Prince of The Abyss

"It didn't work..."

Avrie looked perplexed. The Sun had not grown bigger after they sacrificed the body. But why? She has been developing it with her blood for a while, and it has been working; so, why did it stop when they upped the game? It wasn't because they had started too early; it doesn't really matter what you feed it. They just used blood until now, since growing didn't require a lot of essence, and they didn't want to waste it.

And it wasn't broken; it had actually started to unfreeze time, only that the radius that it worked in was very small.

So then what was it?

She massaged her forehead, trying to understand what was wrong. The others were counting on her, and she didn't want to fail them. They had already done their job, which by her standard was much harder. So she didn't want to disappoint them, especially Aether.

And while it wasn't important to finding the answer, The Fool has been acting quite strange ever since he first killed the old man. He also didn't want to clean the blood from his body, which she didn't get. Not only was it disgusting, but whenever their Sun got big enough, she didn't want to smell that metallic odor of blood.

He also didn't look quite touched by killing. And while he has said that he had a history of killing, just before he was against killing innocent people, or at least didn't seem to enjoy it. Now, he felt as if it didn't matter what he killed. He was acting weird, and she was going to find out why.

After, finding the reason why the Sun hadn't grown after being fed a dead body, though.

She cupped her chin, staring at the black orb, whose color had lightened slightly, but it was hardly noticeable.

'Cores grow whenever they meet essence; that's sacred. So why?

And the man had awakened; if he hadn't, he would have been frozen a while ago, so that was out of the window. Which was bad, because it was the only actual way. Somehow, the dead man had not had any essence in his body for the sun not to grow.

...

'Dead...'

She sighed. How could she not have realized it until now? She was so disappointed with herself. It wasn't something extraordinary; it was very simple, maybe that being the reason she didn't remember. Because she instantly went to the more complicated problems.

The man was dead, meaning his core was broken, just like the monster they had killed to get the materials to create the Sun in the first place. And while artificial cores can't produce on their own, that's because it's the gift they get after getting an affinity, human cores do because of that very same fact, but if it's broken, then it can't produce it anymore, whether it has an affinity or not.

'Meaning that the Sun didn't work... because the human it was sacrificed was dead...'

Her face darkened slightly.

This wasn't good, not even a bit. If, after a human dies, they can't be fed to the Sun, then that means they can't kill the people they sacrifice. They had to be alive while it happened. If killing a human and then sacrificing it was hard, then this was impossible. Because how were they going to get them to do it willingly?

People from the Rings were proud; they weren't going to sacrifice themselves to some orb because some teenagers said that it could unfreeze time. Even if they were to show that they could do it, they would either still now believe them, or would say to get another, since they are selfish and want to experience time again.

They also couldn't use force. It was already hard to bypass suspicion while carrying the bags back, but with a human screaming for help. It was impossible.

So what are they going to do exactly?

But first, she needed to tell the others.

...

...

"That's... pretty inconvenient."

Said Aether. But to Avrie, his reaction was weird. It wasn't like he was annoyed by how much harder his and Elpis' job was going to be, just like she imagined. No, it was more as he was disappointed... but why? While it made things harder for them, it meant they didn't have to kill with their own hands. Elpis was relieved by this, so why was he disappointed?

Avrie squinted her eyes, trying to understand what was going on inside his mind. But she couldn't figure it out. No one knows what's going on inside a Fool's head, not even The Fool himself.

"Then we'll have to figure out a way to get living humans to willingly sacrifice their lives."

Avrie nodded at Elpis's remark. That was indeed their next move, but it was just not one easy to make.

Humans are selfish by nature. They always want the best for themselves. Envy is one of the main sins for a reason after all. No one wants to be the underdog, to be the center of the jokes, to be the one left out. So we strive to be better, at least than the others next to us. That way, we can protect ourselves.

When it comes to giving, it's either something that has become worthless to us or that doesn't have any value.

But a human life...

it's priceless.

Especially to ourselves, we value it more than anything. In every dangerous situation, the first thought is how we can save our lives. We don't care about the other or anything around us.

You can mourn their deaths as much as you want, but it didn't change the fact that you didn't help them when you could, because you were concerned with your own life. And it's completely normal.

Few are willing to sacrifice it for others, even the most selfless, the most dedicated priests, even the wisest value their lives over those of others.

That was why this was going to be hard, because even if they got people to believe them, they would just want to sacrifice others, and no one would be willing to do it themselves.

Elpis coughed, breaking the silence.

"I'm out of ideas, but what about you guys?"

Avrie sighed, shaking her head. Her mind was blank, as much as she tried making something up, every time she would find an even better reason why it wouldn't work.

But as she looked at Elpis's disappointed face. She saw Aether nod, which confused both of them. What could The Fool have figured out? What idea did he come out with that they missed?

"Hope is a powerful sword. Well, use it."

She blinked twice.

'Hope?'

Was it really the answer? She had also thought about it, but just like the many other ideas she had. None could make humans sacrifice themselves instead of others.

Aether, seeing her doubtful face, laughed.

"What? Don't trust me? Think of this, Avrie, the fisherman I told you about also loved life, yet he gave it willingly away to me."

She looked even more confused by his response. It didn't make sense at all. Aether had said that he had killed the man because he hadn't cooked the fish properly, and while she didn't believe that reason, for as much as she knew, a human had thrown his life away because a kid didn't like his cooking.

It was stupid, and she still didn't believe that hope could make a human give up their life. Even more a bunch of them...

but, Aether was her friend. If he said that he had an idea, why not try it? It was the only one either way, so why not? Elpis also didn't look to be against it.

So they were going to use hope. She didn't know how they were going to do so, but she trusted Aether's plan.

...

...

Aether slicked his hair back, preparing for the mission of his life.

He was going to make a human sacrifice their life.

His idea was simple and based on what he thought everyone felt. The world was dreadful; no one enjoyed living inside such a world. But they still did, because they didn't want to die, hoping one day time would come back and save them.

But if he were to make a small crack in them, a moment of doubt, that was all he needed. He just had to find a way to make them rethink everything, to reevaluate waiting in this dreadful world for something they long forgot how it felt.

If others stopped believing that the world was going to go back to normal, then he showed them a way to salvation. Then there might be a chance they would do it willingly.

After their hope is crushed, they become desperate for another way, and if they are given one, which will be the Sun, it doesn't matter what they have to do.

Hope was dangerous when it was desperate.