Light of crimson red shrouded the skies of the setting sun, receding over the horizon, bringing about the boundless skies of the night. Clusters of countless stars gleamed through the ring of stardust, painting the night a brilliance beyond the dawn.
Suddenly, silence descended, hushing the hum of the wind and the rustling of the trees in the Elder grove. The skies screeched as if wailing in pain, as if sensing something. The earth rumbled, quacking, trembling, tossing boulders like air. It cracked and fractured for miles , congealing into a seismic apocalypse.
And from the Void, it came, tearing a jagged hole in the skies, a searing bolt red as blood wrapped in a cloak of fractured laws of space and time. It bored into the earth, turning stone to ash and trees to nothing. The world thrashed and wailed, churning back and forth like the raging seas.
Bleeding magma pooled at the surface of the earth hardening into molten rocks. The winds blew, heaving the searing hot rocks in a great baptism of flames that fell upon the Elder grove like a divine judgment.
For seven days and seven nights, the chaos reigned before it faded, leaving behind a wasteland of soot and ash.
There, at the eye of it all lay a child spray upon the hardened stone. The child appeared no more than six or five years old, and yet the gaze it held seemed incomprehensible for one so young.
"I... did it." The child croaked out through misty eyes, glistering a swelter of tears blurring his vision and dampening his striking silver eyes. The child, the young boy, looked up at the beautiful night sky and broke down, he let out a cry from his very being. So pained was his cry, the Ether seemed to mourn.
"I did it... I did it." said Veythar, in a whimper of relieved tears, unsure if this was just another illusion, forced upon him by the Hells, but his eyes and spirit told him otherwise.
He had indeed escaped. He had clawed his way out of the deepest pits of the Nines.
Basking in the soft glow of the three moons, Veythar stood up a little shakily. He had almost forgotten the feeling of having real ground underfoot. He wondered if he'd forgotten how to walk as well.
He glanced around, eyeing the devastation his arrival had caused, until the visage of a smile graced his lips, crouching down to the tatared blade hidden beneath the ashes. He lifted it to his eye level and dusted the ashes off of it before inspecting it.
"You're the one thing I can't loose." said Veythar, running his fingers on the bone white cross guard of his most trusted companion. It was rusted and weathered beyond reprieve, like a piece of bone left to rot. "Sixty meters ought to be the limit... any more, and I'm dead both in body and soul." he whispered, strapping the blade to his small naked back. "Then again death ain't all that."
The clouds above parted, allowing the glow of the moon to bathe his figure. Crowned by freshly fallen snow white hair, shimmering beneath the moon's radiance. Covered in soot and ash from head to toe. He stood, confused, wondering where to go or what to do.
The thought of escape had been nothing more than a dream, for he had not wished it lest he give himself hope.
"Hope is a copping mechanism for the weak." He'd say before his torment would start again.
For an instant, he froze, paling in remembrance. He felt chunky tendrils of bile snaking up his throat, burning his insides as it came from out of his mouth. Tears involuntarily swelled through his eyes as he doubled over.
"I'm out... I'm out." He whispered to himself, though the trembling did not stop.
And without warning, he threw his head back and broke into insane laughter. Clutching his stomach, He bellowed in inhuman laughter, for his was the stuff of nightmares. Like a vile demon had found laughter.
When he stopped, he took a whiff of the air, unsure of where he had landed. Of the twelve realms, he could rule out the abyss and the seven heavens. There would be no hiding, let alone fighting in those realms.
Veythar growled, tasting an abundance of mana... no Arcana. This place must be the realm of Aether, the birth place of the Arcane and mystical arts. Good, if it had been QI of heaven and earth, the heavens would crush me.
Unsure of the path of ascension they used to grow powerful here. Veythar was a bit hesitant. It would be of little issue to create his own, but that would take time and most systems had been refined and perfected over countless aeon.
He wanted to see at least a basic format of what the inhabitants of Aether used to cultivate themselves.
"Well as long as it isn't QI of heaven and earth, I'm fine with anything." he said to himself before waddling off in his stubby little legs. He headed west, or east, or maybe south. Unsure of which direction he was headed, it seemed that the curse of his family had come to bite him in the ass. Following this train of thought, Veythar mustered a smile for once in over nine aeon cycles.
Aimlessly wandering in the barren landscape caused by his descent. Veythar trekked for over three days without rest or nourishment. Light-headed from the toxic fumes invading his lungs, burning his eyes till they were bloodshot. Hey swayed to the edges of the scorched earth, entering into a dense lush forest.
Pausing just after the entrance of the forest, he caught a whiff of something in the air. 'A dead body,' he thought to himself. Turning his sharp silver eyes in a particular direction, he followed the scent through trees that seemed to penetrate the heavens. He pushed back a vine, and there he saw it, looking up at the inhumation that had once been a man dangling by a noose as crows pecked at it's rotting remains, sticking their beaks in the empty eye sockets.
'Caw!' it crowed.
Around the figures stomach, yellowish entrails dangled, swarmed by flies that the intestines seemed nearly black.
Veythar scowled. The stench hadn't bothered him as much as the time he wasted. "I thought he'd at least have some clothes." he muttered to himself, but the carcass seemed to be picked clean.
He clicked his tongue, about to depart when from the corner of his eye, he caught a glimmer of gold. He paused midstep, turning to the figure he couldn't quit make out perched atop one of the trees.
"Hey... might you have some water to spare?" Veythar croaked through his bone dry throat. Unsure of what language to use, he chose common, the most used language across the realms.
"You... you can see me?" asked the stranger above in a cautious stone.
'A girl,' Veythar determined, tilting his head "I saw something golden."
"Ah!" the girl yelped, as if remembering something.
"Is there a river nearby?" asked Veythar.
"Eosira can show you!" excitedly exclaimed the girl. Jumping off the tree with a rustle.
'I'd rather you just tell me.' Veythar wanted to say but opted for the more polite repose. "Then I'll let you lead the way," he said trying to sound genuine but it came out flat. He watched the pitiful thing, small and gaunt, with barely any meat on her bones, scurry to meet him.
Her face was thin and hollow, as if she hadn't eaten in days, maybe weeks. Yet her eyes seemed to glimmer like the morning light, vibrant gold. Her hair a silvery-gold was matted with dirt and grime, and god knows what kinds of creatures it housed.
'She seems homeless,' he thought while looking at the rags she wore.
"I'm Eosira... Eosira Morningstar," she exclaimed rather pridefully, arching her head to the skies. "What's your name?"
He almost didn't answer, his mind occupied by thoughts on how to create a spell that could create water out of molecules.
"I don't remember... " He said, choosing to throw some lies with the truth. He could indeed hardly remember his name. Veythar, he knew, and for now it was enough. He didn't want to remember.
"Then Eosira will call you Big brother! " she exclaimed, scampering under the scrutiny of his silver eyes.
When they finally arrived at the edge of a river which seemed to extend beyond the horizon, Veythar hurried into the river, almost getting dragged by the current that came crashing into stone in an upheaval of spring. Water as clear as the crystal lakes of Avalon flowed, bathing his face, cleaning off soot and ash.
"You must have been thirsty, " said Eosira, eyes sparkling with curiosity, watching the naked boy quench his thirst. She had not seen him in the Elderwoods, she would know she knew everybody.
'I wonder if he'll be my friend, ' she wondered to herself.
'It doesn't burn,' Veythar muttered absently, shaking with a fear that made his legs weak, he clenched his teeth, pushing down the horrid memories that came like the torment that burned deeper than the heart of a star. He turned, looking at the beaming girl behind him.
'Umm, should I thank her?' he thought, unsure about the norms of human interaction.
"Ummm." unsure of how to proceed from here, he saw her tilt he head, beaming like a blooming flower.
"Will you be Eosira's friend?"