About Time, Life & Death

About Aetas, Animas And Letifers

POV: Qui

He walked out into the fresh autumn night and let his feet carry him to the forest.

Soon he arrived at his treehouse. He looked through the window and saw Akito, lying in his bed. He was still up and reading, a book about legends as it seemed. He stood in front of the door to Akito's room the next moment.

"Choki?"

POV: Akito

"Choki?"

He saw the word floating to him. He didn't know what colours looked like, but he thought the way sounds looked to him were similar to the way other people saw colours. Qui's voice looked safe? Perhaps protecting? It has always been difficult to describe voices. With Qui's it was especially difficult because it felt as if he hasn't seen every shade of it yet, maybe never will.

"Qui!", his voice sparked with excitement. Qui came inside and sat down beside him on the bed. "Look! I found this book in the library." "And what do you think so far?" Akito thought about the question for a while. "It's fascinating to read. They go in so many different directions!"

His stomach suddenly rumbled, a reminder that he hasn't eaten dinner yet. "Eroy made pumpkin cream soup with croutons.", Qui mentioned. "Que, can we talk more about legends?" "We can talk about anything you want anytime, but first we have to feed that stomach of yours." With that said Akito put his bookmark between the pages and closed the book, while Qui got up and was now standing beside the bed, his back towards Akito. He jumped on his back and clung to him; His arms around Qui's neck and his legs around his waist. And like that they went to the kitchen. On the way Akito leaned his head on Qui's shoulder, enjoying the warmth of the body carrying him.

Once they arrived in the kitchen, Qui let him down on one of the seats. Akito watched him, as he set the table. His movement was already so familiar; Elegant, but also precise, without unnecessary gestures; And still there was something that he just couldn't find the right word for. A plate was placed in front of him and he began to eat. The croutons had a garlic taste to them. Qui had also placed pumpkin seed oil on the table so he put a bit of that in his soup.

"Que, the legends in that book are all out of the human world and I was curious if there are any legends in our world?" "There are legends in every world." "Can you tell me one from our world? Please?" "Let's finish dinner first."

"Choki would you get the book while I ready some blankets? We will meet in my room." Akito ran back to his room, grabbed the book and hurried to Qui's room. The lights were dim, giving off just enough light, so they didn't run into anything. Akito didn't mind it; He may not be able to see actual colours, but he could see incredibly well in the dark.

Qui was sitting in his hammock and gave Akito a questioning look. "Hm?" "Do you have any other needs right now? It will take a while if you ask questions, like you always do." Akito gave him a smile and went to the bathroom. When he came back, Qui had filled him a glass with water, which he drank. Qui lifted him onto his lap and laid them down, finally covering them with a blanket.

"Do you have a wish, in what I tell you?" "I don't even know which options I have.", Akito responded. His head was resting on Qui's chest and he could hear his heartbeat. The hammock swinging in a calming rhythm.

"Well, there are mostly legends to Souls, Aetas, Animas and Letifers. And there are figures that appear throughout multiple tribes, such as Aetanimletifers.", Akito could feel the words through Qui's body. "Who are those?" "Do you know about Aetanimas, Aetletifers or Animletifers?" "I don't think so." "Then let's start from the base. Aetas, Animas, Letifers and Souls have different abilities. Aetas are bound to time, Animas to life, Letifers to death and Souls to physical kind of things, since they themselves lost their physical body. So Choko, as a Letifer, you have access to other dimensions, such as dreams and fantasies. Talis as an Anima can influence the physical body of anything that's alive, like plants."

Akito watched as the words created his own figure, morphing into Talis silhouette, gardening.

"He does have a lot of plants in his house." "Mhm~. Aetas such as Shadow can play around with time, slowing it down, speeding it up and even stopping it, and also have access to memories. And lastly Souls, there you know Kora and Aidan, with their bonds to fire and sculpting."

Akito saw Shadow before him, randomly appearing through a shadow, Kora, forging a sword, the fire protecting her from the heat of the metal, and Aidan, carving ornaments into a blade.

"So you get the idea?" "Mhm~ What about Ria?" "She is a keeper. Keepers help the other tribes by being their companions." "Oh~ That's fascinating!" "But back to the original topic, the one, you started now is better to be discussed with them. So usually you have one of the abilities, but there are people who have two, three or all four of them. The names should be self-explanatory. Aetanimas are bound to time and life, Aetletifers..." "... to time and death and Animletifers to life and death." "Exactly." "But how can someone be a Soul at the same time?" "Do you know how Souls come into existence?" "No, how do they?" "Well to become a Soul you have to travel back from the Inbetween, leaving your physical body, or taking it with you." "The place that completes the circle of life?" "Yes. It would be normal for a soul to move forward into their next life, but very few travel back to their before life. They almost always need the help of a Letifer, but won't be able to escape if they themselves are not strong enough. The Letifers, who help them, usually either decided to spend their time in the Inbetween or died and haven't moved on to their next life yet. There is also the case of them paying a visit, but it is unlikely."

"Those are the only three options?" Akito was a bit sceptical. He could see that Qui was honest but still, there was something he didn't tell him, yet.

"Well technically there is a fourth option, but that one is considered very rare. It is when a Letifer travels between both worlds freely. Taking their body with them, and becoming a soul in the process." 'He says it too casually, as if it's nothing special to him...' Akito thought to himself, but he could be wrong, as nothing seemed to really excite Qui. A question then came to his mind, which to ask he delayed to later.

Akito thought about it for a while, and realised something while doing so. "Que you always said it in a certain order. Aetas, Animas, Letifers, Souls. Why is that?" "You usually say it in the order of the weakest to the strongest ability. But since Souls are a bit of a different story it doesn't really matter whether you say it first or last. And of course there will be ones who are stronger than the others despite their tribe." "But why are some seen as stronger than the others?"

"We define strength by how well someone would be able to survive on their own. Souls can't do much for themselves other than utilising their environment, but since they kind of already died there is a possibility for them to come back once again. But you have to be stronger each time, because the next life will be pulling you towards itself more and more with every time you 'die' or, to be more specific, every time you travel to the Inbetween. Aetas can manipulate the time in their favour, giving them more time to escape or heal. Animas can manipulate their opponent and can quite literally cling on to life, as they are bound to it. And Letifers have the option to just go back on their own. They are also the only ones that keep their abilities in the Inbetween, all the other abilities are bound to just their life in a physical dimension. Overall everyone can come back either on their own or with the help of a Letifer, but the general rule is, that the longer you live the more your next life will be pulling you."

"That makes sense, but what about the ones with multiple abilities?" "They can combine them. For example: When an Aeta stops time everything that's alive disappears, for an Aetanima the people, animals and plants would still be there and Aetletifers could stop time in other non-physical dimensions."

After a moment of silence Akito broke it with a question: "Que, you already told me how Souls come into existence, but how do the others?" "No one really knows the answer to that question, Choko." "But there has to at least be a theory about it." "Well, there is. It mostly has to do with whether or not someone has the right heart and what they would do with the ability they are given. The first generation is always good hearted, but the following generations have a possibility of becoming an evil essence in a dream or fantasy dimension, in case of them abusing their power." "Sounds quite logical..."

"Now back to your original question, the legends. Do you want to hear a legend about a Soul, an Aeta, an Anima, a Letifer, ...?" "A Letifer!"