives cutting through his skin constantly. And for whatever reason, he could only feel himself getting more and more angry with each sting.

Lifting up his shirt again, he looked at the bandage that had turned red from blood flowing out.

The scratch wasn’t human; it was a lot bigger than any human could inflict, so he had no idea what had caused it, since the figure in his dream looked to be human by what he could see through Eden, so if it wasn’t, then what?

…

He gritted his teeth, getting out of his bed, which had made his wound hurt even more. He had told Kael about it, and he had told him to stay in bed to heal. He had also been the one to wrap his wounds.

But he didn’t want to, he didn’t want to sit in bed all day, he had already been sick and stood in bed enough then, this time he wasn’t going to do so.

And plus, he had a job to do, didn’t he?

Running out of his room, he didn’t even look around to see if the old man was around, just dashing out of the dojo.

He could hear Kael call out to him to come back and ask him what he was doing, but he wasn’t; he had something he had to do.

…

The waterfall stood with all its might in front of him, not scared of a lowly human. Images from the night filled up his mind, the reddened sky and the water.

This place had to be cursed, and he meant it literally; this place wasn’t normal… it was the first to make him scared in a while.

…

But that was until now; he was done being scared.

Didn’t he say he was done with running away after fighting Denial?

Clenching his fists, he went inside the cave, feeling the cold water flow down his spine. He summoned Voidpiercer, the blade’s presence silencing any shadow that was around them. And he carved another mark on the wall, signaling that the second day had started. Yet this time, the line was rougher, sharper.

Outside, he didn’t go to where he had meditated yesterday; instead, he went right into the waterfall, feeling the water pouring over his head, with enough force to move it slightly.

But he didn’t care.

Mediating didn’t work, but if Kael was so sure it did, maybe it was his fault, that he wasn’t close enough to it to hear the water pour and to feel its presence around him.

Well, now he did; he felt its presence on him.

Taking the same stance as yesterday, he deactivated Eden, letting himself fall into the darkness once more.

But what if someone was watching him? What if the invisible figure came back? He couldn’t see it without Eden.

‘I don’t care… let them watch, they just better not be here when I open them.’

…

He didn’t move a muscle, he stood exactly like he had done at the start, the only movements coming from his was him breathing… so with this concentration you would expect to work. But no, he felt nothing. Heck, he felt worse than before.

And worst of all, he was getting tired for whatever reason.

…

Almost as if something was sucking him in…

…

When Aether opened his eyes, he found himself on a giant boat.

He didn’t even get to look around, as the smell of salt and wet wood filled his throat and lungs, making him cough slightly. The air was also cold, freezing his body from the inside. His eyes snapped around, and what greeted him was nothing like the waterfall that he had been expecting.

He was on a ship.

Not a small one, like the one from his dream, no, this one had a deck that stretched wide beneath his feet, with planks slick with water from the ocean, swaying greatly as the vessel climbed and dropped on the angry waves that hit them. Tall wooden marts rose into the sky, almost as if they were trying to pierce the sky. Their sails were torn, almost as if the wind itself had cut them. Ropes lashed and strained; some were already torn loose.

The sky was black, almost as if it had gotten completely consumed by darkness, clouds folding over each other with lightning splitting them in two. And when lightning is around, thunder is also here, shaking the ship below that stud under him.

People were everywhere.

Men and women ran across the giant deck, shouting constantly; it almost reminded him of the Marketplace. Some hauled the ropes; he could see the raw desperation in their eyes, trying their best to survive the storm that was upon them. Others hammered at broken planks, trying their best to help others, and more importantly, themselves survive. But water poured in faster than they could stop it.

Aether staggered as the skip shook violently. He had been lucky to have become an Echo after Frozen Crown, since if he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have had the reflexes to catch himself on the rails.

He felt his heart slam his ribs, maybe even bruising them…

A massive wave rose ahead of the ship, and many fell to their knees seeing it. Like a moving wall coming for them. Shouts turned into screams as the bow slammed into it, water falling everywhere across the deck, with enough force that it had pushed some of the boat into the sea.

He had been knocked down on the floor, slamming his head on the hardwood, and gliding across many planks until he crashed into a coil of ropes.

The pain flared in his side; it wasn’t something he was used to, pain. But it wasn’t like he enjoyed it; even if he was used to it, it still hurt a lot.

But he knew standing down wasn’t a good idea, so he got up, feeling a deep pain inside his head.

Yet, he barely had time to react before another wave struck. He dropped to one knee, pressing all his weight against a loose board as water surged beneath it. His arms were screaming at him in pain as he gritted his teeth.

‘Where the heck am I?’

He hissed. Just moments ago, he was at the waterfall, not being able to meditate at all, even as much as he tried, and yet now he was standing in the middle of the sea while a great storm was going on.

He had thought that this was a dream, but he felt every little bit of the pain. So was it really just a dream, or reality?

But how?

‘Damn it!’ He knew this damn waterfall was cursed, and he had been more than right. From the invisible figure that appeared in the cave, to his dream, and now this. Made him wonder how Kael even knew of this wicked place.

If he had to guess, this was Anger’s fault, after all, if Denial was able to make him rewatch his memories, and make him live alternative worlds of moments in his life, important moments. Then why couldn’t Anger do something like this? But why? For what did this help him?

Denial was doing it since it made him deny the truth; it made him run away from it. Exactly what it wanted to make him go insane. But what was this doing? Did it want to make him Angry… since it was working, but at the same time, it would have made him angry either way, so then why did he pick this? What did it do that others didn’t?

And why hadn’t it chosen a memory instead, like Denial always did?

He clenched his fists as a small smirk curled up at his lips.

‘And more importantly… did he think I would be staying?’

He said, summoning Voidpiercer.

At this point, this blade had crushed the world of many, both literally, in the sense of Denial, and metaphorically for everyone that he had killed or crushed the dreams of.

It was worthy of its title, as no illusion was going to be able to stand in its way.

And this one was in no way an exception; if he was going to enjoy crushing it, it did make him wonder if it was also going to crush whatever curse had been put on the damn waterfall. Though that might have been slightly stretched.

He didn’t know if it had that kind of power… he wasn’t doubting it, he just… didn’t believe it could, which was doubting it.

His grip tightened as he took his momentum and threw it at the dark sky. Ready to destroy the world and go back to the dojo.

…

…

…

The sound of the blade falling to the ground echoed in his head.

He stared in awe, in terror, as he realized that… the blade had failed.

…

“What?”

Aether asked, bewildered, as another wave seemed to be coming.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep