EVANESCENCE ~
It was like my soul had been cut out of my body. Pain was all I ever felt. It was the entirety of my existence, and I found myself struggling every second that passed to remember what it was like to feel happy.
'The Heart of Chaos beats within my chest,' Caius had said, 'a manifestation of Etro. Should my heart cease to beat, the Goddess will die once again, and the Chaos of Valhalla will be released. The Chaos has power enough to infect time itself and destroy the past.'
I ignored him and fought on.
I saw the flash of a sword; felt as Caius took hold of my weapon and plunged Odinblade through his own heart. The man who raised me felled himself with my sword.
I held Serah in my arms as she gasped her last breath and shed her last tear, and the so-called blessing of the Goddess stripped from her what little time she had left.
I watched from atop an airship as the Chaos that was Valhalla burst through the veil and assimilated Academia.
I saw the floating ark, Bhunivelze, as it plunged into the Chaos and was torn to pieces.
I saw the greatest hero who ever lived give up on the world. She ascended to Etro's throne and resigned herself to endless sleep, encased in crystal.
It was like a nightmare, only now I couldn't wake up, because the nightmare had become real. Before I knew it, a decade had passed and no one had aged a day. But then, was it really a decade in a world with no time?
I'd had enough; enough of this endless nothingness.
I looked up at the throne. A woman sat atop it, looking down in sadness. Her legs were crossed and a sword rested across her lap.
Lightning Farron; Etro's chosen warrior.
She gave up.
Now I was too.
A crystal staircase appeared before me, leading up to a small platform the laid before the throne. I slowly, sadly trudged up step by step.
It was a strange time for it to come back to me, but the only memory I had of my mother invaded my thoughts in the form of a lullaby she'd sung me to sleep with when I was a child.
Long ago, when I was just a boy,
So alone then;
Last of my kind in the world.
I believed if I could be reborn,
I would go back in time,
Change what's to come.
She was right. I had gone back in time, and I had changed the future.
By destroying it, that is.
I drew Odinblade and planted the prow of the blade in the platform, then knelt on one knee.
"I don't know if you can hear me, anymore," I muttered, but trailed off. What the hell was I doing? Talking to Etro? She was dead. Talking to Lightning? She may as well have been.
But still, I kept talking. "If you can hear me, please… just end it. I've played my part in this sick game of fate."
Something tickled my knee and my fingers. The platform had started to extend up my legs and arm, turning them into clear blue crystal.
"I suppose I'll never really know why you chose me, Etro, but know that I truly did try. I…"
I took one last deep breath.
"I never wanted any of this to happen."
Then, I just felt the pain start to slip away as the Crystal Stasis swept across my mind.
Then…
Nothing.
IS:P is coming. I've got about a tenth of it done, which is sort of pathetic, but hey...
I just really needed to explore something else for a few minutes. I might release more oneshots set in this universe, depending on whether or not I'm in that much of a rut.
Anyway, I reassert that IS:P is not and never will be dead. Neither are any of my other stories, though they may take a long time to finish. That's all I need: time. Give me that and I promise you, you won't be disappointed.
So... yeah. Thanks for reading, guys. I hope you enjoyed it to the extent that it's enjoyable.
