Chapter Text
"Outlanders, your journey ends here."
Aether came to awareness to those familiar words that haunted his nightmares. He glanced up at the Sustainer then glanced to his sister, who was clearly ready for a fight.
'She won't be captured and thrown to the Abyss. Not this time. This is our only chance to fix things,' Aether thought, charging into battle alongside Lumine. He had to wait for his opportunity. The Sustainer glanced at him a couple of times and he internally winced. 'She senses Istaroth's power on me. Hopefully that doesn't cause her to do something drastic. Then again, they're both Shades. And Istaroth would have to have good reason to break the Rules.'
An attack of cubes aimed at Lumine. Aether quickly moved himself between her and the attack, letting it swallow him. The last thing he saw before he was made to Fall was the Sustainer's surprised expression becoming contemplative and the last thing he heard was Lumine screaming his name.
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Aether woke to a red sky. He didn't have much time. Quickly getting to his feet, he called Electro and Anemo to enhance his speed and took off, grabbing people - Khanrei'ans - and shoving as many innocents into the Teapot as he could. Istaroth had made sure he was able to bring it with him. It flaunted the Rules, but the Rules had to be broken if Teyvet was to be saved. He noted a man - Rerir - running into a room and swiftly followed, grabbing Rerir's fiancee and shoving her into the Teapot before she went through the portal and moving on.
Rerir wasn't an innocent of this Cataclysm. Aether wasn't allowed to save him. Yet. Istaroth had lain down some emergency rules for him to follow to avoid destroying everything before it could be saved. Some fates could not be changed - not until certain events in their story had occurred. And saving some would destroy nations. Aether mourned for Makoto even as he passed the goddess helping weave the curse on the surviving available Khanrei'ans. Saving her would doom Inazuma. Without the Sacred Sakura planted in the river of time, Inazuma would not survive this Cataclysm. Makoto had to die to save her nation.
Knowing he was out of time here, Aether fled Khanrei'ah via the teleportation system. There was somewhere else he had to be now. Someone (several someones) he could potentially save in the Chasm. If he got there fast enough. Checking his inventory, he breathed a sigh of relief that everything important had come with him. He had enough food, water, and medical supplies to last an entire battalion a month in hostile territory. Hopefully it wouldn't take that long to get Bosacius and the humans out of the Chasm.