Chapter 484: Mark of The Abyss

For a Kingdom of this size... it felt weird how hollow it was. This region, it was gigantic, yet at the same time it was quite poor, and the worst part was that it was just... without hope; that was what it seemed like when you looked into the eyes of the people. There was almost no spark in it.

’Such a strange place; even with how poor it is, it still should be populated, so then why...’

He watched as carriages passed him, as others swept the floor in front of their shops, knowing they hadn’t sold anything in ages, and as others kicked rocks along the slightly broken stone road.

Not even the Withered was like this; even if both grieved, the Withered was still full of people, and wasn’t quiet like this. It wasn’t like any Kingdom he had been in before.

Walking over to someone sitting on a bench, just staring at a pigeon walking in front of him, he knelt down so he could see him. But even then the man continued to stare, just ignoring him. "Hello?" Aether said, trying to strike up a conversation.

But the man didn’t reply.

Sighing, Aether sat up. "Humans don’t seem to want to speak... guess I will have to rely on shadows again." Stretching his foot, he walked over to a dark alley, where many Lost were wandering around, all without a master, ready to answer his question.

He smirked, walking over to one of them. "What is this place?" He said, getting right to the point. There was no need to work around it; these weren’t shadows of people. He doubted they were loyal to their masters, who were dead; most weren’t, at least.

The shadow turned to him, crossing its arms. "And who are you?" It said, annoyed.

Aether’s eyes widened; he had... not expected it at all. But maybe this shadow was just really loyal to his master. Sighing, he didn’t say a word to it anymore, moving on to the next. "What about you? What do you know?" But the next shadow just scoffed. "Get out of here."

’Huh?’ Aether stared, confused, moving on to the next, and then the next, but none of them wanted to respond; it was... strange. Never had he had so many lost just refuse to speak to him entirely.

It wouldn’t be weird if this happened if he talked to somebody else’s shadow, but these had no master, well, not anymore, so it would be rare for one to be so loyal even after death. So then what was happening?

Confused, he turned back to leave the alleyway, trying to find another, since this one might have been unlucky, but as he did, he saw someone standing at the end. He looked... his age, quite young. He had blonde hair, a beautiful color, if he had to say; it looked touched by gold itself, and his blue eyes were like an unbothered sky.

"And may I ask who you are?" The boy said, walking close to him.

Aether frowned, taking a step back, but as he turned his head back, he saw the shadows all behind him, almost as if they had wanted to make a wall, even though they knew he would just pass through them.

...

But why was it to help that boy? Was he... their master?

Sighing, he stopped trying to get away, just waiting as the boy approached. "What do you want?" He said, annoyed.

The boy chuckled, amused by his lack of respect. "What do I want? Well, I haven’t seen you around here before... and it looks to me as if you were trying to talk to these shadows... who are you?"

Aether tilted his head... it was interesting; him talking to shadows was something that caught his attention, since it didn’t look like a normal reaction. Somebody else would have just thought that he was insane, but no...

"My name... is Fallen Eden." He had no intention of using his name; not only did most people know it, even new regions, but... it also just felt better knowing that the person in front of him was from the past. What if he somehow recognized his last name or something?

"I see." The boy said, getting in his face and gripping his chin, staring into the darkness of his hood.

He smirked. "My name is■■■■■ but people just call me A."

Aether’s eyes went wide, wider than they had ever been. ’What? Why couldn’t I hear him... no, rather, he did say it; I remember hearing it, but not what he said for some reason.

"I am the King of this Kingdom, so I hope you don’t mind my suspicion when a masked person just enters my home and starts talking to shadows like a madman." A. said proudly, while putting a hand over his heart.

...

Yet the boy’s smirk suddenly vanished as his hand dropped from Aether’s chin and gripped his mantle. "So what’s your business here?"

Aether quickly raised his hands, his mantle falling from his shoulders as he did. "Wow, I mean no harm; I’m just an explorer." He said, trying to calm down the situation... but looking at A. He was... mute; he didn’t even seem to have heard what he said.

He wasn’t even looking at him, but rather at his arm... specifically, the Abyss’s mark.

’Well, that’s probably something I shouldn’t have shown... though by his reaction, he has to know it from somewhere, so it does mean that this really is the past...’

The boy stared at his mark before frowning and staring right into his face once more.

"I’ll ask again." His grip got harder. "Who are you..."

Aether bit his lip, thinking of his next move; after all, this decision had a lot of weight behind it. What happens in his time inside this Kingdom, and all the knowledge from the past he got, all depended on what he said now.

...

...

"Who do you think I am?" He said, leaning forward and smirking.

A. quickly responded. "I only know one person who bore that mark..."