Pt 3. Out Of Time | Aeron Aether series

Perennial Heights

Eeva had given Aether more to think about, but not enough to help him solve the riddle. He couldn't help but smile when he thought of her, and he thought of her often. She would enter his dreams— dreams so vivid it was as though they were memories etched into his brain. But he had not known her long enough to have created such vivid memories. He was not mortal, he was not part of Earth as she was, but part of him felt connected to her in the most mortal way possible.

His latest dream of her, a cold evening in New York, the pair eating at a restaurant. Aether felt constant flutters in his stomach throughout it. It fluttered from the moments he was staring into her blue eyes, through eating their mains, and to when he moved a piece of her hair out of her face. Every instant, every detail felt real, like he had lived this, he knew with all of his heart that he had lived this all before.

The next morning, he stormed down to Destiny's quarters demanding information once more.

"Aether I have told you before—"

"This time I know. I know her, and I am sure of it. Tell me about my past life. I am remembering things, from my past. The people I have met, they have been part of my life before."

"How have you even come to know this? You haven't had time to speak, let alone meet any other mortals."

"I have—I'm surprised you didn't know. But I have been returning to a time. I met a girl, a girl I know was a part of my life before."

"Time Virtue's memories get wiped when they enter the pipeline. You can't be remembering."

Aether scoffed as Destiny had finally confessed knowing that he would forget everyone he knew before, and be erased from the mortal world.

"Tell me."

"Tell you what, Aether?" she said.

"Tell me who she is. Help me remember her."

"I-will-not-do-that."

"You will not do—"

"—I will not-do-it-because-there-is-far-more-at-stake-in-this-life-than-your-past-life... Aether you must save this life."

"This life, past life, you stole my past life from me! You stole the love of my life from me. You stole my mother from—" he paused, "my mother..."

Destiny's eyes filled suddenly with regret, but just as she took a deep breath they returned to their previous determinedness.

"Aether..." she said exhaling, "I will help you remember. I will help you get back to them. I will do everything you need me to do, once we have defeated Khronos."

Defeated Khronos? "You won't help me now, only when it's convenient for you?"

"Aether you-are-a-Time-Virtue, you can go back to them later, you literally-control-time."

"Then why can't we go now?" he asked.

"Because when Khronos realizes that he could destroy all other forms of time travel but his own, we will never be able to stop him."

Aether's head sunk between his clavicles in despair, but lifted as Destiny added, "Aether, saving the world, saves Eeva... and your mother."

He knew Destiny was never going to help him, and he also knew that he couldn't tell Eeva in 1995 who he was, and what had happened to him. The shock alone would chase her away. Aether was determined to save the world, but also knew he had a better chance of doing it if he saved his father first. All his energy went into trying to solve the riddle of the brandings, and the best place to reflect on all his information was in The Grand Hall.

Melora was not in the Hall when Aether first entered. The decoded words continued to dance through his brain, along with what Melora had said to him, and even Destiny.

He began to ramble aloud, "...defeated Khronos, Khronos is a God... a mythological God to mortals, mythology, defeat... defeat in battle... a fight? Olympic? Defeated in a sports battle? No that's stupid, makes no sense. None of this makes sense..." he paused, and then remembered.

Storytellers, story. Melora said these words to me, what did she mean by them? Maybe she did give me more than I thought. Maybe it's a—

"Story!" bellowed, "A story, a prophesized mythological story!"

"What's a prophesized mythological story?" Melora asked entering the Grand Hall.

"The words... they might be a prophecy—within the mortal mythological historical events?" Aether changed his statement to a question, then added, "Are there any mortal prophecies about Gods, and time, and battles within families or something?" he paused, and added disappointedly, "Oh never mind, I'll go look-through-a-book— "

"—There is a known prophecy in mortal's Greek Mythology..." as Melora said this, Aether's body immediately popped up straight, and she added, "The ancestor of time will defeat time itself, to rule over the world."

"Right? Never mind I'll go-get-the-book..." he said, still disappointed knowing well she wasn't going to give him the answer.

She stood there smiling pointing to a section of the library. Aether picked up a book on Ancient Greek Mythology. The stories of all the Gods baffled him, and he couldn't help but draw similar characteristics to those of Perennial Heights he had met.

He began to read in his head, In Greek Mythology, Cronus was considered to be the son of heaven (Uranus) and earth (Gaia). Cronus' son, Zeus, "Lightning!" he added aloud, then continued reading, ...was known to the ancient Greeks as the King of the Gods, while Cronus was generally considered to be an even more ancient, pre-Hellenic deity, and thus someone seldom worshipped by the ancient Greeks. Zeus other threw his father, Cronus, because it was asked of his mother. The war was long and bloody, and all fought ferociously. The war finally ended when Zeus defeated his father and the other Titans and banished them to Tartarus in the underworld in 1672BC. He then celebrated by dedicating the Olympic Games to his victory over Cronus.

Melora was smiling at him as he lifted his head up in epiphany.

But before he could open his mouth, Destiny entered the Grand Hall of Knowledge in haste, and said, "Aether! He knows about her..."

END OF TIME | Part 4, the final installment of the Aeron Aether series available now!