Riven washed his hands in the nearby river. They had gotten quite dirty from all the work he had been putting in with sealing stuff. He wanted to be humble, but he was probably the best seller in their group.

"Out of all eight, I'm the best!" He smiled before realizing he was alone. Filling up some of their canteens, in case they needed them, before going back to their carriage near the game. He took a bite of the loaf of bread for the day, as he saw Lyra sleeping on the job; she needed to be in the city selling stuff, and yet here she was.

"Lyra." He flicked her forehead. "Go work." The girl jumped forward, slapping his hand as she rubbed her forehead. "You could have woken me up more nicely, plus what are you doing here?"

Riven took a sip out of his canteen, rolling his eyes. "I wanted to leave these at the carriage."

Saying that, he threw another canteen at her face. "And there's yours." Lyra frowned, but instead of hitting him back, she had patience and resisted.

"Well, fine, I'll take your place, just go to sleep."

Lyra raised one of her eyebrows, not really believing his words, but still, it was enticing.

She shrugged her shoulders, lying on her back, and letting her eyelids close.

...

Arriving at their market, there he saw the others. Aura, Kaden, Alexis, Milo, and Nick. They were all great merchants, he had personally chosen them, and Boss was pretty proud of him, if he had to say, but it was hard to know what that guy was really thinking.

He was cold, like really cold. A blizzard. Nothing made him shake. But he was determined, and more importantly, really cunning; he knew how to sell stuff, how to trick people into buying from them instead of others. But he never talked about his ways; no one could guess what his next move would be.

Milo walked up to him. The boy with his crimson hair could be mistaken for a murderer who had stained his hair with blood.

"Sir, today was quite a poor day. How are we going to break it to Aether?"

Riven frowned slightly. Those weren't the good news he was expecting; the boss was definitely not going to be happy with how things turned out. They had to find a solution fast.

"Where is he?"

Milo turned back, pointing to a corner of their small market. But... there was nothing there.

"Aether said he was tired, so he took a nap."

...

Riven squinted his eyes, but he couldn't see anything. Had he gone blind, no, his vision was actually quite good, better than most. So then what the heck. And he wasn't the only one who seemed to see Aether there.

...

'Then where is Aether?'

It wasn't such a big deal; he just had to think back to where he last saw him... just that he didn't remember that either. It was weird, like his memory was fuzzy every time he thought to think of Aether.

'Wait, did we even meet today?' That had to be it; he just hadn't seen him today, he just had to think when the last time he saw him was. On what day?

...

He blinked twice. 'Alright... this is weird.'

It has been a while since they last arrived at this place, and established here, even able to build a market. And yet, his last memories of Aether were near the first days they were here.

Actually, he remembered Aether acting really weird when they got here. He kept looking at the sky, as if there was something there, but there was clearly nothing.

He wondered if something bad had happened, what if someone had beaten him up? After all, his marks had gotten dim from an incident with a customer, so maybe someone didn't like how dim his crest was.

Raising his arm up, he looked at his crest, and his eyes widened. His light had dimmed a little. But why, he had only done good deeds now.

...

'Wait... since when did I start doing good?'

His mark kept dimming; he had to do something about it. The light of your crest was everything in this world; he couldn't let it dim.

...

'Why do I care so much about it... this is just a book.'

...Wait, why was he selling stuff? He never liked being a merchant, so why were they selling stuff when they should be finding a way to change the ending of the original book?

...

Riven felt a shiver run down his spine as he took in everything, watching the others act so... strange. Something was wrong... 'An illusion.' While his affinity didn't allow him to manipulate what others saw, his lack of absence was like some sort of illusion, so in some cases, he was able to tell. And there was a big chance they were in a trance.

'If so... then why?' Illusions are used whenever you want to control someone or to hide something.

...

Riven quickly looked at the sky, where now... a giant castle rested in the sky. He couldn't believe it, how he had missed it until now...

He had let himself fall under an illusion too easily. And yet he couldn't keep himself from smiling.

"You are really something else... aren't you, Aether? I should have expected you to figure it out from the moment we entered this book. Who else could... then the vessel of the Abyss."

...

...

Aether didn't breathe; if he did, it would hear him.

The giant monster moved near him. Its gigantic body towered over him, with its fur pure black, around its face it had a grey mane, a great color scheme really, it had chosen the most terrifying, and the least noticeable in this dark place. Its eyes were bright red, like two bright red stars ready to explode every moment. You couldn't even see its pupils.

Many scars ran across its face, as the beast slowly breathed out of its mouth, showing its sharp fangs. If he had to say, they were at least as sharp as a razor, if not now, then maybe even sharper.

Its saliva mixed together with the blood of its victims. Its ears were really sensitive; one movement and he and Jay were dead.

'Damn you, Jay!' The boy had yet to wake up, he had to run with his through this maze with his following him. He hadn't even had the chance to take his breath. It was faster than him; he had realized this... he had to take care of it.... somehow.

But that's why he led it here, a place inside the maze, where a small, well, only compared to the maze itself, since the whole itself was gigantic, but compared to the sheer size of the whole maze, it was nothing but a small dot.

His idea was to somehow get it to fall into the hole, and how he was going to do that. Well, he had no idea. He was just going to have to improvise. As the lion made its way fully inside the room, Aether stepped out, revealing himself to it.

The lion roared as it saw him, rushing to him. But he had created enough distance for him to think of a way. This was his chance; it was concentrated on him, and in motion, the perfect chance of making it fall in the hole. But how.... he regretted not thinking far ahead. But it wasn't like he had the time to do so with it following him. Plus, its nose had a great sense of smell; he couldn't hide for long.

His eyes trailed around, trying to find something, but nothing. There was nothing for him to use.

...

'Well, faith beats the lion, I guess.'

With that, he summoned his blade, throwing it into the lion's belly as it got close enough. And...

Jumped into the hole. The lion was caught off guard by this and was pulled into the hole with him. It tried to catch its claws into the walls, but it wouldn't work. Instead, all that was left were the marks and the scraping sound.

Aether grabbed his chain, slowly climbing on it, taking the chance while the lion was distracted to climb on it.

They were going to hit the ground soon, and with the size of the lion, there was a chance, a small one, that it might take most of the impact, and that he was going to survive. So once he climbed on top of him and placed himself inside his mane, he got his blade and stabbed it into the skin of the lion for better stability.

Here he was, falling, waiting to see if he died or not.

Did he not get bored with thi-

...

...

The impact with the ground had come out of nowhere, and while thankfully, the beast had absorbed most of it, Aether had still felt most of it. Coughing out blood. But he was alive... even more.

...

[You have slain a Seeker Beast, Lion of Shadows]

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