Prince of The Abyss

As Aether awakened, his adrenaline trailed through his blood streams at a rapid pace from the sudden surprise the codex had bestowed upon him. He suddenly rose, hitting his head on the hardwood.

'Huh?'

After finally looking around from the first time he had awakened, he noticed he was sitting on the top lair of a double bed. It seemed as if he was inside the bedroom of a wooden cabin. But quite small as when rising from your bed, you face the ceiling. 

He stared at his surroundings, forgetting that he had just entered a book, and a godspawn story at that.

But as he finally connected the strings together, he staggered and fell from his bed onto the hard wooden floor.

A loud thud was heard when his fragile body and the floor made contact, followed by a quiet squeal. 

He wanted to stay on the ground, but he couldn't afford to do so. It would leave him completely vulnerable. 

But then again, wasn't he just asleep?

After an awkward start, he was finally on his feet... but what next?

He didn't think that far before he entered. He just thought that when he awakened, he would have to fight some powerful enemy, but instead, he was inside a wooden cabin, with his only enemy being the ceiling he had hit his head on.

Normally, the first step is to assert your situation, to see your position inside the story, and see what odds you have of surviving.

But, being in a lowly wooden cabin probably in the middle of a forest meant that he hadn't taken over the body of someone with great influence, which was not a great thing to realize while in a godspawn story.

Remembering the last words of the codex, he froze, a shiver running down his spine, before opening his codex.

[Character Codex: Sync Stable]

Name: Aether Moirai 

Age: 14

Race: Human 

Affiliation: Royal Family 

[Path]: —The Fool—

>The unknowing wandered the realm of the known, trying to find a way to defeat that is forgotten by the known and the unknown. 

Knowledge Rank — [Fragment]

>35/1000 knowledge shard

Codex Class — [Reader] 

 > Sync Rate: 9%

Affinity —[Restricted]

>---------------------

[Affinity Bane]: —Stranded Resolve —

[Unstable connection to affinity, thresholds are restricted.]

[Skills / Abilities] 

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

Skills—  [Echo Word]

[Relics]

—[Hair extension]

— [Cloak of Dread]

***

Aether stared, his heart beating out of his chest. It wasn't a dream; his affinity had really been restricted, and his path taken.

"But... just how was that possible!"

He gritted his teeth.

Paths are the mirror of one core. Usually, they are given after a reader becomes a seeker. Which is why when he first saw that he had gotten one as a child, he couldn't control his happiness. 

Well, now knowing what his path really meant, he couldn't say he was as happy as he was as a child. But still...

You can't get rid of your path. There is no way for a mortal to change their ways without the codex, without challenging a Trial of Salvation.

That is the only way to change your path. 

'So then what the heck?'

This wasn't a Trail of Salvation, nor was he close to challenging one. And even if he was, his path would have changed after, not while inside the story.

He rolled his eyes. 

There was only one answer; after all, there aren't many that can control the codex.

A divinity had done it.

It made sense after all, it was a godspawn book. But would a young deity have this much influence? It was hard to believe.

But when you think of it, the whole existence of this book was a mystery.

Well, no need to worry about it now, right? What's done is done. At least he doesn't have some forgotten god scratching his mind every opportunity it gets.

And while his only boon, that being that shadows welcomed him with open arms, was gone, there was still the chance that his new path was strong enough to allow him to change the ending of this story somehow.

Oh, and his new ability too... which he was also perplexed about how he got it. After all, his sync hadn't risen. And it probably was given to him when his path changed, due to its name being so similar.

Your path determines your skills after all.

'May god have mercy.'

[The Fool]-The unknowing calls the unknown to gain clarity. While in the past they were blinded by the known, they've been given salvation by that even the forgotten doesn't know. But of course, the unknowing is unknown also, after all, they aren't part of the known. But can the unknowing ever beat the knowing, or the forgotten?

...

"Huh?"

Aether looked at the screen of the codex for some minutes on end. His eyes dilated, and his mouth wide open. He didn't make a sound, nor did he move; he just stared, like his brain short-circuited.

Paths are usually pretty clear in what they are, what role they give you. Even his last path was straightforward. But this... this made no sense!

"The unknown, the unknowing, the kno-just what is this!"

He sighed. Hoping, with all his heart, that his weird new skill was at least decent.

[Mask of the Fool]- If the unknowing is unknowing, then it's unknown, but the unknown is the known. Meaning... the unknowing is the knowing if the unknowing knows the knowing.

...

...

...

So the second step of clearing a book is to explore, create an idea of the original ending of the book, and find any way to change it. Maybe you are able to do it really early, or even as late as the original ending.

The former was impossible, but the latter wasn't going to be much easier.

So now, was he going to continue sitting inside this bedroom and rot? Or was get going to go and face a god already? The first option actually didn't sound that bad, but he had to go with the second, after all, didn't he come here to do just that? 

Aether diligently walked to the door, trying not to make much noise, and rested his hand on the doorknob, only opening it after fully making up his mind.

Beyond the door was the living room. A pretty lavish if he must say.

At the end of the room was a giant brick fireplace, with fire burning behind some iron gates. A wooden table set in the middle of the room, surrounded by a couch and many armchairs.

A chandelier with many lights shed its light upon the room, while on the walls were the heads of many animals. 

Dears, bears, wolves... human?

Aether stared for some seconds at the human head. Blood followed from his eyes, yet somehow stuck, not falling from his cheeks. His skin had almost turned as pale as the head itself at the sight of the tongue of the bodiless noggin.

He tried to swallow, but he felt as if his whole body had gone dry. 

Just... who did this cabin belong to?

He took a deep breath, trying to calm his heartbeat, before continuing to move. If he stayed, he would have the same fate as the owner of the head.

He didn't exit through the front door. He had stayed in the withered long enough to know that it would probably either be a trap, or would lead to him meeting the killer face to face. So he searched for a back entrance, and after a while, he found one.

He slowly opened it, trying not to make the rigid door shriek.

As he stepped foot outside, he saw a lake with a single stilt. On it stood an old man, with his handy fishing rod in hand. 

Aether wanted to run back inside, but after the old fisherman turned his neck to face him, his hope of escaping gone.

"I see you have awakened, boy, come sit." 

With that, he patted for Aether to come. Aether hesitated but did as he was told.

He walked with his tail between his legs and sat beside the man.

The man looked at him, then back at his rod. A bright smile burning on his lips... Aether didn't buy it, though.

"Did you sleep well? I hope you didn't hit your head on the ceiling like a fool."

He slapped his knee while hysterically laughing at his own joke. Aether didn't find it funny.

Instead, he frowned.

"Oh, come on, child, don't be like that, you need to relax to truly enjoy the world." With that, he grabbed another one of his fishing rods that was sitting beside him and handed it to Aether.

"Here, take it. It makes me relax, so maybe it will work for you too."

Aether didn't think it would, but still decided to accept his gift.

He had always thought fishing was a waste of time. He knew it was a weird opinion, hence fishing being really important in survival.

He just thought that there were other better ways to secure food than waiting at the mercy of whether the fish would bite. Maybe because it felt like his life was in someone else's hands, but he hated it.

Still, with nothing better to do, he gave in. Throwing his hook with one of the worms the man had given him with his rod.

After a while of waiting, Aether was falling asleep from boredom, another reason why he hated fishing.

"Hey, old man, do you not have anything better to do than this? I mean, I know at your age you probably won't get any stronger, don't you want to try at least?"

A little chuckle escaped the old fisherman's mouth. As if mocking, but at the same time empathizing with him.

"But why would I?"

Aether raised a brown and curiously examined the calm expression on the fisherman's face.

"Why? Well, I'm not sure. But there are better ways than living your life fishing."

Aether looked as the man slowly settled his rod down and rose to his feet.

"You really are a naive child. And I pity you, a soul like yours won't ever find the peace it deserves if you continue to follow these goals of yours."

With that, he turned and left, not before saying one more thing.

"Oh, and be sure to catch a fish, or else we won't have anything to eat."

Aether watched, bewildered. Not only had he been put down in his place, which he hated, but he was also forced to continue fishing, which he hated even more. 

"Damn that old man!"

Their meeting confirmed something for Aether at least. Inside this book, even the most innocent are going to be in trouble. After all, this old fisherman had a human head hanging up on his wall.

He gritted his teeth, but then sighed.

'Well, it's not like I have anything to do about it now.'

For now, he just had to secure something to eat, which was a pain to do.

Aether waited for a while, but no fish took the bait.

"Is there something wrong with the bait?"

He took the hook out of the water, but to his surprise, the worm was fully intact. So he put it back inside.

Then was it just that the spot that he threw it in was bad?

Determined to secure his meal, he threw it harder away and waited.

But still nothing.

"Am I the problem?"

He put his rod on the wooden floor of the stilt and lay on his back, staring at the sky.

Speaking of the sky, it didn't look like it had changed much since he first got outside. He didn't pay it attention until now, but it was weird.

It was as if it was frozen between the sun setting and the moon rising; it was stuck at dusk.

"... stuck, frozen..."

Aether jerked as the hair from his arms rose. His eyes darted to the lake, shaking in terror.

"No, no no damn it!"

The river, it wasn't flowing.