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Nothing like this had happened before. They had traveled to hundreds of worlds before this and no one had been able to stop them.
But they had never made a god angry before either.
Aether wasn’t sure why she was mad, but he didn’t really care anymore. All that mattered was the disappearing face of his sister. He tried to rush for her but he was stuck, trapped in the same red blocks that covered Lumine. He reached out but she was gone and all that was left was his own voice screaming for her. And then even that was silenced.
Then the darkness swallowed him.
And he was alone.
“-ello? Lake? Wake uuuuup!”
Aether blinked awake to find a small white blob hovering over him, hands on her hips. Ah yes, the small fairy-thing he had fished out of the ocean yesterday. What was her name? Paimon, right? He was pretty sure it was Paimon. Hmmm pie… He should make pie again it had been far too long and it wasn’t that hard… he’d need ingredients though, as well as somewhere to bake…
“Lake! Are you listening!?”
Oops. He had not, in fact, been listening. Lumine had always said he got lost in his thoughts too much, but when he tried talking to people more they just gave him strange looks so maybe-
“L A K E!”
“I’m listening, you don’t need to shout,” He squinted up at where she hovered, “What do you mean Lake?”
“You didn’t tell Paimon your name,” She pointed out floating closer, “So Paimon gave you a nickname.”
“Why Lake?”
“Because you fished Paimon out!”
“Out of the ocean.”
“Lake sounds better,” Paimon nodded looking pleased with herself and Aether shrugged not bothering to argue. She was right anyway. Not only did Lake sound better but it was a more believable name. It was always good to have an alias-
“So what’s your real name?”
Aether stiffened. Logically it wouldn’t do any harm to tell her his name but…
“Aether! You have to see this!”
“Stop badgering the poor woman! Honestly Aether.”
“Aether?”
“Aether!”
“Aeth-”
He shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut.
“Just Lake is fine.”
“But you-”
“Please?” He couldn’t help the break in his voice.
The little fairy was quiet for a moment. Aether didn’t open his eyes but he felt a tiny hand awkwardly pat his head as if trying to comfort him.
“Can you tell me how you got here?” The question was soft and Aether would have missed it had Paimon not been right next to him. He hesitated. But she had already offered to act as a guide wherever he wanted to go as thanks for saving her life. And two pairs of eyes were better than one. And he wouldn’t be alone maybe she would know who the god was.
He opened his eyes.
“It started when my sister and I went to leave this world…”