Prince of The Abyss

Sena took a deep breath, using her arms to support herself, as sweat dripped from her forehead to the ground. There was an awful ringing in her head; she could hardly hear Avius’s laugh.

The old man circled her as she slowly rested for those moments. "Longer than before, but still not enough; you still need more." He said as her Affinity let go of his foot after almost a whole hour.

She lifted her head to stare at him. "And just how long am I supposed to do this for? I mean, how much more do I have to suffer?

...

Am I anywhere close to the end?"

Avius smiled, tilting his head. "Not even a bit."

Her face fell, as she was expecting a different answer; you could say she thought that he would be more empathetic. But through the whole training, and all the days before, he had proven that he cared more about getting her strong than having empathy for her.

"The point the King wants in you is far away, but not impossible. You will get to the pinnacle of a Seeker’s limits, then ascend... on the level we need you, you are going to need to use your affinity on a lot more than one person..."

Sena sighed. "I know, I heard, but you never exactly said anything outside that." She was annoyed, after all, not only did she have one heck of a training, but the guy also kept a lot of secrets from her, which she hated.

"I have my reasons," Avius said, looking away from the girl so he wouldn’t see her gaze, but she wasn’t done. With her body still trembling under her, she slowly rose to her feet and limped over to him, staring him in the eyes, and moving wherever he was looking so he had nothing else to do but look at her.

The old wizard sighed. "You can really be a brat sometimes, you know?" Putting his hands into fists, he finally intentionally looked into her eyes. "Have you heard about the Winter Expedition?"

Sena’s eyes widened; she knew that her training was slightly related to it, but she thought it was just that, in case something happened, she was strong enough to help. But was the reason really that...

"We’ve gotten confirmation that the guards who stood on the wall that separated Wonderland and the zone we have had been killed, squished to death by something that also destroyed the walls, but at the same time, didn’t leave, as we had a lot of people search for it."

He looked down at his hands, cracking them. "When most were making teams, we looked specifically for anyone with a communication ability, and we were lucky, yet, after all those days, no news, not even one... which, as bad as it sounds...

Makes us think they are dead... and aren’t the only ones that died."

Sena stood frozen; she would have never expected that news. At least not so fast; the expedition only started some time ago; it wasn’t that long, not an exaggerated amount of time, and things really seemed to already be this bad...

"If something happened, and the Blue Rose was in danger, the King wanted to have some luck," Avius smirked at her, which made her finally realize... they expected her to learn to use her ability throughout the whole Blue Rose. "I can’t do that!" She said. "That’s way too much essence, and more importantly, how am I supposed to attach my affinity to someone from the first Ward while I’m in the third..."

Avius nodded. "It seems impossible, and maybe it is, but it’s what we need. So we have to try. Essence is a problem, but once you ascend, and with a lot of potions and other relics that help with the consumption, maybe it won’t be that bad."

Sena sighed, groaning under her breath. She in no way wanted to just drink tens of potions over and over again; it wasn’t like they tasted anywhere close to good, so why would she ever wish for that?

"Alright..." She said, still not fond of their solution. "Still doesn’t answer how I’m supposed to use it on someone on the other side of the Blue Rose."

"I know." The old man said. "And we don’t have an answer at the moment, but we will find one since it’s really important. Luck isn’t the only thing we want from you; we also want control."

He opened his arms wide. "We want you to create like a dome over the Blue Rose, where you can use your powers to change the fate of invading people, and also control them... and after all, I did hear that after your adventure with Aether, you gained another Ability... one that allowed you to kill someone with their own mind, am I wrong?"

Sena hesitated, not sure of it. She had gotten an ability, but at the same time, she didn’t like it; she felt as if it was highly unethical to use... and more importantly, it just felt wrong... it was an ability that allowed her to go inside someone’s mind and attack their mind. A mind attack that she could use even on those that she couldn’t normally control.

Would it kill those very same people? No, but it would stunt them and make them act more irrationally.

Sena clenched her fists, which Avius noticed. "I know it’s a lot; after all, the end goal we want you to reach is far away from your current strength, but you have to trust me... and I will make sure you get to it.

...

The potential you have... I’m sure you also thought about it. After all, you are the Vessel of Fate."

Could she? Could she ever somehow reach that level, where she could have the whole of the Blue Rose under her command... if so, then she wanted to, as hard as it would be... after all, she was no match when it came to Vessels; she was nowhere near Lilith, and while Aether wasn’t that strong, he also had amazing potential; there was a reason why Freedom personally chose him as his first member.

If she did nothing and just progressed normally, she would never be near them, as both are progressing very differently from a normal Reader, and a lot faster.

Of course, no one could get to Keres’ level of progression... but still, they got close... well, maybe not that close. So... even if she was going to suffer like crazy, and no part of her believed it was possible, she wanted it.

...

But then a thought emerged in her mind.

"What about Iris?" She pointed out. "I don’t think I’ve heard anything about her getting trained, and she is also a Vessel with amazing potential, maybe even more than me. So why isn’t she trained for the future?"

Avius sighed. "Iris is a... special kind. I don’t doubt her potential and what she could reach, but at the same time, Silas wants her as far away from anything else, from any danger. He could teach her to fight, but that would mean that she would put herself in a position where she could die. Something he didn’t want."

Sena frowned. "That’s... not fair. I don’t really get along with her, but just because she’s his daughter doesn’t mean he has the right to chain her."

Avius had known this would be how she would react, and really, he knew that it wasn’t that absurd a reaction; it made sense, and he understood it. But at the same time, he also understood Silas, maybe more than Sena.

"But what if she died?"

Sena was caught off guard by his sudden comment. "I mean, if she is properly trained and has some people with her, strong people, can she ever die?"

...

"Iris is the princess of the Kingdom; she is the heir to the throne, the one who is to become Queen after Silas resigns, and more importantly, she is the Vessel of Praise and a very public figure; just her existence brings hope to the people of the Blue Rose.

The people of the Blue Rose cared for her probably more than they did for themselves, and so if she were to die, what would happen to everything? Do you think it is going to be easy to recover from it? Do you think it’s possible?"

Sena frowned deeply. "I get it, but at the same time, there are other ways to prevent it from happening, much better than excluding her from everything."

...

...

"Do you think that’s possible? That if we just give her four Harbingers around at all times, and a heck of a lot of relics, that she won’t ever die, that she could become immortal?

Sena, the Winter Wonderland Expedition.

It is physical proof that things could go terribly wrong... we have no idea how many have died and how many are still alive.

...

Do you think the King isn’t afraid for Keres?

He is a terribly strong Harbinger....

But he knows that he can still die.

Anyone can, no matter their strength."

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