Prince of The Abyss-Chapter 274: Monster Under the Dirt

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[Character Codex: Sync Stable]

Name: Aether Moirai

Age: 15

Race: Human

Affiliation: Royal Family

[Path]: —Vessel of the Abyss—

> You were never meant to hold this power. And yet... the Abyss has chosen you.

Knowledge Rank — [Echo]

>1124/2000- knowledge shard

Codex Class — [Reader]

> Sync Rate: 100%

Affinity — [Abyss]

> A slumbering void stirs within you. It gazes back.

[Affinity Bane]: —Stranded Resolve —

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[Skills / Abilities]

Abyssal Abilities — [Shadow Speech],[Mask of the Fool]

Skills— [Echo Word],[Eden],[Whispers of the Lost]

[Relics]

—[Hair extension]

— [Mantle of Quiet Dread]

—[VoidPiercer Wound (Replica)]

—[Unwavering Paint]

—[Tear of Darkness]

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[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Skeleton]

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Knowledge Rank — [Echo]

>1126/2000- knowledge shard

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Aether slowly withdrew Voidpiercer, letting the blade rest, as the bones of the dead skeleton fell back into the dirt... waiting to revive them, so they can attack again.

He leaned against the wall, falling to the ground, looking at his shaking hands.

’How long... has it been?’

Hours, days, maybe even... a whole week.

He was... exhausted, hungry, and his body needed water, like really soon.

Yet there was no sign of that ever happening any time soon, and neither is escaping.

He has tried, he really has, many times.

Everything.

Climbing out by making a rope, only to now have time and a Skeleton to cut it down.

He has lost count of how many times it has happened.

Digging out, only for the dirt to come out of nowhere and replace all the damage he did.

It was useless, the walls were also impossibility powerfull, like Voidpiercers tip bended...

The blade is a damn Seeker class!

How on earth had a wall beat it?

He had not eaten anything, neither had he rehidreaded at all, and worse of all, he hadn’t slept once. Even for him, this was too much... he felt his body dying in front of him. And him with it.

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’Damn it,’ he screamed, hitting the dirt, before resting his head in his hands.

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He was going insane.

Since if conditions were enough already, he had to fight these lowly skeletons every day, if he had to say he had killed hundreds already, his knowledge shards told the truth. He has slowly grown with two shards; there wasn’t any big kill like in Frozen Crown.

The skeletons usually came three times a day, in pairs of four. When they died, they just went back into the dirt and came back later.

Just that, if he tried escaping or sleeping, they attacked even if it wasn’t the time.

And not because they wanted to kill him, but they knew that if they kept him here, he was going to die somehow.

They weren’t.

So there was no reason not to wait patiently.

What did they even want from him? It wasn’t like they could even eat him... so what was it that they wanted... or maybe... it was something else that wanted to eat him.

He had a theory that the dirt... was alive. It was a strong monster, one that had not revealed itself when whoever built the tower had arrived. Instead, he waited and devoured the man when the tower was done.

It stored the bones of those it killed, creating monsters with them so they could kill its prey, or slowly make it die, like it was doing to him.

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It wasn’t unheard of for someone to have the ability to create a being that reward sync, but those who did use clones of themselves.

This was different, after all, it wasn’t copying itself, it was creating a whole different being.

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And if he didn’t escape, it was going to get what it wanted.

But what was there even to do?

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"I hope... Kade is alright..."

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"Oh, I am, don’t worry."

Aether’s eyes widened as he quickly looked up.

Where he saw Kade, standing in the doorway of the tower, shaking his hand at him.

"Um.. I guess this was why I didn’t hear from you. Do you know how to get out?"

Aether got up on his feet, shaking his head.

Even now, that he was here, he had no idea what to do. The distance between them was to big for Kade to try and catch his hand, and if he tried the rope method again, it would be the same thing again. A skeleton would cut it before he could climb up.

So he was out of ideas.

And he doubted that Kade had any ideas.

"I have an idea."

Aether blinked twice, surprised.

Kade quickly took his wooden blade, hanging it so Aether could catch it.

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Why hadn’t he thought about that?

Though he had to be careful... or rather fast, he was sure that once he touched that blade, something was going to come and try to stop him, so he had to be fast.

"Alright... when my hands touch the blade, pull as fast as you can... Alright?"

The boy quickly nodded.

Aether took a deep breath, looking back at the dirt.

Before he jumped up and caught himself on the blade.

The moment he did, a hand quickly jumped out of the dirt, catching his foot.

’Damn it, just how fast are these guys?’

The hand pulled him towards the ground... but he didn’t give up, and neither did Kade, who was trying his best to compete with the skeleton by pulling up.

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I was funny, seeing them compete, they must be close to being on the same level...

He wasn’t, though.

Aether shook his foot, making the hand lose its grip on his leg.

’Take that, you worthless monsters, it’s the power of an Echo, heck, one thats half way to ranking up.’

Aether didn’t wait for it to regain its grip, quickly climbing on the blade, before he got to Kade’s hand, who pulled him up when he grabbed his hand.

Falling on the ground together, Aether sighed on reliefed to feel the cold floor of the mountains. How much he missed it.

Getting on their feet, Aether noticed that Kade didn’t have his cast anymore.

"I see you are doing better than I was." He says, pointing to his leg.

The boy’s eyes sparkled, lifting it up in the air to show it proudly.

"It’s much better, not fully healed, but I can walk and do anything I want, just not anything that puts a lot of pressure on it..."

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"And the first thing you do is put pressure on it so you can help me get up."

The boy chuckled nervously, a little embarrassed.

Aether sighed, knowing it was his fault he had to do so.

"Also, what is that on your back?"

The boy smiled, quickly turning around to show a backpack.

"Its a backpack."

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"I know that, I wasn’t born yesterday... I meant, where did you get it, and where did you get the money to get it?"

The boy turned back at him.

"Well, after I was good enough to walk, the family approached me and gave me some money. So I thought it may be helpful to have one."

It was, it really was. It was going to be one of the things that he was going to buy with the money.

However, again, the family? Like how much money had they wasted on them... it made him feel a little guilty, and keep in mind, he has both stolen and scammed for money, so it wasn’t like he usually felt bad when people used their money for them.

But it was a little exaggerated.

"Oh, and I also got food."

"Food?"

Aether quickly stepped forward when he heard that Kade had also bought food, completely forgetting the guilt from earlier. Like a switch had been suddenly turned.

But you’re this hungry, you don’t care where your food comes from.

Kade quickly put his backpack down and got a big loaf of bread, giving it to him.

One which Aether quickly grabbed and started eating before even a second passed.

Kade started at him suprised, before he quickly turned to his backpack again.

"I also have water?"

Aether’s eyes lit up as the boy also brought up a canteen, one that again, he didn’t waste any time in grabbing.

"I thought that buying some cheap food was the best thing, since that way we could save money... Did I make the right decision, or should I have gotten something better?"

Aether didn’t respond; he first waited to swallow his food.

"No, you made the right decision..."

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Kade had... done really well.

Not only had he found him, but he was also able to handle himself and get food and water, without wasting too much money.

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He didn’t even have to do anything; the boy had done everything for him, and he was even the one with the idea to help him get up.

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It was strange to him... to rely on others, he was used to doing everything himself, after all, ever since Clarisse died, he hadn’t had anyone to take the initiative, he was always the one leading, or alone.

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’I guess... I can rely on others...’