Chapter 4: Sadness

What could I do now? I was at a loss for words and actions. I surveyed the grim scene at Castle Nebulous and rage enveloped me. I cried out, wanting to know who did this, who killed Petrilisk, but my cries were left unanswered as the survivors were non-existent. I continued to lie on my bed, staring blankly at the wall ahead of me with saddened eyes. The anger that was within me earlier had departed, only to be replaced with a great sadness that commanded over my body. Petrilisk was a dear friend of mine, but he is now dead and I could do nothing to stop it. I cursed my weakness, if only I was stronger, then I would have been able to perhaps reach Nebulous in time and prevent his demise. Who was I kidding, I could never do that, if my brothers could not do anything to prevent this assault, then how could I? There was nothing left for me to do now but lie there with my heavy heart.

Hours passed as I did not once move from my spot on the bed as grief was the only emotion that filled me. I desperately wanted to know who the culprits where and how they managed to get in and out of the castle so quickly without a trace. I did swear on one thing, if I ever found who they were, I would make them pay for killing my friend. I knew that I needed to become stronger in order to avenge Petrilisk, as he was stronger than me and even he did not prevail. I greatly wanted to move out of my bed and train in order to improve myself, but this depression had taken me over completely, replacing what should have been determination with misery.

More time passed and Kana eventually made her return from her daily expedition of searching for the blueprints, "Ugh, no such luck today either… man, they really did a good job at hiding these blueprints!" Kana sighed. She looked at me and walked up to me with a worried expression, "Hey, why so glum? What happened?"

My only answer was to turn around and face the wall behind me; Kana did not take this too lightly, "Hey, are you ignoring me? Quit acting so down and talk to me! What happened?" Kana demanded and yet I still did not merit a response, "Hey, answer me! Why are you being so mean?" Kana shook me vigorously, trying to get me to finally speak up.

"Please, leave me alone today…" Were the only words I could muster myself to utter.

Sensing the sadness in my voice, Kana removed her hands and stepped back slightly, "Oh, sorry… bad day, huh?" Kana said. Kana stood there for a few moments and Just as predicted, Kana could not hold her silence for anymore than a few minutes, "Did something happen here? While I was outside, I did see a lot of dragonoids running throughout the castle. Must have been something big."

So she knew something happened. I figured I would tell her since she knew that much and she would keep pestering about it with no regards to my feelings. I turned around once more and faced Kana with my grief-struck eyes, "Early today we were attacked my some unknown assailants. We couldn't catch them, but they managed to decimate some of our forces. Not only that, but one of my closest friends was killed in battle." I bluntly said, trying to not choke on my words.

Kana looked shocked and glanced away quickly, "Sorry… I didn't know…" Kana whispered with a sad tone, "I take it he was dear to you, wasn't he?"

"He was…" I said as my eyes trailed around the room, as if searching for something.

"So what are you going to do now?" Kana inquired, "Surely you're not going to lie in bed all day and do nothing!"

"What can I do? I don't know who these intruders even were. Besides, my friend was stronger than I, how could I possibly hope to do anything against them now?" I responded, finally fixating my attention back onto Kana. It was strange, her cheery attitude was slightly ebbing away the sadness.

"If you don't know who they are, then go out and find them! If they're stronger than you, then get stronger! If he was your best friend, then you would want to avenge him right? How can you possible avenge someone by just lying here, being all depressed?" Kana said as her voice perked up.

"But I-…" I began, but Kana jumped up and down like child, interrupting me.

"No buts! Just get up and do it! Honor your friend's memory by getting up and doing what's right! He wouldn't want you moping around and not trying to avenge him, wouldn't he?" Kana said excitedly as she grabbed my arm and pulled, "Come on, up! Up! No more sitting around! Time to train!"

I sighed as a smile slowly returned to my face. I was lost in despair, but Kana somehow managed to bring my determination and happiness back. I just could not remain sad around her as seeing her energetic movements send signals into my body, forcing me to get off my bed and stand tall above her, "Alright Kana, I've got work to do. But first, some training!" I announced.

"That's it! Get going Archnir! If anyone can avenge him, it's you!" Kana yelled excitedly as I marched out of the room and towards the training room.

Refueled with a new resolve, I promised myself that I would not let anguish take me over again. I swore that whoever killed Petrilisk would pay, as I would be the one to avenge him. Not only would I even the score for him, but I would stop Bakal's death and change the future. I knew I could and now it was just a matter of putting these thoughts to practice.

Hundreds of years had passed as I continued to train harder and harder, not letting anything interfere. My resolution stayed strong as I trained, not once wavering. I trained hard with my brothers, putting all of my best efforts forward. Itrenog, Neiser, and Numak all assisted me in my training, while Ashcore remained a jerk and poked fun at me whenever the chance arose. Despite having all this time, Kana never found her blueprints and as usual began her returns to my room with complaints. I always questioned why she could not just go forward in time to the time period she originally planned, but she would only say that she liked my company and claimed she would die of loneliness. I was also curious as to why she never aged, but she said it was because she could not age, nor die from age, but could be killed by any other natural cause. We always had such interesting conversations and she would always tell me stories of the future while I told her stories of my past. We always had a great time being together, until the fateful day that arrived after five hundred years.

The day began like every other day, peaceful. There were no signs of attack and I decided to rest for the day since I figured one day off would not hurt. It was already mid afternoon when Kana came bursting into my room, with a huge grin on her face, "I found it! I found it! I finally found it!" Kana sang to herself as she danced around the room.

Slightly annoyed that she disturbed my rest by bursting into the room, I got out of my chair and towered over her, "And what exactly did you find that was so important that he had to scare away the silence within this room?" I asked.

Kana looked up at me with a huge smile and shoved a dozen old papers in my face, "I finally found it; the blueprints to the dimension where Gaebolg was stored! Boy, were these blueprints hidden well! Finally found them after five hundred years, about time! Now I can finally return to my own time!" Kana announced as he eagerly took out her time-traveling device and looked it over.

"Alright, time to go back and…" Kana trailed off in mid sentence as she looked up at me, "Oh… I'm going to have to leave you behind, aren't I?" Small tears began to form in her eyes as she looked at me.

"Seems like it. You'll have to take care of yourself, alright?" I said with a smile. I sat down on the floor next to her and looked at her directly in the eyes. I could clearly see the sadness within her shimmering eyes.

"But, but… I'll never see you again!" Kana cried as she jumped on me, hugging me tightly. I was surprised that someone of her size could have such a tight grip. Kana cried heavily as I held her, patting her gently on the back.

"It will be alright, I'll miss you too. Even though you have to leave now, I'm glad I got to meet you. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be where I am today." I said as Kana finally peeled herself off of me.

"You mean it?" Kana wept as she wiped tears from her eyes.

"Of course I do. I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it, right?" I responded with a smile. I was sad to see Kana finally leave after five hundred years, but she did not belong here. I was happy for the fact that she finally found what she was desperately searching for all this time.

"Archnir… can you come with me, please? It will be so lonely without you in my time." Kana said as tears continued to trickle down her reddening cheeks.

"I'm sorry, you know I can't go with you. I got to protect Bakal, remember? He needs me here and I don't just want to leave him to die, like in your time." I stated.

"I know, I know… I'm going to really miss you Archnir…"

"I'm going to miss you too. I'll never forget you Kana." Kana smiled one last time before punching in some numbers in her little device.

Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard somewhere within the castle. Startled, I immediately looked up towards the door to my room and ran over there, swinging it wide open, "What's going on?" Kana asked as she looked up from her device.

"Not sure… but that wasn't an ordinary explosion…" I muttered as I looked around the desolate hallway outside. Another loud outburst was heard and the castle shook, "Just what is going on out here?" I stepped out into the hallway, trying to figure out what was causing all the shaking.

Curious, Kana walked over to me and looked up and down the hallway with a confused look plastered onto her face, "Strange… fireworks maybe?" Kana questioned. Her confused expression was quickly replaced by a look of shock as she quickly looked at her device, "Ah! I should have known! Today is the day!"

"What do you mean by that? What day?" I asked, when it suddenly hit me. I ran and looked outside and saw huge machines rising up against the castle, waging war on the ground. Kana mentioned this, she said this day was called the Machine Revolution; it was the day of Bakal's death.

"I've got to get out of here! I'm going to die if I stay here!" Kana exclaimed as she fiddled around with the device some more, "Archnir, last chance! Sure you don't want to come and keep me company?"

Before I could respond, the castle shook violently and my room and hallway split in two, causing Kana to fall. I quickly rushed over to her and grabbed her as her time-traveling device fell into the rubble below. "No! I need that!" Kana called out desperately.

"Damn, this wasn't supposed to happen!" I growled. I hoisted Kana back up as a huge rock fell from the ceiling and smacked us both in the head, knocking us out.

When we finally came too, the once beautiful Empyrean landscape was turned into a smoking warzone. The gorgeous blue sky was tainted red and black. The air smelt of sulfur and smoldering metal. I looked around and glanced at Kana, who was safe within my arms. It seemed as if she was alright. I heard loud explosions and fighting going on as I sighed with relief. The revolution was still going on, that meant Bakal was still alive and I could still come to his aid. I slowly got up as Kana stirred around, groaning slightly.

"My head… what happened..?" Kana said dazedly as she got up to her feet. She shook her head and looked around, "My device! I hope it's not broken!" Kana quickly dove down into the debris a few stories below and began madly searching for it. Sure enough, she found it and returned back to me and began pressing some numbers in it.

"Now it's finally time for me to return. Good luck to you Archnir, hope you can protect Bakal!" Kana cheered.

Before I could get even a smile in, footsteps were heard loudly running down the broken hallway. Kana heard this and quickly dashed into the remains of my room as a slew of dragonoids came running through the hall, "What's going on here?" I asked worriedly as the dragonoids ran on by.

"Bad news, a group of humans breached the castle and Itrenog was defeated by them! They're currently battling against Neiser, but we fear it isn't going well!" One of the dragonoids said as he ran on by.

What? Itrenog was killed? Neiser was having a tough time against them? Just who were they fighting? Itrenog is much stronger than me and he was just simply defeated by a group of humans? How could I hope to defend Bakal when even my brothers can't? These thoughts began filling up my mind as I stood in shock from the news.

Kana saw me and tugged on my pants, "Archnir… we have to go now. Your brother has fallen, I can't allow you to stay here and get yourself killed! You're my friend, and friends don't let other friends get killed!" Kana yelled out.

"I have to go! I need to protect my father! He's in trouble!" I yelled back at Kana.

"Your brother died, what chance do you think you have against them? Come with me now or die!" Kana yelled back at me.

My mind was flurried, I had no idea what to do anymore. I wanted to protect my father, but I knew Itrenog was much more powerful than me and yet he did not stand a chance against these invaders. I was so conflicted at the moment. I quickly grabbed Kana's arm and out of frustration, I yelled out, "Take me with you, I don't want to die!"

I could not believe the words that just came out of my mouth. Did I really just want to run away from everything? Before I had a chance to think about my words, Kana simply responded, "Alright! Let's go!" Kana pressed her small device and the next thing I knew, everything went black.