“Until one day, it all changed, and she vanished. It changed him. The more obsessed he got trying to find, her the more he cursed the Gods. And that is the Aetheriem we see now. What once was bright and beautiful is now a twisted world of decay that shifts with shadows and darkness.”
“Oddly, this makes sense,” I mumble.
Zayne and Knox both look at me in question.
“How so?” Zayne asks.
I lightly run my fingertips down my arm, where the scar is fading but still visible—a constant reminder of that night.
“He went on a rant the night this happened. About a woman. I confronted him, and he didn’t like that. Hence…” I hold my arm up for a second before tucking it back under my sweater.
Zayne’s jaw ticks.
“Yeah,” he says, taking a calming breath.
Changing the subject, I ask, “How can…”
Unsure if the dots I’m connecting are right, I ponder a second.
“Originals?” He smiles.
“Yes. How do originals cross over?” I ask.
“True Originals have the ability to pass through the frequency of worlds from their afterlife to Aetheriem. Something we are told started within the last year, but I’m not sure if it’s a ripple effect of what happened when Jasper lost it, or it was something the gods put in because of what’s been happening with Jasper, or if the worlds are trying to build their own balance, but I don’t think we will ever know the truth.
“Jasper went down a rabbit hole in the archives to find a way to save a fading soul. He came to some sort of warped conclusion of how he was going to consume souls to gain power, to be able to shift through worlds to burn it all down.” Zayne pauses for a breath.
“Basically, Jasper is a poster child for party pooper. Look it up, in the dictionary it has his face and everything.” Knox snickers.
Zayne rolls his eyes as he smirks at Knox. “You can’t help yourself, can you?”
“Nope, and you wouldn’t have me any other way.” Knox puffs his chest out proudly.
I contemplate what Zayne said about Jasper’s revenge to ruin all the worlds, and Jasper’s words come back to me from the last encounter.
And here I thought you would need the help of Jonathan to get here.
“Who’s Jonathan?” I ask.
Zayne and Knox’s banter quickly fades. Zayne’s pale expression startles me; it’s as if he’s seen a ghost, and he rubs his chest as if it pains him, but when I look over to Knox for answers, he dodges my gaze.
Looking back at Zayne, I see the vulnerability in his eyes, and it tugs at my chest. His distant stare, as if he’s remembering something, causes me to wonder if they knew him. All I want to do is touch him, hug him. Do something to make the pain in his eyes going away.
“Where did you hear that name?” he asks quietly.
The look on his face makes me wish I’d never asked. “The last time I saw Jasper, he said he was surprised I got there on my own, that Jonathan didn’t help me.”
I’m regretting bringing this up, and both of them have become somber. All of this has been a lot to process, but maybe it’s better to get it all out now. No secrets, that’s one thing I can’t stand.
“Jonathan was an Original, and unfortunately, his first encounter into Aetheriem made him Jasper’s first victim,” Zayne says somberly.
A knock at the door startles us, and all three of us jerk our heads towards it. Zayne gets up to open it.
“Hey, boss, it’s almost time to open,” I hear a man at the door say.
“Thanks, Jack, we will be right down,” Zayne says as he closes the door and returns to sit back down in front of me.
Clearly trying to break the uneasy tension in the room, Knox speaks up.
