Raya Marin
I sat at my desk, head resting on my arms, waiting for Grey to walk into the classroom. But he never came. Boredom started creeping in. I could've talked to Lulu or Maki, but I didn't have the energy. I hadn't slept at all last night, spending the entire time researching aether.
I checked my phone—still no messages from Grey. Across the room, Nya was talking about me. That wretched girl. I wanted nothing more than to walk over and punch her in the face, but I forced myself to stay put before my thoughts spiraled out of control.
I stood up and went to one of the open windows on the left side of the classroom, leaning out to look down. The sky was dark, thick black clouds covering everything, as if ready to burst. I took a deep breath and stared at the sky. If it weren't for aether, who knows what nonsense I'd be wasting my time on right now.
There was still time before the first class, so I decided to head to the bathroom, something that had become routine. On my way down the hall, I passed a student couple messing around. The boy teased the girl playfully, making her laugh sweetly. I imagined Grey and myself in their place, then frowned. Grey would never make those kinds of jokes—he was far too self-important for that. Still, the thought made me smile.
Truth be told, I wasn't much different from him. I'd never make a joke that would embarrass me either. I stopped for a moment, questioning myself. Why was I even talking as if Grey and I were together?
I reached the bathroom door but lingered outside instead of going in. Memories began to surface—the incident in the bathroom, Klein bending time in the alley, and… I didn't want to remember the rest. What happened in that empty void had shaken me more than I wanted to admit. Normally, I would've told my brother about something that troubled me so deeply; he always listened with patience and care. But how could I explain this? It felt like I was caught between two worlds: the normal one I lived in, and another where aether ruled my life.
Instead of entering the bathroom, I turned toward Klein's classroom, 2-E. Standing by the door, I scanned the room and spotted him sitting at his desk, focused on his phone. I thought about calling him over but changed my mind and left, heading outside to the garden.
I looked around, chose a nice tree, and sat beneath it, watching the students in the opposite corridor with a frown. Eventually, I got bored and leaned back against the trunk, closing my eyes. I was so restless that I wouldn't have minded if aether decided to stir up some trouble for me.
Darkness filled my vision, as if I were drifting through an endless void. The only thing I could see was a patch of violet light. I reached for it, but it vanished. When I pulled my hand back, it returned, almost as if it were playing with me. This time, I reached out with both hands, trying to catch it, but it disappeared again.
I waited. When the violet light returned, I didn't move. It was the only source of light in the darkness, and for a long time, it was just the two of us.
Eventually, I reached out again. This time, it didn't vanish; instead, it drifted closer. With a sudden motion, I closed my hands around it. It didn't resist—almost as if it was waiting for me to do so.
The more I stared at it, the more I felt it pulling me in. There was a connection between us. My life and its existence were bound together. In it, I saw myself, everyone I knew, everything I had. My future was there. My death was there.
Maybe aether could control more than just time—maybe it could control life and death itself. Aether… the greatest riddle of all. The first and final secret of the universe.
I let the violet light go, satisfied with what I had learned, but it returned instantly. It didn't want to leave—it wanted to show me more.
The darkness shifted, forming a garden. Behind a single flower stood countless others, and above it all was a sky that shifted endlessly between shades of violet. There was no sun, no clouds, just the field beneath me and the violet sky above.
Slowly, I followed the light as it drifted ahead. The garden seemed infinite, stretching toward the horizon. Eventually, it stopped in front of a small shack, no more than three meters high and two wide.
I approached the closed door, the violet light lingering behind me. When it didn't follow, I focused on the door and pushed it open without hesitation.
Inside was nothing—just a void.
And in that void, I saw them: a pair of terrifying eyes, one gold, one violet.
I tried to step back but couldn't. The ground beneath me began to vanish, consuming everything except me. Even the violet light was gone.
"What do you want from me?" I shouted.
The eyes gave no answer, only watching as tears filled my own and my hands shook. One by one, everything was erased until only the two of us remained.
If I couldn't get away, maybe I could get closer. But as I moved forward, the eyes drifted back. In their reflection, I saw myself—alongside the deep loneliness and sorrow within them.
"Are you… real?"
The voice came from the eyes themselves, trembling with fear like mine.
Then, they closed, and laughter erupted. It was long, wild, and filled with something almost celebratory. But the fear in that voice was gone, replaced by something far more unsettling.
From the darkness, violet light rose and danced around the eyes. This being wasn't just controlling aether—it was creating it.
The light swirled, shaping a form. What stood before me wasn't human, though it resembled one: long hair split into two colors, violet on the right like its right eye, and gold on the left like its left eye; pale white skin; arms and legs covered in violet that shimmered with star-like specks; a torso shrouded in darkness.
Its mouth was jagged, filled with rows of shark-like teeth.
It stepped toward me, closing the distance until we were almost touching. Its gaze pierced into me, an unnatural smile on its face.
"You. Real."
Its voice was empty now, void of emotion.
"Destruction."
Its hands moved from my arms to my face. I expected the touch to be rough, but it was strangely soft, almost comforting.
"You look just like her."
It withdrew, drifting upward. The violet particles making up its body began to separate, moving downward instead of up. They formed two shapes: half a golden star, half a violet crown.
The particles around the star drifted toward the crown, dancing around it, until the crown's own aether separated and joined the dance, forming a ring.
The ring encircled me, and a light burst forth, shooting through me into the void above. Then the light disappeared, and the ring pressed against my body.
At first, I was afraid, but the aether didn't harm me—it simply spread across my entire being, from head to toe.
Once I was completely covered, it exploded in a flash of white light.
When the glow faded, the world had returned: students, trees, buildings, birds.
I looked around, heart pounding, finally realizing it had all been "just" a dream.
Only then did I notice I was standing in my classroom, looking out the window. Not under the tree where I'd sat earlier. I had no idea how, or when, I'd gotten here—and that terrified me more than anything.
Klein Cylrit
I tried to trace the source of the aetheric particles drifting through the air, but there was nothing. Grey still wasn't at school, and I had no idea where Raya was either. I searched everywhere—the corridors, the garden, the bathrooms, the classrooms—but found nothing.
Eventually, I gave up and sat down on a bench in the garden, leaning my head back. The purple motes danced above me, mocking me with their aimless drifting. The power of aether was a mystery, but even the ability to control time alone would be enough to change everything. And yet, we knew almost nothing about it. A force capable of reshaping the world was floating at our fingertips, and all we could do was play hide-and-seek with it.
My mother used to tell me, Be the kind of man who can change the world. But at this point, I couldn't tell if we were controlling the aether or if it was controlling us. I wasn't sure of anything anymore.
I kept watching until the recess bell rang, following the lazy movements of the motes as they drifted in no particular shape. Every time I looked at them, the strange and unsettling visions from that back alley returned to me—memories that weren't mine, but belonged to someone else. The only question was: whose?
When the bell ended, I dragged myself toward my classroom, feeling hollow. Other students hurried to grab their things from lockers or pick up fallen books, none of them noticing the aether dancing around them. I stopped at my classroom door but didn't go in. I didn't want to. Instead, I headed toward Grey and Raya's class.
The school's hallways were full of teachers scolding students for not being in their classrooms. Relations between teachers and students here had always been bad, even before Kia's suicide. This place, true to its name, would one day leave a legacy behind—a dark one.
I stood in front of Class 2-D and waited for their teacher, who still hadn't shown up. Peering inside, I saw no sign of Grey or Raya. Sighing, I turned to leave… but froze when I noticed the aether drifting past me, heading toward the classroom. Maybe Grey or Raya had just arrived.
A smile spread across my face—until I turned fully and saw her eyes. My smile vanished instantly. Raya was staring at me, her gaze empty, her irises pure white with nothing inside but darkness.
"Hey! Raya…"
She didn't respond. She just pushed past me and walked into the classroom, moving as if in a trance. I followed the particles with my eyes; they, too, drifted after her, slipping inside. I was about to go after her when I caught sight of a teacher heading this way. Letting out a frustrated breath, I turned back toward my own class.
By then, the aether around me was gone—every mote had followed Raya inside. I couldn't understand why so many particles were trailing her, or why she seemed trapped in that trance. Maybe I could guess why the aether was drawn to her, but the trance itself… that was different.
It wasn't like bending time; for her, time was still moving forward. I thought it over, searching for a reason. Then it clicked. When I had stood frozen in that alley, what had felt like ten seconds to me had actually been an hour to my body. Smiling, I realized I might have found an answer.
Maybe Raya's mind was still caught in that temporal split. Or maybe it wasn't her mind at all—maybe the aether was controlling her while she was in that state. The idea sent a shiver of excitement through me. Time manipulation was one thing. But the aether… the aether taking control of someone? That was extraordinary.
The thought made me grin, then laugh softly to myself. What else could we do with this power? How many lives could we change? The questions only deepened my fascination—and my fear.
Classes came and went, though I couldn't say if they meant anything anymore. The history of our world made no mention of aether. It was like a deleted file we'd somehow recovered from the trash. If governments knew of its existence, who could say what they would do with it? Would any of them use it to help the world instead of serving their own agendas?
In the end, we were all human. The only thing separating us were names. Our skin was the same, our language was the same, yet we let selfish systems divide us. Was it really so hard to help each other? The more I thought, the more I questioned my own purpose.
But for now, I pushed those thoughts aside and focused on something else—something more important to me at the moment. I left the garden and headed across the courtyard toward another corridor.
This school was so large that our classes were scattered in separate wings. My eyes scanned the hall, searching for someone who always seemed to know what was going on. Rain usually walked these halls with her close friend Alora, but today she was alone. Maybe Alora was sick.
Her back was to me, so instead of calling out, I walked up beside her. She didn't look at me or speak. Her eyes stayed on the floor, her pace slow. The sweet smile she always wore was gone.
"Rain?"
She stopped walking but still didn't meet my eyes, lifting her gaze only to let it wander elsewhere. Her eyes were red, heavy with sorrow.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
A faint smile touched her lips. "Yeah… it's just, today's the day Kia died. And Alora's not here, so… I guess I felt a little lonely."
Her voice trembled. The more she spoke, the more her eyes filled with tears. Who knew how long she'd been crying?
"I… I was too indifferent to help her," she whispered, "but now…"
Her words broke off as she wiped at her wet eyes. I wanted to say something, but no words came. After all, she'd lost her sister—someone taken by the cruelty of this world.
"Sorry," she murmured. "I just… really miss her."
I smiled, wide and bright. I didn't want her to feel sad. I didn't want anyone to feel sad. Finally, Rain's eyes met mine, and her smile grew even warmer than mine.
"Sometimes," she said softly, "you make people happy without doing anything at all. Thank you, Klein."
Grey Nirmala
Aether surrounded me, pulling, trying to drag me toward its core. I didn't let it. Raising my right hand, I called upon the star rune. It flared to life, drawing in the motes until there wasn't a single particle left around me. I smiled. These runes were incredible. I didn't even know what I was doing; I was simply letting them act on their own.
When the last mote was absorbed, my gaze fell on the little taco shop ahead. I had no idea what would happen inside in the next few minutes.
Stepping through the door, I found the owner—an old man, chef, whatever he was—nowhere in sight. Seizing the chance, I hurried to the table where Sunny and I had sat earlier, only to find my bag missing. Damn it. That bag was both evidence and the container of The Eye of the Void. Because of some foolish old man, I had landed myself in another mess.
The rune in my palm glowed gold. Maybe it could help. I lifted my hand and waited, but nothing happened. My scowl deepened. I shook my hand in frustration, hoping for a reaction, but still nothing.
Fine. I raised my left hand and brought both palms together. The vortex rune on my left flared to life, a deep, luminous purple. The glow intensified by the second while the star rune began to fade. I had no idea what was happening, only that I was trying things, hoping whatever had happened in the kitchen earlier might happen again. But the result was the same. Nothing.
A shadow flickered in my peripheral vision. I stepped back, but there was no fear or surprise. Why should there be? The shadow passed again, this time closer. At first I thought it was the figure from the alley, but no—it was different. Either way, I could not let some other presence distract me now.
If the old man was anywhere, it would be the kitchen.
I stepped inside and froze. I had never expected this.
The old man lay face-down over the stove, his body resting above a steady red flame. I moved quickly, turning the dial to shut off the fire, then pulled him away and laid him on his back. His face was almost unrecognizable, like a rotting apple, but it didn't bother me as much as it should have. In a twisted way, it might have made things easier for me.
I crouched beside him and prodded his burnt, ruined cheek. Touching that skin drew a sigh from me. They would find him here, and no matter how it happened, the blame would fall on me. A lose-lose situation.
Part of me pitied him; I didn't know exactly how he'd ended up like this, but I was certain I bore some responsibility. The other part told me to leave and forget him. I listened to neither.
Instead, I stood and searched the kitchen. My bag sat atop a refrigerator. Snatching it up, I swung it over my shoulder and returned to the old man.
The vortex rune still glowed. I pressed my palm to his face and waited, but nothing happened. I pulled back, glaring at the rune. If these things were not going to help me, what was the point of having them? The runes did not answer me, of course.
One last try. I merged the star and vortex runes once again, watching as the aether flowed from one to the other. Just like before, it was being transferred between them. Slowly, I began to understand. The runes had different functions: the star rune for manipulating aether, the vortex for using it.
If the vortex had harmed him, perhaps the star could do the opposite.
I placed my right hand on his face and exhaled. If I was right, what happened next could make me unstoppable—something like a god among humans. With that kind of power, I could erase every selfish state on Earth.
The star rune shone gold as I released the gathered aether. Its light dimmed while, before my eyes, the old man's face began to heal. Burns faded. Skin knit together. It was mesmerizing.
Aether could control life and death. And I could control it.
When his face was whole again, I pressed my ear to his chest. His heartbeat was slow but steady. He was alive.
A wide grin spread across my face. Still, danger lingered. If he reported me or Sunny, I'd be in trouble. I could kill him before he woke, but why would I? I was not going to take a life for that. I would take the risk.
I left the kitchen feeling better than I had in weeks. The aether could do so much. Outside the taco shop, I glanced back one last time, only to see someone watching me.
The shadow.
It stared. I smirked at it, turning toward the mouth of the alley. With each step, more particles appeared around me. Smiling, I raised my right hand, letting the star rune handle the rest. It drew them all in.
That was when I noticed something new. After absorbing them, I felt stronger, faster, more resilient.
At the alley's end, I stopped and took a deep breath, feeling as if a weight had been lifted from me. I stepped toward the main street, only to find myself swallowed by darkness.
Particles drifted in the void, thousands of them aligned as though bowing to me. I raised my hand to draw them in, but they did not move. My smile faded. I stared into the endless black and walked forward.
And walked.
Nothing changed.
Still, I pressed on. After what felt like minutes, the black turned to pure white. It did not burn my eyes, but it unsettled me.
A shadow darted past at incredible speed, circling me. Irritation flared. I looked at my golden palm, then brought the two runes together. The gold faded, giving way to deep purple. I grinned and aimed the vortex rune at the ground, releasing the stored aether.
The next thing I knew, I was somewhere else entirely.
Sunny stood before me, and beside him, inexplicably, was a girl.
Sunny looked back at me, his expression so strange that I instinctively wondered if something was on my face.