Maplestory, The Novel: Sacred Tears

Ariel, the Goddess of Time, held a scroll before her, watching the events of her life and questioned why she hadn’t seen the darkness before she met Dane, before he had grown up, or even before he’d been born. Why hadn’t she seen his darkness? Why hadn’t Ariel foreseen where her choices would lead? She was the Goddess of Time! Or was she? Minerna’s words still rang in her head. Even if her title and power were a farce, it didn’t grant her the foresight for what Magus Sloe would persuade her to do.

“Forgive me, my daughter, Rhinne.” She breathed helplessly as Rhinne and the man she feared and loved sat frozen within a Temporal seal. It was the only thing keeping Magus Sloe from breaking through the complex sleeping spell that kept Rhinne safe.

If the seal were gone, Sloe would break through in moments and easily fend off Ariel to escape. If that happened, Usoria would be destroyed and erased from existence. The only sure way to keep the world safe was the death of her daughter.

But how could she do that? Rhinne was her daughter, an innocent child caught in the tides of a fallen man’s thirst for power and a desperate woman’s search for peace. Yes, she commanded limitless power, but even that had a weakness. Magus Sloe wielded that power—the darkest power in Usoria, capable of destroying all magic, even a deity’s power: Black Magic.

One chance to save Rhinne and Usoria lay before her, but the timing would need to be perfect. If Ariel could suspend time even briefly, she could bring Rhinne to her side, then collapse the temporal rift with Sloe inside, erasing him from that point onward.

Facing her palms toward one another, Ariel began gathering her power, veins of light dancing across the feathers of her wings, feeding more energy into her back. Ethereal ticking sounds clattered in the air as she worked, carefully forming the spell until something caught her eye across the chamber, standing at the door. It was a hazy figure of… was that Arkarium? And who were the five young people standing before him? She couldn’t hear what they spoke about, but watched as the young people disappeared, one of them piloting a giant walking machine.

Ariel went to the door and hauled it open, staring at the empty hall. As she turned back to face Rhinne, Ariel stared in awe as Rhinne’s body began to glow, growing steadily brighter.

“No…”