"…What did you do…" I muttered, tears boiling in my eyes. There was too much happening at once, too much to process.
Of course, deep down, I knew.
I had always known.
I wasn't truly his child. I remembered it now, waking up away from my parents, abandoned in this forsaken forest.
He found me when I had nowhere left to run. Even when I tried to escape, to wander back out into the wilderness, he always found me... and brought me home.
And now, here he was, lifeless.
A violent surge of ether ruptured from my spirit, swallowing the room whole. In that moment, I was too furious to think.
I didn't care how powerful they were.
I didn't care how hopeless it was.
"You will pay, with your life!!" I screamed, releasing another burst of uncontrolled ether. Reason crumbled. All that remained was one truth:
Even if I die here, she must die.
"Yes! Those eyes! That's what I came for," the holy lady sneered, her grin stretching cruelly across her face. She watched my rage as though it were nothing but a gentle breeze.
I couldn't even sense any ether from her, her very presence alone warped the atmosphere.
Somewhere, deep inside my fury, the reality gnawed at me:
She had defeated my master, the strongest man I had ever known.
If he couldn't survive her…
My chances were worse than nothing.
"He called it...
A pillar of black flame exploded from the ground, swallowing the building whole.
The holy lady and her minions vanished beneath the inferno.
Without waiting, I stumbled toward the old man's body, untouched by the flames, lying motionless.
"Rest well, Jhio. Thank you for everything. I swear, I will carry on your legacy." I wept, gently closing his eyes.
I slid the ring from his right index finger and placed it onto mine, sealing my inheritance of the Supreme-Order Sword. Tears blurred my vision as I gazed at him one last time.
His body, of course, remained untouched by the pitiful flames. Not a mark scorched his skin, only the pendant around his neck, the picture of his wife inside it, swayed gently in the rising heat. As expected of the Grandmaster.
"...Are you done?"
A chilling voice pierced the air from within the flames.
Of course, I had expected this.
She wasn't someone fire could touch, all I could do was delay the inevitable.
Still, I needed something.
Something, anything, to defeat her.
"Then are you ready?" she whispered.
Help.
Suddenly, the world yanked away from me.
The burning house shrank into the distance as unseen force flung me through the trees.
Somebody, help.
My body tore through the woods, slamming into branch and bark, until with a violent crash, I collided against the base of a massive boulder.
Pain shot through my chest. My body wasn't fragile enough for mere trees to break, but the final impact ruptured my insides.
I staggered upright, gasping, eyes darting for the next strike.
"Mm-hmm. You feel different now," came a voice behind me.
Reflexively, I darted forward, widening the distance.
She stood there casually, one hand resting on her hip, the other dangling loose. Her smile was faint, condescending.
For the first time, I truly looked at her.
Calm sapphire eyes.
Soft pink lips.
Pale skin, glowing against the twilight.
Silver hair flowing like rivers of silk.
And earrings of pure Mythril.
This being... was beautiful.
"How do you know me?" I gasped between breaths. "Just... who are you?"
There was no hope in me. Not anymore. She had toyed with me effortlessly, sealed my ether, shattered my defenses. It was only a matter of time.
"What is it with you and who I am?" she replied. Her voice carried the cruelty of gods. "You aren't even qualified to know, little one."
At her words, something deeper than terror sank into my bones.
Her presence wasn't just overwhelming, it was... familiar.
"Hmph... that place... it'll do for now," she muttered. "You still don't fit what I want"
Blood dripped from my lips, staining the ground. The internal damage worsened, and I realized: my ether had been sealed.
Normally, injuries like these would vanish with half a breath. Now they festered, growing worse.
"But then again... that man..." she mused, eyes distant. "For him to know about Vere, even with his connections sealed... I see."
She lost interest in me for a moment, her gaze drifting elsewhere.
Then she smiled.
"Alright then, off you go."
Suddenly, the world shifted again.
We were standing before the Avan Gateway. A colossal, seething void caged between two blackened pillars, grown from the Mother Tree of the latent grove.
The darkness pulsed hungrily like it had a will of its own.
"Wha... what are you do... doing?!" I gasped, clutching at nothing, desperate to resist.
"It's going to be a long fall," she whispered, her soft and cold breath nabbing at my ear.
And with a flick of her wrist,
I was hurled into the abyss.
Before I could even scream, I felt my body disseminating. The cold air raced across my body one last time.
My short, broken life flashed before my eyes, which of course were granted the honor of witnessing the final sight of the real world being her condescending grin.
And so, for another time, I welcomed the darkness.