Hello! I finally finished the chapter and got it done in time to publish. Thanks for the idea from the guest on the last chapter; I hadn't thought of that and might have to use it now! Also you guys who keep saying I must have great ideas coming, I'm kinda laughing and cringing at the same time because I'm not sure that I do. I know how the story ends and the next big event, but I have a hard time coming up with what happens in between, which I'm now realizing is probably why I take so long to write chapters sometimes. Ideas aren't necessary, but they're certainly welcome!
Back in the relative safety of his home in the Under Realm, the rush from telling a secret in defiance of the voices in his head was all but squashed out by the clamor they raised in protest.
Seth squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed at his head in a feeble attempt to suppress the headache he could feel coming on.
Shut up, he told them. I already told her, yelling at me isn't going to change it, and I wouldn't just because you're yelling at me even if I could. Get over it.
It could never be that easy, no matter how much he wished it could. They kept on talking, reprimanding him for going against their wishes. Seth set off in the direction of the kitchen to go get some water, wishing not for the first time that he had a way to just turn the voices off.
Don't you have something better to do than judge my life choices? He asked them. Oh, wait-you don't. That started up a new round of racket, but it was almost worth it to get in that shot at them.
Also not for the first time, Seth wondered if he'd made a mistake in accepting the crown of the Underking. Would these voices be in his head causing major migraines for the rest of his life now? And even worse, what if he ended up like them? He didn't think he'd be able to stand that, being confined to a voice in someone else's head with nothing to do but sit around and complain at them.
But that was a problem for later.
For now he would get this glass of water and wonder about the potential ramifications of letting Eve know his real position in the Under Realm, also a possible problem he didn't feel like dealing with but one that would take effect sooner. He didn't think she would tell anyone else. Hopefully.
Eve seemed like someone who could keep a secret, if Seth had to guess, but second thoughts were making him doubt. He didn't really know her that well, did he? Although, he had known her for a while now, and she still hadn't told anyone where she was. At least that was something.
Glass of water in hand, Seth headed back to his favorite living room in the palace (which he liked to call the "dead room," because it was in the Under Realm) to find his headphones so he could ignore the voices better. Worrying never did anybody any good in the first place, and he could worry later if he needed to.
It could get tedious living underground in the dark at times, but Seth always found ways to adapt. He could sit and pout over his miserable circumstances, or he could do something to change the situation, liven up the Under Realm. He could always figure out new ways to entertain himself.
From an outsider's view, it may have been easy to assume he was alone and lonely, but only one of those two words really applied. There were many inhabitants of the Under Realm- not quite alive ones but inhabitants all the same. This made it considerably easier to come up with things to do.
Some of Seth's favorite pastimes involved playing tricks and pranks on his subjects. They didn't react quite the way they should, not as funny as he thought it would be were they human, but the confused stillness with which they responded was still funny in itself.
Sometimes he would try to just act as suspicious as he possibly could and see how long it would take for someone to say something, but they didn't often give in to that. The wraiths were generally too respecting of 'authority figures' (how he got labeled an authority figure, Seth was still trying to figure out). Sometimes he'd read a book by himself, but that was less often. Depending on the book, they could be interesting, but Seth tended to have trouble sitting still and paying attention to words on a page for too long.
The activity that was Seth's favorite was the one he got to do the least often: leaving the Under Realm entirely to search for (or create) little adventures in the outside world. He was usually too busy running a kingdom; being the ruler of the Under Realm required more effort than he'd initially expected, but he handled it pretty well. But Seth loved to go on adventures. He loved the thrill of something new, going somewhere he'd never been before, seeing and doing new things. And even if he didn't get to do something new, he loved being outside with the fresh air and sunlight. He was remarkably fond of the outdoors for someone who spent most of his time (by necessity) underground.
Right now, Seth didn't think he had anything he needed to be doing responsibility-wise (at least, nothing he couldn't put off for a while without negative consequences). Mentally-wise, he did have something he needed to do: go outside. So he quickly finished the glass of water he'd picked up and jogged to the exit to the island.
The temperature picked up almost the very instant he stepped outside. The simple difference of the sun shining changed everything. Seth figured he'd go somewhere else, take a boat and see where he ended up; if anything urgent came up, he could just open a temporary portal back to the Under Realm.
Portals were another convenience that came with his new power. Seth wasn't quite sure if that was part of the Under King's powers or if it was his shadow charmer powers growing, but either way, it was insanely cool, and he wasn't complaining. He found himself humming some abstract, made-up-on-the-spot tune as he descended the stairway to the beach.
This was the time when some people would've begun to come up with a plan for what they would do from here. Seth did not.
When he got to the dock where the one small, single-person boat was anchored, he climbed in, untied it, and shoved off. Adventure was waiting! There was nothing Seth loved more than going on an impromptu adventure with no plans or worries about what would happen. He could deal with that as it came.
For now, while he let the boat take him wherever it would, he appreciated the sunlight, reflecting off of the ocean and warming him up, and the cool breeze that didn't let it get too hot. He could never be too busy for those things
Seth didn't have anywhere particular in mind to go, and he wasn't sure he'd know how to get anywhere anyway since the island moved, but lucky for him, the boat had an idea. It moved to its target destination with purpose, unlike Seth. It was a clever boat like the one Ronodin had used years ago- possibly the same one, Seth didn't know. Ronodin had abandoned it when he'd abandoned the Phantom Isle, and Seth supposed it had probably stayed right where he'd left it after that. The boat had been used plenty since then, but Seth had never seen Ronodin again (and he didn't mind that in the slightest).
at the close of the day we burn and rave
we all feel the heaviness of the weight
