Chapter 473: The Mushroom People

"You know, I always wondered, but never asked any of the other Vessels, how it was for you to awaken?" Lilith suddenly said as they were walking together through the ash valley that seemed to have no end. And no living being outside the wild boars.

Aether’s eyes widened at his question; it had been a long time since he awakened, eight whole years, and yet he could still feel most of his emotions.

"Well, at that moment, there was a lot on my mind. I was happy that I awakened; I truly was... but it was overpowered by the feeling of helplessness that I was feeling at that moment. I was panicking, and yet frozen."

That day was the first time he had ever taken a human life... it took a toll on his mind, after all; just thinking that a probably happy family had lost someone important destroyed him, thinking of his loved ones waiting for him to get home only for him not to come... it was a lot.

But then the whole announcement of his death came.

...

And weirdly enough, he was enraged, as he had never ever been. Almost as if he had forgotten about everything else than revenge... he wasn’t even sure who he was at that moment; a part of him to this day believed that the one who had spoken then wasn’t himself.

After all, just a day after, he was back to being filled with sorrow and hardly surviving while suffering. He had been lucky with his master, since if it wasn’t for her, he didn’t know what would have happened.

"But as more time passed, I hated it more and more. Though thinking of it, I’m not sure if I had a reason; now I do. I hate the Abyss, and it’s hard not to. I know that he has helped me many times before. I know, and it might seem I’m overreacting, and maybe I am, but maybe if it hadn’t chosen me, I would not be here..." He chuckled. "It’s probably the only part of my past that I really can’t let go of: my hatred for him. That what if."

Lilith stared at him with his eyes wide open; he had not expected all that from him. He didn’t know Aether’s full story; he was one of the only people to know that he was the Abyss’s Vessel, but he wasn’t that well documented in what his life had been.

To him, he was just another person from the Withered.

"Really? Mine was far different than that. I was really happy to finally awaken, though at first, my ability didn’t seem that... powerful."

Aether scoffed. "An affinity that allows you to unleash massive bursts of energy, weak? Let’s be honest."

Lilith sighed, pushing him playfully. "That isn’t my affinity, dumbass." Aether stopped for a second before continuing to move. "Wait, it isn’t?" He said, dumbstruck.

Freedom nodded, smirking. "It’s an ability of mine. My affinity is more complicated... I’m stronger whenever I truly believe in my own sense of freedom, like my goal and what I’m doing, but I get even stronger when other people also do. Theoretically, I don’t have a limit to how strong I can get, but at the same time, my body can never handle that much power... I think it’s because of my bane, but I’m not sure; I’ve never been able to figure it out."

Aether tilted his head. "Really? Mine is pretty damn obvious with it; it doesn’t waste any time... and I don’t think it’s fair at all... we’re both Vessels, and your affinity does that... while mine..."

Lilith chuckled. "Yours does what? Makes you harder to kill, maybe allows you to adapt, similar to Orion’s. I really have no idea what the heck your Affinity is; you haven’t really used it before."

Aether chuckled, finding it pretty funny, but not enough to laugh. "You probably have. It makes me harder to spot, and easier for me to interact with shadows... probably."

"Probably?" Lilith quickly pointed out.

Aether laughed, stretching his arms. "I’m not really sure myself what my Affinity fully does. But since I haven’t been able to find anything else about it, that’s probably all."

Lilith shook his head. "Doubt it."

Aether also wanted to feel the same, and he had recently, but the more he thought about it, he realized that it was probably best to hope for the worst: that that was truly all there was to his Affinity, nothing else special.

If he was wrong, then so be it; he was going to admit it when the time came, but until then it was better not to give himself false hope.

...

The ash field had been long, really long... but after a long time, it finally ended. Aether stopped in his tracks as the next region just appeared. There was no slow change from the two, just an immediate change. And a huge one, almost as if this new region had just been put in instead of the field.

...

Giant mushrooms, that was the first thing you noticed, and a very clear river going deep into it. It was different from everything he had seen; the closest was the mushroom forest, but this one seemed... more like a fairy tale. It wasn’t trying to be a forest, but rather, it was just overgrown, glowing mushrooms, with wooden buildings all over the place.

Aether sighed, looking at Lilith. "You know the chances of this being from a book are quite high..."

Lilith chuckled. "And? What are we supposed to do, avoid all parts that seem to be from a story? Come on, let’s go, brat." He said, pushing him forward into the water.

Aether took his head out of the water, turned to Lilith, and was ready to scream at him, but then he heard footsteps.

Turning to them, he saw a small group of small humans, with mushrooms on their heads.

...

’Seriously... what did I even expect...?’