Chapter 22: The Birth of Aether

Complete silence roamed over the barren and dilapidated land. Luna's friends and family along with the small portion of Fafir's troops had all come to a grand halt. Even those that were deceased and in Hexus awaiting judgment couldn't help but pause and bask in the new glory of this otherworldly, magnificent,majestic power that was presented before them. Silvia was the first to break the silence after Ember pointed out she could see a figure within the smoke and dust. "W..what the hell is going on? What happened to Luna? All I remember is the attack Fafir did..and now I think she went ballistic." The injured girl said as she rubbed her bare shoulder. She and the others were still recovering from their wounds in fact.

"I suppose this may be the Aether that Nea herself has eluded too all this time right?" Saruna said as she reached out her hand and felt a immense connection with it. "Wow..this is..so unreal. To think..she made me out of this..this..this whatever it is. Amazing!" The brown haired girl said as she help bandaged up her companions. Now the atmosphere was very tense.

The sky darkened in color, the ground broke apart bit by bit and the earthquake like shockwaves ceased. What replace the smoke that covered Luna was a transparent pinkish-red aura that swirled around her body. Speaking of. She was drastically shorter than usual. About four foot eight at best. Her lower body was wider from the hips,buttocks, and to the legs. She was also muscular in her upper body as well. Her skin was as black as night and sackcloth. But this wasn't the end of the spectacle. Luna's hair was a vibrant orange with a mix of gray and the tips dipped in a hypnotizing black. She said nothing and yet this form in itself had everyone stunned.

"Wow..just..spectacular. I didn't even expect this. Was she hiding this form? This power the whole time?" Galastrom asked. She pointed out to everyone that Luna's eyes also changed. What was once two light blue eyes with white sclera. It was now a partial blend of orange and white sclera with two bold pink crosses that replaced her irises and pupils entirely. "S.she has dragon scales on her cheeks. It's barley noticeable, but they are there. I sure hope this will put Fafir down for the count." Elena said as she placed her hands together and prayed for her granddaughter.

"I..I..I don't understand. W..what the heck is this..abomination!! This creature!! Tell me where the girl is NOW!!" Fafir yells as he tried to hit the newly transformed Luna. The hit did absolutely nothing. If anything the silent girl closed her eyes and moved so fast the speed was incalculable. Not even the likes of Nea could see it. Everyone was in shock by this girl's mighty power. "W...what the heck?! I..HOW DID YOU GET THERE SO FAST!!" Fafir shouted. He tried to hit her yet she easily avoided his attacks. "Stop moving you little midget!!" The Beast God said angrily.

The girl's silence frustrated him even more. He continued to unleash his mightiest of attacks, yet it was all to no avail. "GAAAAAAHHH!! YOUR GETTING COCKY NOW!! SAY SOMETHING!!" Fafir said as he reeled his fist back and landed a frightening powerful kick on the girl's neck. "LUNA!!!" Skyra yelled out to her youngest daughter. The dust cleared and faded away. What Fafir saw shook him to his core. For the first time ever in his one billion years of life. It was HE who was afriad. Just the cold and unrelenting look from his greatest foe caused him to fall to his backside and scoot far away from her.

"Ugh..I can't believe what I am seeing." Fafir said with an unshakable tone and expression as he took a deep breath. The air felt like lead inside of him. "How..how on earth.." He whispered as he began to sweat nervously. "Noo..Nea was NOT supposed to win this..SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO PAY..SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO PAYYYYYYYY!!!" Fafir yelled. He looked at the statuesque girl standing perfectly still. No words,thoughts,feelings or anything. All that emanated from her was payback. It oozed out of her in the form of the pinkish-red aura once again and formed into a mighty sword and sliced Fafir a thousand times before he could even register it.

"A....aa.w..what are you?" Fafir weakly said as he fell to his knees. Just before he was about to lay face first in the dirt. Something..primal awoken within him. The Beast God clutched his chest and slammed his other fist hard into the ground. Everyone minus Luna wondered what was happening to him. "No..I..fought so hard to..keep it..away...n..NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! GAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" The deity yelled as blood spewed out of all parts of his body. He grew several feet if not more in height and completely lost himself in this strange eldritch transformation.

No longer was he portraying human like features yet he grew to be bigger than the entire planet itself. He was so colossal he took up the entire sky. Unphased by this. Luna slowly looked up and gazed at the changing deity. To her this was unusual for Fafir and unfamiliar, but to Nea. She recognized the true beast within.

"T..that's his Primordial form,that's what he truly looks like. It's been eons since he's revealed that form. I sure hope Luna knows what she's doing." The small goddess said. Fafir finished transforming and roared so loud hurricane winds simply uprooted trees and forced around anything else that was unsecure. The Primordial Deity revealed himself as a being with a diamond shaped head,two chain-linked arms connected to two tremendously large metallic hooks and a floating upside down triangle like body. All of this was covered in a desaturated tan color. His eyes became one and they became like a clear facemask that was covered with a visor. What stood before the entire world was utter doom and despair.

"Is it kinda weird I find Dad's form cool?" Destiny said as she said she was trying to break the ice. The entire group looked at her confuse and angirly shouted. "YES!" "Fine..fine..I never seen anything like a one hundred foot tall titan before. So EXCUSSSEEEEEE ME!" The girl fired back. She looked at her friend and hope that Luna was up to the task.

Now that both beings were at their fullest capabilities and power. Only one shall win. To start things off; Fafir began to speak. His voice reverberated throughout the entire realm and everyone paid attention. "This..is..nowwwww..the end..for youuuuuu. Prepare to be annihi-" Fafir paused as Luna was instantly on front of him. Shocked by her speed. The Primordial attacked her with his giant hook for a hand and landed a devastating blow.

"You..continue..to..PERSIST!!!" Said the angered creature. He swung his hooks at a slightly faster speed this time only for Luna to easily dodged them. This time her eyes started to glow. She dashed into his torso and punched him causing him to fall to the ground with a loud thud.

"J..just what the heck is that girl?" Skyra said as she scratched her head. She was overwhelmed with a sense of pride,confusion and a little bit of fear and uncertainty. Though she raised the girl from a wee baby to now. As a mother she was very proud. Back to the fight. Fafir roared again and fired a laser from his eye. Luna completely ignored the attack in the most disrespectful and physics-breaking way possible. The girl simply front flipped onto the very laser itself and slowly walked on it. She started heading to meet Fafir with another blow.

"I..impossible. Not even GODS can do that!! Yet you CAN!!!. THAT'S IT GIRL. I HAD IT WITH YOU!! SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR LITTLE FAMILY, FRIENDS AND ALL THOSE YOU CARE FOR!!" The primordial yelled. Luna braced for impact and readied herself.

Fafir manage to summon all his strength into a single attack. The attack was so large the galaxy itself might as well be reduced to cinders. "Behold silent one...ULTIMATE OBLITERATION!!! GO!!' Fafir yelled. Luna took the full attack on and flew high in the sky before it could destroy everything in it's wake.

"Hhggggghh...gggrhhh..damn! He really wants to win huh?" The girl said in her thoughts. She began to concentrate and flick Fafir's most deadly attack into small particles gently floating in the sky,but that was at the cost of tanking such explosive power. Luna was now in tattered clothes once again. With this form exclusively a leotard came with it,now she was topless and indecently exposed. Not caring about this. Fafir was in awe and swung his giant hooks at the girl once again. This time she was swatted like a fly and landed hard into the ground.

Angered by her uncaring attitude Fafir fired more lasers at her. Each landed and continued until Luna rose from a deep and large chasm in the ground. This time she stood before the floating being in the nude. Well what she could tell at least. Her body was covered in dirt and minor scratches yet the wounds she did gain healed themselves. Her eyes glowed once again and she jumped so high she made a equally sized chasm into the ground. Just only from launching herself off the surface.

The small naked girl met Fafir in the air and folded her muscular arms. She began to open her lips to speak. "I see.." Luna said as her voice was so loud it almost deafened anyone who heard it. Her voice vibrated any normal being to their spine and soul yet Fafir was in complete fear when he heard her speak. "Y..you see what?" Fafir asked. Luna closed her eyes and smiled faintly.

"JUDGEMENT." The mighty being said. This enraged Fafir so much he hit the invincible girl and in the process lost his Primordial state. This was due to Luna brutally ripping out the deity himself from his singular eye of his monstrous form. She also began to fly straight towards the hard surface and crash, slamming him hard into the ground from ten thousand feet in the air. He fell faster than a comet and was unable to even move. Luna followed suit and jumped high into the air and crashed her small yet deadly feet next to his head.

Speechless everyone who heard or even saw this moment just watched as Luna was about to bring forth her punishment. She looked down at the very being who caused her so much pain and so much agony. She didn't really know what to do,yet something had to be done. She raised one hand and clenched it into a mighty fist. Fafir shut his eyes and awaited his demise.

"For taking away..that ONE THING. I will NEVER get back!! For ALL those you RAPED, ENSLAVED,BULLIED, MURDERED and for ALL of those you said you LOVED, yet you BETRAYED." Luna eerily said as she punched Fafir into the gut. She continued to do so until he vomited blood. "Gaaaah!! ARRRGGHHHHHHH!!!! RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" Fafir yelled. Truly a horrid scene those that followed him now packed what they could and watched as their lord was being beaten within a inch of his life. They mourned him and bid him farewell. That was until Fafir using the last of his strength formed a mighty sword out his entire life force. He evily smiled and laughed. "I'm not the one will die here..To Hexus with your prophecy..DIE!!" Fafir says as he jammed the massive blade into Luna's heart. A silence fell across all of the land. That very moment ebb everything seemed wrong.

.... The transformed Aether looked down at her own pierced stomach and weakly rubbed her mouth. Her own blood was on her hands. She gently smiled and shed a few tears.

"Uuuh...I..I..I'm sorry. " Luna faintly said as she closed her eyes and smiled some more. Her body returned back to it's normal state and Fafir was too weak to move. Surprised by his own actions Fafir wasn't happy that he won in such a desperate way. He wanted to go out swinging and yet his greatest foe was now dead.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Azou yelled she rushed past everyone and lifted up Fafir's sword with minimal effort. With it held high just as she was about to pierce the weaken man's skull her father and Nea stopped her.

"W..what? He KILLED MY BABY SISTER!!!" The Ojoo Queen said with anger. Zuma hugged his daughter and tears streamed down his eyes. Fafir couldn't even smile anymore. The reason being was that in the corner of his eyes. He saw a saddened and hurt Ourana and his wife Panna. They both saw the final attack. If this was any confirmation about Fafir being cruel,evil and wicked,this moment was it. Tears streamed from the little crimson-haired girl's eyes. She ran away from her father in anger and Panna was disgusted by his actions. She followed Ourana and teleported far away from his presence in a red beam of light. Zuma grabbed the man by the neck and slowly started to strangle him. No words just sheer hatred was felt throughout the entire Death deities' body. His muscular arms fully strianed and veins expose, all this was telling everyone else was that Zuma wanted to make Fafir's death slow and painful.

"FAFIR MCFRINGE. AS QUEEN OF THE NEOTIC DEITIES, today I shall see you suffer for EVERYTHING you caused and EVERYTHING you have done. You will spent ETERNITY in the DEEPEST, DARKEST,DANKEST PIT IN HEXUS. You will be tortured DAY AND NIGHT and you will have NO REST!!" Nea angrily said as she hut the weakened Fafir. Saddened and angery to see his daughter pass away in front of his own eyes. Zuma removed the sword Fafir made and broke it. He picked up Luna's dead body and delicately wrapped her in violet blankets.

Anger overcame the Death God once more and the very ground opened up and swallowed Fafir whole. Him and his followers went to the deepest depths of Hexus and their screams were never heard from again.

"Papa..why did she have to die?" Azou asked her father. Zuma kissed her on the head. "Because..the world of Neo needed a savior and Luna fulfilled her purpose. Let us all follow her brave example and let us not forget her sacrifice. " The deity said. "The red skies became a light gray and the weather cold. Snow began to fall and a casket was being built for Luna.

Several days later. The shock of Luna's death and passing still felt very heavy. Even to those who barely knew her. Such as Runi,Minikio and Beatrix who only just began writing a book based on her. These three offered up their own gifts to pay respect to the fallen girl.

Likewise those that rejected Fafir and his ideals brought gifts. Ourana and Panna paid their respects also and offered their condolences to the Hrotha family. The funeral was soon taking place and all those that knew Luna were dressed in golden robes while those who heard of her kindness dressed in pink clothing instead. Luna's body was lowered into her casket and then after her family, Gala who broke down in tears and many others said their final gooodbyes,the purple heroine was lowered gently into the ground and finally laid to rest after her father,mother and sister gave a wonderful speech minus Silvia. No the girlfriend of Luna simply watched. She was heartbroken and even greater hatred towards Fafir rose to the surface. She couldn't bare to look at her loves face one more time. It would hurt her too much.

Weeks passed after Luna's death and some of those that lived within the Hidden Base have begun to move and returned to Neo. Skyra,Azou,Ember,Yunago, Jaxl,Cortani,Mikki and Saruna even left to find homes of their own. They figured Umi and Elena needed time to themselves. As for Gala and Galastrom they stayed and offer to only leave if Nea gave the command. Umi agreed and allowed it. As for Silvia she was teleported back to her own home. Well what was left of it. Fafir murdered her parents in times past and her two sisters went missing a long time ago. She just now sat in a ruined building that never felt like a home.

A thought did wander in her mind. Though she saw it the white haired girl had a suspicion that Luna may not really dead. She dreamt of it as she slept on her old lumpy matress. Then another thought appeared. She figured it could get her in trouble but she had to confirm something for herself. "Tonight. Imma dig up a dead body."

The girl said as she got dressed in just a oversized purple tshirt and sandals. The girl rushed off to the cemetery where Luna laid.