Walking onto the first bridge, Aether felt his heart drop.

Not because something had happened near him, or that he had seen something scary, or anything like that at all.

..."I forgot the arrow." Aether paused, his mind hollow of thought for some good seconds, before he continued walking towards the first island.

Back when he killed the deer, he had not gotten the arrow back from its eye, meaning he was going to have to make another, something he really didn’t want to do, after all, the last one took him a lot of time and effort, plus, where the heck was he supposed to find string and feathers up here? If he were in the Lowlands, it would have been possible, but unless a bird flew by so close that he was able to catch it, there was no way of getting feathers.

So now he had a useless bow with him, one that he just couldn’t use. How great. Well, at least he didn’t need any hunting or killing in this place.

Still, for him to forget such a thing, it was truly embarrassing; he wasn’t one to make such mistakes, but I guess it happens to everyone. Especially when your focus is entirely on something else.

’Crazy just how big this place is. It feels like I’ve been walking for a long time already, and I haven’t crossed the first bridge yet to get to the first island. Not that I’m going to be staying, the only special thing is that big tree, the only place I could think that the shard would be hiding.’

Though he wasn’t complaining that the bridge was on the bigger side, sure, it wasn’t great since it made the walk longer, but it could have been a narrow one, and if he fell, not only is the drop probably lethal most of the time, he was going to die either way.

’I have to learn to swim someday...’ But it wasn’t like he had anywhere to learn it, and plus, alone? Without a teacher?... It wasn’t the first time he trained himself with something that could kill him without a trusted adult nearby, but he was actually scared of going to swim alone. Since he really couldn’t do anything to save himself. Back with the marks, he could have just gone into the light and been done.

Aether scratched his cheek. "I wonder if Kade and Lucien decided what to do next, since they seemed pretty conflicted on their next step when I left. Whatever it is, I hope they’re safe. Kade better have not decided to stay, or I’ll kill that boy myself." Aether said, frowning, since he knew, or rather, he had spent way more than enough time with him to know that it was something that he would definitely do. But at the same time, he hoped that the shock he had delivered with his confession, well, rather a false confession, his lie would put him on a road different from that one.

Preferably one where he went back to Veyr.

...

...

When Aether had finally reached the gigantic tree, it had already turned dark all around him. He could check his compass and see if the shard was here or in the Lowlands, but he would rather do it tomorrow; the reveal would feel better if he wasn’t tired from a day of continuous walking, and that wasn’t even a joke; he had actually walked almost the whole day.

Aether grabbed some branches from the tree, the small ones that were on the ground, not the ones attached to the actual tree, of course, that just wouldn’t be possible.

And started a fire, a skill that had been taught to him by Clarisse, and probably the only survival skill he had learned from someone else, since the rest he got from living in the wild, or just adapting and using his mind to think of stuff, just like he did with the bow, he just sectioned it. For example, the arrow needed a body, head, and back. The body had to be made out of wood; he had branches nearby, plus they were small enough, so they worked.

The heat had more options, like bone and flint, but flint, he still had no idea how to get flint; that would have to be another skill he would have to learn. And bone, that was possible to find, but at the same time, with so many rocks around him, why would he not use them and go around for hours for some bone, just because they were maybe a little easier to craft with?

And the back, feathers are the only thing that came to mind. And of course, since he hadn’t seen any ground birds, he just had to take from the sky, and because he hadn’t lived for more than half of his life in the Withered just yet, he knew that birds had nests, of course, and while there wouldn’t be that many, there would be enough.

Aether took his mantle off so that he could actually feel the flame. It wasn’t like he had been cold; his mantle could handle way colder temperatures, but at the same time, who doesn’t enjoy the warmth of a campfire? He had to feel it, at least on time in all of the Lowlands. Though he was going to have to be careful, just in case the giant tree caught on fire.

Putting his backpack down, Aether searched for his sleeping bag, putting it on the ground next to the fire, yet leaving enough space so it wouldn’t catch on fire, then lay on it, and went to sleep. After all, tomorrow he was looking for the shard.

...

...

"Am I... dreaming again?" Aether said to himself, while staring at his dark hands. "Or did the fire just burn me to the color of coal?" Highly unlikely, so probably the first option.

Looking around, Aether noticed that he was inside the City of the Drowned, and that he would dream of this place out of all that they are. What reason was there... actually, it was quite evident.

He covered his ears as he heard the scream of a monster.

The streets were filled to the brim with monsters, to the point you had nowhere to go without seeing one. Yet at the same time, they didn’t seem to mind them, or rather, they just couldn’t see him, but it was understandable, after all, he was a Shadow at the moment.

They truly were terrifying; most were gigantic, tall, and their body shaped to kill you in more than one way. To think that he would be able to see them so close. He could finally see just how terrifying these monsters are.

But why was he dreaming of this place all of a sudden, and also, to dream of someone, you have to have seen them in real life? So that meant that he had somehow seen these two beasts in his life before; he just couldn’t remember if you were to ask him one thousand times. So then how were they here in his dream? And this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. Back with Denial, he had memories that weren’t his, but at the same time, they weren’t the Abyss’s either; to this day, he still didn’t know how they were there.

It was just the effect of Demon of Dread, confusing, very confusing, everything makes you want to give up and lie in bed.

Was this dream... his soon-to-be fate? Was it trying to show what he was going to see or what was going on right now in the Tides... also, if this dream was related to fate, then the other one must also be, so then what relevance and meaning did the first have?

’I can’t wait to get out of this book... genuinely everything is so confusing and hard to understand, I just want to get back home, where I will definitely wait a bit before challenging the next... maybe.

Either way, it seemed as if he was waking up. So it meant morning was coming, and time for the big reveal.

...

...

As his eyes opened, he noticed the sun staring right at him, as if it was waiting himself for the answer. Aether pulled out the compass, looking as even now it kept saying to move forward.... but who knew, maybe it was the angle, so he circled around the island, even reaching the back, and yet, it just didn’t change.

’Wohoo...’ Pretty disappointing this place had been.

There was one more bridge in this place, this one leading to the other side of the Lowlands, and the compass was pointing right towards it.

As hard as it was to accept it, and as much as he really didn’t want to do it, it was clear to him that the next step in their operation was getting to the other side of the Lowlands.

Sad but true.

The Lowlands weren’t done showing him all the tricks they had.