Cynthia's Incarnation

"What makes you think I'll lose myself?" I nervously asked Cynthia. She lightly smiled, reminiscent of how she used to when I used to be her little brother in the same house.

"I have the Eyes of Ali Asterio and Providence Achamo in my head. When two powerful beings cross and the bloodlines of Purebloods get mixed like that, it makes for interesting things. I have Mom's abilities, and Providences all jumbled into one. I found something interesting while I got more powerful under the disguise that was Arashi. That's the alias I used in Quake. My eyes started to see more... and more... and more..." Cynthia explained to me.

"What does that have to do with losing myself?" I asked her yet again, getting further annoyed with her.

"My eyes can't just predict the future, they can see them. I see ruin surrounding you. I see your friend, Noboki, dead in the trees outside the gates of Zealous. I see Mandi, slowly losing her life in the future. I see you, losing yourself to the Entity inside of you. I can even see that blowing up in your face while you try to keep yourself sane. You feel yourself slipping very, very soon, don't you?" Cynthia asked me.

She took one step toward me, and my body became locked in place. I couldn't help but think she was lying about Noboki and Mandi... but I was stuck in fear under the spell of the simple phrase...

'What if...?'

"Truth is, Sky Asterio, is that I know what makes you into the person you are. I know you are from Four Hundred Years Ago. I'm not, and that's okay. What isn't okay, is how many sisters you've had, from all the times The First Trial has replayed when you failed in killing Providence," Cynthia vaguely said. I wanted to question her further, but she elaborated without even waiting for me.

"When The First Trial first launched, it took a long, long time for the final step to be complete. The step where you actually beat her, and the step where Mom and Dad both sacrificed themselves for that outcome. The step in which you ruined our family. Just as you were reincarnated into the body you have now, I was reincarnated, time and time again after I died, again and again," Cynthia told me again. She took another step closer to me.

"See, the reason it worked out on that run-through is that I ran away, invoking Mom with a sense of guilt about her children. She risked her life for you, because of me. I lived through hundreds of lives, waiting for you to get strong enough. Those run-throughs, they planted strands in me through several timelines... but, I still couldn't match your strength that you had four hundred years ago," Cynthia told me.

Now, everything she was telling me was too far gone. I didn't understand half of it, but she kept talking regardless.

"All things considered, I've spent a lot of time building up hatred for my weak little brother, and somewhere along the line, I was given the Eye of Providence when I joined Quake. The two eyes linked together and I've been able to see the future... with a very, very special Incarnation," Cynthia led me on, waiting for a moment while taking three steps forward.

"The Incarnation of Aether. Sounds funny, doesn't it? Not sure what it exactly means, but what I do know is that Aether means something," Cynthia said.

With a snap of her finger, strands all around her emitted in a sphere, perfectly covering her head and going as far as her feet at the peak of each side of the sphere. It was perfect for her body.

She smiled, pointing toward me next. I was almost at her dome, but not close enough yet. I was still frozen in fear as she got closer.

"Aether is the name of the strands in the atmosphere, that compose the world. You might know them as Essence Strands. That's right, little brother, my Incarnation is control of all Aether Strands in the atmosphere... what makes up the world right now, I can manipulate them, I can change them, I can see straight through them... into the past... into the future... wherever I want... I can go however far back I want, up until the point of your death, four hundred years ago," Cynthia told me again. I waited for her to continue, but she took five seconds of silence to observe me from head to toe.

"Incarnation of Aether... the power to do what you want with Essence Strands... what do you plan to do with it, if I might ask? Is it power you want? Are you greedy for something? Do you want something from me specifically?" I asked her next. The time between my breaths was getting shorter as if I was running out of breath.

"What do I want? I never thought about that before... I only ever worked to become as powerful as you, but since I'm obviously leagues above you, I have no idea what it is that I want anymore," Cynthia confessed.

The strand sphere around her expanded, even covering me now and allowing for some of the water to disperse around us.

"Can you get Mom and Dad back?" Cynthia asked me. That question stung like a bee. I shook my head, staring at the ground.

"I already made graves for them... they're not coming back, you should accept that," I told Cynthia, and she shrugged, giving me a weak smile right after.

"Then no, there's nothing I want. But, there is something that sounds quite nice," She told me, looking down at my white stone.

The black was now halfway up my left arm, cutting off evenly at the elbow like a jar filling up with black water.

"I guess it's what we Asterios are good at. I've decided that I want Revenge... and I want you to suffer, little brother," She told me flatly.

The water poured into my dome, and I woke up in real-time, with the wind blowing at its normal speed, and Cole and Fico staring at me from afar.