Chapter 21

Chapter 21. You will (not (as you will suffer a certain fate) ) reach your goals.

Dr.Sonnemuz was tired. Wounded. Moving slowly towards his old gigantic mecha. It was now ruined, had only one arm, the left one, and  again, only the upper left body, together with the right part of the face being shattered. It moved up, floating behind Dr.Sonne. He smiled for a second, in delusion, as he continued his walk. Shortly after the fight, the mooks had gathered. The last remaining ones, about one or two hundred and Batias. They had to make their plan, lay out some sort of.. Action course? And as he was prepared to speak. Batias took the turn. He told them, they would be strong, they would be great, and they would accept no weaklings. And.. And he meant even him, the great Dr.Sonnemuz. How could they do that? But of course, Dr.Sonnemuz would not submit to that fate. He stood up, and requested the right of leadership, by challenging Batias. But in his tired state. Without his giant mecha, and also wounded by the previous battle, he was no match for Batias final form. Its power output went about 40.000 units, while Dr.Sonnemuz could only unleash about 12.000 of the total 28.000 he usually had. The numbers spoke for Batias. Defeated and wounded, he managed to run away, as luckily not any of them was fast enough to trace him. And now.. From the previous fight he had the best idea. He knew how to act, and what to do, in order to grow stronger. He had figured. He would use the mecha to channel his potential and powers. It was a great idea. And so, he had his thoughts on the mecha moving its arm, and it did, producing a spark of electricity. His power output would increase greatly, as soon as he fixed the mecha... He could even merge his powers with its own. And then.. It came to him. A laughter. From behind, he thought. Turning around he could see the boy, with the slightly spiky, slicked back hair, the glasses, the blue eyes, in the long coat of sorts.. It was not really a coat, just like, an overly long jacket, combined with what appeared to be similar pants and a shirt. Said body carried, a glass blade.
"Who.. Who the heck are you?"-Dr.Sonnemuz asked. It would have come out as a mixture of confusion and curiosity, if the tiredness didn't drown it all.
"My name, human... Is Aetheral"-the boy said. His voice sounded too casual, gentle, normal.. But the phrase was not.
"Aetheral? What? Who.. Really, who are you?"
"I am , the one I told you, human"
"What is with the "human" thing?"
"You are a human, aren't you?"
"And you are not?"
"Theoretically, I am. Practically... Not so much"
"What?"
"Ah.. Let us not bother with that. Let us bother.. With the abuse of our kind"
"With.."
"Yes. You think, you could enslave them and use their power so easily?"
"What.. Are you talking about?"
"The giant you use.. He is one of us. And... The mooks, they are our creations. You utilize our resources and let them die out. There is payment for that"
But Dr.Sonnemuz was tired. He would not listen to this man any longer. Instead he had the mecha move it's hand forward, and release a massive lighting spark. The mecha however, would not succeed, as slowly the arm fell of, having been sliced through. The man, Aetheral, smiled again, as he looked at Dr.Sonnemuz. The man's clear expression of horror and panic was followed by the sudden release of a mixture awesomeness and electricity beam from the mecha's mouth. The beam was however absorbed within the glass blade, as Aetheral proceeded to make a slash, releasing an ever growing wave of energy, which cut half of the mecha's torso. He looked down, and then back up, giving a warm smile, as he stared into the one remaining eye of the mecha. His voice, carried a lot of sadness, almost drowned by unseen tears.
"Sorry"-he said, as he proceeded to quickly move his index finger up, and release a cyan beam of light, piercing through the mecha, and effectively destroying it, as soon as it did, the rest of the body exploding in the moment.
"Wh.. Wha.."-could Dr.Sonnemuz say, as Aetheral held his blade up, the tip pointed towards Dr.Sonnemuz, as it extended in a second and then back, leaving a small, round hole at where the man's heart would be. Aetheral turned around, as he begun singing a tune, a soft melody, which he proceeded to silence a few moments later, and watch the body of the destroyed giant with sadness, and then go off, and again sing the same tune.

Back in Rollp Lay.
Sonne had finished the barrel of ale, as he proceeded to move up, and dance. So was Ild, dancing with his beloved one, Luna. Toast was already gambling, having a rather.. Surprising streak of luck. Nonetheless, the night seemed to be lively, as there was party in every corner of Rollp Lay. The foes had been defeated. Every enemy was now out of the way, they had emerged victorious. The party continued , the music getting louder, the dancing and the drinking, everyone seemed to be happy. The heroes were cheered for, greeted by the people. Everything seemed great. Everyone had done well, to endure the suffering, and now they were free.
"And in the end, by bullets formed a massive spiral of awesomeness, which was then... Well, I got a bit of help from that annoying twat of a hero, Ild.. And finally, I sent the giant flying, defeated. That was how it went"-Sonne bragged. Ild was doing something similar
"And.. Then, my dragon was.. Well, it spiraled forth, ready to sent the mecha flying, but Sonne had to intervene and bring in his bullets and so I let him. After all.. I am a hero, aren't I?"
Luna , Toast, the rest of the people were having fun. Even Wynd was all out, drinking everything he could get his eyes on. Not that it bothered him, he didn't get drunk anyway. He was too badass for that. And after a few hours..
Sonne was sitting on top of his roof. He looked onto the partying men, smiled for a brief moment. It seemed.. Nice. Finally he had found peace. And then came, the laughter.
"Owahahahaha... So... It seems you finally got some time for yourself?"-the voice asked. The glasses guy from behind, Aetheral , was smiling, awaiting the response. But Sonne.. He was paralyzed. Completely frozen, as the voice.. The voice had become unfamiliar after this while, yet that laughter only reminded him. He could barely stand up, and turn around to see..
"Hey.. Why so cold? Lighten up"-Aetheral said, smiling again
"You... You are dead. Why... Are you here?"-he asked, again shocked and afraid.
"I had a thought of passing by. What is wrong with that?"
"I.. I.. What?"
"So.. Why are you partying? "
"We.. What? The victory, of course, over Dr.Sonnemuz"
"That strange guy who was controlling a Keeper?"
"What?"
"Err... I assume, the term you are more familiar with is giant robot?"
"That thing... Is called a Keeper?"
"Yeah. That is what we used to call them. They were like... Judges, and enforcers of law. They were one of the greatest officials in our society. Their competences to judge, were above all. Nobody could go against their word on that, except someone with divine orders. At war, they always took the front lines, and it was rare for one to command less than three thousand troops. Does that.. Enlighten you on their matter?"
"..."
"So.. Shall we head to the party then? "
"Why are you here?"
"Hmm.. I assume, the better answer would be , it is beyond your ability to comprehend?"
"..."
"Again silence. Well.. I am going down then. This party seems nice. And i heard you humans make pretty good drinks too."-he said smiling, approaching the roof's end, and jumping down. Sonne went ahead and looked. He knew, the man wouldn't be hurt. And indeed, the man was walking down the streets, already blend in with the rest of the people. And of course, he had left his long coat in the roof. Why would he bother to take it, as he was after all partying? Sonne remained on the roof. He turned around after five minutes, and went down, to continue with the patty. It did not seem, the man from his past, was... Without any evil intentions. Or so it seemed.
Sonne went down and ran after him. After about five.. Minutes, he had come in contact with the man. There, Aetheral was waiting, smiling, turning his head slightly, as Sonne would of course, attempt to test if this was the real deal. Being thrown back without making it to two meters of proximity, and a small glint of cyan light around the man was enough proof.
"That thing. You still have that?"
"Of course I do. The External Wall is just.. Something of mine. It is not like you lack one, your soul is just too little, and so it forms and Internal Wall. Mine expands beyond my physical form, and manages to come in contact with matter. Your soul is inside your body.. Mine.. Goes a bit beyond that. "
"Huh... "
"Don't sweat yourself. If you want more proof, do you wish to test my Limit?"
"Limit?"
"Have you not noticed? A glass blade has the ability to absorb Hyper Energy and Awesomeness. It is called Limit. The true glass blades have.. Different limits. For example, Limit Wrath or Limit Sorrow. Again, are you enlightened?"
"..."
"Your silence is making me worried"
"That.. Field, is your soul?"
"Its outer layer, yes."
"Then, why I cannot.."
"Ah, see.. Souls are not meant to go through each-other. They cannot touch. Because the outer layer will at that moment manifest itself as a very dense physical sphere. If I got any nearer to you, your soul would form a sphere in the inside of you, and explode your body. "
"..."
"Just kidding. It does not really happen that way. For some reason, I don't know yet, souls don't come in contact with one another"
"Can't you like.. Break that wall?"
"I can only break physical walls, and one not so physical wall with mind, the fourth wall. See.. There is a guy who is writing this right now called Aetheral. Yes.. He named me after himself, go figure. But he also named you after his beta reader, and Dr.Sonnemuz, who you have conveniently managed to not see, the identical names that is.. After his alt. Talk about weird. He was thinking of what to type in next for a few seconds, and constantly thinking about how would Sonne.. That is, his beta reader, react, once he decided to make me say these things. Normally.. I would rage about how he is controlling me , my very fate, my very movements, but I am not. The reason is again beyond your sphere of comprehension. Apparently, a character is a part of his writer. Would your hand rebel so much against you, for having it rape the gun's trigger each battle? No, I don't think so. But the hand does not have free will after all, does it?"
"... You are insane"
"I sometimes wish, the guys from behind the fourth wall, could explain the rest of the people in this story , what is going on. And that is just a mere line, which has thus become a part of my being. It does worry me at times, so that you know. And the fact.. He often kills characters in fear of growing too close to them. And looking them a bit much. Poor Ari, Dyonissius, and.. Believe it or not Anos. Karma too. He really did like one or two of them. They could have lived a bit longer, couldn't they? Maybe..  I think he made them High Asurans only so that their death was more guaranteed. And.. He just realized that. Ah.. Now I see, or.. He sees..  Writing is about expressing your feelings and thoughts.. And he is actually doing that. Through me. It seems , I will also be playing Mr.Expositions for the future, which I am content with, as the one who has.. Conceived me also is. And of course, you have no idea what I am talking about. It is so sad, to see you like this."
"See me like.. What?"
"Ignorant, of the true workings behind your fate."
"My.. Fate? There is no such thing. Listen well, you creep... I MAKE MY OWN FATE."
"That is inspiring. But in fact.. You really do (not) make your own fate. And you cannot hear or see the not in the parenthesis either, can you? It will all sound weird , I fear. Aaaaand I must go. I have spoken too much. Aetheral.. Not me, the guy who is writing, might regret that, but he isn't taking back any words. Is he too lazy, or is he just not willing to? I don't know and by respect neither does he. It is actually.. The opposite. Since he does not know, how can I?"