...

The fire spread its wings around the Zones, enveloping them in its wrathful heat. The world was crumbling, with the death of the King, all of the zones that kept order were gone, replaced by the ruin where he found the Voidpiercer Wound.

Giving time back near it, which had been used against them, but they had fought back, many burning alive because of their hope for the new world

Ironic, isn't it? They chased after the little flame burning in their heart, to get caught in a fire that they couldn't contain, and in the end, they had been burnt to ash, alongside that hope.

They were losing... or at least that's how it seemed, since while the battle was lost, the war was still going on, and it was starting to go their way. While they had lost one of the zones to the people, well, not really, since they needed to kill him to gain control of it...

There wasn't... anything standing between him and the Queen; their battle was growing near. But he knew he couldn't just go and fight without getting something off his mind.

How was he going to beat her?

She was much stronger than The Jack, and while his immunity was lost because he copied his ability, The Queen was the vessel of the Abyss; she was also the one from whom The Jack took the ability.

It was impossible to survive when she wasn't holding down. So he needed to find a way.

...And he had an idea, one that he wasn't sure would work, but he needed to try.

He was going to go back to the First Ring and destroy the Sun.

The sun was something created from the Abyss and raised in sacrifice; it was also something he could use soul attacks and manipulate others, just like the Queen could.

It was the closest thing to her, so if he could destroy it, he could give himself a chance.

...That was all he got, though, since he knew that he wouldn't have the chance for a second chance either way.

If he could have seen more of Eir's memories, maybe he could have seen how he had destroyed the Sun he and the other Children of Praise raised.

But that wasn't possible.

...

...

There weren't any guards guarding the Second Ring; all were either dead or fighting in the war going inside the ring. He wondered if the First Ring was aware of anything that was happening on this part of the wall...

He took one step forward, feeling a disturbing feeling inside his chest, throbbing around, and kicking his body when he passed into the First Ring.

Until now, he had wished to forget everything that had happened in this cursed place, even going as far as throwing himself into battles that he hardly survived. And yet here he was, standing where he left everything behind, ready to pick things back up.

Here he was finally facing those cursed memories that had been repeating over and over in his mind. He was determined to look them face to face, thinking that if he did, he would finally be at peace, but was that really right?

Would this really allow him to rest... would it bring them back?

'No, it won't.

Nothing can bring back the dead. Trying to find a way will only lead to rot and even more despair; it was better not to hope that there is a way. That way, he could focus on his goal without any setbacks.

It was weird walking around in a place where time was... working. It was also strange how far it had reached; it couldn't have been back when he left... so had people willingly sacrificed themselves to it?

"Damn it."

He ran a hand through his hair, remembering the months he had spent feeding that damn monstrosity, not knowing it was controlling his mind, not knowing that he was playing right into its hand, doing everything it wished, and almost giving his life to it.

...Just like Avrie had done.

He didn't recognize him, after all, it had been a long time since he first came to the Second Ring... he didn't miss it.

None of the zones was a place worthy to live in; one was inside a massive civil war, where death is the only way to strengthen your hope, and hope was the most important thing in that war, it fueled you, and everyone else.

And the other was a place where an entity is controlling your thoughts and decisions, a place where sacrifice is considered normal, and very prideful by most.

Either way, he could sense the look of others on him... but unlike they were before, hateful, enough to see as if they wanted to kill him... they seemed to look at him with admiration, like he was a deity.

Not long after he arrived in the First Ring, a massive crowd of people gathered around him, kneeling at his feet.

He felt nervous, not knowing what on earth was happening, and why everyone was acting like this... like they were so grateful for having their life controlled. But wasn't that also how he was with the Sun when he was under her control?

The people of the First Ring had very dreadful lives compared to those from the Second Ring, with most of its people being from an even worse place, the outskirts. Their life is full of sorrow... but now, this time serves as their hope. Because it turned their life into what they knew it before everything had happened, it gave them the little enjoyable pleasures of life, thinking it made them more human.

Little did they know it dehumanized them more than anything, becoming mindless powers for the Sun to use, puppets living in a paradise, or at least what they can remember from their past life that they know is considered a true paradise.

They didn't know that this so-called paradise was going to devour them whole without leaving anything behind. Just like it had done with Avrie, just that with her, he still existed to keep her tale; he wasn't going to be able to remember everyone that was lost.

His popularity was becoming quite inconvenienced, not being able to walk anywhere without having people follow him around, even some that he's seen in the Second Ring were here, in the paradise that was the First Ring.

He retreated into a dark alley, hiding from them. Even if it had been a while, he still knew them by the back of his hand.

He traversed through the darkness in hopes of finding the Sun, but to no avail; it was as if it never existed. He stopped in his tracks, looking straight into the shadows.

"Where is the Sun?"

After saying this, tens of shadows emerged, surprised that a human like him could talk to them. Their eyes widened, not realizing whether he was really talking to them or if he was just crazy. He wouldn't be the first person to go mad in this place.

Aether looked straight into one's onyx eyes, making it stagger, but also confirming that he could both see and hear them. They looked at one another, not sure what to do next. After all, they had never had to do with something like this.

In the end, they nervously pointed in a direction, the direction where the Sun was held.

...

"What the heck?"

As he got closer and closer, he felt some sort of weird attraction, as if something was speaking to him, or rather, his soul.

It was to be expected that the closer to the Sun he was, the more powerful it was...

...

...

The wind blew hard around him, the Sun set high into the air, its once white and pure color turning pure black, like a glistening obsidian, it watched over the paradise.

Everything around it in a larger radius was destroyed, if he had to say, almost a quarter of the Ring had been destroyed by it, the remains of houses, humans, and many other things floating in the air, around the Sun as if they were planets.

He cursed, looking at the sight, it was unbearable, just how had it come to this? When he had left, the Sun was big, but not bigger than a house. Its power could get time back in a large area, but not the whole Ring.

And it didn't have the power to float or destroy everything around it.

Just what had the people done when he was around?

"I should have destroyed it when it had the chance... I was a coward, and look what happened because of me."

He wondered if the Sun created by the Children of Praise had gotten to this stage.

And if destroying it created an explosion, was the same going to happen this time?

If so... could he even survive, could anyone survive?

...

...

"It seems... the end of this Paradise is near... closer than anyone imagined..."

...

...

"Is it isnt it? Aether."

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