Prince of The Abyss

After escaping the dungeon, he knew he couldn't just go back to his party, after all, if they saw that he was back without doing what he told them he was going to do, which was distract the guards for them to get in. He was the only one who could enter because of his affinity, making it really hard for others to see him in the shadows, even more so when they weren't aware of his presence in the first place.

But because his bane, which hasn't bothered him all that much until now, decided against it. Getting rid of almost completely the only advantage he had. But he got it, he had his personal party, and was technically working together with the whole rebellion.

But at the same time, right now he was alone, so why did he still feel as weak? Did he really consider, even now, that he was working together with someone?

Back in Frozen Crown, when he was working together with Avrie and Elips, he was able to go around his bane by convincing himself he was alone, by distancing himself from everyone around him, not trusting anyone but himself.

But now, he couldn't do that, as much as he tried, he knew he wasn't doing this alone, maybe because it was something he couldn't do alone? Or maybe, because of how much he had changed.

He wasn't the same as he was in Frozen Crown; he actually considered those close to him, allies, not pawns, not acquaintances whom he didn't trust, even if they did. He knew he couldn't do everything by himself.

And yet, it was starting to become a hustle. If he were still the same as he was in Frozen Crown, this would have been much easier, but now, he was going to have to think of a way to get everyone inside.

He sighed.

...

...

A scream echoed through the camp, an agonizing scream that you remembered even after weeks, a scream that lingers in the air like a parasite.

Getting up, he rushed outside his tent to see what had happened, and there he saw it, in one of the tents near him, there was a trail of blood. His eyes widened as he quickly rushed to see what had happened.

Inside, he was a dead body, belonging to one of his companions. He covered his mouth with his hand, trying not to throw up. He had seen many die, but never had he seen something like this.

The head of the body was cut off and attached to its neck upside down. Its chest was open, with its insides... well, not inside anymore... There was a pool of blood, absorbed by the fabric of the tent, forever ingrained inside.

'Damn it...'

He left, going to the center of the camp and ringing a bell. A bell they used whenever they were either attacked or something important happened.

As the bell rang, it echoed through the air all around them, as others started rushing out, with their blades in their hand, but as they noticed that no one was there, they seemed confused. Only then did they notice him sitting by the bell.

He was the leader of this camp, a camp on the smaller side, but still not one to be underestimated. And he was a Seeker, one close to becoming a Bearer. So to say his authority was absolute would not do it any justice.

"Sir, what happened?"

One of his subordinates asked. Confused and tired. After all, just yesterday they had a hard battle, so for them to be woken up so late in the night, he felt guilty and ashamed. They had fought for him, and here he was rewarding them by waking them up in the middle of the night, almost.

"There was a scream, I'm sure most of you heard it."

The soldiers looked at each other before nodding. After all, a scream like that could never be ignored, as it could only belong to someone who was in pure agony, and nothing more.

"Well, I had gone to investigate and found out that someone had been murdered. And by my guess, the murderer is still here, somewhere with us, hiding. If we give it time, he won't stop at just one; he will kill us one by one. We can't let that happen, do I make myself clear?"

...

Aether watched. Surprisingly, it had all worked well; everything had weirdly gone as planned. To put things straight, he hadn't been the one to murder that poor guy... he had just made another do it with his earring, he wasn't that evil, well... maybe he just didn't want to dirty his hand even more.

Either way, they knew there was a killer, and that he hadn't left, just what he wanted to happen. And while this did serve as a distraction, there was still one more thing to do, since if he left it like this, then it wouldn't help, since he just made them more careful.

He needed to drive them to a distant place; only then would it be enough.

...

Aether summoned his mask, staring it in the eyes... well, no really, since it didn't have eyes, but you get the idea.

...

...

As he was looking around for the murderer, he heard a sound in the shadows, almost as if someone was watching him, and had accidentally revealed themselves by stepping on a stick.

He lifted his head up, and there he saw it, a boy with silver hair and eyes, someone who bore a mask he didn't understand. Avius had warned us about him, but he didn't explain why... but if someone like Avius had to warn them about him, then there was no way he wasn't the murderer.

He screamed to his people to follow as he quickly rushed to the boy. Seeing him and many others behind him, start to run towards him, the boy started to run, and he was fast, but not faster than him.

He wasn't going to let him get away.

Yet, the boy ran outside the camp and between the many buildings of the Withered near their camp. He cursed to himself, knowing that the boy was probably someone from the Withered, meaning that if he let him get away further inside, he wouldn't have the knowledge to follow him. Even more, now that they were probably close to the Withered daily layout change that annoyed them so much.

But there was one thing: he wasn't alone.

The others didn't go with him through the building, but rather in every direction; they were going to corner him before he could ever get away. And while he had lost sight of him, he knew the other didn't.

And after a while of searching, they had found him.

He laughed, getting closer to the cornered boy.

"You sure have a lot of stamina, you know that."

Unsheathing his blade, he could see the fear in the boy's eyes; he knew this was the end. He didn't like killing children, but when one deserves it, he didn't care. And this one specifically wasn't a child anymore, but a monster.

He thrust his blade into his chest, killing him.

...

Yet, seconds after killing him, the boy's appearance looked to have changed... he wasn't a boy, but rather a soldier, one of them.

He blinked twice, bewildered by what had happened. The others, too, froze into place.

Into was a sorry sigh; they had killed one of them, but how, he didn't understand.

...

Aether burst out into laughter, sitting on top of a building near them. It never got old, the confusion in the eyes of those he used his earring on. He was really blessed with his earring; it had been way more helpful than he had expected. It was like he was on easy mode in most situations.

If he were being chased, he would use his earring.

If he needed to steal something, his earring.

If he needed to get out of somewhere, his earring.

If it wasn't for it, he wouldn't be here.

He had been the one they were chasing at first, but after they lost him, he made it so they remembered one of them to be him. And then the rest, you already know.

Either way, he didn't have much time before they got over it.

He still had to get his friends inside; they were needed for the next part of their plan.

Which, ironically, also relied on his earring.

...

This also proved as a test, a test to see if they would kill if they saw him without questioning it. And after he proved it. He knew his plan wouldn't fail.

He was going to use this same trick to create a war inside this lowly camp.

He wasn't stupid; he knew he couldn't kill them himself, even together with his party. It would just get them all killed, so why would he do it? Plus, it was a hassle to fight so many people.

More conveniently, he was going to make them kill each other.