Flame Drain (Aether x Dehya) 🍋

Flame Drain

Seclusion was one of the very few luxuries Aether didn't get to experience very often – always being accompanied by one of his friends almost everywhere he went, leaving him with barely any time to himself. He didn't hate it, always being accompanied by others. If anything, it was a net positive for everybody involved. That way, he'll always be doing something productive; whether that be fine-tuning his combat skills, helping his friends accomplish tasks, or just improving as a person socially. Three very important skills he knew were essential for his travels, and yet, he finds himself yearning for more and more solitude with every passing day.

In truth, his heart was still hurting after his departure from Inazuma, and it had left him in a rather stagnant state.

Such simple, mundane tasks suddenly felt like a chore to do, and his drive to discover new lands, to become more involved, was slowly waning as well.

He knew it wasn't their fault – the sumerians – it simply came down to his inability to cope with such tremendous loss. He missed them so much. Ayaka's pure, heartwarming smile. Yoimiya's spirited tangents. Ei's endearing naivety when it came to the modern world. All staples of what he considered to be the best, and most remarkable group of friends he's ever had the pleasure of meeting, and now they were gone, thousands upon thousands of miles away. He was ashamed to admit it, but he even missed getting teased constantly by Yae.

The only reason he's been able to thrive in Sumeru, let alone survive, was because he was constantly surrounded by like-minded people as he mentioned, meaning he always had at least something to distract himself with.

These supposed benefits however, we're practically useless now – here in this room, with nobody but his pet seelie to keep him company. With his fairy friend stuffing her face full of food downstairs, he was left alone for the first time in a while, leaving him to deal with his own thoughts.

While he was grateful to Candace for lending him this bedroom, the location was rather secluded, as it was all the way in the back of the Village Chief's House. He didn't really mind, seeing as it gave him tons of privacy.

...Although, he quickly came to the realization that seclusion may not be the best answer to what he was feeling. As even with his loneliness, still felt the seed of anguish take root within his heart, and sprout into dozens of solemn, upsetting thoughts – all shooting up into his brain.

It wasn't like him to frown, evident by the onslaught of jokes his friends would often make about how his smile seemed taped onto his face, but not even he had the strength to keep his face from falling. Eyes creasing the slightest amount as his soft porcelain cheeks went limp against his flesh.

Greif wasn't the only contributor to his fall in morale, naturally, there was also a whole level of stress to the entire thing. He and the group – Paimon, Dehya, Cyno, and Alhaithm – had just come back from a rather damning revelation. Apparently, the Akademiya was, and had been looking into creating a god of their own for quite some time now. One that not only belonged to them, but also to the people of Sumeru.

As if the thought of a man-made creation rivaling that of an Archon's power level wasn't bad enough, things weren't looking too good on ground level either.

Ever since he arrived here in Aaru Village, there's been bad blood between every, and all residents of the village. That's what it felt like at least.

With Cyno and Alhaithm constantly at each other's throats, with so many goddamn twists and turns and useless bickering, the pointless conflict was seriously starting to become mind-numbing. Not twenty minutes would go by without some unforeseen, miraculous issue coming up – which then led on to some fetch quest where he would have mindlessly mow down a bunch of enemies, walk all the way back to the village, and report what he saw.