What!?" Aiden cried in alarm. "Three months?"
He couldn't believe it. It had just been a moment ago he was in that weird space and that's equivalent to three months?
It was true that his body was probably damaged beyond repair if the pain he felt was anything to go by, but…three months?
"Your case was a unique one." Mira nodded solemnly. "Despite my efforts in trying to heal you up, your body seemingly just refused to be healed. It was as though there was a force negating my healing magic."
It couldn't be the Force, could it? Aiden wondered.
"And that's something considering Mira got some major power up." Finn added sullenly.
"A Power up?" Aiden turned his gaze back to Mira and noticed her energy Levels were quite enormous in comparison to when he last saw her. "You were successful."
Mira huffed, crossed her arms and looked away. "It's to be expected. You're not the only genius around you know."
Aiden only laughed at her cute reaction before turning to Lyra. "With the invasion subverted, what other issues could have risen?"
Lyra's expression changed a few times as tried to find the right words to use. "Following your achievements in the war, a lot of attention was directed towards our kingdom by the other kingdoms and…" Lyra hesitated for a moment. "...the Gods,"
Aiden squinted his eyes at this statement, "What does that mean?"
"The Gods found your strength to be quite commendable and bestowed various gifts to Father at the end of the war." Lyra replied. "According to them, they probably would've suffered more casualties if not for your 'impeccable' showing."
Aiden could already surmise where this was heading and frowned. "That's not a bad thing is it?"
"Normally, it shouldn't. However…" Lyra gritted her teeth as her eyes turned bloodshot. "Those bastards for Khandaq demanded we relinquished our spoils of war."
"Huh?" Aiden let out as a confused look flashed through his eyes. "Are they that confident or what? Wait…" Aiden rubbed his temple and adjusted himself on his bed and said. "Tell me the full story."
Lyra let out a deep breath but shook her head and sat on the bed. "I was not there on the frontline so I won't be able to do that. Mira here however…"
Aiden then turned his gaze towards his red haired friend and gestured for her to go ahead.
Mira uncrossed her hand and also sat on the other side of the bed and began. "It all started when Ares, the God of War, landed a devastating blow on Darkseid, the so-called bringer of doom..."
According to Mira, Darkseid, who believed himself untouchable, was proven wrong. Ares' axe cut not just his body, but his illusion of invincibility. Panicked and wounded, Darkseid ordered a retreat.
However, the Mystics that came with him and were in control of the Black metallic boxes, The Motherboxes, were killed, causing the undergoing synchronization of the boxes to come to halt, putting an end to The Unity; an event that would cleanse the World with Fire, transforming it into a copy of Apokolips.
Had it been successful, all who lived on the planet would become servants of Darkseid, alive but drained of life.
In the aftermath of the war, various Gods, in a bid to know the remarkable human that had managed a feat none of them had managed, approached the Grand Magus only to be referred to the Atlan Empires Camp.
When they arrived, they were met with the sight of Aiden's body lying motionless on a makeshift bed despite the unmistakable presence of life within him.
Mira stood beside him, her hands glowing faintly with healing magic, but her efforts yielded no results. Even the divine beings present, with all their power, could not restore him.
The Gods exchanged glances, their curiosity and awe growing. Aiden was an enigma, one they could not comprehend.
Finally, one of the Gods stepped forward and presented a golden trident to the King, Aiden's father. The artifact glowed with divine energy, its form etched with intricate runes.
"You gave birth to a true king," the God said, his voice void of emotions. "It's unfortunate he wasn't born a God."
His unreadable expression lingered for a moment before he turned and left, the other Gods following in silence. The weight of his words hung heavy in the air, as the King stared at the divine gift in his hands not knowing what to make of it.
With their lack of interest towards the technologies of Darkseid's armadas or the MotherBoxes, the Gods left, leaving the humans to deal with the spoils as they saw fit.
What followed was the various Kingdoms dividing the spoils amongst themselves, however, when it came to the MotherBoxes, considering their level of danger, it was decided that the Boxes be locked away.
Khandaq and a few other Kingdoms refused this and thought it would be better if they were studied instead.
This led to a strife between the short lived alliance.
The Amazons, already used to the greed of men, weren't surprised by this and went back to their island with one of the MotherBoxes. In this way, no matter what was decided upon, as long as the three Boxes never met, it was all well and good.
The Grand Magus, despite his strength and repute, held no interest towards the boxes but was rather curious as to what the person who fathered Aiden would do with it.
King Atlan didn't disappoint and sent his second son, Damon away with one to keep buried in a place where no one would ever come upon it, after all, He was the most travelled person he knew.
As for the last box, Atlan requested that the Grand Magus send over some Mages to aid him in studying both the Trident given to him and the Box if need be.
'So father already got the Trident, huh.' Aiden thought as he skimmed through the information he had just gotten and couldn't help but panic.
If the timeline hadn't been altered, in a couple years, his father, in his hunger for power would try to pry open the gate to the Divine only to be met with retribution.
Aiden understood the fact that being Human was synonymous to being weak in this Universe and his father, having bore witness to the feat of beings greater than himself would seek to bridge that gap.
He didn't see anything wrong with that mindset though, after all, he too, in his bid for more power, had created the Force. An energy he didn't even understand fully.
"What are you thinking so hard about?" Finn nudged him on the shoulder, startling him. "We've not even gotten to the Juicy part yet."
"There's more?" Aiden asked, but immediately understood. Mira has been going on about what happened after the war and hadn't gotten to the part where it was a crisis.
"Atlan has been at war with its neighbouring kingdoms for the past few weeks." Jaxon said straightforwardly, causing the room to fall into an eerie silence.
All eyes were immediately trained on Jaxon who spread his hand and asked. "What? You've all just been beating around the bush." He said and shrugged. "It's not like Aiden's gonna flip and go destroy an entire kingdom, right?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...right?" Jaxon asked again, seeing everyone looking at him with weird expressions.
…
In truth, none of the four in the room, Aiden excluded, knew the answer to his question.
The Aiden they had seen on the battlefield, or in Lyra's case, heard stories about, was not the Aiden they knew. The cheerful, occasionally reckless boy had been replaced by someone cold, sharp and infinitely more distant.
Since before his coma, they had found it hard to predict his thoughts as even on a normal day, Aiden's mind was an enigma, but after everything that had transpired during the invasion, the bloodshed and gory sight they all had to witness, the uncertainty was unbearable.
Finn shifted uncomfortably, his gaze darting to Mira as if seeking reassurance. She was the strongest person in the room after Aiden after all.
Mira, for her part, remained composed, though her clenched fists betrayed her tension. Lyra crossed her arms, her sharp eyes narrowing at her brother as if she could pierce through his thoughts. Jaxon stayed silent.
Aiden, however, wasn't paying them any attention.
His mind was elsewhere, caught in thoughts far removed from the present. Despite his exhaustion, a single question gnawed at him; What happened after the battle with Darkseid?
The stories told in the DCEU had never elaborated on those events, leaving a gap Aiden now found himself standing in. And he wasn't sure if he had the strength to face it.
Aiden only knew that Atlantis, after the war, entered a golden age of prosperity and technological advancement. They had unlocked the secrets of unlimited energy while the rest of the world still clung to belief that the Earth was flat.
Yet, in their ambition and quest for power, the Atlanteans had conducted a scientific experiment, one that would ultimately lead to their descent into the sea.
Having focused every ounce of his life's energy to survive Darkseid's invasion, Aiden now found himself at a crossroads, uncertain how to proceed.
He wasn't particularly concerned about Khandaq or the neighboring kingdoms; neither could pose a genuine threat to Atlantis, not with his father wielding Poseidon's Trident.
But that was precisely the problem.
"It's one crisis after another," Aiden muttered, leaning back onto his bed with a weary sigh. His gaze drifted to the ceiling as his voice softened, almost to himself, "Where do I even begin?"
The others in the room exchanged glances, their tension easing at his measured response. Despite the gravity of the news, Aiden hadn't lashed out or spiraled into negativity, a small mercy, perhaps.
He was torn.
Should he intervene and quell his father's ambitions before they spiraled into catastrophe, possibly condemning an entire underwater civilization in the process? Or should he retreat to the Magic Tower, distancing himself from it all, and await the inevitable collapse of his homeland?
Both paths felt like losing battles, and the weight of the decision pressed heavy on his chest.
...
A/N: I have not noticed any increase in my power Stones guys. C'mon. I did say for every 100 Stones, I'll post an extra chapter. You guys are motivating me at all.