The Spark [Xiao x Aether]

A week before the disaster |||

"Knocking yourself out again. Seriously, dear?" That familiar female gentle voice spoke.

Xiao opened his eyes and there she was. The goddess of time. Judging from her speech, she didn't seem like the one who was threatening him a while ago. There was a huge difference between the two. The apocalypse seemed to really mess with the other Istaroth's head. This was the sole proof of how things like that could mess with someone.

"Well, you aren't just gonna keep staring, are you? Come. Take a seat. We can discuss what's on your mind over a cup of tea." The woman spoke as she snapped her fingers. Her table that she used for tea appeared with two seats.

Both of them sat down. The Yaksha was a bit hesitant to drink the tea so he decided to forget about it until the matters are settled.

He took a few closer looks at the goddess. She seemed calmer than the last time he visited. Of course, the woman noticed and instantly smiled when she noticed.

"You must be wondering how I'm still in a stable mindset."

"Looking back at your other self, I must say I am surprised...Does this mean that something changed? Or did the other you go crazy way after this?" The Adeptus questioned with sorrow in his voice. He yearned for good news.

A long sigh escaped Istaroth's mouth. Xiao looked down to the ground and thought of ending this meeting earlier seeing there seemed to be no news.

He tried getting up from the chair but was quickly stopped by a pair of hands holding him back down to sit.

"Please, sit down. You still haven't finished your tea."

The boy had no choice but to obey. This time he grabbed the cup and took a sip. The tea actually managed to calm him down after all the recent events. It was only then that he noticed how stressed out he was. After finishing the entire cup he was finally able to breathe normally again.

"You see... I am supposed to be the only Istaroth in this world. When I turned into "that" Istaroth, I created this version of myself to try and make things right in the last second. The second Istaroth shouldn't exist at all." She started as her smile slowly faded away and turned into a frown.

"You're the goddess of wind and time. Shouldn't you be able to erase her from this world with ease?"

"I wish that was the case. We are the same person divided into two different bodies. My only choice is to stab her in the chest and hope she fades away...but who knows when I will have a chance like that. I never met her in this timeline nor any other one."

Everything seemed like a dead-end once again. There was no news about whether the future changed or not. The goddess was troubled and couldn't think of what else to do. She seemed miserable the second she mentioned the second version of herself.

"...We will see what will happen. We still have three more days until the apocalypse. I will give everything in my power to try and stop it." Xiao tried to comfort her and maybe help her out a bit if possible. Everyone seemed to be getting mentally drained from the situation.

Without saying anything else, the woman took the boy into her embrace tightly and let out a few soft sobs as tears rolled down her cheeks. The Adeptus felt like this was oddly familiar. He hugged her back and patted her on the back. It felt weird hugging somebody who isn't Aether but it seemed to be much needed.

After staying in that position for some time, Istaroth finally let go and took the boy's hand while wiping her tears away. Who knew Gods could cry?

"I-I'm...sorry. I shouldn't be getting emotional. I'm just tired. I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for our traveler and this world. Whatever it is, keep it up. I'm sure eventually we'll be able to break through the apocalypse loop." She cried while her hands shook.

"...it's alright."

Xiao was about to leave when he suddenly got stopped. He saw the woman's eyes widen in shock as she stared at his hand.

"Wait. I don't remember this being here the last time I talked to you in a different timeline. Where did you get this!?" She asked pointing to the ring.

"Aether gave it to me not too long ago. He said after all this is over we should get married, but I don't think-"

"Wait! This could mean something!" Istaroth yelled out as her eyes began to sparkle. She looked the boy deep in the eyes and smiled as her eyes finally managed to dry from crying, but that smile quickly dropped when she gave it some more thought.

"But wait. How come this ring appeared here and not in any of the other timelines!?" Everything happened similarly to the previous world except this ring. The ring was something the goddess was seeing for the first time. She couldn't tell if this was good or bad.

This wasn't something small. The marriage proposal could mean a lot more than just, well, a marriage proposal. Was the other version of Istaroth right about the blonde messing with time?

Xiao quickly understood what was going on. The woman's expression said it all. He wanted to leave as soon as possible to try and see if he could mess with this new timeline a couple more times and prevent the apocalypse from happening.

"Guardian Yaksha. When you wake up it will be one day before the disaster. You may only have 24 hours left to do something. Whatever you decide to do, make it count." She spoke before letting go of the boy's hand and turning her back towards him.

The Adeptus took one good look at the ring before leaving the dark room. It was hard to explain. But deep down he knew this ring was going to mean a lot later on.