Chapter 273: The Tower’s Basement

It had been some time since he was alone…

It may not seem so, but it has.

Since the Tides really.

That long has passed.

…

After getting Eden and leaving to fight Denial, he got back to Layer 0, where you could say he spent some time alone, until he found Kael, but he didn’t really consider it as being alone, since that period of time lasted too little. If we counted every time a human wasn’t around him, there would just be no point.

And he spent a lot of time with Kael; he did have times where he was alone, but never fully. Then came the arena, where again, you could argue he was alone, but at the same time, he had many people with him. Just that none were on his side necessarily; they were neutral.

Then, after the arena, he met Kade, and they have been together ever since. Of course, there were times when they were apart, but he never did anything without him. He didn’t explore without the boy being with him, and he didn’t even do the job without him, even if he could have left him to work at the Inn while he did the escort.

…

Now, however, he had to explore alone… without any humans to talk to.

Well, you could say that the Abyss was with him.

’But who even counts that freak?”

“You know I can hear your thoughts, right?”

Aether rolled his eyes.

“Of course I know, I wouldn’t have thought that if you couldn’t.

The Abyss scoffed.

“Your insuferable, you know that? I cannot wait to get done with this so I can finally stop having to deal with your attitude. I hope you remember, but once this is done, I’m not helping you anymore.”

Aether didn’t respond; instead, he continued walking. Through the empty field.

It was amazing to think just how fast he had reached this place compared to when he was with the family…

But it might also be because he didn’t have to worry about a worm attacking him. Because he knew that damn beast was too lazy to attack him, knowing that not only would he fight back, he would fight until he died.

It won’t be long until the mountains, less than an hour if he had to say, and then that tower wasn’t that far away from what he remembered.

…

While he was walking, he suddenly noticed something.

A Lost.

“What the heck is it doing here?”

Was it the shadow of a human that had been eaten by the beast? But if that was the case, how had it gone out? After all, it was inside the stomach of a monster.

Speaking of it… the shadow that he had met in the Harbor… how had it known about the Tides being attacked… and more importantly, why did it want him to know about it.

Lost can hear things and remember; they are actually good at doing so, they have a good memory, but… one wouldn’t approach him and tell him this if it didn’t gain something out of it, or if it wasn’t related to its past.

…

So did the shadow belong to a guard… that had died in the Tides.

It explained its wish to tell him about the attack.

But then everything else suddenly didn’t make any sense at all.

After all, how the heck had a Lost gotten out of the Tides?

If it were so easy, then all the Lost inside the Tides would have gotten out, but they couldn’t, since it would be impossible to do so.

Like, it didn’t make any sense.

How the heck did a Lost beat Denial?

“Why do weird things keep happening?”

Hadn’t he already been through enough? Like, come on, he was getting tired of these things.

“Hey, you.”

The shadow turned to him, a little frightened and confused about how a human talked to it. It was a lowly Lost, one in the lowest point in the hierarchy. Nowhere near the guard, so how did they do almost the same thing?

That being said, getting out of the place where their master died when they shouldn’t have been able to do so.

“What was your master?”

It didn’t respond; it just stared at him, as his whole world had crumpled just in front of him. Had it been such a surprise that he could talk to it?

“Come on, speak, I can hear you, so don’t worry about that.”

…It did something… but it wasn’t speaking; instead, it ran away.

“Great…”

…

“Let’s just get to that tower.”

…

…

…

Night came, which normally wouldn’t be a good thing, for most that is, for him, however, it meant he was stronger, which was cool, just that he wasn’t fighting anything, so he didn’t need it necessarily, but neither was he going to turn it down.

He could sense how his reactions were faster; it made his heart burn with pleasure.

But what made him even happier was finally reaching the tower.

“Told you I’d be back.”

He smiled as he touched it to see if it was real. And indeed it was, it wasn’t just his imagination. He had reached it, and all in one day, that is, impressive, if he had to say.

… Actually, once he realized it, his speed had probably been lowered by a lot before, since not only was he with Kade but also the family, so that was six people his bane was punishing him with.

’Maybe being alone isn’t so bad.’

And yet, he did wish Kade were here with him. It was fun teasing the boy.

Aether opened the door to the tower.

Inside was only darkness, luckily, he could see what was inside with Eden… and there was nothing, like only a ladder that led up. Nothing else… but interestingly enough, there were things under, so there was somehow a basement, but he had no idea how to get there, since the ladder only led up, now down.

“Weird.”

He said, taking a step forward.

But as his feet touched the ground…

The whole floor broke down right beneath him, causing him to fall onto the ground in the basement.

Aether got up, wiping and coughing from the dust that had flown around as he landed.

’Well, I guess this is how to get to the basement.’

The ground beneath him wasn’t stone like above, but packed dirt. It was dry in some places, cracked slightly, while in others it looked darker, as if something had seeped into it long ago and never fully left. His steps left faint marks behind, the surface loose enough to shift under pressure but firm enough to hold shape.

It made him wonder even more who this tower belonged to, to have a trap on the first floor, where the entire floor collapsed with them. How did he even avoid it himself?

“Lunatic…”

The walls were rough, carved directly from the earth and reinforced in places with old stone. They weren’t smooth. Jagged edges and shallow cuts ran along them, like something had been dug out in a hurry rather than built with care.

Had he been on a timer, but from what? Was this whole thing just a trap, but for whom, and why?

Chains hung from those walls.

Thick. Rusted. Heavy enough that they barely moved, even when the air shifted. Some were fixed high, others lower, their ends ending in open cuffs or broken rings. The metal was dark, worn down by time, with faint stains along the links that hadn’t faded.

’So he wanted to get more than one person… was he even successful? These don’t really look warm… am I really the first to get trapped in this place?’

He frowned, a little embarrassed with himself.

He should have figured it out, I mean, he even knew the fact that there was something under.

Really disappointing from him.

Aether moved to touch one of them, but as he did, a hand came from the ground and grabbed him.

Luckily for him, being a scardy cat had done him good, as out of reflex, he swung his foot, breaking the hand that had grabbed him.

…

But that wasn’t the end. The hand became an arm, and then a head… rather a skull.

And it wasn’t the only one.

Skeletons were coming from the ground.

’This isn’t good!’

He summoned Voidpiercer, thrusting it into one before it could get out.

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Skeleton]

And then another, and another… but they kept coming out, the more he killed, the more that came.

“Just how many are there!”

…

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Skeleton]

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Skeleton]

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Skeleton]

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Skeleton]

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Skeleton]

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Skeleton]

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Skeleton]

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Skeleton]

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