Chapter 532: The Past Is Still Mine

Aether twitched, his eyes widening as he heard that voice. He didn’t turn around instantly. He stood still as he heard her get closer. How was he going to get out of this situation this time?

She had seen his face, so was there even a way out?

...

There was... after all, in this forest, it’s normal for the dead to appear, and she thought he was dead. It wouldn’t be weird for him to act like a mimic of himself, an illusion, a monster of the forest trying to mimic her dead brother.

It could be his only way out...

Aether smiled, turning around to execute his plan.

...

...

But when he did, he found himself in a field, filled with corn...

’Huh?’ Looking down at his hands, they were a lot smaller than usual, he could barely see past the corn. ’How did I get this small?’ He thought, as he tried to look over it, getting on the tips of his toes, but in the distance, the field just continued.

There was nothing for him to do but continue. So he walked through the field, confused about what was happening.

Yet, as he walked, he started hearing something moving through the corn; he tried activating Eden, but to no avail. ’What the hell.’ He frowned, trying to catch the monster with his eyes, but it was really fast.

It jumped out from behind, wrapping its arms around him. Aether quickly moved, trying to get them off, yet when his eyes met the face of the monster, he let go.

"Got ya!" Sofia said, chuckling.

Aether’s eyes widened as his cheeks turned red.

’What is going on... why is she here... is this from my childhood?’ His sister looked a lot younger, and more importantly, he was also smaller, but the thing was, he never remembered being in this place, and definitely not playing this game.

So what was going on?

"You know, you’re not that good at hiding. And more importantly, you’ve barely covered any ground; you really like losing to your older sister, huh?" She said, letting go of him as she put her hands on her hips.

"But." She said, leaning down slightly so she would be at his level. "Don’t be discouraged; I’m sure you will grow strong. When you get your affinity, you will be even stronger than me. But before that." She got up.

"Let’s see if you can catch me." She said, running through the corn.

Aether stood frozen... yet at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel happy. Even if he didn’t know what was going on, he hadn’t had the opportunity to play with his sister like this in a long time; was it bad if he wanted to play into this illusion, just for a bit?

He laughed as he tried rushing after his sister through the corn.

Yet as he passed through it and got to the other side, he found himself in his home castle. In front of him was his sister’s door. And on the other side, he could hear cries, but he couldn’t see what was beyond it.

Some maids passed by, talking to each other. "The princess hasn’t left her room in a while; she must really be grieving over her little brother’s death." The other maid nodded. "She must be. I really hope she isn’t blaming herself for it.

...

’Blaming herself for... my death? But why? She had nothing to do with it, so why would she be the one at fault? It was no one’s fault, really. My father couldn’t have known the intentions of the Blue Rose, and she wasn’t even aware of the mission I was given. So why would she be at fault?’

He frowned, turning towards the door once more. He looked at the knob... and a small fire burned inside of him as he rushed to open the door, but his hand just passed through it.

His eyes widened; he tried once again, but the same thing happened.

Seeing that it wouldn’t work, he tried passing through the door, but he couldn’t; it was as if a force was holding him outside.

He cursed, blinking as he turned back around, but when he opened his eyes once more, he wasn’t in the castle anymore. Instead, he was in total darkness, face to face with himself, just the child version, the same version he had killed at the end of Demon of Dread.

The figure smirked as he leaned forward. "I don’t understand you. You killed me so you could forget about the past, to have a new beginning, to become another person, then why do you want to much to return to it?

By revealing yourself to her, you’re going against everything you’ve become. You will get close to her again, close to someone who might die, and more importantly, you would be directly binding yourself to the past again."

"I..." Aether tried speaking, but he couldn’t form any words; it was as if his mouth had been sealed off by some force.

"You can’t be multiple people at once, Aether; you have to choose one, so who do you want to be? A Vessel, a Prince, the leader of the Withered, or a student of the Blue Rose.’

Aether looked at the figure as it awaited his answer.

...

He smiled as the small fire from before seemed to burn once more.

"Hard to say; can’t expect me to decide on the spot, you know... but either way, how is this even important? I’ll admit... my decision not to let myself connect to the past might have been a mistake.

...

That’s why the first thing I want to do in discovering myself is accept it. My past."

He said, offering his hand to the figure, who seemed surprised as he looked at his hand.

...

...

Aether took a deep breath as he turned around, small tears flowing from his eyes, a big smile appearing on his face as he stared into Sofia’s eyes.