Time is just an illusion. Einstein told us that. If this is the first time you have heard it, you may find it a hard concept to get your head around, because you see everything happening - one thing after the other. What quantum physicists and Einstein tell us is that everything is happening simultaneously...

— Rhonda Byrne

MINI CHAPTER: LOST SOUL OF THE LOST WORLD 1

Best to read Saint Seiya Episode G: Requiem Chapter 18 manga.

It all happened so quickly. There he was, standing upon the leveled remains of Sanctuary, exhausted, the next, Excalibur came at him, ending his existence.

He wanted it all to end.

Yet here he was.

The room was so white, that if he wasn't leaning against the wall, he would've thought he was in some void of nothingness.

But, his view was...off.

He raised his hands and attempted to feel the sides of his cheeks, only to find air. He gasped before lowering his fingers, and with a feather-like touch, began to feel the wet soft gelatin-like stump of his neck, before backing them off.

He could see, but how?

He tried to look down, but all he could see was just his thighs.

He turned his gaze upwards, but all he saw was more endless white and a mixture of disheveled blond hair with streaks of dried blood highlighting it.

He took his hands and attempted to place them on his lap, only for the pads of his fingers to brush against his ears, realizing now that his decapitated head was on his lap. "How?" he spoke despite his larynx being sliced in half.

"How?" a condescending voice echoed in the room before the glowing outline of a tall figure with so many layers of thick armor that he appeared to be Mount Olympus itself. "Because I summoned you here, that's why."

Aiolos had never seen his face. As he was told, very few had. But the voice could never be forgotten. "Zeus…" he hissed.

"We meet again, Anti-Pope."

The archer attempted to turn his head in disgust, but his neck twisted in vain without the cranium attached to it. "You talk as if this was some friendly reunion. You possessed my brother and used his body to destroy Sanctuary!"

Zeus shook his head, the air around seemingly flowing with a turn. "Do not blame me. You are a Saint. You are aware of what that entails. You attempted a great resurrection, including your brother. How selfish."

"Because they didn't deserve it. It wasn't just my brother's life. Bright lives...wasted…they didn't deserve it. They deserve a life where they can enjoy the peace just as anyone else in this world!"

Zeus remained ever so still. "Do you really think a group that has trained all their life to fight will just drop it when they receive a new one? I would think your experience with the Phoenix Saint would show you otherwise."

"Your body and soul were destroyed. You oppose resurrection, yet here you are," the archer waved off carelessly.

"You and the other Saints destroyed that version of myself in that dimension, but I exist in many others. The ninth sense is very powerful especially after centuries of honing its true powers. When you were alive, even after all you have done, you barely scratched the surface of the possibilities that godhood presents. Besides, you have no room to speak. You talk about giving everyone a peaceful life when you have silenced trillions of other versions of your world." The All-Father paused, expecting a reaction, and received none. Then again, his silence spoke louder than words. "Well?"

Aiolos' arms turned his head to face his abs before wrapping his arms around it, surrounding his vision in darkness. Even after asking for death, it seems he is denied that too. He wondered if there is such a thing as a dead god. "...just go." He shut his eyes as if trying to bury himself deeper in a metaphorical hole, but as he waited all the God of Thunder did was burn his cosmos more to ensure he could feel his presence.

"Do you really think I am going to leave because you 'told' me too? I rule the pantheon, not serve as some footstool. So why destroy so many lives?"

Aiolos took several breaths, even though it was all psychological with no direct link to his lungs. Knowing full well that the god would hold his position, he gives in, if only to make Zeus part with him sooner. So he gives him his best answer, even if he feels the reason was pathetic."I don't know. I…" his voice trails as if plunging back into the deep pit of grief once more. He pulls his hand away from his face to fold his fingers into his hair.

Memories. He couldn't feel emotions, but he did remember his old self even if it was like watching an actor on the stage. Back when he and Saga had a very close friendship… but that was all it ever was. He thought Saga liked him. So after they went together to a nice restaurant, he told him he had a good time…

…

…

...

...but the Gemini never reciprocated back.

The days of training Aiolia, watching him grow up happy and spoiled as the little brother of the Pope and equally loved by the people he helped in Rodario.

…

…

…

…

If there was one person who used to smile more than him, it was Aiolia.

...

...

...

Japan. He was on a mission with Saga and there he met his future wife…

…

…

…

...

...Futaba…

…

…

…

...why did he ever bring her to Sanctuary?

"My dimension was too far gone, so I searched. But every dimension I went to, trying to find a place where others were happy and alive and all I saw was either my brother was miserable...I was dead so early on...or everyone simply dies in the end. Death...sadness...more death….more sadness...and even when things worked well... We all died at the Wailing Wall. I tried to find happiness...but there was none..,." he confessed, his tone so flat it was like he was reciting out of a dictionary, his eyes...dry... He had run out of tears decades ago when he first started that journey.

At that moment, a light chuckle followed the God of Gods, amused by this confession. He began to move forward, the closer he became, the taller his form became, as if maintaining his omnipotence, the weight of each step further crushing the shards of mysterious glass that littered the floor. "You say it is as if it was each world's fault, but yet you are blind to your foolishness. To save your friends and defeat me in your original world, you reached the ninth sense and became a god. But just like how my daughter Athena regained her humanity by becoming a mortal, a human who gains godhood means giving up one's humanity. I've watched your travels to various dimensions. Some places could have worked and seemed pleasant. I thought you were going to stick around in the world where you would raise a niece. But your brother was dead in that place and that wasn't good enough.

Then again, when is anything good enough for a god? After all, my daughter Athena, before she became a mortal, caused a fifty-year war that killed millions and ravaged a city over a damn apple.

Rather than accept the world, you deemed it not good enough and destroyed it as casually as smacking an ant off your arm."

"I don't remember that place."

"No, you 'do' remember. But the problem is that to find that memory would require 'remorse', but you gave that up to be the god you are now."

Aiolos squeezed his head tighter, but his wide stretched blue eyes and dilated pupils glowed further. "That is where you are wrong! Because if I was successful in resurrecting my brother, the same principles of bringing him back could apply to worlds too! If enough worlds die, I can use remains to resurrect a greater world! I will make sure there is no more suffering! No more war or death!"

"Aiolos, you are a god now...but an infant one at that. Do you not think all Gods sought the same thing? What God wouldn't want to reward his followers with happiness and perfection. When I first ascended my father and became a god, I had the same lofty ambitions. Only with time did I realize that if I couldn't even control my wife Hera, how can I control the billions of humans beneath the clouds of the Pantheon? In your quest to save everything….you lost everything. Now here you are, a lonely selfless fool without a good head on his shoulders."

Aiolos tilted his neck as if trying to lean his head back. Old habits die hard for the freshly decapitated. "What does it matter? In every possibility I saw, I lost everything no matter what. I've lost track of how many worlds I visited where I am dead/betrayed or both before I turn fifteen. I had one where I was attending high school and died while on my cell phone. I...just want a happy ending for everyone."

Zeus folded his arms. He was done taunting him. It was one of his favorite pastimes that he hasn't done since the age of myth, but now it was time to get to business. "What if there was a world like that?"

The archer's jaw clenched tightly. "You just told me that it doesn't exist! You call me a selfless fool!"

"No, the world doesn't exist… not yet...but it will." The God's glowing outline extended his hand, summoning a large lance that was twice his height, a thick lightning-shaped blade fastened at the top. He spun it effortlessly until it was pointing down to the ground of his side. "I'm surprised you never questioned your surroundings here. I guess that you are drowning in so much sorrow that you cared not to know. This place is known as the Core of Time and Space. It is a room that I would never allow you to visit without purpose." His spear glowed, the energy radiating from its tip hummed gently while lifting all the pieces in the air.

Aiolos stared at the pieces as they all slowly turned, glittering like diamonds in the sky, their reflections featuring all the various versions of his former comrades...all the ones that now cease to exist. "What is this?"

"Each disk may seem as flat as paper, but inside each of them is a vast universe. The broken glass you see here are the remnants of all the worlds you have destroyed." With that, the light of the lance faded, causing all the pieces to crash to the ground, splintering and cracking into smaller shards. "But glass can be melted. It can be reshaped and reformed. However, it is a process that is not easy. The fabric of time and space is delicate. I know, from my lessons from Chronus. Any contradictions can cause it to crack and shatter."

"So this promised world...is unattainable. Is that what you're telling me?"

"No. The truth is, the perfect world you want and seek, is a dream...that is shared by another… who is an ever greater selfless fool than you."

Aiolos watched the god direct the lance behind his form, a large ball of energy like a miniature sun swelled at the tip before blasting behind him, creating a hole. The All-Father smoothly floated aside, revealing someone sitting on the ground, a face he hadn't seen for years. "Athena?" he whispered in shock before he stood up, catching his head in the air and walking forward.

This wasn't just Athena. This was Athena from the Lost World...his world. He knew. Her body still wrapped in several chains around her waist, her once white dress now had a red bloom from the neck to her hips from her blood...after he rejected and decapitated her.

She raised her head, a long strip of her dress tied around her neck as if it was being used to keep it attached. "Aiolos…you finally came!" She smiled brightly. She yearned to hug her champion, but instead, she held her hands out as if impeding him to stop. "Be careful, it's almost finished."

Aiolos directed his head toward the floor, a large disk made up of millions of fragments and shards shaped into a large disk as if it was a grand puzzle. "Have you been working on this...since I…"

She gazed at his empty eyes. Even if he gave up his humanity, she could see the shadowy remains of duty still in them. "I have. I too share your dream, of a perfect world. But I knew the only way it can be attained, is if you killed me. Since my death, rather than returning to the Pantheon, I came here to work on creating a new dimension." She held out her hands, millions of cuts from handling the glass, covered them like a pair of red gloves.

An Athenian Gambit. Aiolos and all the other Saints knew about it. Athena was so sharp and clever, she could appear as if all was lost and somehow come out victorious in the end. "Before you died, you said you trusted me."

She smiled pleasantly, the chains rattling, her short violet hair from where the blade cut it as short as the top of her neck bobbed a bit. "I still do!" She looked downwards. "But there is still one last piece needed." Her bloody hand pointed back to her father.

Aiolos twisted around to Zeus to see him holding out his hand with a shard so tiny it resembled a tear. He attempted to reach for it, only for the god to float out of reach.

"Do not think I am so generous, for my reasons are just as selfish as yours. Before I bestow this a few things must be put into place."

Aiolos grimaced a bit. Of course, there would be conditions. Giving up the piece seemed too good to be true. "What good is this piece? Is it really that important?"

While the archer was addressing the god, instead his goddess came forth and clutched his hand. "It is. It is the cornerstone to this world I created...a single act of kindness… where a man who has valued money and gold all his life, chooses the life of a broken man instead." She grips his hands and knelt, tears streaming down her face, both as a plea as well as the sharp pain that she felt from pressing her scarred hands in his palm. "Aiolos… please...listen to my father," she begged, gazing at the head that was tucked in his other arm.

The Anti-Pope turned his body to see the glittering shard floating in Zeus' palm. "What do you want out of this?"

Zeus stood there. "There's no point in saying what I want. If you go to the new world, you won't remember this place or anything that comes between us. But even that fact doesn't matter. What does is that while the fates show you are capable and have demonstrated immense destruction...yet at the same time, the inverse is true as well where you could be the one to end the Holy Wars that have cycled endlessly for over the last two millennia."

Unbelievable. The very tips of Aiolos' broken wings scratched the side of the wall as he sank a bit farther. After spending so long on the side, now Zeus chooses to act despite the immense power that he demonstrates. "You want to end the Holy Wars?"

"I want to end the possibility of mortals like you ever rising."

It was a snide remark, but the blond Sagittarius had a feeling that it wasn't the only reason. Perhaps the god was too full of pride to admit the truth, or that he feared anyone becoming a god… most likely the former. "Why visit me? You aren't the type to go up and ask."

Zeus was quick to answer. "Because there are two conditions that must be fulfilled to make everything work. If we create the world now, everything will fail. First, you must give up the ninth sense and regain your humanity. Like all deals, it must be done out of your own free will. Give it up, and you will attain the happy ending you seek. But by the disk's design, you will suffer. You will be weak."

Aiolos paused. "Weak? How would my cosmos change that much?"

"Your cosmos will remain the same. Other things will be different."

Athena turned to her father. gazed into Aiolos' empty blue eyes. She can sense his thoughts and knows how he thinks. "I know it is frightening. I felt the same way when I gave up the ninth sense, and chose to be reborn as a mortal instead of using them as a vessel as my brothers and sisters have done. But believe me, I wouldn't ever trade back my humanity for the grey-eyed being I once was."

"So Anti-Pope...what would it be? Do you choose the power to remain a god or restore your humanity?"

Aiolos looked down. What happened to him? He may not feel as much, but he did have his memories before the ninth sense. His old self would have probably cracked a few jokes at the idea that he was the first man to shrug off decapitation or maybe tell Athena that two heads are better than none.

He couldn't smile, but he wanted to.

He used to care about others.

He used to do what was right.

He used to believe that people could change and have second chances.

"Am I worthy of a second chance?"

Despite how devoid his voice was, Athena could sense the pain in the intonations. She reached down on the edge of her torn white dress and tore another strip of it off. She placed his head back on the stub of his neck and began to wrap it around, tightening it to allow it to at least be in its proper spot once more just as she did with her separated head. "Yes, you are."

But even with his head in its proper spot, doubt still shadowed his empty gaze. "If only you saw what I saw. So many worlds and possibilities. I was curious about what I would be. But the only thing I could do is die...fairly early too."

She shook her head. "No...I've seen them too when going through all these pieces of glass and what I saw was not someone who just dies...but never gives up. The only one who ever did give up...is you. Don't ever make that mistake again…" she shifted her eyes. "At least, don't give up your humanity….twice."

Aiolos, finally able to, turned his head down. He raised the two strips, watching their white silk absorb the blood, dyeing them into a crimson color that reminded him of his headband that he used to wear. "What is the other condition?" he asked as he turned to Zeus.

But instead of the All-Father, there was a goddess with bright red hair holding an apple.

End of Lost Soul of the Lost World Part 1

Author's Notes:

One of the reasons this plot thread is written separately and not a flashback is because you can understand the main story without it or reading Episode G (especially since it isn't all in English). But it is just another layer of world-building.

When writing the overall outline, since the Anti-Pope was still active in Episode G: Assassin, I planned on creating a version where Anti-Pope Aiolos was defeated and sitting in the room, where the circumstances of his defeat would be left as a mystery. Well, about a week ago, Episode G: Requiem came out and Anti-Pope Aiolos was defeated in a fairly anti-climactic way with Anti-God Shura decapitating him.

I was halfway done writing this when that happened and thought...well crap...guess I have to run with that. So I rewrote the scene with Aiolos in the room with his head missing, which is oddly not the weirdest thing in this series.

One of the last things that did remain from Episode G: Assassin was that right before Lost World Aiolos decapitates Athena was that she says she trusts him. So that was one thing I wanted to explore.

Zeus states two conditions must be met. The other one will be revealed in a separate time once it is close enough.

Hope you enjoy my eccentric imagination of fanon.