This was Aether’s first ti encountering these two strange figures. They stood before him, their massive grins stretching unnaturally wide across their faces. Yet, he couldn’t quite make out their features. All he could tell... was that they seed to be won—at least in form.
That’s all.
Aether took a slow, steady breath, calming himself as he stared directly at them, trying to remain composed in this unknown realm.
"So... you two are my Contractors?"
The twin figures tilted their heads slowly, almost chanically, as if his words had caught their interest and made them pause in thought. Then, in perfect eerie unison, they spoke:
"No, I am not."
"No, I am not."
Aether blinked, his brows knitting in surprise. Not them?
Then who?
The twins tilted their heads again, this ti both leaning to the right in perfect sync. The motion was smooth yet deeply unnatural, like puppets pulled by invisible strings. Watching them do that made his spine tingle.
"But we are."
Aether blinked again, his face twisting into a confused expression.
What the hell were they talking about?
Then, the white figure finally spoke again, her tone soft and ethereal.
"There’s no need to think too much. For now, this is all you need to know..."
The black figure followed with her own cryptic addition.
"The future is always uncertain, ever-shifting... unstable. Anyway, this is our domain, and the reason you’ve been brought here is simple—because we wished to present you with a gift."
Gift?
Aether’s eyes narrowed as he frowned. He remained silent, processing their strange, contradictory words.
The white figure leaned forward slightly and continued,
"Unlike the others before you—other versions of Aether—you’ve reached this point... without destruction, without succumbing to chaos."
The black figure’s voice overlapped hers,
"Without sacrifices. Without breaking. You endured. And in doing so... you managed to entertain us far more than any of the Aethers that ca before you."
"We were thoroughly entertained by your actions, Mr. Aether,"
They added with a strange inflection.
Suddenly, they clapped their hands together—slow, deliberate, yet strangely approving. The sound echoed unnaturally in the void around them, bouncing off invisible walls that didn’t seem to exist. The space was pitch black, yet the clapping echoed as if in a grand empty hall.
Aether’s face darkened, his fists subtly tightening.
"Entertainnt...? You think... my life is nothing but entertainnt to you?"
His voice trembled slightly, more from frustration than fear.
They didn’t answer. Or perhaps, they chose not to. It was as if his anger didn’t matter to them. As if his pain and confusion were irrelevant.
Instead, the white figure smiled wider and said softly,
"So, as a token of our appreciation for your performance, we’ve decided to reward you with a very special gift."
The black and white figures lifted their hands with slow, graceful movents before intertwining their fingers. The mont they touched, a strange repelling force burst out from their clasped hands. The air distorted, the space between them bent and twisted unnaturally, as if reality itself didn’t want to exist between their joined palms.
And then it appeared...
A cage?
Out of the warped space erged a strange birdcage, suspended in mid-air. Its surface was coated with swirling paint—black and white patterns that moved and flowed on their own, like living ink trapped in glass. The cage itself pulsed faintly, as though it was alive... breathing.
Aether frowned, his gaze flicking between the cage and the two figures, trying to make sense of what was being shown to him.
"This... will protect you from her,"
The white figure murmured as she reached out and gave the cage a gentle push.
It floated toward Aether, hovering silently in front of him, waiting.
Aether looked at the cage with a deepening frown, utterly lost.
"I don’t get it..."
He muttered under his breath, lifting his hand toward it.
The mont his fingers touched the cage’s surface, a chill ran through his hand. It felt cold and tallic, just like a regular iron cage. But in the blink of an eye, the entire thing dissolved and was sucked into his finger, vanishing with a silent pull—as if the void had swallowed it whole.
Aether blinked in shock and rubbed his fingers together, trying to understand what just happened. He looked back at the twin figures, the confusion still heavy on his face.
"...What’s your na?"
The two figures tilted their heads again in unison, this ti staring at each other for a long mont—as if they were silently speaking a language he couldn’t hear. Then the white figure turned back toward him and answered bluntly,
"You are not worthy."
Aether stared at them in silence. They said nothing more. Just sat there... grinning. That damn grin that hadn’t moved or faded since he first saw them.
Watching him. Silent. Unbothered.
Well, at least now... he’d finally seen his contractors.
Even if they weren’t his.
Even if they were... and at the sa ti... weren’t.
Fuck... this was so confusing.
But despite the chaos, despite the riddles and twisted words—this mont was a major step forward.
Aether didn’t know what lay ahead, but sothing told him... things were about to change.
"That’s it then?"
Aether looked at them.
The figures didn’t respond. They didn’t speak. In fact... they didn’t even move.
Aether’s frown deepened, a strange chill crawling down his spine. Sothing felt wrong—deeply wrong. It wasn’t just their silence... it was everything around him. The space itself had changed.
It was like ti had stopped.
The twin figures’ hair, which had earlier danced in the air like strands carried by an unseen breeze, was now completely still, frozen mid-flow. Even the dark, cold void around him, which had once felt alive with presence, now seed eerily solid... frozen, unmoving, dead.
Thud!
The sudden sound of a door creaking open echoed through the frozen silence, startling Aether. He flinched and instinctively turned around, his body moving slowly, weighed by the tension in the air.
And then... he saw him.
A short, white-haired young man stepped through the doorway, wearing pitch-black armor that glead like polished obsidian. It looked brand new—not a single scratch or dent, as if never seen battle before.
In his hand, he held a deep-black spear that vibrated violently.
Aether’s eyes widened.
It was none other than... himself.
His pupils dilated in shock. That face—it was unmistakably his. But younger. Sharper. And the rage in those eyes...
It was terrifying.
This version of him was almost identical to Iteration No. 27, yet... There was a wildness in him.
The boy’s eyes weren’t just angry—they were twisted with pure, cold-blooded hatred. Aether saw no rcy in that gaze.
No hesitation... Only death.
Instinctively, Aether took a step back.
"Another filth?"
The boy muttered coldly, his voice void of emotion.
He stared directly at Aether with an expression of deep disgust, raising the vibrating spear slightly and pointing it toward him. He growled,
"Where is that bitches?"
He didn’t need to say any more—Aether knew exactly who he ant.
Aether glanced back, motioning with his head to point toward the twin figures still seated on their throne behind him...
But—
The thrones were empty.
Gone.
Aether’s eyes widened in shock. Just monts ago, the twin figures were right there—frozen—but now... nothing. Not even a trace.
And then—
Chuuckkk...
A sickening sound tore through the air as a sharp, cold sensation spread across Aether’s chest. He gasped, lowering his eyes.
The spear had pierced him.
He looked back in horror. The other Aether—the younger, had stabbed him right through the chest, his expression one of absolute revulsion.
"You really thought you could stall for ti with this pathetic weakling?!"
He shouted furiously, his voice booming through the space like a cannon blast.
The very air trembled with the force of his rage. The dark space cracked and shook as if it couldn’t contain his presence.
Then, with a swift, effortless movent—like flicking a piece of at off a toothpick—the boy lifted Aether’s body on the spear and flung him back through the sa door he had entered from.
"Fuck off!"
He roared.
The door slamd shut.
Aether’s body was thrown through the endless void like a teor crashing back toward the sky, his limbs limp and blood trailing behind him. His vision blurred. He felt weightless... helpless... dying.
As his consciousness began to fade, his eyes caught a glimpse of the strange house he had entered before all this happened. He saw it—its structure now being destroyed piece by piece by that monstrous version of himself. The boy didn’t just break it—he dismantled it with fury, as if nothing in it deserved to remain.
And then... the mist swallowed everything.
Just like how he had arrived.
Aether’s eyes slowly lost their light, vision darkening at the edges until there was nothing left but void.
And then—
!~Ding~!
[You are Dead! 💀]
[Activating The Ether Bloodline!]
!~Ding~!
[Returning to the Last Checkpoint!]
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