Sixteen
- -- --- - -- - -- -- --- - --- - - --- - -- - - -- --- -- ---

A desire for achievement is found in everyone, whether it drives them or is deeply buried. Every person aspires to do something, to build on their past; but, what is the result when someone’s past is hidden in shame or becomes a thing to kill the present – to kill the future? What happens when someone’s past disappears before their eyes and their work amounts to nothing?

As the last grains of sand ran through the hourglass – as my time to remain in her world ran out – I saw Aether have to come to terms with her past. She had dismissed evil; but she had yet to recognize what evil was. She had known that her role as destroyer was one to be tossed away; but she was not ready to let go of what that nature had caused her to value. She would have to know that she was a sinner, that there was something she needed atonement for, before she could truly value and accept it.

I knew that I was a sinner, but that knowledge still couldn’t help me; there were things