...

"What the hell happened in here..."

The guard stood frozen at the doorway, watching in horror. He had never in his whole life had he seen something like this; heck, it was unheard of in all of their civilization's history.

He knew humans were messy... but this couldn't be normal.

The room was covered in blood and vomit, splattered on the floor and walls, it was almost as if there had been a giant battle between two powerful beings. But at the same time, there was only one person standing in the room.

That being one of the humans they had let stay for the war, if he remembered correctly, his name was....

Aether.

...

'Shit.' Aether sighed, wiping his mouth of any saliva still stuck near the corners of his mouth. He hadn't expected a visit... and the room wasn't in the best condition for there to be company.

He was lucky that this guy didn't catch him while he was having to endure the pain, and instead, after he had already passed through it, he was seeing the result, not the road it took him to get here.

...

And all for one thing.

It has been a week, a whole week of enduring pain, of his brain being turned to mush and his insides turning upside down. Yet as much as he tried, he just couldn't get his body to adapt at all. It took him this long just to be able to stay awake through the whole process. And hell, did it last longer now. But I guess he wasn't conscious for most of it before.

He has taken many breaks this week, but mostly because his body would have died if he hadn't. He needed to take care of his body's needs, at least the most fundamental ones, like eating and drinking, since he just vomited them over and over again. The King was confused about how he kept eating so much; if only he knew what he was doing with the food.

But even now, his skin was paler than ever. He felt dead, but he wasn't; his body felt hollow, as if his organs had been picked out one by one until there was nothing inside other than muscle and bones.

And while thinking and paying attention were things he could do, if he had to do some complicated things, and I don't mean coming up with a grand plan, but if he had to, let's say... fish, he wouldn't be able to throw the rod.

It needed time to regain itself.

Aether slowly limped his way over to the guard, with a blind smile on his face, oblivious to anything going on, one that was caught by the condition his brain was in right now.

"What is it?"

The guard looked horrified, even backing away a bit before answering nervously. "T-The King wishes to meet if..."

That guy? Haven't they been meeting each other quite a lot now since he kept asking him for food? What would he want? Had something important happen, and he needed him there, to come up with something.

Was the war starting...

'Finally, maybe now I can stop destroying myself for a skill.'

He had a strong will to keep going through that hellish process over and over again... but really, there was another reason... something just wasn't right, he was missing something he had to. He who has been good at adapting to stuff like this... why couldn't his brain just do the same for this one?

He has made the bare minimum when it came to progress, so what was wrong? After all, this was going a lot slower than getting immune to the curse of his chain; it was a lot worse, and he knew that, but he hadn't expected this.

"Fine, let's go." He said, while groaning all the way to the Throne room, where the mighty Lion rested on his throne, the place where he belonged, where all the other animals can see him and make wishes.

It felt more like he was a god, but that was also the case for most places on their world, too. Many consider their leaders the strongest person, the closest thing to a god.

And while it actually is true for them, with the King's all being Breakers, demigods, and the process of becoming newly born gods, this was also the case for smaller towns, like the Withered... he was also considered a god during the time of the Second Rebellion.

Aether looked up at the king. Now that his brain had recovered, he could think more, which was great since he knew this conversation was going to be important, and on he should remember, if he could.

"What a rough condition you are in... I must have undersestimated your training, maybe your decision of rejecting my knights was the best thing. Also, Kade and Lucien are doing great; they have massively improved... for the upcoming attack."

Those were the words he was expecting; the forest was going to be attacked soon, which was why he had called him over. But beyond that, he had no idea what the Lion intended to do; he had prepared for the battle, even recruiting humans and other races to join them, since Lucien and Kade were not the only ones let out. He was the only one around the place because he was the only one who rejected being trained.

Which helped with getting to know the people of the city, so you could say it was a win-win situation, since if he had accepted the deal, he wouldn't have gained anything; the most he would have gained were some shards, but those can't make that big of a difference. Plus, if it wasn't for his rejection of training, he wouldn't have gotten this ability.

...

'Maybe that's not something good to point out.'

"Rough... but worth as much as it takes. So your majesty, when is the attack, and what do you intend to do about it?"

It was going to be a tough fight no matter when it happened, but he would hope it was at night, plus, he wanted to know so he didn't practice his ability near that time, so he doesn't go into battle with a smooth brain, and vomiting all over the place.

"In three days... we have gotten news from the orcs themselves, if I had to say at what part of the day, they usually attack at night, so it is most probable that night will be when they come... we will fight... no matter what happens."

Aether rolled his eyes, of course, he knew that; he never expected a stubborn Lion to raise his white flag even in a battle that could take his and the whole kingdom's life.

"... In more detail... we will try to keep them outside. We're going to fight outside the city, near the entrance, so archers can climb on top and shoot from there. I also wish to make the two wings of the formation were going to be using to try and push back the orcs, to distract them from the city and make them focus on only them, so they don't deliver even more pressure on the people and the gate."

...

So the lion wasn't completely oblivious... would he have handled things differently, not entirely, keeping the fight near the gate isn't a good idea, it should be far away, that way they have to break through the wall, then take the entrance. And with constant pressure being applied, he didn't know how the two wings were going to handle it.

But at the same time, this was why his Rebellion had died, and the Lion was still alive here with his people.

He couldn't talk, at least for now.

Who knows what happens next?

...

"Three days... that's all that's left?" It has sure been some time, but it felt weird, since he wasted most of his time sleeping because he kept fainting. It was his fault, but still.

Plus, they weren't even going to get a shard out of this, only a place to get some money and resources to be able to reach the next shard... but at least there was a chance that this was the last one, since he already had two which made the full handle with the guard, he only needed the blade, which could be divided into more segments or one.

...

He chuckled, looking over the city.

It was insane just how much he still had to do to get out of this place; it made him think if he was really going to be able to get out before he turned seventeen...

Was he going to become an adult before he became a Seeker?

He still had at least one more shard left, and he needed the blade back to Kael, so he could go to the Tides, where it's most likely to be the end of the book. He could just skip to the battle, to stop getting the shards... but it felt as if this wasn't how the story was meant to be,

Plus, he had a promise to keep.

...

"It's not like I can do anything about it...

I just have to keep going forward."