If anything, Aether understood Thalia more than anyone else.
He, too, had once been lost in a sea of doubts, consumed by self-loathing and uncertainty.
Who was he, truly... Ether or Aether?
Even though he recognized that he was both of them, he couldn't help but feel a peculiar distance from Ether, as if that identity wasn't entirely his.
It was odd—he shared Ether's essence, yet his connection to Aether felt stronger, more natural.
Was it because his earliest memories belonged to Aether?
Perhaps that was why Ether felt like a stranger, even though he was supposed to be the same person.
But one thing was certain:.... He was either Aether who had lived Ether's life or.... Ether who had inherited Aether's. No matter how he looked at it, they were ultimately the same being, intertwined and inseparable.
That was the truth he held onto, the belief that grounded him!
Aether turned to Thalia, his voice softer now.
