Aether barely had enough energy to move his body after he had collapsed to the ground, barely capable of moving any of his limbs as he tried to crawl his way back to Anima, slipping in and out of consciousness as he watched her take on the large beast, he just had to do something to help her, if he didn’t do anything she would die. But he couldn’t make it there fast enough as he witnessed her being caught and crushed, nearly being severed in half with the strength of the Wyvern’s bite and it was at that point he knew that he couldn’t save her, not the same way he saved her last time. Feeling the last of his strength leave him he just lay on the floor, slipping in and out of consciousness as he too would be unable to be saved.
Then he felt it, a cold yet gentle touch upon his forehead and chest as energy began to fill his body rapidly, releasing his mind and soul from his mortal reigns and could only look around at awe at what was happening. His body had died but he still lived, a mere spirit trapped in the mortal realm and unable to pass on. But then he saw his body, along with Anima whispering and mumbling to herself as the magic power around her grew to insane levels as he could see the green of the spiritual shackles he created to anchor her soul to the golem float off and away from her. “No…” Aether spoke, but no noise came. “No…Anima no!” he reached for her just as the shackles turned a bright red and headed straight for him, wrapping around his spiritual limbs, chest and neck as they dragged him down into his dead body. Then suddenly, fire swept across Anima and his body, turning all that was flesh to ash and leaving only the bone, the lacrima that was implanted in him, and the kakuhou that created his tendrils. Anima… he thought as he saw her body crack and crumble just as he was reunited with his old body.
Rising from the ashes of his corpse Aether gasped, pulling his arm up to touch his face yet he could feel nothing, his sense of touch had been incinerated along with his flesh, no doubt along with his sense of smell and taste. Panicked he looked around, searching for whatever remained of Anima and the golem. His search was cut short by the whisper of a single word which seemingly whispered in his ear, touching at his very soul.
“Live.”
Stopping suddenly at the word, jaw hanging loosely from his skull, he turned slowly to gaze upon what was once the Golem’s head, split in two by the sheer heat from the fire with only one eye, half the nose and the mouth remaining, a small smile spread across its lips. Closing his jaw shut he reached for the head, only managing to tap it softly before it crumbled into dust. Clenching his fist he smashed it into the ground and looked up into the sky which waved with the intense heat of the fire all around him. “Anima…” he mumbled, casting his head back down to the ground as he rose to stand on both feet, taking in what he could from his now limited amount of senses. He spotted the lacrima which was now half white and half black, the same as it was when he first received it and reached out for it, placing a hand on its surface and causing the entire lacrima to turn a pure white.
Picking it up he held it to his forehead, tapping into its power and the spirit he became so fond of within as the lacrima became a sort of fluid, covering Aether’s bones and being absorbed into them to allow him access the power of the bone demon slayer as well as reversing the impurity of his skeleton, returning it to a pure white colouration. “You’re really cutting it close there space weaver, if it weren’t for your golem you’d be nothing but ashes now.” Nathir spoke, a vision of his figure that he had only seen once before when accessing God Force seemingly forming within the flames. “Do you wish for the power to avenge her?” the figure drew closer, fading through the flames as it asked the question. “Or do you wish to honour her final words?” The figure stopped in front of him, a skeleton as white as snow and as black as soot cloaked in an aura of equal purity and impurity that masked all but the old demon god’s skull.
Staring down the old demon god Aether’s glowing eyes spoke every word he needed, causing Nathir to reel back slightly with a bony grin. “Very well space weaver. Today you are neither alive nor dead, and that shall continue till the day your soul expires.” Spreading its arms wide the cloaking aura surrounding the old demon god turned completely white “But you have a daunting task ahead of you, one you cannot hope to complete without my help, and so in order for you to live on I bestow upon you the title of Undead Lord and grant you some of my lesser abilities.” The cloak then spread out and covered Aether’s entire body, disregarding his skull as the figure of Nathir too faded to white and joined the rest of the aura. “The energy you received from your friend, adding my own shall allow you to reach new heights and exceed your limits.” The bone demon god spoke in his mind. “Now you must honour your dearly departed.” Aether, upon hearing those words reached outwards and swept his hand from left to right, releasing a large amount of magic power that would cause the flames that had surrounded him for so long to extinguish as if a large gust of wind had suddenly been thrust upon them to reveal his new form, the next stage of his life, the step into a more holy domain, the beginning of his life as a bone demon slayer.
“Live.”
This naturally attracted the attention of the Wyvern which was just about to take off, assuming that both of the assailants which attacked it had died but had been drawn in by the sudden increase in magical power which only increased as time held on. Aether stood there in the embers of the blaze, a cloak of pure holy aura surrounding his body as his skeleton adjusted to the sudden increase in magic power, growing larger and jagged with the sudden increase in energy and calcium, his skull distorting to that of some kind of deer/ram monster. The Wyvern, unfazed by the sudden increase in power continued its assault, flying in towards Aether at a near blinding speed, clearly Anima had done enough damage to it to the point where it wasn’t as fast as when it first struck Aether.
Holding a now skeletal hand out towards the wyvern he let his power flow and so created a singular bone, a tooth similar to that of a dragons, and let it drop and sink into the ground. “Bone Demon’s Hallow Knight.” As he spoke bone shot out of the ground from where he dropped the tooth, quickly forming a very large skeleton covered in a thinner layer of equally dense bone to give it a rotten corpse look, white bone continued to grow over it until it covered the undead creature in a thick shell before shattering and reforming into armour, a cape, jagged sword, and a tower shield. “I live to serve you, my lord.” The knight uttered, just as it dug its shield into the ground to protect him from an attack and stop the wyvern right in its path, pulling the shield out of the ground before pushing off the wyvern as though it was like any other small lizard creature, causing it to topple and loose its balance for a sloppy landing. “For I am the shield to protect thee, oh dear lord of bone.” The knight spoke, raisings its blade to the sky before pulling it back, clanging it against its shield and slamming its shield into the ground between Aether and the Wyvern. “As your shield, no harm shall come to thee.” The knight repeated, just as a jet of flames came spewing towards them, only to be parted by the knights shield as it was launched overhead and around them, similar to how Aether managed to survive his mentor’s own wave of flame in his training to learn the god slayer magic.
Raising its shield from the charred ground the knight charged towards the wyvern, shield raised and sword poised to strike as soon as it came within range as the flames once again assaulted it only to be brushed off by the knight’s shield. As it came closer and closer to the beast it began to counterattack, knocking its jaw closed with the large tower shield before swinging into a vertical slash from its chest to its maw, cutting through the creature’s scales like an axe through wood, cutting halfway through before following up with a downwards slash in the same direction, cutting straight through to its softer parts before being battered away with a backflip swing of its barbed tail repeatedly, sending it back with enough force to crash lightly into the rock cluster.
As the knight was fighting the gold rathian Aether had picked up the organ that had caused him a large amount of both strife and comfort, simply holding it in his palm caused it to glow ever so slightly as the organ was dyed white by the pure aura that surrounded him. He couldn’t use its tendrils, but he could still tap into its power to open portals and weave the fabric of space itself. Walking up to the creature slowly became a jog before a full on sprint, just as the knight was flung back towards the rock cluster. Jumping to the side he dug his pointed, claw-like fingers into the ground to stabilize himself and pull of as he continued his way towards the overgrown lizard, going faster with each step as he reached where the knight had cut deep into the creatures scales, thrusting his free hand in with relative ease, causing the wyvern to roar out in pain as Aether spread his palm within him as he cast the final blow on the creature. “Blast.” He shouted, raising the hand which held the organ up towards the Wyverns face as a portal formed in each of his palms, however the raw energy without form caused each portal to rupture and explode. The dragon’s scales around its face flew off, landing around him as the creatures legs gave out. The portal that had exploded within the Wyvern had destroyed most of its organs, including its heart, giving it a fast, painless death with the blow to the head numbing it to the pain it felt when its innards were turned to mush.
Letting the creature collapse before he pulled his skeletal hand out from the corpse Aether stood back to look at what had just happened, with the knight rising to its feet near the rock cluster and himself, one arm covered in the blood of a wyvern and the remainder of his skeletal body surrounded in a thick white aura. Then it hit him, Anima. Anima had sacrificed herself for him, she cast off the shackles he placed on her to give to him, knowing that his skeleton was capable of surviving even this creature’s wrath. With that realization, Aether fell to his kneecaps, hunched over towards the wyvern corpse with his hands on the ground. She was gone, and this time there was no way of bringing her back.
He wanted to cry, but he couldn’t. He wanted to shout to the heavens, but he couldn’t. He wanted nothing more than to bring her back, but he couldn’t. Instead he lay there, racked with guilt at being unable to save her again and yet he was still here. He had defeated the wyvern and succeeded in taking his power to the next level, but at what cost? He was now no more human than when he first came into this world, the only proof of him once being alive was the skeleton his soul was inhabiting, and the second death of his best friend. Before he knew it the knight was crouched down beside him, its hand on Aether’s spine. “It is unfit of you to be like this my lord. There are always casualties in battle.” Its head turned from facing him back to the creature they had slain. “I have been through death many times, and of them I never got to choose how I would go out. But if I could choose, it would be to go out protecting the one I hold most dear to me. Your companion gave you her life and power so that you may triumph. You must have given her one hell of a life in order for her to do something like that.” Raising from his crouch it approached the wyvern, raising its sword before cleanly slicing through the neck and severing its head. “She would not wish for you to waste this second chance at life grieving over hers. She would want you to live, to love, to prosper.” It tossed the head gently towards him, letting it roll to a stop in front of him. “Do not let her efforts go to waste, my lord.”
Steeling himself, Aether rose from the ground and, lifting the organ over the wyverns head, opened a portal to his pocket dimension in the dirt underneath it and causing it to fall in. The knight stood tall with what could be its best attempt at a grin as it witnessed Aether’s resolve to finish his exam. Looking around Aether attempted to spot the proctor of the exam and upon spotting Izayuki would wave at her to signal that his task was completed, even at the loss of the one that was dearest to him he wouldn’t let that hold him back. He would live in her name, and to protect that which they both called home.