A little dark shadow would materialize on the ground, seemingly alive and moving. Aether would crawl out of it, panting for oxygen, because the shadows inside operated like water and could suffocate someone if they weren't propelled towards their objective by Nyx's force. Aether coughed loudly as he grasped onto ground while his body remained in the gloom. He hurriedly stood up, and the shadow vanished; he coughed again before managing to calm himself down and glance up at the tree. As his halo sat on top of his head, his wings seemed heavier, and he'd stare down at the roots of the tree beneath him, thinking to himself, "Such a powerful tree, powerful enough to cause a primodial god lose his abilities if they were to simply touch its wood."
His wings would feel lighter and his halo would begin to hover above his head the instant he stood up and climbed off the roots. The light that he was always illuminating would begin to wane, making him brighter than when he perched on the root. "Odd, isn't this tree meant to take anyone's powers simply for being within a 50 mile radius of the main trunk?" Aether thinks to himself as he frowns, peering down at the tree's glowing magic veins. When he noticed the veins were darker than when he last seen them, he knew something was wrong.
He would flinch when he heard groans of anguish. He rushed off the ground and flew as rapidly as he could towards the trunk of the tree, hoping the person he was thinking about was okay. He turned rapidly around the trunk to find Hope resting on a patch of land surrounded by the tree's roots. "Hope!" Aether exclaimed as he landed next to him. Aether knelt next to Hope and began to raise him off the ground. Hope was severely injured and had dark spots all over his body. "Hope, what happened?!" Aether exclaimed, concerned.
"D-Daemon.." Hope murmured before flinching from the agony, turning his head to the side as Aether held him tight. A shadow appeared from behind Aether, ready to strike him in the skull. But Aether moved swiftly, jumping in front of him and rapidly twisting himself around in a 180-degree angle while clutching Hope tightly in his arms in a bridal carry. "How did you even get in here?" Aether said of the individual in front of him.
Infir, the person who stood in front of Aether, is a Daemon. "How did you harm the tree?" Aether asked Infir as he rose from the ground. "Anything involving magic immediately disperses whenever they are near the tree, so how could you harm the tree in the first place?" Aether exclaimed, and Infir simply laughed in delight before snapping his fingers and saying, "Well, that's a story for another time." As soon as he said those words, the trunk of the tree burst into flames behind Aether.
Aether glanced back in fear; the tree was the source of all magic, and if it died, everything else would perish. Aether would detect a huge difference in the weight he held, and when he looked down, Hope had vanished and was in the hands of Infir. With a pleased expression on his face, Infir held out a firey sword to Aether and asked, "So, which one will you save? Your dear friend or the tree?" Aether realized he had to make a choice and was ready to hurry up to Hope when Hope gave him a look that indicated he should save the tree instead of himself.
Hope treasured the tree; he had cared for it his entire life, and Aether was well acquainted with it. Aether would clench his teeth and raise his hand to the flames. The flames would begin to be drawn into Aether's hand as he gripped his arm hard with the other. Because of the amount of force he had to hold with just the palm of his hand, his knees would bend. "Come on," Aether pleaded under his breath, till the fire on the tree was extinguished. The tree appeared to be in good condition; it did not appear to have been burned or caught fire. "INFIR!" shouted Aether, realizing it was a hoax.
"I should've known, the Oasis Lagoon is the source of all magic, and if it died, Infir would've died; Oh Zeus, I shouldn't have overlooked that one vital point!" Aether shouted as he walked around the small piece of land, his hands on his skull. "Hope..." he whispered, his eyes trembling with his anxiety for Hope. He would crouch to the ground with his hands on his skull. A gateway made of vines would appear behind Aether, the portal shone brightly, and an elven-like skeleton would rush out of it. "Aether, I read what happened; are you okay?" asked the skeleton from behind.
Aether would flinch when she heard the skeleton's voice from behind her. "C-Chronicle?" Aether murmured as he peered over his shoulder with teary eyes. Chronicle would put his palm to his chest before sprinting up to Aether and slinging his arms around his neck to hug him from behind. "Oh, I'm pleased you're okay; when I read what occurred, I feared the worst." Chronicle muttered as he placed his head next to Aether's. "Chronicle," Aether mumbled again before dropping his hands from his skull and grasping Chronicle's arm. "I'm... delighted you're here," Aether added with a faint smile.
They sat like that for a bit until Chronicle moved in front of Aether. "Chronicle, do you know what's going on?" Aether would ask, placing his palm on Chronicle's face. Chronicle was hesitant to tell him, but after a few moments of thought, he began to explain. "Mikelle was travelling into the Underworld to see Morpheus and Hope," Chronicle began his explanation.
Aether sat there frowning; according to Chronicle, Mikelle appeared to be in a dispute with Morpheus when he came to meet them here in the Oasis Lagoon. "Wait, when did this happen? I've never heard anything about a battle!" Aether exclaimed, perplexed because none of the other gods had stated anything about it. "You know how the Oasis Lagoon is, it's out of reach for anything, so there wouldn't be word about this," Chronicle said to Aether's inquisitive question. "Ah- Continue," Aether said as he sat back down, his legs crossed.
"Now, as I was saying," Chronicle sighed. "Morpheus ate half of the negative apples, which caused him to have a split personality: one, his original, and the other, his negativity," Chronicle explained, pointing both index fingers to represent Morpheus' two sides. "So, like Thanatos' current situation?" Aether inquired, stroking his chin. "Yes! Like that, but unlike Thanatos, who has different bodies," Chronicle smiled as he pointed his finger towards Aether. "But that still doesn't explain how that Daemon got in here in the first place," Aether seemed to grasp the scenario but was perplexed by a few details.
"I'll explain more clearly now. Mikelle fought Morpheus for eating the negativity apples when Hope was gone; their disagreement weakened the tree, so it wasn't entirely the Daemon's fault; and about Mikelle eating one of the negativity apples, it was in the heat of the moment and he needed a way to get stronger and defeat Morpheus," Chronicle paused for a moment before continuing. "It didn't work, and it merely weakened him, but he was able to defeat Morpheus that way because negativity cannot vanquish negativity, and the Daemon simply claimed credit for the tree being weakened," Chronicle stated more fully as Aether sat there stunned by the entire affair.
"But why does that Daemon need Hope?" Aether wondered. "I still don't know, the books hadn't written that portion yet," Chronicle grumbled as he looked down at the ground. He was frustrated that he couldn't tell Aether more than he already knew. "It's alright, I'll figure it out soon; for now, get back to your library; it's dangerous here," Aether would hug Chronicle before pulling away a few moments later. Chronicle nodded before standing up and returning to the portal he had hurried out of earlier. "Aether," Chronicle murmured, coming to a halt in front of the portal. "You know how time runs differently here and at the library, right?" Chronicle inquired, his gaze fixed on the doorway.
"I am well aware that time moves more slowly in the Library, but why do you inquire?" Aether inquired. "It may seem like a few seconds or a day to you, but for me, it'll be hundreds of years before I see you again," Chronicle would tighten his fist. Aether seemed to grasp what was going on, muttering gently to Chronicle while extending out his hand. "I'll miss you," Chronicle murmured, tears welling up in his eyes. Aether sensed Chronicle's grief and was about to approach him to console him, but Chronicle had already wiped away his tears and jumped into the portal.
Aether simply stood there, watching the portal close behind Chronicle before lowering his arm to his side. "You didn't even give me a chance to tell you I love you," Aether grumbled as he began to walk away from the plot of land. Another portal would appear behind him before he could even walk away, and he could feel a set of hands wrap around him. Chronicle had read what Aether had said in his books. Chronicle had been in agony for hundreds of years before he was able to read those few words. "I love you, too," Chronicle replied softly before pulling himself back into the portal and the portal closing behind him.
Aether would quietly grin and ask, "What did I do to deserve his love?" Chronicle had always waited decades for him, and Aether remembered the times he had turned down Chronicle's advances because he wasn't ready and was still figuring out his feelings for him. He felt cherished, and his chest felt warm as he smiled up at the sky. Until that warm sensation seemed like a sword piercing him and blood flowed from his mouth. He stumbled backwards but managed to steady himself; his legs eventually gave out, causing him to fall to the ground on his knees. As he was kicked to the ground, his eyesight blurred and he began to bleed profusely. "You shouldn't have let down your guard," a voice said, and Aether saw the foot of the person who stabbed him. "You..." murmured Aether before closing his eyes and everything went black.