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“Aether”… a name from times billions of years ago when the universe was a world apart from what it has become, a time the traveler could hardly remember himself.
Not like it mattered these days, only one person has ever, and will ever call him that. Only she shall know the truth.
Nowadays people only know him as “The Legendary Traveller”... “Saviour of Teyvat”… “Tumaini the hope of Natlan”…. “The Outlander that caught the wind” “Third Descender”... After all he was someone who had shaken the heavens upon waking up in this world, who impressed and stood against gods.
Still they knew no love for the heart that lay deeper within. The one held by a man named after the substance of the cosmos itself. The once celestial being soaring the sky in hopes of finding a true place to belong, a place to call home.
He truly missed it. Despite his travels in nations of wind, fire, along with the rest, none of them compared to his past, he could admit that. He longs for the freedom of the sky, for his wings that let him stand above the clouds. For the leisure of endlessly drifting in the void, not bound by any mortal concepts. He remembers hearing the songs of the stars, those he could call kin to him. Swimming through endless galaxies holding stories of the universe in his soul.
The life of a heavenly body, a luminous sphere of plasma, with his back against his sisters. Two beings created of pure light.
Oh his beloved sister…How he yearned for her presence once again. To feel her hair between his fingers. To grab her hand and be finally reunited.
Nevertheless, the world was a cruel and unjust place. Tearing two intertwined souls away from each other was the greatest punishment of them all. The blond felt as if a part of him had been ripped apart the moment his fingers couldn't reach hers. Pathetic. For someone so apparently great he sure was failing during the most decisive moments. . Always no matter how fast he was, or how much he ignored his need for breath, he found he was too late. The desender will never forgive himself for that
He hoped Teyvat was only a chapter in the book that was their lives, yet it seemed anything but. Aether reckoned it will be their finale, The final ending to their adventures. He carried the scent of battle and an immortal that has lived for too long. His mind was filled with nightmares, the horrors and destruction of wars, images of lost people as well as the voice of Lumine haunted him everywhere he went. He needed to get it together… find her… find the truth he had been searching for. Except he couldn't even look in a mirror for the reflection showed her face instead of his. The traveler survived eons, why is this happening now?
It felt like truly he was lost without her. Like she was the one keeping him from crumbling.
He was supposed to be destined for greatness. An immortal near god-like creature. Watching all other stars burn out as new ones are born in an endless cycle of the universe remaking itself. Instead of a god he was now only rotten with the past of one.
Lately he found himself afraid of many things, primarily forgetting. Slowly losing sight of the person he crossed countless planets with. Her face was already becoming more and more blurry as the days went on. Perhaps it was erosion getting to him, eating away at his memories
Her face…
Her voice…
Her hair…
Paranoid of them all becoming alien to him, of losing the last bit of her he had left, he kept his journal filled with little sketches of her. In case she faded from his mind completely.
Along with the passing months he wrote less and less in it. Only keeping brief thoughts still written in his mother tongue. He was getting tired.
How long can a cosmic being truly exist for before decaying into the wind? Becoming only a legend passed down through generations? Was that the fate he was destined to live?
He hoped upon meeting her everything would go back, together they would return to beyond the sky, however deep down it was clear, that was an unlikely destiny for them. What a strange existence he leads.
Today was a particularly tiresome day. He failed once again. He failed to reach the Moon goddess of this land. It was all his fault. What is wrong with him? Were all those people wrong about him, about trusting him to help? He wasn't a saviour, nowhere close to such a thing.
The renowned adventurer laid on a field filled with flowers deep in the meadows of Nod-Krai.
Lately he found himself doubtful. Of himself, his own abilities. He was still a star but the endless light that had before burned bright was now encased within human flesh. Course the sky is a creator that does not possess the innate ability to create life. His body, indistinguishable from human, remained nothing but a mere imitation of such. Possibly the powers he once held close were all nothing but gone.
At this moment he was almost desperate to prove he was more than that. More than a failure he recently felt like. To prove his own immortality.
Was the knife encased in the palm of his face surely enough to pierce his skin? Would he be wounded? Feel pain from such a pathetically human thing as a cut?
Looking up at his birth place above he heard a whisper, perhaps it had been the wind. It proposed an idea, a disturbing one, a gamble to show his eternality. He won't regret this.
He truly did wonder if within his human-like body, stripped away of his previous abilities, still laid that speck of god-like power he held, or if along with his sister came his godhood. Perchance there was still hope that light ran through his veins.
Hovering the blade over his face a shiver ran along the back of his neck. Huh, what a strange feeling. Was the brave hearted, never fearing knight hesitating? He couldn't possibly be.
He lowered the blade mere inches above his throat as his radiant eyes scanned the surroundings. To his fortune there was not a single soul to be a witness to the act he was about to commit. Even Paimon was busy sleeping in her own pocket realm. She shouldn't be seeing him like this. The only ones to share his story would be the green blades of grass tainted a crimson red and the gentle wind carrying the song of death throughout nations.
That would be if he was as weak as he hoped not to be.. Someone with the possible chance of dying from such a thing.
At this moment he felt… empty.
Within his chest lay a space reserved for a heart, a space instead replaced by an endless emptiness that could only be filled by his other half. The constant ache of that void only possibly eased by the warmth of the one who was no longer with him from the moment he entered this world. Aether yearned to feel that again. Her head rested on top of his shoulder. Their life as pretend mortals was surprisingly kind up to this point. Entangled in each other's warmth as they held the other close. Never to be separated. That memory reminded him of his rotting loneliness. He had so many people yet he still felt so numbingly alone.. It was eating away at him.
No one could survive without the warmth of love. Not even an immortal. His death was certain to occur someday. But nowadays unable to burn away his atoms in an explosion of supernova, turning his body into nothing but ash to be carried by the breeze that told his story to passers-by, he can only burn internally trying to withstand the erosion that was bound to happen and destroy him from within.
The descender made his choice. A sudden pain shot through his body as the blade ran long his neck. He quietly cursed himself for still having such foolish hope but he quietly wished upon his death he will be reincarnated as a star. Endlessly drifting along the black holes. For once he let himself relax and fall deeper into the abyss of death.
He closed his eyes and prayed to see lumines face again, in another life.
.
.
Light…
So much light…..
There was a radience beaming upon the face of a young boy. One fated to a life of misfortune. He stood amongst the dead bodies of high nobles and soldiers that died protecting their homeland. Red stickiness coated the ground. As he looked around, his golden eyes were only met with the sight of destruction and ruin. The air he felt on his cold skin carried the scent of blood and war.
So much death….
The earth was gradually getting more and more blurry. He could hardly keep his eyes open. With the last remaining strength he walked forwards. Glancing down on his body he noticed not a scratch. You are not, and never will be human. The gold haired boy’s head was pounding, not necessarily with physical pain, but something much deeper than that. His knees were threatening to give up on him as a familiar.. Warmth.. Drew his soul back to his body.
A girl grabbed his hands. He could faintly hear her saying his name.
“Viator….”
“Get up”
At that moment when his gaze met the heavens above he realized. There was no sun hanging above them. Only a star devouring darkness laid there.
.
.
“Traveller!” a high pitched scream tore through to him. Aether opened his eyes, as he found himself lying right back on the flowers,
Paimon seems to have been trying to wake him up for a while now…
“You had Paimon worried about you!” The white fairy floated next to him “You passed out in the middle of a field. What were you even doing there?”
Hm……Looking down, his hands were completely clean. He woke up as if nothing happened.
“Dont worry about it, Paimon. I'm fine now” He replied in a raspy voice, slowly getting up.
“Well whatever it was, you had Paimon sick! Never sneak off like that again, ya hear me? Paimon had no idea what to do…. I'm glad you're okay” with that she wiped the tears forming in her eyes. Poor paimon. The traveler laughed. A genuine laugh. How interesting. Despite him stabbing himself he woke right up. Maybe all hope wasn't lost.
Gods he was going insane.