Chapter 251: Whispers of the Lost

The wheels rolled through pebbles, uphill towards the sun, the card slowly rose, while the mighty horses stood in front, climbing up with all their strength.

Looking in the distance, you wouldn’t expect that this place was filled with monsters.

The air was cold so high up, but at the same time, the view was worth it, how the sun gently showed itself to them, it felt… unreal, this whole place.

The grass was so vibrant, as if it were from a story, and the sky was so blue you would think it had been painted, with little clouds drawn.

It was like a drawing made by a child.

The sound of birds singing had woken him up; it reminded him of his childhood.

Looking around in the cart, Aether noticed Kade sleeping, his head resting on his shoulder, drooling slightly on his mantle, but he didn’t mind it; after all, it couldn’t be dirtied as much as the boy tried.

There were two other men inside the car, looking at the road in front of them. They were older than them, but they weren’t old, probably in their prime, actually.

Two horses carried them, mighty and beautiful, one black, and the other white. Each had a rider, yet they didn’t feel the need to get them off; they didn’t chase freedom. This was their freedom.

“You awakened. How was your sleep?” One of the men said, gently smiling at Aether.

Taking a glance at Kade, he smiled.

“I slept well.”

A short response, he didn’t have the energy to make something else up.

“I see that’s good. Your friend is still sound asleep, though.”

Aether nooded. “But, if I may ask, how much longer do we have?”

The man leaned against the edge of the cart, trying to look at the path in front of him. “I think we’ll reach it tomorrow in the morning; we still have to get through the mushroom forest.”

A forest of mushrooms… how interesting, he hasn’t seen something like that before, so he was interested in seeing it.

Everything was calm… and yet…

“You know you’ve got an interesting pair of eyes, one blue, and the other pure black… it makes me wonder about the story, and how much someone would pay to get a black eye.” The man smiled gently… but Aether felt something in that smile, something darker.

Aether put his finger near his eye. His black eye, he had almost forgotten about it, truly. He had, of course, gotten it from using partial control, and because the Abyss was helping him, once this stopped, it would be gone. But no one else knew that, and how could they? So he got it while they might be interested in it… But this man’s curiosity… felt different.

“Its… just how I was born, I don’t know where it came from…”

The man laughed.

“I guess it makes you special, be proud, many would want something like it…”

…

…

…

Hours passed, and they entered the mushroom forest.

Truly, a strange sight.

There were millions of them inside this forest, if he had to say. He had expected something else, a forest with trees, and many small mushrooms.

But no… the mushrooms themselves were the trees.

The stem of one of these mushrooms was gigantic, double his size sometimes, and the cap was like a roof that covered them from the sun. The head of the mushroom came in many colors, from red to blue, but the one that was seen the most was this light purple.

And it wasn’t just the mushrooms that were different from a normal forest, the grass too, it was an unusual color, a blue like a saturated diamond, with many flowers blooming inside of it.

It was… a beautiful sight, as the light touched them through cracks, showing its purple clothes.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

The man asked him.

Aether didn’t respond, he just nooded, looking at the stem of a mushroom… where he noticed some red stains on the white color, and it wasn’t the only one, many of them had these stains… but why… and only the stem, why not any other part.

“I… I’ve never seen something like this before…” Kade responded. The boy had awakened just as they entered the forest. He must be shocked, after all, he had lived all his life in the lowest island of Veyr, there was nothing close to this on that island, maybe if you were to venture deep, deeper than he had, but for someone like him…

“I’ve been here many times, and yet I never got used to it… each time I go through this place… something feels in my heart… a deep hunger, happiness… and many more emotions can’t describe… if you guys want, we can take a break, I’m sure the horses would be grateful.”

Aether sighed… he didn’t want to take a break, but he knew that the horses did need one, so he accepted, and Kade wasn’t against it at all, since it allowed him to adventure in the forest.

So in the end, they decided to make a break, the horses stopped to rest, and they sat around a small campfire.

One of the man approched Kade. “You know, kid, I know this place quite well. I can show you around if you want.

Kade’s eyes lit up as he heard that.

“Really?”

The man nodded his head. “Head, come on, we’ve got nothing better to do.”

Kade quietly stood up, ready to leave, but before, he looked at Aether. “You coming?”

But Aether just waved him off. “I’m fine, go without me…”

Kade shrugged and went with the man in the forest.

…

He also wanted to explore this beautiful place… but he just felt something was wrong, and he wanted to figure it out.

His gut was screaming to him that he was missing something; it was like that time in the arena, and this time the Abyss wasn’t saying anything…

Aether looked at the man who remained with him, seeing as they laughed among each other… yet their laughs felt off, they were…

Looking around… Aether noticed something near a mushroom, one that was also stained slightly, a knife.

Looking back at the man, Aether squinted his eyes.

“Do animals live in this place, or monsters?”

One of the men turned to him, a little surprised.

“No, why?”

…

“I see, I get it.”

Aether stood up before summoning his blade.

“Shit, he figured it out, just kill him and steal everything, just be careful not to damage that black eye.”

This place… he should have known… it was secluded, hard to see with the giant mushrooms, so of course it would be a perfect place for killing. And why would anyone want to take someone else with them when they had to wait for their turn to leave?

It all made sense now.

These guys were bandits.

The three of them stood up, taking their knives out.

’What’s their rank and class?’ Aether asked, looking behind his shoulder, where the Abyss was standing with his arms crossed.

“These guys? They hardly have anypower, it would be disrespectful to give them the Reader Fragment rank, but since their charcters in a story, that is their rank… but if I had to say, they are as strong as an dormant human.

…

Aether grinned. He was outnumbered, that was true… and yet, in this fight, he still had the advantage.

He didn’t move, even when the man attacked him, even when the first knife touched him, he didn’t move.

…

“W-what?” One of the man said, looking at their damaged knife.

For a normal blade wielded by an unawakened to get through an armor with the protection qualities of a seeker rank… this was bound to happen. In no way would the armor be penetrated by the knife.

Aether raised his blade, thrusting it into the head of one of the men.

[You hav-]

“Shit! Run away.”

One of the men yelled out, but before he could, his body fell to the ground dead, as he slowly took Voidpiercer out of his chest. Only one remained, falling on his knees in fear.

Aether walked forward to him.

“Consider this revenge for all those you’ve killed,” Aether said, ready to thrust.

But the words of the man stopped him; his laughter made him want to vomit.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

…

He froze…

’Kade…’

The boy had gone with one of them…

’Damn it.’ They knew what they were doing, taking them apart from each other.

…

“Come on, kill me, waste more time, I implore you. That boy is going to die with me if you don’t rush to him now.”

Aether bit his lip. He needed to make a decision, and now, the man had probably heard the cry of his friends, and was probably preparing to kill the boy… and while he wouldn’t take long to kill this guy… every second was important… but if he left him go, he might come back with stronger people…

…

It was a tough decision.

…

…

…

Deep inside the forest, Kade was resting against a mushroom, breathing heavily from a wound in his stomach.

The man knelt in front of him, bringing his knife to his neck, even cutting him slightly.

“A beautiful place, am I right… perfect to die in… last words?”

Was he really going to die now? He hasn’t even done anything… his brother had gone with honor in the arena and had died there with honor, but what had he done, he had left saying he would save them… and he hasn’t done anything… he was stupid, really stupid. He couldn’t even see through this small trap.

Aether probably knew this… which was why he had denied coming… he was also probably testing him.

He had failed him…

’Fuck you…’ He had closed his eyes.

…

…

…

“Get up.”

Kade opened his eyes to see Aether standing in front of him, with the man’s body on the ground, bleeding heavily.

Aether’s mantle seemed untouched, and yet the boy’s face had been stained in blood.

Kade gritted his teeth, holding back his tears.

…

“I’m sorry…” He clenched his fists… “You know… I really want to get stronger… I want to be able to protect myself…”

Kade looked up at Aether, a small tear escaping. “I must really be an inconvenience to you, huh?”

…

He was. After all, he had to spend money on himself too; it was also the reason they didn’t have any now, if he were alone, he would have half. But… at the same time.

“It doesn’t matter, I said I’ll take you, and train you, to protect you… and its my responsibility to do that.”

…

…

…

[You have gained a new skill {Whispers of the Lost}]

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