The sky. A grand palace stood there, lavished with glittering diamonds. Beautiful rivers reflected the vast sky, and small, lovely gardens were visited by insects to drink their pollen. The melody of sweet music echoed softly in the ears. That place was like heaven.
The footsteps of a handsome man echoed as he walked down a corridor that was gradually losing its light—toward a place whose existence was never known. There, a figure had been imprisoned for hundreds of years, waiting for his time to come. His eyes were closed, yet he kept feeling the light guiding him to see how the seed of his love was growing.
"How are you, my daughter?"
The Emperor of the Sky. The most revered figure. The leader of the gods who greatly disliked having his decisions opposed. He appeared like an arrogant and stubborn human. The figure who led the light faction during the war between gods a hundred years ago. He had golden hair and eyes as bright as light. Now, he was looking down on his only daughter, whom he had imprisoned for hundreds of years.
"It's been a long time, Father." With a voice as soft as silk, the woman answered.
"It seems you are still the same as before, Aetheria, my daughter."
That woman. Aetheria. She smiled gently. Her closed eyes looked beautiful. Her luscious lips were so sweet. Her white skin was flawless and her golden hair was so smooth. Light. Her figure was the embodiment of the purest light. The Goddess of Light who had vanished. The beautiful woman who had kept her lovely eyes shut since birth. Light was what guided her life and death.
Now, she had likely been forgotten. It had been a very long time since the end of the war between the light and darkness factions that she had been imprisoned alone within magic bars that bound her body and even her power. At this moment she looked like an ordinary human longing for someone—sitting, slumped alone in the darkness.
Yet, she did not feel that way. Her heart continued to feel warm—feeling the presence of the one she loved, who had promised to keep protecting and accompanying her even when death approached. Her heart felt warm just by remembering his name, and she wore a gentle smile knowing the seed of her love was growing well even without her caress.
"A demigod has been born in the human world. I will make him the weapon that defeats that child you are so proud of. That ruin." Galadriel informed her with a victorious expression.
Aetheria slowly lifted her face, filled with warmth. "Father. My son is neither a god, nor a human. He is ruin, the form of God's wrath over your actions. Always remember to see the mistakes, not just the false truth." She replied, with the same gentle tone, and she smiled.
Galadriel looked displeased at his daughter who had bowed her head again. "Do you have no desire to change that mindset of yours, Aetheria? Have you forgotten that despicable figure has abandoned you?" His tone rose a level.
Aetheria shook her head slowly as she said, "You are wrong, Father. He did not abandon me. We are only separated for a while. I also need to maintain this mindset for the child he left behind. I want that child to grow up knowing the meaning of love and affection. I love them very much."
"Then, what about me, Mother?"
Aetheria turned slowly toward the other voice behind the stairs that stretched upward. Then, her smile widened when she knew who had come. "Between them and you, my love for you is no different, child. I love you all very much."
That figure, the junior god of light, Light. "Don't you hate the water god, my father?" he asked.
"Come here, child." Aetheria requested gently, and Light obeyed—sitting before her with iron bars as a barrier. "I do not hate the water god. It's just that I am not the one destined to love him. Another name has been carved into my heart." She explained with full tenderness.
"What about me? Am I not a huge obstacle to that love of yours?" Light asked again.
Gently, Aetheria stroked Light's head. "Do you want to know why I named you Light?" She asked back instead.
Light turned his face away, flushed because Aetheria's touch was so gentle. "No. So, tell me quickly!"
"Light means light. Mother named you Light because you are Mother's light. As for his name, it did not come from Mother. He was given a name by the world, a beautiful name."
Light roughly brushed Aetheria's hand away. "I'm not a little kid who's easily fooled by your nonsense." He said that, but his face showed a different expression.
Aetheria smiled because the light guided her to know her son's face now. "Go back. Look forward to your dream tonight, because Mother will come to sing a lullaby."
Light stood up. He stared at his grandfather's stern face for a moment before stepping up the stairs. When Light's body disappeared behind the winding staircase leading upward, Galadriel approached Aetheria again. He looked pitifully at his only daughter, who chose to bear a difficult fate rather than obey him.
"Keep contemplating your mistakes in there. Just order the guard if you wish to tell me where 'that' is."
"Is 'that' Father's fear? What if 'that' already has a new user? Will Father have trouble facing them like you faced 'him' back then? I feel embarrassed remembering my father's shameful, cunning decision that day. He lost to a creature he had looked down on." Though she was mocking, Aetheria's soft voice did not fade.
"Lost?" Galadriel snorted in amusement. "I won, and made him die like a loser."
"Is threatening someone on the brink of death the victory of a hero? Father's joke is so funny."
Galadriel looked cynically at his daughter, who still appeared gentle even as her mouth now uttered mocking words. "Live in that darkness. Return when the contents of your head are pure again." He immediately strode away afterward.
In the silence of the basement that had returned to complete darkness after the door closed tightly, Aetheria, the Goddess of Light, smiled for someone as she said, "Your path may be difficult, child. Especially since you inherited 'that' from your father." She whispered in the silence.