The Chronicles of Earth and Time

Chapter 15

When they reached the top of the tower, Terra instantly realized that they were in the old study of the castle. It looked almost exactly the same as it looked when Terra first saw it. The only difference was the stack of clocks that were stack of the table and the shelves around the room were now on the floor along with most of the books from the library. Aevum bent down and picked up one of the many clocks and examined it. "These clocks actually look relatively fine." He commented as he set it on the table in the center of the room. Suddenly, they heard a groan coming from the library on the other side of the room. Aevum took a fighting stance and held his staff in front of him for defense. Terra followed closely behind him as the slowly approached the far corner of the library. As they got closer, they saw a figure lying on the ground clearly in pain.

"Father!" Aevum gasped as he dropped the staff and ran toward Aion who was surrounded by books. Terra picked up the forgotten staff and looked at the books on the ground. Aion must have been doing research before he collapsed. Aevum helped Aion sit up and propped him up against a nearby wall. Aion slowly opened his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief as he realized that the person helping him was Aevum.

"Aevum, my son, I am so glad you are alright, but why are you here?" Aion questioned as he wrapped his arms around his stomach trying to block out the pain.

"I wanted to help you." Aevum answered as he tried to examine Aion for injuries. Aion saw this and put his hand up to stop Aevum.

"Aevum, there is no point in trying to help me. My time has come. You should know that." Aion explained as he grasped Aevum's hand gently.

"I saw the vision you sent me, but I thought that maybe I could have changed that." Aevum admitted while lowering his head in shame. "I should have known I couldn't have done that. It's against the Time Laws."

"I have taught you well, son. You will make an excellent Father of Time." Aion smiled as he struggled to put a congratulatory hand on Aevum's shoulder.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but what happened to Gaia?" Terra asked as she stepped forward. Aion looked up at her and sighed.

"We were sent a message from the rising threat that stated that you, Aura, Aqua, and Ustrina were kidnapped and being held hostage. In the message, the threat said that if we didn't come all four of you would be killed. We thought maybe you had just gotten lucky and escaped. When we got here, we figured out that the threat was actually your sister, Ustrina. She told us that Aura, Aqua, and you were dead. We knew that you weren't dead, but we could not tell Ustrina that. However, when Gaia found out what happened to Aura and Aqua, she charged Ustrina and they fought. As you probably saw, the fight destroyed the entire castle. Ustrina was able to defeat Gaia and I watched her fade away. I did everything I could to help her, but I failed." Aion's eyes watered at the mention of Gaia's death, but with a sigh he continued his explanation. "After Gaia faded away, I was able to flee from Ustrina and hide here. I knew I couldn't recover from the fight so I decided to look for a way to defeat her so that hopefully you and Aevum could stop her from destroying everything." Aion explained as Terra and Aevum stared at him wide eyed. How were they supposed to defeat Ustrina if Mother Nature and Father Time could not? Terra handed the Time staff back to Aevum who was still crouched in front of Aion.

"Could this help at all?" Aevum asked as he gestured toward to staff. Aion slowly shook his head as the hourglass on the staff suddenly began to spin. When hourglass finally stopped, the sand on the top was almost out.

"My time is almost out. Terra the only way to defeat Ustrina is to use the elements." Aion stated as Terra bent down to his level.

"What do you mean?" Terra asked in confusion.

"The elemental stones that you and your sisters would wear. When Aqua and Aura died, those elemental stones didn't fade away. They can't. They are a part of the earth that will never disappear. You can harness the power of earth, air, and water. You can use that against Ustrina to overwhelm her. I don't know if this will help, but when Gaia faded away, the powers that she had were granted to you. You now have the title and powers of Mother Nature." Aion elaborated with a moan of pain. Terra thought about the plan that Aion had put together.

"That sounds like the best plan we got. Plus, we have the element of surprise on our side since Ustrina thinks I'm dead." Terra agreed as she looked at her elemental stone. Aevum then noticed the sand in the hourglass only had a few grains left until it was completely empty. Aevum glanced at Aion sadly as he tried to ignore the oncoming result of what was about to happen.

"Aevum," Aion began as he seemed to read Aevum's mind, "You are ready, my son." With those parting words and the last grain of sand falling to the bottom of the hourglass, Aion's body then began to disintegrate into golden sand that floated in the air dissipating into nothingness. Terra watched Aevum sit there in that position for a long time. Terra knew what he was going through and knew that he needed time to himself. However, she never realized that Aion and Aevum were so close. She thought that the relationship was apprentice and master. She never even considered that Aion thought of Aevum as a son. Finally, Aevum stood up and looked at Terra with a new determination in her eyes.

"We need to get back to the Tree of Life to retrieve Aura and Aqua's stones." Aevum stated as he walked toward the stairs. Terra quickly followed him down the stairs and outside into what use to be the castles courtyard.