Life used to be so simple.

At least, Aether believes so. He and his twin sister, Lumine, used to travel together between worlds with no trouble after all.

These dimension-hopping trips would go like this: They would jump between worlds seamlessly, exploring around and checking out everything each world has to offer in the blink of an eye. They would soar through the skies so fast that, if one were to look up at the sky, they would actually see shooting stars there. Needless to say, they would make any dedicated astronomer watching them confused, as their travels often mess with the natural order of the constellations in the sky.

All in all, Aether and Lumine were pretty powerful people who loved to take trips to different worlds together. And honestly, that was the kind of life that they prefer. Aether definitely believed so.

The trip to Teyvat wasn't any different. They both flew throughout the world with no issue, checking out the sights of this huge continent. So far, the general events of that trip were same old, same old, just like any other trip.

That is, until an unexpected roadblock popped up near the end of the Teyvat trip.

When the twins were getting ready to leave at this world's celestial exit, said obstacle appeared in the form of an enigmatic god. Supposedly, no one knows anything about this god, not even a single thing.

"...Your travels end here, arrogant outlanders." The unknown god declared.

However, the twins easily deduced that this god was anything but benevolent.

Aether and Lumine stood in silence for a few moments, taking the time to process what just happened. Clearly, this has never happened to them before. However, the latter sibling refused to take this lying down. "Who do you think you are?"

The unknown god only looked at Lumine, unfazed. "The sustainer of the heavenly principles. These principles should let you know your place."

Lumine drew out a sword as she gets into an attack stance, not having it with the unknown god's sudden antagonization towards the twins. "I don't care if you're a god, you would be wise to step aside and let us go."

Aether followed suit by drawing his own sword, getting ready to follow his sister's lead. "Yeah! Get out of our way if you don't want to deal with our overwhelming power!"

That only made the unknown god narrow her eyes at the sibling duo, which only serves to further irritate Lumine. This god really isn't taking them seriously at all, which honestly worries Aether. He knew they're powerful people in their own right, but if the unknown god didn't even bat an eye at them, then there's a chance that her power is far greater, right?

Regardless, he was still going to try his best to fight her off.

"Is that so? Your arrogance shall be punished then." The unknown god said.

As if on cue, a giant dark cube suddenly sprouted out from the ground. Both twins managed to dodge out of the way, just in time. Frankly, they had no idea what these cubes even were, but they're not going to take their chances. Especially not when the unknown god was the one making these dark cubes appear.

After jumping out of the way, they both quickly grew wings, and started to glide around the sky, weaving around the pursuing dark cubes. So far, they went on the defensive from these attacks, but they planned to change that as soon as possible.

After dodging these cubes for a little bit, the pair sensed a window of opportunity for an attack. As soon as they did so, they zoomed towards the unknown god, swords raised, ready to hit her with their hardest strikes, as if they coordinated that attack the whole time.

However, the unknown god had more tricks up her sleeve.

Before either twin even had a chance to land a hit on her, a bunch of dark cubes suddenly appeared in front of them. This surprise attack caught both of them off guard, but each twin responded differently to the situation. Aether simply tried to jump out of the way...while Lumine continued her attack, aiming her sword strike right at the unknown god's throat.

Unfortunately, it was already too late by that point. A bunch of dark cubes wrapped around Lumine's arms tightly, preventing her attack from connecting. She struggled to get out of its grasp, but the dark cubes only continued to contain and trap the rest of her.

Aether witnessed all of this in front of him, leading him to cry out his sister's name desperately while reaching out to her. "LUMINE!"

He immediately rushed over to help...only to discover that the dark cubes managed to catch him too when he tried to dodge out of the way, by wrapping themselves around Aether's arms tightly.

Thus, he was forced to watch as the dark cubes completely encase Lumine, resulting in her getting trapped in a single cube. The unknown god held that particular cube in her hands while Aether watches with great anguish.

After witnessing that, revenge is all he could think about now.

And yet, the unknown god still wasn't fazed, as she watches a now vengeful Aether struggle with all of his might, not even worried at all.

"You...! I promise, you will pay for hurting my sister!" Aether declared with complete venom in his voice.

"How ironic, considering you're the one who is going to pay for your sins. Farewell, arrogant traveler." The unknown god replied nonchalantly.

And before Aether knew it, the dark cubes quickly encased him too.

"No, wait...! Give my sister back!"

As his pleads went unanswered, his vision started to become obscured as more dark cubes appeared around him, until all of a sudden, he fell unconscious.

And thus, he fell into a deep sleep that would last for 500 years...