"What about you? What are you going to do while I try and manipulate ether?" Sky asked.

"Oh, don't worry about me. I'll just be here twiddling my nonexistent thumbs."

With that, Sky sat down and began breathing. Slow breaths with equal intervals sucked ether into his body and began circulating from his heart, limbs, and core. Over and over again, the same process resumed. Then, as his mind went blank, he could suddenly hear voices and see strange patterns forming a human outline.

"Listen, $!^^&$%, you just need to breathe! As you're breathing, just imagine releasing the tension of your breath through your body." A young girly voice spoke as though it was apparent.

"I'm trying, but nothing happens!" A young boy's voice whined.

"Ugh, you're hopeless! You can't even do this simple task."

The little boy chased the girl mocking him and his untalented nature. As they ran through the open meadow, they came across a group of children playing. The girl stopped and looked enviously at the children as they played.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you just standing there?" The boy said impatiently.

The girl turned to look at him and tried to hide her expression, "Nothing, you big chicken! So what? You still can't catch me?" She said, running off in another direction.

The boy glanced at the group of children playing, bit his lip and continued chasing his friend.

Suddenly, the scene changed, and he was now a young adult. He was in a dark place with a group of people fighting a losing battle. The ground was littered with corpses, and blood coated the air. In the distance, he could see a castle at the top of a hill.

"We have to retreat! We're getting slaughtered out here!" One of the men shouted.

"No! We can't retreat now! We need to take that castle and end this war!" A man who mostly resembled Sky shouted.

"For the God's sake, $!^^&$% we need to retreat now, or we'll be overrun!" The first man shouted as he ran towards the castle. Lights flashed in all directions, and screams of agony filled the air.

"No! We can't let them have the castle! We need to hold them off!" The man shouted, charging towards the chaos.

Suddenly, the scene changed again, and he was back in the dark. He was alone this time, or so he thought.

"We lost..." The man said, crouched in front of a grave. Crows cawed in the distance, and the wind whined sorrowfully.

"I'm sorry... I should have been able to do more..." The man said, his voice shaking with emotion. He looked up and saw a familiar woman resembling his friend as a child. "We lost..." He repeated as he stood up and walked away.

As Sky continued to breathe, the scene changed again. He was back in the forest, but it was different. The trees were dead, and the ground was scorched. A blood scent was heavy in the air, and he could hear the sound of screams in the distance.

He stood up and began to run in the direction of the screams. The closer he got, the more carnage he saw. He wanted to be sick, but he had no time. He needed to find whoever was still alive and get them out of here.

He finally came across a group of people fighting a losing battle. The ground was littered with corpses, and blood coated the air. Light flowed around them, encapsulating them from deep within. It condensed around their fingertips with a destructive power Sky had never seen.

The creatures they were fighting looked like shadows, but they were real. They were pulling people under the ground and tearing them apart before they could react. Sky watched in horror, a sense of hopelessness choking his soul.

Darkness engulfed him once again. He knew where he was now and was relieved to be there. His consciousness. The slight breeze brushed around the trees and grass, reaching Sky and hugging him. It felt almost cowardly for him to escape to this place. He trembled from the scenes he witnessed and tried to shake them off.

"Is... Is that what happened to me," he said aloud, shivering.

"I don't know," said a voice from behind him.

He turned to see Avis floating behind him with a sorrowful appearance.

"But it doesn't matter now," he said, "You're here now, with a new life and a new start. You don't have to let your past haunt you."

"But what about the people I left behind?" Sky asked, "What about my friends and family? What about the innocent people who died because of me?"

"You can't save them all, Sky. You're not responsible for their deaths. You did what you could, and that's all anyone can ask for."

"But it's not enough," Sky said, shaking his head, "I need to do more. I have to make things right."

"And you will, Sky. You can start off by getting stronger so you never have to feel this powerless again."

Sky knew deep in his heart that he tried his best in his past life, but that didn't mean he couldn't do better. He continued breathing, one breath after another, and circulated ether. He focussed on the circulation and rushed it, speeding it up. His heart raced, and his limbs cramped, but he didn't stop. He fought the pain and continued circulating.

"W-What are you doing?!" Avis said, panicked.

Sweat dripped down Sky's forehead, as he grit his teeth. Ether not only circulated within him but around his body, spiralling around him like a tornado. It was painful, and he could feel his body temperature rising. Avis was trying to intervene, and Sky willed him to be removed from his consciousness. A moment later, Avis disappeared as if he was never there to begin with, and Sky continued. The earth below him rumbled, and the blue sky cracked in a dozen places. Then, out of the cracks, something floated down toward him. It was a purple human-like figure with long dark purple hair reaching down to the waist and glistening black eyes.

The being floated in front of Sky and reached out a hand as if to touch his cheek. Sky tried to move away, but he was frozen in place. The being chuckled softly and ran a thumb over his cheek, wiping away the sweat and tears.

"Relax." The being said in a feminine voice. "I'm not here to hurt you."

Sky tried to speak, but he couldn't form the words. He could only feel a magnificence from this being.

"If you continue, you'll let not just me in, but other Siverine who won't be as kind as I." She spoke in a soft voice.

Sky forcibly tried to calm the circulation of ether, and the cracked blue sky started to mend itself.

"Very good~." She said. "You have quite the control over ether for one so young."

The being introduced herself as Lily, and Sky finally regained the ability to speak. She continued to talk whilst floating around Sky, "So, how does one manage to host themself within their own Soul Space?"

'Soul Space?' Sky thought. He was under the impression that he was within his consciousness; a pocket dimension of some kind is what Avis called it.

"So you don't know?" The woman spoke teasingly, "Well, let me enlighten you, child. Every being with a soul has what you call a soul space. A place where your soul develops and expands, like the universe itself. Tell me, how are you here? How can a soul host itself, young one."

Sky hesitated at first, trying to think of why he was here. "I think it's because I have a Soul System?"

"Although unique, it is not capable of doing this." Lily floated towards Sky, stopping an inch from his face. "I see a speck of darkness within you... how interesting! How very interesting!" She shouted joyfully as if she had solved an exciting puzzle. "One who has been touched by Darkness could only be possible if you visited the Darkness! What kind of place was it?" The once dignified Siverine acted childlike with a thirst for knowledge.

"It was dark, I guess? I don't really remember too much apart from being banished." Sky recalled the darkness he was in before he was summoned. All he could remember was an endless void and meeting Avis. Of course, he was able to recall glimpses of his past, but that wasn't relevant. For some reason, when he talked to this being, he felt a connection, a trust that he could open up to it.

"Hmm... well, that's not much to go off of." Lily crossed her arms and began to think. "But a human banished from Darkness! How very, very interesting~." Lily said whilst clapping her hands in glee.

Sky looked concerned for her. She was borderline hysterical about anything that he said.

"Sky! That's your name, right?!"

Sky simply nodded slowly in response whilst looking at the Siverine in front of him.

"Good, what a good name! So, Sky, how about we make a little trade~."

"A trade? I don't have anything to trade." Sky said sceptically.

"Don't be like that! We Siverine are a trading species!" She coughed and muttered under her breath, "more or less, that is." She continued, "Besides, I have something that you want, and you have something that I want."

"What do you want?"

It could have been Sky's imagination, but he could have sworn he saw Lily's cheeks turn a darker purple as if they became flushed.

"I'll tell you what you want first! You want to manipulate ether, right? Right?!" She said excitedly.

"Well... yes, but I'm supposed to do it alone. The system is a little picky, you see." Sky said shyly.

"I see, I see," Lily said, nodding. "So what you want is a teacher, am I right?"

"N-No! I just said I'm supposed to learn this alone!" Sky said defensively.

"Ah~ if you keep begging me to teach you like that, then how can I say no~."

Sky could've sworn he saw her wink, but he quickly dismissed it. "I'm not begging you for anything!"

"Oh really? I hear where you're coming from, and I totally get it. You want don't want a teacher, but a friend, right? But it's too fast~ but how can I just say no." She said sheepishly.

Sky stared at her dumbfounded. He didn't understand what she was getting at.

"Oh, you sweet summer child." She said whilst caressing his cheek. Sky physically flinched at her gesture. "You really are too innocent for your own good."

Lily then took a step back and observed Sky. Sky, in turn, watched her and recalled her actions. 'Does she want a friend? What has that got to do with me, though?!'. He began sweating before saying, "Do you... want a friend?".

This time it was her turn to flinch and be dumbfounded. "W-What?".

"You act like you want one, so I'm just wondering." Sky said a little more confidently this time.

"Y-You think I want to be friends with you?" She asked in disbelief.

"Well... yeah. I mean, you come here out of nowhere to help me for no reason, then start offering more assistance? Not to mention you brought up the subject of 'friend' yourself." Sky said, shrugging his shoulders.

"B-But I'm a great Siverine, and you're just a human!" She acted flustered at Sky's bluntness.

"So what?"

"So what?! That's not how it works! We don't just become friends with anyone we meet!"

"Ah~, what a shame. To think that I was willing to become friends with you regardless of if you help me or not." Sky said teasingly. 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' he thought to himself, 'If you start to tease me, then I'll tease you if the opportunity presents itself.'.

"W-W-Wait!" She said quickly. "Of course, we can be friends! I just... didn't expect it is all!"

"I see where you're coming from," Sky said, holding in his laughter, "and I totally get it. If the great Siverine and humans can't befriend each other, then so be it~."

Lily, the purple Siverine, began to tremble, and her black eyes drew stars, which poured down her face as she sniffled snot. "D-Don't say that! Please, let's be friends!"

"Okay, okay~ I was only joking! We can be friends if you insist."

Although Sky was still teasing, he was partly serious. He had never heard of a Siverine, and befriending one as harmless as Lily should be beneficial in the long run. It definitely wasn't because he wanted a friend too, and this was one way he could get one.

Lily's face immediately brightened at his words, and she let out a small 'eep' before hugging him. "Thank you! Thank you!"

"N-No problem."