Narrator's POV
Ryan slowly opened his eyes, normally he'd expect to see a normal ceiling, or even the fake sky of the Luofu where he last remembers himself being, he remembers fighting Kafka, falling under her control, then fighting against Welt, but after the adult knocked him out with his cane, he doesn't remember anything else.
"What the..."
So he found himself rather confused when he opened his eyes fully and saw an endless space filled with stars, he slowly sat up, seeing the same landscape around him...and below him, he stood up, he felt ground beneath his feet, even if under him there was nothing but a void filled with stars, like if he was in the middle of space...he then stared forwards and saw a cluster of stars spiraling in the distance.
"What is this place?...am I still unconscious? I don't think I'm awake...as far as I've learned, without any kind of protection I shouldn't be able to be in space..."
Before he could continue to try and make sense of the situation, the space itself seemed to start tearing apart, like if it was just a curtain opening, an harmonious music tone echoed as a mix of colors shined bright enough to force Ryan to cover his eyes with his arm, but it soon died down, and when he felt ready to look, he found himself almost completely paralyzed.
"It is a pleasure for US to meet you, child"
A face stared at him, eyes closed, smile gentle and serene, he could see the other two faces at THEIR side, the holes on THEIR body were shaped like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, and the amalgamation of voices seemed to echo directly Inside of his head, when he associated THEM with the Harmony, he didn't think THEIR voice alone would be hard to understand, but nonetheless...
He was glad Xipe didn't seem hostile towards him.
"You're the Harmony...Xipe" Ryan slowly lowered his gaze
"And you are the Guilt, or will be...eventually"
"Why...are you here?"
"Do not be afraid to look at US, child, we bring no harm to you" the soothing voice of the Aeon seemed to not entirely dissuade the boy.
"It's...hard to look at you, the colors behind your head hurt my eyes a little"
The Aeon remained silent for a few seconds, seemingly a little confused by the boys words, but soon, the amalgamation of shining colors behind THEIR head died down until it completely dissapeared.
"There, it is done, child, I apologize"
"Thank you..." He slowly rose his head, looking straight at the Aeon. "Did you bring me here?"
"WE felt it the most direct way for US to communicate, The Abundance has already glanced at you, THEY don't feel happy with your existence, or rather...with ITS existence"
Ryan tensed as one of Xipe's hands got close to him, one single finger pressed against his chest, and behind him a lump of darkness formed, slowly taking a more humanoid shape, he turned around and saw the black fog, like if it was staring back at him, before it disappeared after a few seconds.
"THEY believe that the power hidden in you is a mistake, that it should not belong to this universe, THEY are disgusted by it"
"Yeah...I could guess that already when they glared at me" the white-haired boy frowned a little. "But why are you telling me this?"
The smile on Xipe's face lightly widened as THEY opened their arms towards him. "As a foreigner of this universe, WE believe you should know, The Harmony welcomes you"
"And...what does that mean exactly?"
"WE believe your path, The Guilt, is-"
Before Xipe could continue speaking, THEIR voice was cut off suddenly...by a laughter, one that started to echo again and again, like if there were hundreds of people laughing at once, multiple stars suddenly started to erupt into confetti, every singke explosion being accompanied by a laughter, as if the stars simply contained the echo inside of them, and soon, all the confetti merged in a sphere before exploding with a pretty distinct laugh.
"AHAhahahaha, hello Boi!"
"Oh dear..."
Ryan now was basically forced to stare at the group of masks that was Aha, THEIR voice was chaotic, a heavy contrast to Xipe's who remained silent as the new Aeon made THEIR entrance.
"Look at you! Growing up so fast~! No need to be shy, you can just morb without a care in the world"
From Aha's mouth came a shower of confetti that briefly covered Ryan, he tried to cover himself with arms as best he could, but as the confetti fluttered away, he saw himself transformed into his Aeon form.
"Geez, it looks like it's missing something, well, you'll figure it out eventually"
"Why are you here, Aha?" Xipe's voice came out as calm as before.
"What? Can't I have some nice interaction with my young Padawan?"
"Padawan?" Ryan looked up at the amalgamation of masks a little confused.
"What?! You haven't yet seen-?! You know what, forget it, I'll send a copy of each movie to the Express later, I hope the Furry Conductor is not mad at me for blowing it up last time"
"Am I allowed to ignore Aha?" Ryan asked towards Xipe.
"It would be rude...but allowed" the Aeon's voice lightened up a little more, sounding rather teasing.
"Noooo, don't ignore me, I'll be a good mask I swear!" The Aeon of Elation started to slowly orbit around both Ryan and Xipe.
Ryan simply let out a small sigh. "Xipe, I know Yaoshi doesn't like me...but do you know anything about the other Aeons?"
"Like I said, Yaoshi is disgusted by your power, but beside THEM, Nous, The Erudition, is interested in you, but wether you've become THEIR main focus or not, I do not know" Xipe explained before being rudely interrupted by Aha.
"And Lan probably wants to be your buddy!"
"Lan?...the Hunt? Is it because of Yaoshi not liking me?"
"Ohhhh Definitely! Yaoshi hates your guts, and that makes you a possible ally of Lan, IX is...chilling, like always, Fuli is...huh...that'd be spoilers so I'll shut up!" Aha impressively DID stop talking...
"Qlipoth doesn't seem too immersed in you, THEY acknowledge your existence, but for now, you're neutral with THEM" a small pause happened before Xipe spoke again. "And Nanook...has you in their sights"
That made Ryan keep himself silent, and he wasn't the only one who remained like that for a while, Xipe too, decided to not say another world, and amazingly Aha didn't immediately start to talk.
"I...feared that"
"WE believe, The Destruction will soon find a Lord Ravager to destroy you...WE are afraid that THEY are doing a deal with your Goddess"
"WHAT?!!"
"Yeah I don't like that shit either" Aha spoke again, slightly tilting towards Xipe. "We don't like the goth mommy that much...she's not even in her own turf but moves like if she belonged here"
"WE do not enjoy her presence in this universe...it uneases us, Yaoshi seems to be the one most disgusted by her existence, as you might already guess"
"Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do against her, not for now at least..." Ryan gritted his teeth a little.
"Do not stress yourself for now, Child, you must still grow and ascend" behind Xipe, a rift in space opened slowly. "Until we meet again, Child, and remember, your PATH might be more special than you think"
With that, THEY went through the rift, leaving a slightly puzzled Ryan alone with Aha as the rift soon closed, behind the mask, the white-haired boy frowned a little, thinking about what The Harmony had just said before leaving.
"Tell me..." Aha's voice came out weirdly serious. "Are you having fun?"
"W-what?" Ryan asked a little confused though Aha slowly looked at him.
"I asked if you were having fun, you haven't spent a long time in this universe, and your home wasn't exactly pretty, too much death in a really short amount of time, but this is more manageable don't you think?" The Aeon's voice slowly got a little lower as THEY stared directly at him. "Besides, don't you feel refreshed for not having to worry about the gods of your world? I admit that your Goddess being able to come here caught me by surprise, but it's good to see you growing"
"...Aha" Ryan stared directly at the Aeon before speaking. "You..."
"Yes! I. Am. Your. Father!"
"...."
"Okay geez, at least chuckle a little...but yes, I BROUGHT YOU HERE" in a sudden movement, Aha got mere inches away from Ryan, making him stumble backwards. "And it wasn't easy you know? I had to sneak through a lot of gods to get to you, the God of Fate was particularly enraged by me trying to kidnap someone, of course I could've turned him into a chicken, but after he knew I was going to basically rob a whole corpse that would not exist anymore, he just allowed it...kinda rude, if I had the corpse of a pet I'd NOT let someone else take it"
"And what about Turzina? Did you make some kind of deal with her?" Ryan asked with a little frown.
"Hey! I don't like that woman, but she was way more on board than I thought, I'd basically save her precious child from certain death, of course her ownership over you wouldn't dissapear, even if you become an Aeon you'd still belong to her...I wish I had a goth mommy too..." Aha's voice let out a small sigh before continuing.
"But why?!" Ryan raised his voice with a lot. "Why me?! Why turn me into an Aeon?!"
"Hey! You can't blame me for everything you know? This was just a little experiment of mine, by the way, you're being WAY more interesting that that Worm I turned into an Emanator, I only brought your frozen corpse here and gave you a small spark of divinity! The rest was all your work~"
Listening to the Aeon, Ryan kept himself silent for a few seconds, trying to process as quickly as he could the information that The Elation had just given to him, he should definitely question it, Aha could simply be lying and making all that up, it was definitely something THEY would do, not even Aeon's were safe of whatever Aha decided to pull off.
"Then why The Guilt? Why are not these powers a derivation from The Elation, if you really are the one who set me up in the path to Aeonhood-"
"I will stop you right THERE...do you know how Lan became that ball of rage people call The Hunt? THEY WERE LITERALLY TOO ANGRY TO DIE, not only were THEY too angry to die, THEY were so angry that THEY became an Aeon! THEIR home world was destroyed by Abundance Abominations, and THEIR hatred was so much that it turned THEM into Lan! The Hunt, not The Hatred" Aha slowly hovered away from Ryan. "Don't you remember what I told you? I know I had to put a whole mysterious and serious act, but you should at least remember"
"...Guilt is not always bad, I should keep that feeling close to me, use it and gain strength from it" Ryan spoke and a small giggle came out of Aha.
"Good! You DO remember! What is turning you in an Aeon is not only the divinity I gave you, that strong feeling, it's fueling you, you're already walking on that Path, once you reach its end, you'll fully ascend!" His voice came out quite happily as some confetti started to fly from the eyes of the various masks. "I'll prepare a cake for the occasion, what's your favorite flavor?"
"...I like cherries..." Ryan replied as he let out a small sigh and drove a hand to the mask on his face. "Aha...why do you want another Aeon to ascend?"
"I told you! This was just an experiment, but I'm glad it's turning out like this~ I've been feeling rather alone, ever since Akivili dissapeared, I didn't have anyone to eat Tacos with, I never planned another Aeon to actually emerge! But if you do, let's go for Soft Tacos, or maybe..." the Aeon grew silent for a few seconds. "I have some secret plan in which I need you, an evil plan that'd make all life in the universe burst into confetti, or maybe I just want a friend, YOU'LL NEVER KNOOOOOW~! MUAHAHAahahahaaaa"
Aha's clearly faked villain laugh started to down pitch as THEY floated backwards, slowly dissapearing into the endless sea of stars that was the Aeon meeting place, and as soon as Ryan remained completely alone, he let out a sigh, before he blinked and soon found himself in a bed...
His blue eyes stared up at a ceiling, he could guess that this time he was at Petrichor Inn, he slowly stood up and a small tap of a cane made him look left, seeing Welt sitting on a chair at some distance.
"How're you feeling?" He asked a little serious.
Ryan slowly drove a hand to his head. "I bit sore, but that's all..."
"That's good, sorry if I had to be a little rough on you, Ryan"
"Don't worry, Mr.Yang I understand..." He then let out a sigh "Mr.Yang"
"Yes, Ryan?"
"I think I hate Aha..."
★ ★ ★
A/N: This is a scheduled upload right at Christmas Time! (At my TimeZone of course-)
Hope all of you found a nice present under your tree, if not, take this chapter as your present.
Merry Christmas to all of you!