Chapter 1129: ##### Part-1

Meanwhile,

Aether’s consciousness found itself standing in the middle of a vast, desolate desert. The sky above stretched endlessly in shades of pale blue, and as far as his vision reached, everything was blanketed in a shimmering sea of golden sand.

No trees.

No mountains.

No wind.

Just silence and an eerie stillness.

"Just where the fuck am I?" Aether muttered, his voice low and rough with disbelief. His eyes scanned the lifeless expanse around him, his expression twisted in confusion. The last thing he could clearly recall was...

He had been strangling Kai and Leon with fury burning in his veins—and then... his mind had gone blank.

He’d lost consciousness. And now, suddenly, he was here.

But what was this place?

His brows furrowed deeply. Aether knew that when ownership had transferred, something inside him—his soul, perhaps—had taken damage.

His energy had definitely been drained. Normally, after such a spiritual shift, he would’ve either awakened within his own domain or relived fragments of his memories.

But this...?

A desert?

That was definitely new.

Clang... Clang...

Aether’s entire body jolted at the unexpected sound behind him. He spun around, and there, floating in the air, were two distinct chains—one golden, the other black—hovering in the empty space like living creatures.

They shimmered with a soft glow and stared at him, not with eyes, but with an uncanny sense of awareness, as though they were silently observing his every move.

"What the hell...?" he murmured, staring at them.

The chains twisted fluidly, almost like snakes in slow motion. Then, without a word, they turned and began to glide away, their ends trailing through the air like glowing ribbons. They moved ahead for a few seconds before pausing and glancing back at him again—yes, glancing—as if beckoning him to follow.

Aether let out a long, drawn-out sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. ’Now what kind of shit have I gotten myself into this time?’ he grumbled inwardly before starting to follow them, his feet crunching softly against the dry sand as he moved forward.

The walk felt endless. He didn’t know how long he had been walking, but time seemed to stretch unnaturally here. Strangely, he didn’t feel tired. No sweat. No fatigue. Not even the burn of the sun on his skin. Just the steady, rhythmic sound of his own footsteps and the never-changing scenery of sand dunes.

"Hey... seriously," he finally called out, breaking the silence. His tone carried both frustration and exhaustion. "Just where the hell are you taking me? I’ve had enough of this creepy, silent walk through nowhere."

The chains stopped abruptly. They turned to face him again, twisting in the air like two serpents raising their heads. For a moment, they simply stared at him. Then,

[To Meet The #######]

[To Meet The #######]

Aether froze as he heard the voices. It was the first time they had spoken. Their tones were identical in message but slightly off in pitch—layered and robotic, echoing eerily just like the voices he’d heard back in his domains. Yet these... these lacked any warmth. They felt mechanical.

Aether’s expression hardened. A part of him already knew who these chains belonged to. This wasn’t some random hallucination.

This was his real contractor—the one that had granted him power... right?

His steps grew more cautious, more focused, but he kept walking.

Time dragged on again, but eventually, after what felt like an eternity of trudging across the same relentless sand, he reached what looked like the end of the desert.

The golden dunes stopped abruptly before a massive drop.

Aether stepped to the edge and peered down.

What he saw wasn’t land or rock or even more desert.

It was a bottomless, endless void—pitch black, swirling faintly with a sickening pull of gravity and mystery. Aether’s throat went dry.

The chains turned to him.

[Go!]

[Go!]

He blinked in disbelief, taking a step back, eyes wide with horror.

"You want me to—jump?!" he asked, his voice cracking slightly as he pointed at the vast, dark emptiness below. "Down there? Into that?! Are you insane?! That’s a fucking abyss! There’s no bottom to that thing!"

Hell no.

And yet... the chains nodded in eerie unison, their bodies swaying gently, almost amused by his hesitation.

Aether clenched his jaw. Jumping from this cliff felt exactly like committing suicide. There was no ground.

No hint of safety. Just darkness.

He exhaled sharply, taking a breath to steady himself. "Is this seriously the only damn way?" he asked, his voice lowering, more resigned.

The chains nodded again.

He bit down on his lower lip, groaning. "Fuck this..." he muttered, and without warning, he turned and started sprinting away from the cliff.

The chains jolted, whipping slightly in surprise, clearly ready to pull him back if needed—until suddenly, Aether spun around mid-run, charged straight back, and launched himself from the edge with full force, throwing his arms wide.

"MOOTTHHHEERRRR FFFUCCCCKKKKERRRSSSSS!!" he screamed at the top of his lungs as his body plummeted into the void.

The chains twisted like startled serpents, tilting their heads to one side as they watched him vanish into the darkness below. His voice echoed faintly, laced with panic, fury, and wild energy as the abyss swallowed him whole.

They remained silent for a few seconds, as if unsure what to make of his bizarre behaviour.

[Weird]

[As usual!]

They spoke together, exchanging glances. Their tone wasn’t annoyed—it was strangely... amused. Almost nostalgic, even.

Meanwhile, Aether was falling—his body swallowed by the void like smoke vanishing into the night.

"Motherfucker! Whoever created this twisted shit... I’m definitely throwing them into this place and letting them suffer ten times worse!" Aether roared furiously, his voice echoing through the swirling darkness.

Then—

Thud!

His body slammed against something solid.

Aether groaned in pain, a strained hiss escaping his clenched teeth. "Fuck..." he muttered as he slowly pushed himself up from the cold, cracked ground. Dirt clung to his skin. His joints ached.

He looked around—and froze.

Before him stood a

huge house

. An enormous, eerie-looking structure resting atop a barren land, as if it hadn’t felt the touch of water for centuries. The earth was cracked all over, dry and lifeless, spreading in a pattern of scars beneath the building.

But it wasn’t just the house’s size or its setting that unsettled him.

It was the fact that the house was split—perfectly—

vertically

down the middle.

One side was painted in pure, almost blinding white.

The other side was swallowed in complete black.

The contrast was so stark it looked unnatural, like someone had drawn a perfect line dividing the two realms. Even the details—the walls, windows, tiles, and railings—were split to mirror each other symmetrically, one half gleaming in purity, the other drowning in shadow.

Aether lifted his head and squinted. The sky... there

was

no sky. Just a ceiling of swirling, grey mist—the same mist he had fallen through.

"This place keeps getting weirder..." Aether mumbled, blinking in disbelief. "Just where the fuck am I now?"

He groaned, immediately trying to contact his beloveds—Celestia, Aria, Aqualina, Selene—but no signal reached. Not even a flicker of connection. He tried accessing his Log.

Nothing.

It was all blocked.

Everything—

except

him.

Aether sighed, frustration mixing with unease as he turned back to the bizarre house. Just then, he froze.

A flicker—movement in the window.

His breath caught as he saw it clearly.

Not just one... but

two

figures.

A white silhouette stood silently in the window on the black side.

A black silhouette watched him from the white side.

He swallowed hard, his throat suddenly dry. ’It’s them... isn’t it?’ he thought, his heart skipping a beat. His footsteps moved instinctively forward, crunching against the broken ground.

As he approached, the figures slowly retreated from the windows, disappearing into the house.

Aether’s pace faltered. ’Why does this feel like the start of a horror movie?’ he thought, shuddering slightly. His instincts screamed to stay alert. The deeper he got, the more everything around him felt unnatural.

But there was no turning back.

Step by step, he reached the front of the house. The main door sat exactly at the middle—where the black and white sides met—divided evenly down the centre. His fingers hovered toward the doorknob when—

Crrcckkk...

The door creaked open on its own, groaning slowly.

Aether tensed. He glanced behind him, just to make sure nothing had followed. Then, exhaling slowly, he stepped inside.

Tick!

Inside the house, the strange division continued. Everything—

everything

—was split in half.

The right side glowed in pristine white—walls, floor, furniture, fans, lights, even the décor.

The left side was engulfed in deep black—the curtains, shelves, and even the air felt heavier.

Aether blinked, eyes narrowing as he examined the objects in the room. Strangely, many of them looked... familiar.

A television set. A ceiling fan. A sofa. Even the wallpaper patterns. They looked just like the ones from his world.

He frowned and started walking deeper inside. His boots tapped rhythmically on the floor as he passed through the living room, the hallway, even the kitchen.

But there was no one.

No signs of the figures.

He opened a bathroom door. Empty.

He returned to the hall. Still nothing.

His frown deepened as he approached the staircase leading up to the first floor. It was the same—split completely in half by the opposing colours.

At the top of the stairs, he found only two rooms.

The right side had a white door, the left side a black one.

He took a moment to breathe, then made a quick decision. "Let’s try white first. Feels... safer," he muttered, and pushed the white door open.

The room inside was completely white—walls, floor, curtains. But it was empty.

Except for a single bed.

Just one, plain, white bed.

His shoulders dropped in disappointment. No answers here either.

He turned around and walked across the hallway to the black door. As he stepped inside the dark room, his eyes adjusted to the dim light.

Once again, a mirror image.

One black bed... Nothing else.

Aether clenched his jaw. His patience was running thin.

"I know you’re here!" he shouted into the air, his voice filled with frustration and anger. "Why the hell are you hiding?! Didn’t you call me here? Didn’t you want to meet?! Then show yourselves already!"

Silence.

No reply.

Aether groaned loudly and stormed over to the window where he had last seen the figures. His fists clenched, he stared out—searching for any change in the view.

And then... he saw it.

Far off in the distance.

A figure descending from the misty sky—landing on the same barren land.

His eyes widened.

His heart thudded heavily in his chest.

"...Me?"

His voice cracked slightly as he stared in disbelief.

It was him.

Another

Aether

... landing there, just as he had minutes ago.

Only now, he was watching it happen all over again.

And the horror in his eyes grew.