Currently thinking about Aphmau and Laurance and certain lore info...
So we know that Aphmau is either Irene herself that woke up again from that staff or a reincarnation (I'm betting on her actually being Irene who just lost her relic and memories).
And we know Laurance is a shadow knight. And shadow knights gain immortality when they kill their lord.
Let's say Aphmau is Irene, and gains all of her old powers back when she absorbs the relic. We know Irene lived for a long time, outlived her friends, etc. Now that could be because she spent a lot of time in her dimension where time passes quickly. BUT! Let's just say for my own selfish purposes that not aging is just one of her powers from her relic.
And let's also say that shadow knight immortality works like this: Shadow knights aren't human anymore. We don't exactly know what they are, but it's something otherworldly and the process begins with the shadow knight's human death. So really... would it make sense for them to age?
Now they can definitely die. They only gain true immortality when they kill their lord. But aging? I don't think something otherworldly and inhuman can age. The nether is a strange place where nearly all of the beings there are senseless monsters.
I'm sure y'all have picked up on my line of thinking already.
But what if Laurance never left. What if he stayed loyal to Aphmau for all of those years? After another decade people would start noticing that neither of them are aging. For Laurance it's obvious why, but for Aphmau, it's a new aspect of Irene's power that she's coming to understand.
It drives her to panic. Because as the years pass, her friends start getting older and older. Garroth and Dante soon retire from being guards. Her kids are having children of their own. But she's still the same.
She doesn't want to outlive her friends. But it's out of her hands. The only way to remove a relic from someone is through their death.
But Laurance is still there, still as devoted to her as ever. And she leans on him now more than ever because he still looks the same as the day he came back from the nether. He understands in the way no once else can.
As even more time passes, Aphmau has to give up any leadership position she has because whispers of her not aging are floating around. More people are flocking to see her, calling her Irene, calling her a goddess, wanting her blessings.
But all the attention just shoves the fact that she can't age right in her face. So she leaves.
Most of her and Laurance's friends are elderly now, at least, the ones that didn't go to the Irene dimension all those years ago. And her children are all grown, wrapped up in their own lives. None of them have been spared of the goddess Irene's revival. People bother them daily, trying to figure out where she is, trying to get into contact with her. So really, leaving is the only way to give them peace.
Laurance accompanies her, and they travel to different regions, hoping to gleam some hidden knowledge about the relics. They had tried learning about them before... but then Shad came back in Aaron's body and the whole ordeal had driven her away from finding knowledge about the relics.
More time passes, and it's just the two of them, looking the same as they did when they met a century ago. A forgotten lord and her guard. Only known now as a goddess and her monster.
Aphmau was never the type to indulge in things like love, especially when there were more important matters going on. But with everyone she cared about being long gone aside from Laurance, she finds that she's truly grown to care about him. And truly, he's her only option. He won't age and die like the others. He won't leave.
And hasn't he been here all this time?
She remembers long ago, being ready to accept his affection after the werewolf wedding. But he stopped her, wanting Garroth to have a chance.
Garroth isn't even alive now. They attended his funeral a decade ago.
Perhaps she just wanted things to stay the same? And in her and Laurance's relationship, it had. He's still as flirty as ever, vying for her affection. Perhaps she had fooled herself into thinking it was just an old habit. Perhaps he had begun to believe this was all that he could have with her and was fine with it.
But if there was anyone to love, wouldn't it be him? Wouldn't it be the guard that's been there for her for a century and will be there for more to come?
So one day, when they've traveled back to Phoenix Drop, which is more of a city than a village these days, and are looking back at all of the old structures that Levin's daughter insists of keeping for historic purposes... Aphmau tells him.
She tells Laurance that she loves him. Because she does. He's been there for her for ages now, will always be there for her. And she'll be there for him as well.
Sorry if that got gooey and weird and hard to follow. I'm currently very sleep-deprived, lol.
