Aether stood, still caught in awe by the presence of the mysterious woman cloaked in power and allure. Her golden-tipped black hair shimmered beneath the eternal glow of the sanctuary, and her golden eyes glinted with cosmic knowledge. The silence between them was shattered by her first words:
"Lady Marwen," Taiji uttered.
The name struck Aether like thunder through calm skies. Her expression shifted—first to surprise, then contemplation.
"You know about her?" Aether asked, a mix of curiosity and suspicion in her tone.
Taiji's smile widened, sharp as a blade wrapped in silk. "She made a promise to you, didn't she? That you'd meet someone after her end. Someone... like me."
Aether remembered clearly now—Lady Marwen's fading voice whispering through cracked lips, eyes wide not with fear, but reverence. *"Seek her... the one wrapped in dusk and dawn... she holds what you need."
Taiji continued, her tone playfully direct. "You have questions. Ask them."
Aether, breath steady, spoke, "Why do you know that? Why do you act as though you've been waiting for me?"
With a tilt of her head and a ghost of a chuckle, Taiji replied, "Because I have."
Without warning, a translucent interface opened midair in front of Aether—a radiant web of glowing lines and ethereal symbols. Her skill tree, exposed not by her meditation, but summoned externally.
Aetherius stirred in her mind. *"This... this isn't possible... unless... unless she's—"
Aether's heart raced. "The Umbriavagus?"
The air tightened around them. Taiji, amused, gazed directly into Aether's soul and responded. "Whispering doesn't work around me. Don't be shy, little moon. Yes... I am The Umbriavagus. Or at least, a form your mind can bear."
Taiji stepped forward and gently lifted Aether's chin, making their eyes lock.
"You're prettier when you're confused," she whispered. "But I've seen your strength, your restraint... even when your allies doubted you."
Aether didn't flinch—her eyes focused, her breath steady.
"Why do you care?"
Taiji's smile softened, a rare glint of sincerity breaking her usual mask. "Because you didn't break when you could have. And that makes you worthy."
With a snap of her fingers, reality bent like melted glass. The sanctuary transformed into a boundless void filled with constellations, resembling Aether's internal meditative realm. Each branch of the skill tree hovered like galaxies—Speech, Combat, Illusion, Arcane.
Taiji gestured and the Speech branch surged, maxing out to its final node. Words, logic, and influence—now crystallized within Aether's mind like a divine lexicon.
"Why this one?" Aether asked.
"Because your power is not only in force," Taiji said, circling her slowly, "but in persuasion. Your words may soon carry the weight of stars."
They walked slowly across the astral floor.
"Vōstras," Taiji murmured. "A name passed among the ancients. Do you know what it means?"
Aether responded, "Energy shaped through will, soul, and understanding."
"Good girl," Taiji said. "But it's also a language of the forgotten... a system that mirrors the duality of form and thought. It's rare for someone to intuitively grasp it like you do."
She paused before continuing. "And your Vault-Boy... primitive in design, yet... adaptable. I admire the ambition of your kind."
Taiji brushed her hand through the air, opening Aether's interface. "I see Aetherius has done his job well, but he never told you where she came from, did she?"
Aether remained silent.
"She is a fragment, a shard, born of something older. Not a watcher... not quite a god. A beacon, cast into your soul when the realms first trembled. He is your compass in the dark."
The skill tree faded, replaced by a bright rune.
"This," said Taiji, "is my blessing. Mentality Disorder Controlling."
The rune etched itself onto Aether's mindscape. A warm pain bloomed behind her eyes—soothing, but sharp. Her knees wobbled for a moment.
"You will now hold dominion over your mental scars," Taiji said. "But with power comes consequence. Balance must be kept. When it surges, it may pain you. And time is your healer."
Aether clenched her fists. "You saw it, didn't you?"
Taiji nodded. "Your childhood. Your light—so bright it blinded the world. And they tried to cage it."
The sanctuary was silent again. Aether didn't speak. Her cold eyes met Taiji's golden ones.
The weight of unspoken pain lingered.
Taiji broke the silence with a slow clap. "Still standing. That's why I chose you. You are not of the gods. But you are... something else."
The shadows of the sanctuary coiled like serpents, and the sky above swirled with ancient glyphs.
"Remember this, Aether," she said. "You're the bridge. Between memory and myth."
And with another snap, everything turned white and turn back again.
The world around Aether dissolved into pure white.
Gone were the ancient halls, the crystalline towers, the thunderous skies she had just witnessed. In their place was a blankness so overwhelming, it made her wonder whether she had gone blind. But no—she could feel her heartbeat, the breath in her lungs, the weight of her body. She was not dead. Just elsewhere. Somewhere.
The silence was unbearable, until a faint hum filled the void—a resonance like the soft tuning of a thousand string instruments, each vibrating in harmony.
Then came the voice.
"Welcome to the Root of Possibility," Taiji's voice echoed. Not from in front, behind, above, or below—but from everywhere at once.
Before Aether could ask what she meant, the whiteness peeled itself open like a page being turned. Shapes returned. Color seeped back into the world like watercolor across paper. Stars bloomed into the abyss, and beneath her feet a floor formed—a platform made of woven stardust, shifting under her steps like the surface of a calm sea.
Across from her, Taiji stood—unchanged, eerily calm.
"You asked about Aetherius. You wanted to know why you, and not anyone else, can hear its voice. Why you were chosen to survive Naraka's touch. Why the Vault-Boy sings to you but not to others."
Aether stood motionless. Her chest rose and fell with her breath, but her voice had caught somewhere in her throat. Even Aetherius, so often the whisper in her mind, was still.
Taiji stepped forward, the sound of her shoes echoing not on the platform but in her soul. "Let me show you what lies underneath."
She snapped her fingers.
A new scene unfolded.
It was Aether's childhood, projected in vivid clarity as if time itself bent for this revelation. The orphanage. Her small hands clutching an old physics book. Other children laughing, playing, while she sat alone in silence.
"Look at yourself," Taiji said, softly. "Even then, the world feared what it did not understand. They thought your silence meant sadness. It was focus. They thought your knowledge was a fluke. It was Vōstras blooming."
"Vōstras..." Aether finally spoke, her voice dry.
"A system older than magic, older than stars. Created by one of the Outer Dragons, yes. UMR At-Tawil." Taiji grinned. "But misunderstood, even by them."
The memory shattered.
Now came streams of data, floating equations, diagrams of magical matrices overlaid with cybernetic augmentations. Vault-Boy interfaces, biometric circles, chronomantic spirals.
"You're a bridge," Taiji said. "Not just between science and magic. Between war and peace. Between Naraka and Malkuth. Between fate and the defiance of it."
"Why me?" Aether asked.
"Because you were forgotten," Taiji answered. "And only those who are truly forgotten can choose to remember everything."
Silence fell again. Aether blinked.
And then the platform beneath her dissolved, but she did not fall. She floated, suspended in streams of golden circuitry and ethereal glyphs. All around her, skill trees appeared, glowing like constellations. One lit up: Speech. It sparkled brilliantly, maxed.
Then another lit up: Mentality.
"I've given you something," Taiji whispered, now closer than before. "A new skill. Mentality Disorder Control. But it comes at a cost. You will feel pain. Real pain."
Aether felt a sharp pressure in her skull, like a migraine blooming behind the eyes. She winced but stood firm.
Taiji watched her with interest, like a scientist testing her creation.
"What... do you want from me?"
Taiji didn't answer immediately. She walked a slow circle around Aether.
"I want to see where this story goes."
Then her voice dropped to a whisper, like she was speaking a truth too dangerous for the stars themselves.
"And I want to see if you can rewrite it."
She reached forward, not to touch Aether, but to press a finger to the air. Reality bent at her gesture, revealing a shimmering doorway. Behind it, shadows stirred—a realm neither light nor dark, neither alive nor dead.
"Through here is the next path. Not forward. Not backward. Sideways. Through."
Aether hesitated. She looked at her hands. They glowed faintly, traces of magic and something more complex, more ancient.
Aetherius whispered again, softly now: "You must trust her. Even if she frightens you. Even if she breaks you."
Aether took a step.
And the world turned again.