[CH. 004] The AetherWorld

You knew her, and you hated her. It's the amazing (drum roll) Scarlet. Yeah you're reading that right. The very Scarlet that banished Daniel and Petra from their kingdom awhile back. That Scarlet!

Since then, she has been locked away in the Aether Realm, a realm in which only Gods and Goddesses can enter and leave. Seeing because she's not a goddess (quite the opposite actually), she is trapped until the portal to the OverWorld is opened from the other side. But no Gods or Goddesses have visited since her banishment began four years ago. She has remained in isolation, all alone, with no means of getting back to the world she called home.

Strangely enough, her luck was about to change…

"Ya know, I'm not sure I like your attitude Carlos!" Scarlet said as she looked down at Carlos.

I did say she was alone, didn't I?

"The storm is coming," Scarlet told Carlos, "and when it does, we need to be ready to go."

Being trapped in the Aether Realm for four years has taken a toll on Scarlet's appearance, behavior and mentality. Her clothing hasn't aged well and now is full of rips and holes and is filthy.

The last thing she said to Victoria before the portal to the Aether was closed, was a warning:

"The Aether won't hold me forever," she told Victoria, "I will escape one day. When I do, I'll make sure to come for you."

"An empty threat," Victoria said, "but if you do, we'll be ready. Count on that!"

After that exchange of words, the connection from the OverWorld to the Aether Realm was severed. In the Heavens above the OverWorld, angels guard the portal around the clock. If anything were to happen, they'd be ready to put up a fight.

"Come on," Scarlet said as she looked down at Carlos. When she did, she sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I'm not carrying you again," she told him, "you can walk."

Carlos, if you haven't caught on by now, is a rock. A square-shaped rock with holes carved out for eyes and a mouth. Poor workmanship on Scarlet's part. But she did the best she could with the tools she had.

"Fine!" Scarlet said with a raised, irritated-sounding voice, said as she leaned over and picked Carlos up. "If we don't get out today, I'm blaming you for slowing us down," Scarlet told him.

The sky was getting darker by the minute as a powerful lightning storm was brewing amok.

The Aether is a World in which was only just recently discovered by the Gods and Goddesses of the OverWorld. Since its discovery, it has since been used to house the most evil blockheads known to the OverWorld.

At night, if you were to look up into the sky, you would be able to see nearby Worlds, one being the OverWorld. Without the use of a spyglass, she could make out the vast variety of worlds around the AetherWorld.

"If only we could fly through Space, we wouldn't have to go through all this trouble to go home," she said. "My Kingdom needs me. My people need me. They need to know that their Queen is alive and well…ish."

It's clear she doesn't know what happened to the Kingdom she briefly had control over. She has the slightest clue as to what happened to Daniel and Petra's Kingdom.

"Do you hear that Carlos?" Scarlet asked as she stopped walking and put one hand up to her ear, "it sounded like someone was talking."

Carlos says nothing.

"Tell me I'm not the only one who heard a voice."

She looks down at Carlos and listens to what has to say.

GASP!

"If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be here with me right now. You'd still be at the bottom of that river I pulled you out of."

SILENCE!

"You're giving me the silent treatment now, aren't you?" Scarlet asked. "I don't need your help if that's how you're going to be to me!"

Should I whisper so she can't hear me?

"SEE?" Scarlet shouted, "there's that voice again!"

Oh sh—

"Hold on," Scarlet said as she listened for the voice, "I don't hear it anymore. Do you Carlos?"

This is your conscious talking. You will not get back to the OverWorld ever! You are forever trapped here on the AetherWorld.

"Liar!" Scarlet said, "and you're not my conscience. If you were, you'd have my voice. Not some random man's voice."

I'm just gonna go silent for a while until she stops acknowledging my presence. I'll be back at the start of chapter five.

"Now it's gone. I don't hear it anymore," Scarlet mumbled.

BOOM!

RUMBLE!

CRACK!

The first signs of the impending lightning storm were starting to reveal themselves. Thunder rumbled and boomed, lightning struck and cracked.

"We need to hurry!" Scarlet said as she tightened her hold on Carlos as she began running, chasing the storm and the lightning bolts that struck one after the other in a perfect, timed sequence.

She has quite the run to do if she wants to harvest the power of a lightning bolt to ignite and bring the one and only portal back to life. If she's able to accomplish this, she'll be back on the OverWorld by nightfall.

Back on the OverWorld, in the Heavens, the Aether Portal was starting to misbehave. Sending out bursts of powerful, mysterious energy, it was alarming to the Gods and Goddesses.

Victoria, Wynter, Gazelle, Miraz, Stanley, and Jack were on their way to the AetherWorld Portal room, which was located behind lock and key in the dungeon under Wynter's Palace.

Wynter is the leader of the Gods and Goddesses, while Gazelle and Victoria both do their part in maintaining order and peace on the OverWorld.

"What's going on Wynter?" Gazelle asked as she and Victoria followed behind Wynter. "Do we need to worry?"

"Should we be worried?" Victoria said, correcting Gazelle.

"I thought we destroyed the portal when you banished Scarlet, did you not?" Stanley asked Wynter.

"No," Wynter said, "but we severed the link between the AetherWorld and here, making it impossible for Scarlet to escape."

"Why cause trouble now, four years after being banished?" Miraz asked.

"Not sure," Wynter said, "but we don't know for sure she's the cause of the portal foul behavior."

"We should've dismantled the portal entirely, not just cutting the link between our world and there," Stanley mentioned.

"He has a point, Wynter," Jack said, agreeing with his grandson. "Is it too late to dismantle it? Would that do us any good?"

"Perhaps, yes," Wynter told them. "But once destroyed, it cannot be rebuilt."

"That's a good thing! If we dismantle it, Scarlet won't escape!" Jack argues.

"We have to consider the danger we're putting the OverWorld in if she escapes. I can't let any harm come to my friends down below. We have a chance to prevent the worst from happening, so why not jump on the opportunity?" Stanley suggested.

In the end, the decision to dismantle the portal rests in Wynters hands. She has the final say. As they all walked into the room where the Aether Portal was, the four guards turned around and bowed when they saw Wynter approaching them.

"At ease," Wynter said as walked over to them. "What's the status on the portal?" She asked the guards.

Victoria, Gazelle, Miraz, Stanley, and Jack all stood back as Wynter walked over to the guards.

"Is it just me?" Stanley mumbled to Miraz, "or is she acting a bit odd?"

"You've noticed that too?" Miraz asked him, "I thought I was the only one."

"What are you two talking about?" Victoria questioned. They both turned to look over at her and Gazelle.

"I don't think that's the real Wynter," Stanley whispered with his hand next to his mouth to block his voice from being heard.

"Hogwash!" Gazelle said, "That's the one and only Wynter!"

Wynter heard that comment loud and clear. When she heard that, she stopped talking and turned around to confront the chatter everyone else was doing.

"What was that Stanley?" Wynter asked as she tilted her head slightly as she stared at him. Her eyes turned all black, which was a creepy giveaway that this wasn't the Wynter everyone thought they knew.

"Wynter?" Victoria said as she held her hand out and started walking towards her. "It's okay. They're just talking rubbish. We don't need to fight."

"You're right," she said as she turned her head to look over at Victoria. "Why bother to keep up the charade?"

"What the heck is going on?" Jack questioned.

"You wouldn't understand, so I'll spare you the explanation," Wynter said as she began rising up off the floor with her hands out and her head tilted back.

Her blonde, braided hair began changing color to a dark, deep brown color. Her white dress changed to a red fox fur coat.

"Everyone get back!" Stanley shouted as he held his arm out in front of Jack and Miraz.

"That's not Wynter," Jack shouted.

"It's not!" Stanley responded, "that's—that's Scarlet!"

"Where's Wynter? What have you done to her?" Victoria shouted abruptly loud and obnoxious.

Once Scarlet's transformation was complete, and she was back to her old self for the first time in forever, she looked down upon everyone else.

"I was wondering when you would snuff me out," Scarlet said, followed by a sinister, evil witch laugh.

"RUN!" Gazelle shouted.

Fleeing the AetherWorld Portal room, the group split up into two groups. One went left, and the other went right.

"And to think that all they had to do was open the portal to the Aether. I'm sure Wynter is fine."

Back on the AetherWorld, Wynter transformed back into her normal self. After being stuck in Scarlet's bodily appearance, she was banished to the AetherWorld instead of Scarlet.

"Hey mystery voice man," Wynter said as she looked up into the vast dark night sky. "You there?"

I'm not supposed to talk until the next chapter.

"Don't care. I need your help," Wynter said.

Fine! I'll help, but with what?

"Can you give me a flint and steel?" Wynter asked.

I'm not Houdini. I don't do magic.

"Who's Houdini?" Wynter asked.

Oh, that's right. She's never heard of my World before. Gah, it makes sense. Should I help her?

"I'm waiting, old man!" Wynter shouted.

I am not old. How would you know?

"Just this once is all I ask," Wynter said.

Ugh, fine. Here you go.

"Thank you, kind mystery blockhead who I don't know," she replied.

Not a blockhead.

"Sure you aren't," she said.

An iron ingot and flint fell from the sky. They landed on the ground next to where Carlos was put down. Wynter walked over to it and picked up the flint and steel.

Back on the OverWorld, in the midst of night, Santa's sleigh was descending upon a small cottage deep in the Mountains Biome. The same place where Santa's sleigh crashed three years ago.

As Phineas landed gently atop of the thick blanket of undisturbed snow, the reindeer huffed and puffed as they were now catching their breaths.

"So this is their house?" Misses Claus asked as she got out of the sleigh and jumped onto the ground.

"It is, yes Misses Claus," Phineas said as Misses Claus held out her hand. He stepped onto it as she leaned over to set him down on the ground. She repeated this with Frankie too.

"Are they going to be able to help save Christmas and stop Krampus and Ms. Frost?"

"They saved Christmas before," Phineas said, "They can do it again."

Miss Claus looked around at their surroundings and noticed the tombstone nearby the house.

"I hope you're right," she told Phineas, "Krampus is beyond more powerful than the Dark Elves."

"If I didn't think Thomas and Aurora could help, I wouldn't have flown us here."

"Well…," Misses Claus said, "here goes nothing!"