I had promised myself I would never again touch the universe. But promises, even the ones carved into the ether, can bend when creation itself bends.
The anomaly's realm pulsed with growing power too much, too fast, with no understanding behind it. Angels and demons, born in instinct and innocence, waited for direction their creator could not give. And Night, though wise, could not guide what was never meant to exist within her sky.
A being half-ether, half-universe was a danger to both.
So for the first time since sealing the boundary, I summoned.
Not with force.With authority woven into existence before existence had a name.
A single command, whispered through the ether:
"Come."
The anomaly vanished from its realm in an instant.
It reappeared at my feet, small, shaking, wings half-formed in confusion. My castle rose around it like a mountain of mist and starlight, too vast for mortal or godly senses. The child looked tiny before my throne.
Its angels appeared behind it in flashes of silver. Its demons snapped into place in coils of black flame. All of them bowed instinctively without understanding why.
But the anomaly did not bow.
It stared at me wide-eyed, trembling, breath short. Not in defiance.In ignorance.
Then it felt the weight of my presence. The truth of what I was.The reality of where it stood.
And slowly, awkwardly, it fell to its knees.
Not because it understood.But because its soul recognised something older than the universe it lived in.
I did not step toward it. I did not reach out to touch it.
I only spoke.
"You do not know your name."
Its lips parted, silver breath trembling. "I… have no name."
"You were born of accident," I said. "Of grief and law. Of silver and starlight. Of death and birth."
It looked down, ashamed without knowing why.
"But you are no mistake."
Its head snapped up, eyes wide.
"You stand between realms," I said. "You are more than an anomaly."
The angels leaned forward. The demons growled softly. The anomaly waited small and fragile and infinite.
I declared:
"You are Elder."
The name struck it like a pulse of creation. Its wings flared wide in silver-blue light. Its form stabilised not god, not ether, not mortal.
The Elder.
The child whispered the name to itself, touching its chest as if feeling a new heartbeat. "Elder…"
The angels whispered it in reverence. The demons whispered it in hunger. The castle whispered it in recognition.
"You have a purpose," I said. "One you must discover on your own. But there is a task only you can begin."
The Elder looked up at me again. "What must I do?"
I lifted my hand. The mist parted. A vision formed a mortal world, barren and lonely. On its surface crawled a man, broken and furious, light flickering beneath his skin like dying embers.
The golden ether.Stripped of power.Now called Ellas.
The Elder shuddered at the sight. "He… feels wrong."
"He is danger," I said. "Hatred. Ambition. He will grow. He will corrupt. He will seek to reclaim what he lost."
The Elder's wings tightened in instinctive fear.
"Your angels," I said softly, "are born of your light."
Behind the child, the angels lifted their silver spears, their eyes burning with protective fire.
"Your demons," I continued, "are born of your shadow."
The demons hissed in unison, claws sparking with molten darkness.
"You control them," I said. "They answer to you, not the universe."
The Elder rose slowly not gracefully, but determined.
"What must they do?" it whispered.
"Find him," I said, motioning to the image of Ellas crawling through dust. "The fallen one. The echo of what killed your silver half."
The Elder's expression hardened. Not with hatred.With purpose.
It turned to its followers.
"Go," it commanded. "Seek the one called Ellas."
The angels erupted upward in a blaze of silver wings. The demons slithered into shadows, their fire curling behind them.
They vanished tearing through the ether, slipping past the serpent only because I allowed it, then diving into the universe like meteors.
The Elder wavered, looking back at me.
"Will I see you again?" it asked.
"No," I said. "This was the last time."
The Elder swallowed, nodding accepting something it did not understand.
I lifted a hand and the boundary between realms rippled open.
"Return."
The Elder stepped through.
And I sealed the universe again.
The serpent's body coiled tighter around creation, eyes glowing with renewed vigilance. The angels streaked through starfields, hunting. The demons swam through shadows, seeking. Ellas stumbled across his barren world, hearing distant wings and distant claws.
And I,
I turned back to my castle, where the statue of the silver ether stood waiting.
Silence filled the ether again.
I would not intervene again.
Not for Elder.Not for Ellas.Not for the universe.
My hand had touched creation one last time.
Now I watched.
As the Elder walked toward destiny.As angels and demons closed in.As the fallen golden ether heard the first echo of pursuit.
As the universe began to tremble.