They are in the Aer Ari Forest when it happens, and Cyndras is in one of his moods.
Solis has been trying to catch him for twenty minutes, but the Prince is being coy and climbing trees, laughing as he runs away. Solis can’t help but fall in love with him more and more, as every second passes.
Cyn is giggling like he doesn’t have a care in the world, and as he clings onto the trunk of a tree, watching with sparkling eyes while the god circles him, he calls out and shouts-
“And what will you do when you catch me, fiend?!”
Solis plants his feet and glares at his lover playfully.
“I will hug and kiss you. So, come down.”
He hears Cyndras laughing, and then the Prince starts climbing again, putting even more distance between them. The god can hear him breathing and moving quickly, clearly enjoying teasing him.
“No. You will have to catch me first!”
Solis is reaching up for a low-hanging branch when he hears it for the first time. A high-pitched whistling noise shoots past his head, and then it disappears. Solis pauses and frowns, thinking it sounded strangely familiar, but he doesn’t know from where. He continues up the tree and is a little more than halfway up when he hears the sound again. This time, he also sees it; a shining golden arc cutting across his vision, instantly recognisable with its warm angelic glow. Before Solis can even wonder what its doing here, tumbling through the air without his order, he hears Cyndras gasp from above.
“Solis? Did you-”
Several things happen in one instant. Leaves rustle overhead, Solis hears Cyndras go silent, and then watches as his lover tumbles from the tree. Panic gripping him, Solis transforms into his godly form and manages to catch the Prince before he hits the ground, but its a near thing. Then Solis is cradling him in his arms, staring at Cyn’s usually expressive face and wondering why there is a spot of crimson flowing from his Prince’s inky black hair…
“Cyn?” He shakes him gently but the boy’s head lolls back.
“Cyndras?!”
Why isn’t he waking up?!
Right about then is when Solis thinks to reach out and feel for the Prince’s heartbeat and energy. He closes his eyes and finds it; Cyn’s heart beating rabbit-quick but his energies rapidly unraveling. He is fading faster than Solis can urge lifeforce through his veins, and probably his heavenly energy is only burning Cyn up from the inside.
Whimpering when he feels the Prince’s blood soaking through his clothes, Solis abandons everything he was ever taught about not interfering with things as natural as death, and just slams every ounce of power he has straight through Cyndras’ body and prays that it will work. He is no healer, but every god is capable of small miracles…
Gasping, Cyndras’ eyes fly open and he heaves a few times, coughing in Solis’ arms and blinking away tears. Solis shakes as he holds him, unable to do anything but cry and whisper; I love you, I love you-
“...love you-”
He isn’t sure if it was Cyndras or him who said those words, because just as fast as he is awake and breathing within his arms, the Prince is crumpling to the ground and growing still, the blood pouring from his head bubbling and sizzling as if it had been heated to a thousand degrees.
“No! No nonono-”
The young god panics again and, feeling his lover’s life slipping through his fingers, does the only thing he can with only half his heart working…
Solis searches the surrounding area and finds the closest living thing. It is a small purple flower, growing just under the shade of the tree Cyn had climbed. Solis presses one hand through the earth and touches its roots, and with the other, uses the remainder of his power to scoop up the rapidly snapping threads tying the Prince’s soul to his body. Solis wills the universe and everything inside him to let it work, sobbing in frustration and agony as at first, nothing happens.
Eventually, like something finally gave way, Cyndras’ soul separates from his body. Solis shakes and cries as he feels it travel through him, using him and energy as a conduit and settling peacefully in the flower, where the roots and dirt and sun will keep it alive and safe.
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The god cradles his Prince’s body tight against his chest, shaking hands brushing blood-stained locks from his face, and as he sits there and feels Cyndras grow cold and stiff in his arms, Solis also sees the unmistakable shine of the boy’s soul and energy as it seals itself inside the little flower and gleams brighter throughout the night, as if his Prince was reaching out, telling him he is still here.
Solis isn’t sure how much time has passed when he is visited for the first time by death. The man, more shadow and shape than anything else, floats in front of him through the trees, whispering in Solis’ ear about human things, like letting go. Solis is a god, not confined by mortal things like grief and death. He will hold onto his Prince if he wants to, for as long as he can; he will water him, and give him shade and sun, and sing to him to help him grow, and if death wants to try to take him, Solis makes it very clear to the shadows in the forest; he would rather see the whole world burn first.
Things become very, very simple for the young god, and even when Leviathyn doesn’t leave, and informs Solis that his actions will have terrible consequences, everything is still very, very clear.
“You are beautiful,” he tells Cyndras, and the flower shines.
“I love you. I won’t let anything happen to you again-”
“This decision will have lasting effects on nature,” Leviathyn hisses from the dark. “Your fate, as well as the young Prince’s, will be altered for eternity.”
Solis shoots him an angry glare, curled around his Prince’s sweet petals as he has been for… a long time, surely.
“Then leave! Leave me to my fate!” The god cries, “Let us have our eternity. Please, just go away!”
The god of death vanishes after that, and Solis is left alone with the little gleaming flower. It isn’t until he hears thunder brimming on the horizon that the god even thinks about consequences again, and when finally there are footsteps echoing through the forest and he is surrounded, he just glares at them all and huddles closer around his Prince.
“Solis,” a god says, but who cares which one it is.
“You have violated the laws of nature and reincarnation. The universe has been badly wounded by your actions. Come with us now, and your punishment will be light.”
Solis doesn’t understand why they won’t just leave the two of them alone. They’re not hurting anyone! No one will ever have to know if Solis just keeps the little flower alive in secret. Why do they care so much?
And why should he care about reincarnation… meeting his Prince again in the future, when Cyndras’ soul is here, right now, shining inside the protective curve of his body. So alive, and so, so beautiful-
“Solis, please. Don’t make this any harder than it has to be.”
Solis sees red. He shouts, screams himself hoarse, throws rocks and little shards of spiritual energy at the gods and their Seraph, but it doesn’t do anything. Even when Khalkaeus comes closer with godly chains in her hands and Solis panics and lashes out with all his strength, the most damage he manages to incur is to himself.
Solis fights. He fights them with bare hands and teeth until several Seraph are injured and Solis has a broken jaw. He kicks and scratches and lunges at everyone who gets close. Eventually, he hears someone sigh heavily and feels something cold and sharp land in his neck. Solis collapses but fights to keep his eyes open.
Whining brokenly, he manages to see the last moment that his Cyndras’ soul is in this realm, as the gods dissipate the flower and his Prince’s spirit fades into the air.
Solis screams so loud that an avalanche starts in the mountains and buries a small town. He screams until the earth cracks, the trees fall, the oceans swell… he will never know, but his rage ended up fueling two wars in The Mortal Realm and several minor disasters; forest fires, tsunami, and storms. Planets collide and stars implode. None of the gods were prepared for the likes of Solis’ love. When it shattered, the realms were thrown into a chaos like they’d never known.
The little god of stars was locked away under the high mountains in Vriseon Prison. He was bound in heavenly chains forged by the hottest fire, his wrists shackled to boulders larger than even the tallest mountains in The Mortal Realm. The first thing Solis did when he woke up in that dark place was try to escape. He even managed to get one arm free by breaking it, before the gods were alerted and he was forced into a medical coma. Time passed in a hazy blur for the poor god, who roused only long enough in seven hundred years to cry bitter tears at the loss of his lover, outraged and exhausted by the weight of his grief, which was numbed only by magic and the oppression of a very large mountain.
Solis’ powers and energy grew stagnant in his heavenly body as the years passed, and over time, he forgets who and what he is. Even without the sleeping aids, in Vriseon there is no time, no light, or sound, or feeling. Solis relives Cyn’s death a thousand times like it was yesterday and then lapses into a few decades of sleep where nothing and no one could remind him who he is, even if they waved Cyndras’ soul right in front of his face.
This poor god slept centuries off his life, tucked away like a secret without even the smallest idea of how and why his lover had died in the first place. Solis would stir occasionally and feel a burning deep inside him that made him want to scream. He doesn’t remember it, but he would often swear it to himself with every ounce of consciousness left in his body during those moments he found lucidity.
He would wake up one day, and he would discover exactly what had happened to his Prince…
And then Solis would make the universe pay.
He swore he would make every last deity pay in blood.