Aether sighed, his eyes wandering by themselves at each who passed by him. To survive in a world like this, you must not let your guard down even while sleeping. To achieve this, survival must become something you do unintentionally. Your body must learn to do it independently, to the point it’s muscle memory.
Aether here has spent about four years trying to teach his own body the rules for survival in the Withering Rose district, but has yet to fully achieve his goal.
Around six more years, that’s how much it would take him to master the everyday life of a citizen in this wicked district.
’If I even survive to get to that point.’
He has been able to mask his identity until now, without anyone discovering his true self, but that was bound to happen someday, and he felt like that day would come sooner than he thought.
’There have been more and more nobles coming here, it has become harder and harder to hide.’
He shrugged.
And indeed it has. Meanwhile, it was practically impossible for a commoner to recognize him, as they didn’t even know the face of their own king; it wasn’t the same for nobles.
His game of cat and mouse could even end at any moment if he wasn’t careful.
And when it did, his life would end with it.
’Useless affinity!’
Aether said, irritated as he kicked an innocent rock.
Even after awakening, he has been as weak as he was before. Meanwhile, he now had the ability to enter books, something he couldn’t do before awakening. It wasn’t like he could even reach the end of one, but change it.
He was bound to stay weak for eternity at this point.
***
[Character Codex: Sync Stable]
Name: Aether Moirai
Age: 13
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 — [Fragment]
>3/1000 knowledge shard
Codex Class — [Reader]
> Sync Rate: 9%
Affinity — [Abyss]
> A slumbering void stirs within you. It gazes back.
[Affinity Bane]: —Stranded Resolve —
[Mental Fortitude Thresholds]
> 80 —
Clear Mind: Subject resists Abyssal influence entirely
> 60–79 —
Subtle Echoes: Whispered thoughts emerge
> 40–59 —
Instability Detected: Reflexive Abyssal traits may emerge
> 20–39 —
Possession Risk: Abyss seeks control
Override request pending...
> Request granted.
[Codex access locked until vessel stabilizes.]
The interface vanished. The whisper remained.
Aether stumbled back, pressing the heel of his palm to his forehead.
"No," he muttered. "You don’t get to win because I haven’t grown!"
But he was.
The air around him thinned, and the street twisted wrong in his vision. The Abyss didn’t scream; it waited. It pressed in, like water against glass.
It had grown stronger. And he hadn’t.
He opened his mouth to speak again, but the words came out as a breath not his own.
The curse wasn’t that the Abyss would kill him.
It was that it would wear him.
Every day he didn’t get stronger, it did.