"You said your name was... Aether, right?"

Iris followed the boy closely from behind, trying to figure him out, or rather, from where she knew him. She was sure she recognized him, so it was irritating that she couldn't find out where. Or was it just because he stood out among all the people of the Withered?

He was the only one who dared bear a light with him, his lantern sitting quietly near his waist; he didn't even let her get close. He wore this large cloak over him, but he could tell that his frame was small, yet at the same time quite well crafted.

Why was he so different?

"Yes, that is my name. But I've been meaning to ask, why do you want to personally go to the marketplace, princess?"

Iris stopped looking at him with surprise, and she tilted her head to the side.

'How does he know who I am? Never thought that someone from the Withered would know the royal family.

She cleared her throat, trying to find an answer.

"Well... I needed a relic."

Aether stopped and turned to her, bewildered.

"Why didn't you just send one of your subordinates who actually knew their places around?"

Iris didn't have an answer, so she just shrugged and scratched her cheek with her finger. But to her surprise, the boy only rolled his eyes, continuing to guide her around. Which made her exhale in relief.

She quickly followed, not wanting to get separated by probably the only person who could guide her in this place, since she wouldn't dare ask the hooded people hiding deep in the dark alleyways.

By what she noticed, Aether was creating the path by the weird symbols on the wall; she couldn't understand the meaning behind them, but he sure did.

It was strange, since in her words, those symbols were meaningless, yet he could see the hidden meaning in what she thought lacked it.

The boy noticed her confusion, sighing, and stopping next to a symbol.

"You see this? This symbol marks which street it originally belonged to. It's that hard to get around, since each part of a street can't be that far from each others, no matter how much the Withered moves around, and no matter how many times the direction changes, you will reach the marketplace since it was also part of this street. The hard part is getting on a street, but if you know what streets were originally near each other, like I do, you can figure things out."

Surprisingly, she had understood most of what he said. It wasn't like she was stupid to not realize something she was taught, but I was impressed... how the Withered had adapted to this curse they've been living under. She wondered who forced it upon them, but Aether had only told her about it, not who caused it.

She could ask, but would the boy really want to answer such a question?

...

...

They continued. This time, Iris also kept track of the symbols, finding it fun to navigate, but she knew that for someone like Aether, who had done this for most of his life, it was definitely not fun. That was for sure, another thing that was the same was that the air between them was very awkward, at least for her.

She had no idea what to say. And knowing that in his eyes, she was a princess who blindly wandered in this cursed land, but as much as she wanted to just shut up until the end, she had to say something; she couldn't sit there, she was too embarrassed to keep her mouth shut.

"S-so, what class are you?"

Aether squinted his eyes slightly and looked at her like trying to see what her true intention was.

"Reader, but I'm not that far away from Seeker."

"Me too! I guess we really aren't too different."

But what she didn't expect was for his whole attitude to change; it was as if it had triggered something personal. His face had darkened, and his gaze wasn't so soft; it was as if it pierced her soul.

"We are not the same, even slightly. Becoming a Seeker in the Withered... is monumental."

And with that, he turned away and continued to walk forward as if nothing had happened, leaving her in a frozen state. She had no idea what to say anymore; she was scared that they would anger him even more... but his words did make her wonder.

'Was life in the Withered really this different from the Blue Rose?'

Looking around, his words began to sound even more honest than before. Of course, it was hard to become a seeker; this place reeked of death.

She looked in one of the dark alleys, where she saw a hooded mask staring at her, not moving an inch. This was the kind of people Aether and many others have to deal with every day. Maybe her presence intimidated them, but she doubted that a boy who stood among the darkness would be left alone.

But at the same time, she doubted that Aether was weak.

When she looked back at him, she realized just how far he had gotten from her, so, trying to get lost again, she started to run to him, shouting for him to stop.

...

It came out of nowhere, the darkness had covered him too well, and she was too distracted to see him hiding inside of him. That was how he had found her with a knife headed straight to her neck, her pupils narrowed, staring at her reflection on the blade.

She tried to think of something to use, but she knew she didn't have anything; everything she owned was used to protect others, not herself.

...

"I was wondering when you were going to come out already. Your shadow is really annoying to talk to."

The black steel of a blade suddenly appeared, tossing the knives aside and away from the figure's reach. He frowned, trying to go back into the shadows, but before he could, Aether had already caught him by his hood and mashed his face into one of the walls.

...

Iris only stared in terror at the figure of the boy covered in blood. It was so strange seeing him like this, but it also finally made it clear how different the two of them really were; they were the same class... and yet they were definitely not on the same level.

Her eyes constantly waver from his eyes to his sword; she couldn't even see her own reflection on that black steel. The blood fell down from of, and yet she couldn't feel any remorse coming from it.

Something else that had caught her attention was the chain attached to the blade, but not for this reason, but because they seemed to be coming from inside his arms, or rather, some marks that were hidden under his cloak. They seemed as if they tried to say something, no, they looked as if they were trying to scream something, she just couldn't hear them, as if their tongue had been cut by someone.

Aether realized she was staring at his marks, and so he covered them with his sleeve, the chain retracting inside alongside his blade.

..."Let's continue."

That was all that he had to say; she didn't dare talk back.

Now that she knew his true strength, she couldn't help but wonder who he really was. After all, if he was really close to becoming a Seeker, and that was hard to do in the Withered, then he must be important, since she already knew he was strong.

So why hadn't she heard of him? Or maybe she did, she did say that she knew him from somewhere.

She also wondered why he was even helping her. By how he reacted to being called similar to her, he didn't seem to like her that much, or rather, he didn't seem to like the Blue Rose that much as a whole.

So why did he decide to help her?

...

...

After that encounter, it wasn't long until they reached the marketplace, where she also saw Orion. How relieved she was to see his face. But before she could leave, there was still one thing to do.

She looked at Aether, bowing slightly.

"Thank you for your help. I know it was a bother."

Aether looked down at her with the same emotionless stare, one he couldn't see through as much as she tried.

"No problem, I wasn't doing anything important either way. Plus, I also have something to get from this place, just not now..."

Iris nodded with a smile before saying goodbye and running up to Orion, who didn't wait to ask what was on his mind.

"Who was that?"

Iris sighed awkwardly.

"I have no idea..."

She turned to look at him one last time, but he had already left, not without a trace.

It was as if the world had forgotten about him.

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