Chapter 549: A Hero Forged in Lies

Essence ran through his body like never before, his threads trying their best to hold them all inside; after all, they were meant to hold the normal amount for a Seeker, which was nowhere near the amount that was coming into him now.

He stood his ground, trying not to fall unconscious from the sudden power, as Abyssal Matter traveled up his body, just like it normally did whenever he used half control, which probably also meant his eyes had gone black... yet interestingly enough, this time it seemed to go inside his body and disappear.

It made him wonder why that was. ’At this class, can I also control the color of the Abyssal Matter? I mean, I don’t see why not; after all, why couldn’t a God do something so simple?’

Looking at himself in the window, there was only one thing that remained: the eye. Everything else was gone; you couldn’t even notice that something had changed.

But it had, and massively.

Walking on the balcony of the castle, with slow steps, as his body barely held on due to the sheer amount of power inside of him. He looked over the Wonderland.

...

It was weird, being a God, or rather, having the power of a full-fledged God... the feeling was one he wasn’t familiar with; even with his body barely holding on, his movements felt... easy, free, and more importantly, he felt as if he could do whatever he wanted.

Noticing a small monster down near the castle, Aether wanted to test something; he raised his hand towards it, and a small spike emerged, moving at great speed towards it. The moment it made contact, it destroyed the monster, its organs and blood flying everywhere, as the spike continued into the ground, making a giant hole.

Aether’s mouth opened slightly as he looked at his hand. ’I barely used any essence, less than I use to summon a weak relic...’

But... this power had a cost.

Looking at his hand, he saw that his hand had cracked, a small piece of it gone; no blood came out, but rather a white light could be seen under it... he was familiar with this; after all, he had been seconds away from it killing him in the Tides... yet this time it seemed it had started way faster.

He sighed.

"You know, Aether, I’m surprised... I would have never expected a cocky bastard like you to choose to do something like sacrificing yourself; I thought you said you weren’t the hero type... so why are you doing this?"

...

That was a question he wasn’t that sure of. Sure, he was driven by the small fire inside of him that had started to burn hotter than ever. He knew just how many lives this would save... but at the same time, he would have never done this before. So had it changed him that much?

Was this truly the person he wanted to be? After all, there could be no turning back from this; there was a big chance of death, so would he die as someone he was happy to be?

’It’s better than dying knowing I didn’t do anything to save the world, knowing that at least I’m not like I used to.’

...

"I’m not a hero, and I won’t ever be. A hero is someone who is perfect; their will, so innocent and pure, someone people can look up to, and who only fights for the greater good. I could never be such a person." He said, resting against the railing of the castle... he should start his plan instead of wasting time.

...

And yet he couldn’t help but feel... scared.

"A hero doesn’t hesitate to help others, doesn’t have an ulterior motive, and will die for his beliefs and people... I’m just a cheap copy, someone pretending to be a hero. If I were anywhere close to being a hero, I wouldn’t be debating if I really should do this after making my decision earlier. Just goes to show my will isn’t so heroic, and that I have ulterior motives."

’And what motives do you have? What stops you?’

Aether sighs, resting his face in his hand, which had started to break even more. "Isn’t it obvious? My own existence, it’s hard for me to accept that I will be forgotten when time goes back. It’s hard to think Sofia won’t remember my name, and everyone else.

I’m selfish; I also want to belong to the world after I do this. I want to live.

I’m just not... a good person."

...

But was there even a way back? Would he have the time to get all this essence out of his body? I mean, it won’t just evaporate, and while it is here, his body will continue to break, and at the rapid pace it was destroying itself due to their souls.

He chuckled. "You don’t know just how much I wish that someone else was in my place, and I just had to watch. That’s the whole point of why I so wished the queen was alive; I knew I could do the same thing as her, by borrowing your power and such, but I also knew I might not return.

Looks like I shouldn’t have made so many promises, huh.

...

I won’t be able to keep them."

Aether took a deep breath as he got off the railing, raising his hands in the air as he closed his eyes... feeling the world around him so clearly, the world of the shadows, just like it belonged to him... which, at the moment, it technically did; he was its God.

His to manipulate.

Souls have a past, present, and future. While the future is a much harder thing to achieve, the past was a lot easier, still a hassle, but something he could do more easily. He could slowly return that present to the past, but a shadow and its owner should never look different; that is why the world will react, bringing the real object to its original state too.

But if he did this to everything in the world, it would mean the past was living in the present, a big contradiction in the rules of the world, a problem it would have to take care of. Also bringing back the events that originally caused the present state of the shadow and its owner.

The only problem, he had already said, he needed to do this for the whole world, to the whole Wonderland, which was an infinite place.

...

Taking a deep breath, Aether pushed forward, manipulating the shadows of the world, and yet as he did, essence came running out of his mouth, as his threads started to break inside of him.

It was to be expected, and while it hurt like hell, essence was just flowing through his body like crazy, even drowning his organs; he had to keep pushing forward.

He opened his eyes as he frowned, his body breaking at a rapid pace, as he became nothing but Abyssal Matter and the white light that was under his body. Their souls.

Groaning in pain, he watched as time slowly seemed to go back; days passed, but backwards, as the moon and sun switched places in the sky, like they were having a small race between themselves.

The question was if he was going to have time...

He felt himself fall, as his legs were completely gone, essence flowing from his thighs. Using his hands, he put himself on the railing as he got back to his work. He saw events from the past happen, from finish to start, seeing the effect, then the cause.

But not for long, as he lost vision in one of his eyes, as well as all his other senses; the only thing remaining was the small vision his black eye gave him.

Looking at his hands, his fingers were almost completely gone, but that was the least of his worries.

As he felt his chest break, he slowly felt himself dying, losing consciousness.

He pushed forward one last time, with all his power, everything he had left, one last push, bringing back all those months he suffered inside the Wonderland, to a day before they even entered the Wonderland.

Before everything went dark.

And death took him.

...

....

"So is this it? Is this what passing feels like? And I thought there was an afterlife... how annoying. Am I just bound to sit here for eternity, reflecting over everything I’ve done... I guess I now understand why people say not to die with regrets... since you will never be able to get over them.

Having to think about them forever.

...

Damn it, I also wanted to go back... I also wanted to continue living...

How unlucky."

The darkness was silent... before it was broken in two by light; his surroundings were lit up.

’Huh?’ Aether looked down, where he saw his body... with a familiar person standing in front of him... one he hadn’t seen in a way.

...

’The Angel...’