He still remembered that fateful day like it was yesterday. Even while he slumbered deep beneath the earth he revisited his last moments before it all went black. That vivid image of Colias, the King of the Solar Court and his dear brother smiling as he always did, while his glaive was impaled into his chest. Moments before Colias called for him, and Aidoneus had turned around only to receive a stab that pierced him to the core. Unlike ordinary weapons, it was a blow that was the closest thing to pain. Why? Why had his brother stabbed him? And before he could say those words, the mountain crumbled beneath their feet. That same scene repeated in his memory as his mind continued to ask the same questions. When he finally awoke from his hibernation, what devastated him the most was the realization that his brother was gone…forever. He would never be able to hear his answer.

As his wound healed, the haze began to clear and memories began to resurface of that day. It was the day when Parnassia fell, buried beneath the ground where the sun no longer shone upon it. Aidoneus began to walk through the memories flashing in his eyes. The sky was clear at midday, he was returning to his residence after performing his duties as judge over the Lunar Court. Earlier he had briefly met with his nephew Phoebis, who had told him of the birds that sang in the Solar garden. He looked so much like his father, especially his hair and eyes. Moving down the train of memories he came back at the moment he received the wound that forced him into hibernation.

There began a low rumbling, and he paid no heed at first. But then the tremors intensified, and the rumble became a roar. Colias called out to him, and he turned around. At once his brother thrust the edge of his glaive into his body. Aidoneus' eyes widened in that moment, reeling in shock. As he slumped down to the ground Colias was standing over him, hands tightly wrapped around the glaive's shaft. "I'm sorry, Aidoneus. But you must live on. Parnassia's time has come to an end. Please don't blame yourself–for my sake, and Agrias'…" He remembered looking into his eyes, and saw sadness. Following the path of his gaze, the eidolon saw golden ichor dripping down the polearm. Now he remembered… Moments before the sleep took hold, he saw Colias had impaled himself on the opposite end of the weapon. In their kingdom's final moments his brother had transferred his ichor into him. 

He could feel the Void calling. Disaster shook the world as otherworldly forces attempted to tear their way into Revaliir, flooding the land with twisted abominations borne from the endless abyss. He felt he held a greater responsibility upon his shoulders because he too was Void-born, and that it was time to take up arms. Finding Antheia, he came to tell her words he wished he never had to say. "Antheia… I'll be leaving soon. I need to return to the Void. I will be of more use far beyond the reaches of the World Tree than I would here." He had told her about his people, and how they had changed upon entering this world. His power was limited within the confines of a physical form. "I can't guarantee that I will be able to return. If I were to perish, my essence will return to the Origin, the place from which all eidolons came forth. Once that happens, 'I' as an individual being will cease to exist. But if I were to return in a form different from now, please grant me the same kindness you have shown me in this incarnation."

How cruel could life be?

…Why was that even a question that needed to be answered?

She watched her people be slaughtered. She watched a sword go through her mother’s neck. She was spared on a technicality.

She knew how cruel it could be.

Not that they hadn’t deserved it… Still. Had things been different she could have been saved a long time ago. Stone-cold and blocked off from everyone. Yeah, the gentleness she found… Why did it open her so? Maybe it was because Antheia hadn’t had a gentle anything. Some of her cousins were kind but gentle did not come with the territory. She was the daughter of a traitor. The Queen of Wrath. The beginning of the curse that haunted the females of the Rose line even now.

Was it gone? Would it come back and claim more of their family? Where did it come from?

Life was cruel but also it was wonderful.

The Rosenite had made it out of the slaughter by the technicality that they had found her strapped to a piece of wood bleeding out from whip marks. She had been punished for speaking out. If she wanted to rule the clan next she would need to steel her heart and empty out the emotions that would hold her back.

”Do it. Her mother had handed her the knife. ”It’s easy you just slit their throat. Child or not. This is war.”

”This is wrong and evil.” Those few words had saved her life. Earning her one of several beatings but that particular one had been the reason why she was saved. Pity, it was.

Under lock and key, she was followed by an escort. She was a blood source. Her blood was far purer than that of Angela or her sister’s. She was the last remaining of the third generation.

So when he came to her and spoke those words her eyes gained a sadness. It was loss all over again but she choked it down. “As long as you return I will continue to treat you as I have always. If I must restart a thousand times I would… For your sake and for my own.”

Her hand reached up and cupped his face as she let her thumb caress his skin. “It’s calling to you, isn’t it?”

For years he had observed much of the other races–the ones who were the 'true' children of this world. He had learned their customs, their languages, and could even predict their emotional or physiological responses. Yet there was a difference between understanding sadness and being able to react to it. Whether if was blood, tears, or bile–it was all the same to an eidolon. Even with his greater capacity for empathy, Aidoneus was unable to conjure tears. His dull red eyes looked down with sorrow as Antheia placed her hands around his face. "It's calling to you, isn't it?"

"Yes…" He wasn't one to lie. Slowly he lifted his head and gazed with longing in the direction of Vada. Though he knew not where it was in relation to where they were, instinctively something inside of him would gravitate to it. After so long, he could sense the Origin far beyond this world, beyond the shackles that bound him. Deep down he was terribly conflicted; the Void was his home, but so was the mountain that remained of Parnassia. He loved both, but he couldn't deny his nature. Like birds and fish who returned to their place of birth, the same could be said for him. But he didn't want to leave her. For someone who had been so accustomed to being surrounded by his own, Aidoneus didn't want to be alone again. Loneliness was an all-consuming, terrible feeling that he couldn't fully grasp. It was as if a gaping hole was in the core of his essence, a hole that could never fully seal itself up. A very apt comparison to the healing scar upon his own torso. 

Leaning down, he wrapped himself around her; his boneless form enveloping like a shroud. Unlike him, she like Revaliir's children possessed something else–warmth. The physical warmth that told others you were alive, that the light of life burned within you brightly. His body's temperature would simply adapt to the ambient heat in his surroundings. "I will do all that I can in my power to return back to you. This I promise. Permanence is…such a frightening thing." The last words were from how he felt when he learned what 'death' truly was. No wonder people feared it. The idea that someone you knew and loved would disappear forever instead of returning in a new cycle was heartbreaking. Eidolons were used to perpetual change, but they had never been prepared for when things would stay the same. Two starry wolves were waiting several paces away. They were his 'children', beasts who had unintentionally been transformed when they took in his ichor. "Goodbye, Antheia. May this world be kind, as I dearly hope to see you again. Hati and Sköll will come with me."

The red of his eyes seemed more like dulled rubies in that moment. She knew the look well enough from many others that he was sad in some way or form. It was a deep, deep sad. Not that he couldn’t feel but his ability to emote certain things were certainly harder than others in her experience. Or he hadn’t learned them yet.

Feeling her mouth go dry as the answer came from his lips she let out a rather sad sigh follow along. It almost sounded like she had been holding her breath waiting for him to answer. Antheia saw his eyes drift and from what he had told her she knew he was floating about what pulled him.

Being hugged by Aidoneus was more like having a humanoid sized blanket wrapped upon you. She snuggled her face into his shoulder which had no resistance to it thanks to him being boneless. He was as warm as the room and heated by her own body. “Isn’t it though?” Antheia asked quietly. “You just have to make sure it doesn’t happen.” Easier said than done she was sure.

There was a chuckle from her lips as she shook her head. Pulling back just a tad her eyes looked into his. “Not goodbye Aideoneus. Goodbye is for people that we won’t see again.” She brushed his hair back and gave him the best smile that she could. “And I will see you again.” She looked to Hate and Skoll before placing a kiss to his lips. Gentle and unwavering in the feelings she had she at least could make sure he knew he had a home to come back to. “I believe that you were brought to me for a reason and our time has been too short for what has been planned,” her words slipped back into her native tongue as her hands drifted down and took his into hers. “Fate may be cruel but I believe that this time… There’s a future waiting for you as a whole. The more you don’t believe the easier it will be to crush your resolve… So when you go make sure your resolve is strong and absolute. Only then will you truly return me no matter what.” The Arriese left her lips rather easily but her voice shook on a few notes.

It was never that simple but at least she could attempt to make it seem like that. “Also, close your eyes.” She waited for a moment before she pressed a strawberry sized fruit to his lips. Its skin tossed and turned like the starry sky. It was something special just for Aideoneus. She wanted him to experience so much. “There’s so much more for me to show you… and I found ways for you to experience things you haven’t before.”

He tried his best to smile, but somehow inside he felt a heaviness. "As you wish. I will do so, for you and everyone." For Parnassia. For his brother's mate, his nephew who left so young, for his dear brother. "Also, close your eyes." He did as told, only to feel something press against them. Opening his eyes in surprise, he caught a glimpse before it slipped into his mouth. Eating was not something eidolons needed to sustain themselves. There were those who had tried food out of amusement, though it was found to be less efficient than spending a few hours in the direct light of the moon or sun. Having never tasted fruit before, Aidoneus had no words to describe this new feeling. It held substance, yet seemed to disappear into his very being. Taste alone was something completely novel and foreign. "This is…?" Antheia smiled back at him, pulling close. "There's so much more for me to show you… and I found ways for you to experience things you haven't before." It was in that very moment that the eidolon re-experienced a fleeting sensation he had only felt so strongly once. The look in her blue eyes brought back memories of the first time Colias and Agrias showed him Phoebis. In that moment, the former king of the Lunar Court saw a face he wished to see happy, always. Had parting always been so difficult? If he had not been the last of his kind in this world, would he have ever known?



Time passed as he slept once again, half-dreaming. The rhythmic sound of paws beating against the earth were a dull echo. Two starry wolves bounded over hill and dale, tirelessly sprinting, never ceasing their advance until they reached their destination. Upon one of their backs was a small slumped figure, limply clinging onto the beast's furry hide. When the Arriese encampment was in sight, they let out a baying howl to announce their arrival. Slowing their stride, Hati and Sköll continued to weave their way through the crowds until they found the snow-haired Rosenite. Cyan eyes shining bright, they came wagging their tails as they walked beside her. A mat of bluish-black hair poked out of a pile of clothes that had become too large for its wearer. The eidolon had shrunk significantly in size, having fallen into hibernation after using his ichor so strenuously. It was his last act before the sleep took him, to allow his children to better carry him to Antheia. Just as promised, Aidoneus had returned…safe and sound. Hati sat down, sliding off the sleeping pile gently onto the floor. Sköll grabbed the back of Aidoneus' clothes in his maw and pulled the eidolon up to drag him closer. The wolf nudged their 'father' with his muzzle repeatedly in an attempt to wake him. The beast let out a low whine as if he were an impatient child wanting their parent's attention. The two dusk wolves then looked back up at Antheia, mouths open with tongues out. They were all together again, at last. 

Loneliness was a thing she had been well accustomed to but things were slowly changing. It had started with the untimely arrival of a box and with it had come a man. She had learned about the man and found comfort in his company and it did look like he found comfort in her as well. Often times, it was just idle chatter or perhaps it was just her reading to him. Together life hadn’t been so dreary or lonely and it brought joy.

So she had made the travel to see the great goddess and thanks to her there were new things created that would bring Aidoneus something to look forward to. These were the little things that Antheia could promise the Eidolon upon his return.

The Rosenite waited out the long war as it came to pass. The howls were what alerted her from the book she read within her tent. She put it down almost skeptical but soon she was pushing herself up and running from the tent. Aidoneus had kept his promise and she would keep hers as she met with him like agreed. Once her blue eyes laid on his shrunken form she leaned down and picked him up. Eidolons were such odd beings but she used her free hands to pet the two dusk wolves. “He needs his rest… so let's give it to him hmm?”

She moved back to her tent and laid out some blankets for the wolves before she covered herself in a warm blanket. She pressed him to her chest and laid there in her cot. His hair was where she nestled her face as she cuddled him into her chest. He would wake and when he did he would grow. This was what she had faith in as she closed her eyes to rest.

Things didn’t seem overly bad now that the Eidolon was home with her. “Welcome home… Aidoneus.”