Etho was born to no parents. She was created on accident in a final reach for absolution by Oroshaprincipillish, the god of souls, during a violent skirmish with the other Greater Gods. Using souls he had shattered, he attempted to recreate his son, but failed, instead creating the combined Ethosliton. Unable to repair what he had broken; the God of Souls quickly absconded the God Complex into the Realm Void and supposedly died during his fall.

Without anyone to raise her, Etho was assigned to Epilidefinile, the Goddess of Judgement, to act as a mother in her upbringing. This was because Epili would most likely be able to raise a child who would listen to instruction and reasoning, due to the Goddess’ natural affinity for balance and order. Unfortunately, she struggled to coordinate both parenthood and her new role that filled that of the gods who had died in the prior battle and she could not raise Etho as the Higher Gods had expected. At this point Etho had gained a reputation as an unruly and undisciplined child who would not listen to instruction as she was never taught respect for others and often given things without much resistance from the already overburdened Epili.

The situation around raising the snarky and selfish Etho quickly became complex, as the gods needed her to take the place of the now deceased gods of Space and Time, whose work was presently being carried out entirely by the Servant Gods. In an attempt to start her education, she was deferred to gods on and above her ascension level. However, due to Etho’s similarities to the original gods of Space and Time, the only mentor that could bear her presence was Satuprismapillish, Sister of Orosh and Goddess of Colour.

Satu knew not how to teach a child good from bad like Epili would have, but she knew how to teach her the technical aspects of her powers and soon to be work. Satu treated Etho without any of the care that she needed but made a very practical teacher, and soon Etho was adept with her natural abilities. Unfortunately, this glimpse of power without any sort of caveats or moral warnings only made Etho even harder to get along with, and soon she was despised by just about everyone besides those who would judge her by her practical prowess alone, like Satu.

Etho, without friends, mutual parties, or even a respectable pair of parents, would often be found alone. She never learned to interact kindly with others and couldn’t make any type of relationship stay firm. At the age of 8 she was still working alone with Satu, and when she wasn’t, she would sit on the edge of a ruined outcrop of the God Complex, staring down over the realm void below. Other gods would sometimes stay, watching her from a distance, whispering rumours among themselves of her character.

As this continued Etho tired of her loneliness, becoming increasingly frustrated with her training and her teacher’s lack of moral guidance. Eventually this boiled over, unable to comprehend why others avoided her and why no one would teach her what she was doing wrong. She snapped at Satu, attacking her teacher directly for the first time. Satu, while not surprised by this, was caught off-guard by the sheer extent of Etho’s power and couldn’t make a swift victory against her. After she was eventually defeated, however, Etho ran away from the now scolding Satu, taken aback by the verbal abuse and revelations Satu gave her once the fight was over.

This day of poor fate would continue for Etho as she quickly made her way to her usual sulking spot, only to find a crowd of Semi-Gods and Demi-Gods, who had equally become frustrated with Etho. They blamed her for the deaths of the gods Orosh killed, they accused her of being responsible for the negligence of the Lesser and Servant gods up-keeping the rules of Space and Time. They called her a disgrace among the Higher Gods due to the conjoined nature of her being. Upon hearing this Etho broke down further and started to lash out at the gods protesting against her. The crowd of rebels began to overpower her with tools they crafted themselves, before disarming her completely. When the dust settled the call of one individual pierced the silence. It was for her to be cast into the Realm Void below the God Complex, in order for them to be rid of her as they now were Orosh.

It did not take long for this cry from an anonymous individual to spread, and the crowd soon turned to the edge, carrying her to the precipice and casting her out into the hollow reality below.

Waking slowly, Etho awoke at the end of a star-trail. She was formless in this reality at first, however she used her knowledge of magic to change shape to that of a human. She had never seen anything like the place she was now in and hurt from her previous battle she struggled to move anywhere.

Stumbling through the forest, she would eventually encounter a small hunting party of humans that took her in and helped her recover using various magical skills. Mana sources were limited for the humans at that time, and they could not heal her instantly. To Etho’s displeasure she had to stay and put up with them until she was fit enough to move again.

Here is when she began to learn of compassion and empathy; the kindness of strangers giving everything they had for several hours a day to keep her healthy. News eventually broke about her godhood, but it did not matter to those raising her. As a Goddess she did not need their water or their food, and whether out of naivety or not, the kindness their gestures held when they gave it to her still carried across in the flavours of the food they gave.

From then on, Etho would be raised as a human child by the community she was adopted by, and her immaturity for her age would eventually become more balanced with her knowledge and skill of magic. While she could still be witty and often refuse help, she had managed to create bonds that form a family. Moments that she was alone turned into healthier moments of solitude between the joy and excitement of friendly outings and events.

When she reached 14, she began to work as a travelling merchant’s assistant, excited to see the world, its people, and all the things she could discover and learn about. This continued for a few years as she learned about all things; including details about their good and bad counterparts. She made great friends with many of the most skilled people in her homeland and abroad, earning their favour and trust not through her rank but rather her character. As she became widely celebrated among the humans of Ather and beyond, a new rule of life was being established by the God of Death.

This is the time when Etho found herself surrounded by the deaths of her much older friends, who began having their souls claimed by Servants of Asrielonia, the God of Death. Outraged by this, and not taking any opposition, Etho declared to do battle against the servants. She created a team of various experts across the land and led her small army against Death’s puppets, having nigh-unscathed success in her led defence in defiance of the new order.

Unhappy with this, Asrielonia used his last remaining puppet, the servant responsible for the reaping of human souls, as bait to draw her out in a one-on-one confrontation. Etho had struggled against this opponent before, but she would never back down from taking them on again by herself, especially if it meant saving the lives of her friends.

It was in this confrontation that she would become imprisoned for over 2000 years, after Asrielonia struck her down with Kathratír, the sword prison. Her location unknown, and her prison supposedly indestructible, she would be left to be forgotten by those she had so dearly served.

The sword would eventually be found by creatures made of slime, who would make use of her presence as a guiding force, coming time and time again to the sword for advice on their situations. Eventually, one of the slimes would take the sword, as they began to form small social groups. This Slime-Folk would come to lead the others in their community, as they grew their knowledge and worldview, using Etho’s word from the sword as a guide.

Etho was not happy with this, but she managed to find some solace in sharing her knowledge with others, like her mentors and friends had done previously. She missed them dearly. Although, for some reason, she came to remember less and less, more and more exponentially. As the sword drained her power to form its seal, it also began to drain her memory. She soon forgot all about the God Complex, and the home she came from, choosing to focus on holding the memories she gained on Eire.

Soon wars broke out in the Slime Lands, and of course she was to be used as the Grand Leader’s weapon. She attempted to refuse helping them, as she did not believe they should fight, but she was led down a path of little choice, and soon the Slime Lands divided further and further, until the humans attacked.

The humans, working as a united force with little issue, conquered the Slime Lands, stealing Kathratír—and thusly Etho—from the current Grand Leader’s corpse, before giving it to a coward of a Slime-Folk that had promised to ally with the invading force. The Slime Lands were soon rebuilt into Slimedonia, the newest addition to the Felonian Empire, and its people became known as the Slimedonians. The coward became appointed as the King of the land and began to follow the orders the Empire gave him in ruling his new kingdom. The shadow of Felonia’s watchful eye swept long over the Kingdom as its chokehold of an occupation continued.

Now, the King of Slimedonia began to spend great lengths of time with Etho who was stuck in the sword by his side, and he began to learn many things about her. Using this knowledge he would begin an investigation into whether the seal on the sword could be broken after all, and after a few years, the Kingdom of Slimedonia managed to break the seal.

Upon being released, Etho set back out to travel the world, to regain the memories of which she lost. This task soon became more difficult than she expected. As she began to re-establish memories, she began comparing the world now to how it was thousands of years ago, and witnessing the outcome took an emotional toll on her. She began to spiral, becoming hateful of Time, eventually forsaking her time magic which slowly started to become more and more warped in her mind.

Due to her lacking memory, and her desire to distance herself from time, her guidance on how to conduct the art of time magic began to fade more and more until her memory of safely casting the spells ceased to be. This made it impossible to cast these spells without painful and increasingly dangerous consequences.

She also became unhappy with the humans who had turned their backs on her, founding the empire in the worship of the Servant of God who she had fought so fiercely against. The King of Slimedonia, noticing her spiral into sadness with the state of the world, created a magic research lab in the neighbouring uninhabited country of Mondork. When she found out about the research lab creating superhuman soldiers using the fusion of multiple souls, she became outraged with the King, using what morals she did remember of Soul Magic as a foundation for her argument against what he was doing. However, she came to learn about the opportunities the research had in helping to save dying souls of humans from death from the head scientist.

Etho demanded that the lab never be used for war, still disgraced with the King for attempting to use such a magic for violence, however she praised the head scientist for saving and looking after the lives of others. The lab kept in operation, on the caveat that it was never to be used for war research. The King agreed, and the lab stayed operational focusing its attention on saving the lives of those without any other chance of living. Often, Etho would visit and monitor the lab, looking after, helping, and teaching the subjects/patients. This is where she met Solomon, who she began to fall in love with.

One day, Etho helped Solomon leave the facility, promising to look after him when he couldn’t look after himself. They would make regular visits back to the lab, but soon set up and worked towards their own home in Winthian, a region of Slimedonia. It would be here that Etho would receive her bracers, and ring, both crafted by Solomon, who had very quickly become an incredibly skilled blacksmith and pioneer in engineering. Eventually, Solomon and Etho would conceive a child, who they name Psiona.

They would live together for only a year, before both Solomon and Psiona would be brutally murdered by a powerful demon, who had been going on a killing spree through Winthian prior. Upon meeting Etho, however, the demon did not move to attack but instead laughed. Etho, losing herself to her anger attacked the demon with everything she could, forgetting her bounds and becoming lost in her use of her powers and magical abilities, including those of time magic. She became overwhelmed by her completely unsafe use of time magic, and lost control, becoming unable to contain her onslaught against the demon, destroying parts of the town in which she lived during the battle.

Bearing witness to the purple glow of Etho’s magic they could see destroying their town, the local Peace Slimes began to blame Etho for the ongoing events, not noticing the demon who soon inexplicably disappeared.

Etho was later wrongly found guilty by the leaders of Slimedonia of taking the lives of roughly 300 Peace Slimedonians and her family of Solomon and Psiona, before she was then imprisoned in the Sword Prison, Kathratír, once more. Kathratír would then be placed on a pedestal at the Royal Guard Barracks for security. This is where she and the sword would remain for another 120 years.

In “The Ticking: Against the Clock” Etho is released again, unfortunately now remembering nothing of her history, except some abilities that have found themselves having become second nature to her. This is where she meets Myke during his confrontation with the King of Slimedonia, and from here both Myke and her promise to look into her past and prove her innocence together.

To Be Continued.