Chapter 57: A Glance of Bloodlust

In a story without time, does the time spent in the story still correspond with time outside it?

Aether took a bite out of his apple, grabbing his chin as he thought about it.

He has been inside this book for around five months now, which has been a hassle; it was very tiring, having to convince people to give up everything in their lives, even themselves. Normally, five months would have also passed in real life.

But those five months in Frozen Crown haven’t really passed; it was actually… quite complicated. Because if you think of it normally, it’s five months, but if you think that time being frozen has an effect, then not even a day has passed.

But he has also spent time in zones where time worked, even if outside them it didn’t. It was already hard to understand how the two could coexist, but to compare it to time in real life. Their hut has working time, since their Sun had already grown big enough to even reach the hole in the ceiling, and the hut was in no way short. While it wasn’t wide, it was tall.

He spent most of his time there, so had two… three months passed?

Before realizing it, he had already finished his apple, tossing it aside.

It was impossible to tell; he would have to wait until he was out to say how much time had passed in the real world.

The thing was, that day was still far away, but they were also getting better at manipulating people, and so they were getting a lot more people. Rumors even started spreading, and while others were against it, some actually came and donated themselves to the cause, which was very helpful.

So while things were going slowly, it would only get faster, hopefully.

Today, they were taking a break, as their supplies were getting low, and so Aether and Elpis were going around getting more. But actually buying them this time, as if they stole, one mistake could mean that they were out of the Rings, and would have to start everything again, just that in a place with a lot less people density-wise.

The main thing they searched for was food. And while the stands were filled with actually cooked food, they were searching for the raw meat and other things that weren’t gotten from the time zones in the outskirts.

But it was quite hard, since the Rings had really taken a liking to actual food, fruit, and vegetables, which were being grown in places that Abysal creatures used to roam.

The reason they didn’t want to buy them was that they were a lot more expensive. And while they were able to get money from their sacrifices, like Aether did with his game, they didn’t want to waste it.

And since they had a place where time worked, and a flame that they could start whenever they wanted, it would have been dumb to buy food made by others in time zones when they could do it themselves.

Also, the time zones on the outskirts could still have some Abyssal influence in them, so it was better to be safe than sorry.

There was also the fact that some people didn’t want to sell to them, because of those very same rumors. It was also not hard to notice a knight with silver hair and eyes, and a cloaked figure, wearing a terrifying mask.

They even sent Avrie to do it sometimes, since no one knew she was part of it, but she was busy with the Sun most of the time; he didn’t know what she was doing, after all, could something even happen? He didn’t think it could explode or stop working, so why did she insist on keeping watch on it?

…

She knew more than he did, so he shouldn’t question her. If she insisted on watching over it, why was he even complaining? He could never see her do what they did. She could never kill someone, no matter if she wasn’t the one actually finishing them.

But while he was fine with her not coming,

…

did she have to send the cat with them?

Aether frowned, looking at the feline. He still hadn’t forgiven it for scratching his face that day. It also looked at him weirdly, as it wanted to kill him. It hurt his pride slightly.

He didn’t like it one bit, how it looked at him, its attitude, everything…

but wasn’t that also what he didn’t like about Elpis at first?

It made his eyes widen slightly, as he never thought about how much his relationship with Elpis had changed. They hated each other, they challenged each other’s pride and honor, they teased the other, trying to get them riled up.

But now, they were quite close, not in that they were friend, but they were close. They respected each other, they had trust in the other, but he couldn’t say they were friends.

He wasn’t on the same level as Avrie; it would be insulting if he compared his relationship with Elpis to hers. They had grown together and shared a deep connection. But he did try to think that he knew Elpis quite well.

Well enough to know when he was anxious.

His eyes narrowed, looking at Elpis. His hand looked sweaty, and he was walking faster than normal. Not even looking back to see if he was still there, as he always did. Which was strange.

His eyes narrowed further as his eyebrows came down. Pausing in his place.

“Is there something wrong?”

Elpis turned around, slowly, as he clenched his fists, but he couldn’t grip tightly, as his hands slipped from the sweat.

“Everything is fine, why would you ask that?”

Aether scoffed, not trying to seem gentle; he wanted Elpis to know that he knew something was up, that way he didn’t dare try to evade the question.

“Why? Are you really asking that question?”

He rolled his eyes.

“I don’t know, maybe because you keep looking around like you are trying to look for someone. You’re also walking much faster, and you can hardly even clench your fists. Don’t lie.”

Elpis’s brows raised, surprised that he could figure everything out. He knew that the Fool was very observant, even more when he kept quiet, but he never thought he could see the flaws in his disguise. To know them, then he must have learned how he normally acted, which was hard to do in five months.

It was impressive, but annoying in this situation.

He bit his lip.

“There might be something, but it’s not something that you could help with. Actually, neither me nor Avrie. So don’t worry about it, it doesn’t affect you.”

Aether continued to stare, suspicious of his response. But decided not to continue asking, knowing it had to be something personal. It was also his way of repaying Elpis for helping him out of Avrie’s questioning.

So they continued walking, but he occasionally stole glances in the direction he was looking, but he never found anything. Just merchants and stands, but he knew that he couldn’t be looking at the products they were selling, after all, in their whole visit, he had been the only one who had even bought something.

But as he was looking around, he suddenly bumped into Elpis, who had stopped moving, and fell down on the floor.

“What the hell, why did you sto-”

Aether froze slightly, swallowing, as he saw Elpis’s hand shaking. It had been a long time since he saw the knight do something like this, the last time being when he died by the hands… well, actually tail of that monster.

He got up on his feet, peaking from the side.

Where he saw a man, towering over both of them. His hair was long, falling deep below his shoulder, some of it even getting to his chest, and strangely, it was the same blessed silver that Elpis had. The silver that looked to be from a sword crafted by a god.

His eyes were also silver, but while Elpis’s usually held his conviction and honor, giving hope to whoever was in need of a saviour. The figures were different; they gave a weird feeling, but he didn’t know how to describe it. It made him tremble, like he was a rabbit being hunted.

If there was one word close to what he was feeling from them, it would be bloodlust.

Which was weird, as he had a cocky smile on his pale face.

He was wearing a black suit, which gave him a formal and confident feeling. With a red tie which he reglected from time to time.

He looked at Elpis, almost laughing to himself, before moving past him, even brushing shoulders with the knight, and walking past both of them.

But he did pause for a second, stealing Aether a glance too.

He wanted to say something, he wanted to ask who he was, to have the ability to make Elpis tremble. But no word would come out of his mouth. Like something was preventing them from coming out.

An external force…

’An ability related to sound?’

As he disappeared in the crowd, Aether got the ability to speak again, confirming his theory.

“Who was that?

Aether asks, walking in front of Elpis.

The knight looked down, a dark veil covering his face.

“That… was my older brother.”

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