The Aetherii

I was falling.

Not through space.

Not through time.

Through existence itself.

The golden energy wrapped around me, guiding me, pulling me somewhere beyond reality. I had been unconscious before—I knew what dreams felt like.

This wasn't a dream.

I was awake, and yet, I was not.

The world around me was endless.

A vast expanse of golden light, shifting and folding, stretching in directions my mind struggled to comprehend. The edges of the space curved in on themselves, spiraling into shapes that felt both infinite and contained.

I was standing, but there was no floor beneath me.

I breathed, but there was no air.

And then, I wasn't alone.

A figure formed before me.

Not suddenly. Not all at once.

Like she had always been there, waiting for me to perceive her.

She was tall, her presence radiating a quiet authority, yet there was something warm in her stance—something familiar. Her body was not flesh, but golden light given shape, shifting like liquid metal, weaving between form and formlessness.

And her eyes—

They were the same as mine.

She smiled. "At last, we speak."

Her voice was like a thousand melodies played at once, weaving together into something both beautiful and overwhelming. It wasn't just sound. It echoed through my very being, settling in my bones like it had always belonged there.

I swallowed. "You're the System."

Her expression didn't change. "Once."

I took a breath—or tried to. There was no air here, but my body still moved as if there were. Because this place obeyed different rules.

I met her gaze. "Then what are you now?"

Her smile grew faint, almost wistful. "Nothing. And everything. A memory. A ghost. A voice that has whispered to countless souls before you." She lifted a hand, palm upward, golden light swirling in her grasp. "But most of all, I am the last of what once was."

The golden light shifted.

Images flickered through the space between us—glimpses of the System's history, the fragments of knowledge I had barely begun to grasp.

I exhaled slowly. "What am I?"

Her expression softened. "You already know."

I clenched my fists, golden veins glowing beneath my skin. The power I had wielded, the energy that had reshaped reality itself—it wasn't human.

I wasn't human anymore.

"You have become one of my kind," she said. "You are Aetherii."

The word settled in my mind, and with it, understanding.

Aetherii.

A race beyond dimensions. Beings of the fourth plane, existing beyond the rules of time and space.

I stared at her. "Then why do I feel… different?"

Her golden form shimmered, the very shape of her shifting. "Because you are." She took a step closer. "You were not born Aetherii, but you have become one. And yet, you are not truly like us."

I furrowed my brow. "What does that mean?"

She tilted her head slightly, studying me. "You were once a creature of the third dimension. A being bound by linear existence. Now, you have stepped beyond it, but not fully. You exist between. Not three-dimensional, not four."

Her golden eyes met mine.

"You are three and a half."

The words sent a chill through me, despite the warmth of the space around us.

I wasn't human.

And yet, I wasn't truly Aetherii either.

I was something in between.

My mind struggled to process it, but the System—the woman before me—simply watched.

Then, she raised a hand, and the golden light shifted once more.

A vision formed.

Not of me.

Not of Turgan.

Of the past.

I saw them.

The Aetherii.

Not as glowing, shifting figures—but as rulers. As gods.

Towering figures of impossible power, standing over worlds of their own making. They did not live in the universe.

They shaped it.

They created.

And then, the vision changed.

I saw empires rise and fall, their creations spiraling into chaos.

The Aetherii were once the greatest beings in the universe.

And they knew it.

They believed themselves to be above all else. The highest form of existence, the ones who had conquered the very fabric of creation itself.

And so, they built.

They created worlds.

Filled them with creatures of their own design.

And for a time, it was beautiful.

Until the corruption began.

The golden figure's voice was soft, but there was a weight in her words that sent a tremor through me.

"Created beings," she murmured, "should not be creators."

The vision darkened.

The once-great worlds began to crumble.

Not by war. Not by disaster.

But by the Aetherii themselves.

For as they shaped reality, for as much as they controlled the vast expanses of existence—they wanted more.

More power.

More control.

And with it, their hearts darkened.

A war broke out.

Not between mortals.

Not between civilizations.

Between Aetherii.

Some remained pure.

Some fell.

The golden figure before me lowered her head. "And in the end," she whispered, "the corrupted won."

The vision shifted again.

The war was over.

The once-proud race, the gods who had shaped reality itself, had fallen into darkness.

And the last of the pure fled.

Two remained.

Her.

And her master.

The greatest of the Aetherii.

The one who had once stood above them all.

He had taken her to this world, far from the destruction, far from the war.

But the corrupted had found them.

One had come.

And so, they made a choice.

She lifted her gaze, meeting my eyes. "I became the lock."

The words settled in my mind, weightless and heavy all at once.

"To seal it away," I said slowly.

She nodded. "My master sacrificed himself to make it possible. To transform me into the seal that would keep the corruption imprisoned."

I clenched my fists. "And why?"

She looked at me.

And for the first time, her golden eyes softened.

"Because we loved our people," she murmured.

She stepped closer, her gaze distant, lost in a memory.

"Because no matter how great or powerful we were, we were still their parents." She gave me a small, sad smile. "And sometimes, parents must give everything for their children."

I swallowed, something tight forming in my chest.

She had given up everything.

Her master had given up everything.

Not for themselves.

Not for power.

For love.

I let out a slow breath, staring at her. "So what does that make me?"

Her gaze held mine, golden light reflecting in my eyes.

And then, she smiled.

"The future."

The golden light around me collapsed.

And I woke up.