Chapter 52: Goodbye, Silver

A bright red beam shot out from behind Blaze, striking right into Galvaria. He yelled as the beam forced him back onto the floor, leaving him struggling to get up. Blaze looked in surprise and turned around to see Sol with her arms outstretched, a bright red beam shooting from her hands.

"What's happening?" Blaze yelled amidst the sharp noise of the beam.

"You can't let him do this, Blaze" Sol said, looking at Galvaria with concentration. "I'm using whatever energy I have to hold Galvaria down. I can't keep him down for long, but it'll be long enough for you to deal the finishing blow!"

She turned back to Galvaria, who was yelling in an attempt to try and break the searing beam. She felt her heart continue to sink as she watched him struggle. She saw not Galvaria, but Silver.

"I...I can't!" she yelled, tears continuing to slowly fall from her eyes. "He means too much for me to kill him!"

"You can't let that stop you!" Sol shouted. "If you keep contemplating this, Galvaria will get back up! His power will be renewed, and there's only enough power in the Sol Emeralds for the final blow!" she yelled. It appeared as if Sol was struggling to keep Galvaria down under her power.

Looking at Galvaria once again, she felt Sol's words echo through her mind. Only one more strike. It was true; she could feel that the power of the Sol Emeralds had almost fully depleted, whilst the power of the Hestia Blade within Galvaria was just becoming stronger and stronger. If she wanted to save the world, she had to do it now.

But as she took a step forward, she felt her heart slightly give way. She fell to her knees, holding her chest. The images of Silver were stuck in her head; her vault of memories had opened up, flooding into her mind and stopping her advance. She continued to sob tears into the floor, trying her very best to overcome it. But it was no use. She couldn't do it.

She stood up, afraid to even look at Galvaria in the eyes.

"I'm sorry, Sol!" she cried. "I can't kill him...I love him..." she said quietly.

"No!" Sol shouted. "Don't give in! Deal the finishing strike!" she screamed, before gasping in pain. Blaze turned around and saw that Galvaria was slowly starting to get up. Blaze felt a rising bubble of horror inside her as she saw him overcoming the beam of fire. The bubble burst, and rage seeped through her veins. She became angry and ran at Galvaria, her sword out, ready to finish him off, once and for all.

She reached Galvaria's face and grabbed his rough hair. Yanking his head up and bringing her sword up into the air, she prepared to sink her blade right through Galvaria's head.

But as she did, she gazed into Galvaria's eyes. She saw Silver. Gritting her teeth, she tried to close her eyes, but they were jarred open by the image. She saw images of Silver being stabbed by her sword, him lying on the floor in a pool of blood. He saw images of his smile, his face, just normal images of him. The images compared and contrasted with each other, pictures of the past and the potential future. She felt as if she had the power to stop what was happening within those images. She knew it had to be done, but she didn't know how long she would hold out. She wanted to be with him one more time. Only once, before she could do the job.

And because of that, her arm started to lower. The intensity in her face turned into a weak whimper as her eyes glistened with her tears. Her grip on Galvaria's hair loosened, until she let go completely. She stepped back, almost in utter disgust at what she was going to do. She was almost going to stab Galvaria through his face. Through Silver's.

"...*sob*...I don't want...*sob*...I...I don't want you to die...I love you, Silver...I lo...*sniff*...I..." she stammered, unable to control her tears. She dropped her sword and fell to her knees, digging her hands into her face, crying as hard as she could. The fact that she would never see Silver again, no matter what she did, crushed her entirely. She didn't even care about death or the world any longer. She only wanted to be with Silver, and if he was dead, then she would join him as soon as her death came about to the hands of Galvaria. With so many thoughts circulating in her head, driving her crazy, she could only stay on her knees and cry.

"Blaze!" Sol shouted as the ground started to tremor with Galvaria's growing power. "H-Hurry!"

Sol watched in complete desperation as Blaze remained still, sobbing into her hands. She felt her power diminishing. Galvaria managed to hoist himself up onto one knee, defeating the beam that kept him down. His head still hung low as he looked at Blaze, his teeth gritted, almost in a twisted smile.

"...I'm sorry...everyone..." Blaze said quietly. "I've failed...*sob*...I deserve to die..."

"No, you don't"

Upon hearing the voice, Blaze felt as if she had been struck by a giant wave. It was a voice she hadn't heard for a long time, a voice that felt so pure and different, and a voice that she had been missing for so many days. As she looked up, she saw a transparency within Galvaria's body, a transparency that revealed a figure within, with his emaciated, bony body, withered skin and muscle and tired face. A destroyed figure, but a figure that Blaze loved to the point of being unconditional. It was Silver.

Blaze watched in utter shock as she saw the vision of her lover within the monster.

"Blaze...There is still time..." Silver said quietly. Albeit his appearance, his voice sounded just as healthy as it was when he first vanished. Time seemed to slow to a halt upon his appearance, the atmosphere turning into a cold black and white.

"...Silver...is...is that really you?" Blaze asked quietly, walking towards Silver until they were merely a metre or so apart, with only the bodily presence of Galvaria separating them. It felt as if she were looking into a glass bottle.

"Blaze, I know it's tough" Silver explained, looking at Blaze tenderly. "But if my death results in the salvation of this world, then I'm ready to die. I'm a soldier...I was born for this" he said.

Blaze was still emitting a few tears from her eyes.

"But I don't want to kill you..." Blaze pleaded weakly.

"Blaze...you can't just let Galvaria regain his strength" Silver pleaded back. "If you kill Galvaria now, it's true that you may never see me again. But if you don't then it's certain that you'll never see me again. Do you understand?" he asked.

"...But I love you..." Blaze continued, wiping her teary red eyes with her arm.

"And I love you" Silver replied. "With all of my heart and more. I wanted to build you a world that was perfect for you...and if Galvaria survives, I'll die knowing that I failed you..."

"Silver...please...don't make me do this...It's too much..."

"And it's not just me you're fighting for. There are other people in this world who need you. Your parents..." Silver noted. Blaze's eyes opened slightly. She had almost forgotten about her parents, and as the image of them appeared in her head, she felt even more stupid and guilty for everything she had said. She missed them tremendously.

"...I...my...my parents..." she uttered.

"You see? Can you find the courage inside you, Blaze? Can you do it?" Silver asked, putting his bony hands together.

Blaze looked down and found that her sword had mysteriously moved, now lying be her feet instead of where she left it. It was as if it were alive, ready to work with Blaze to vanquish Galvaria. Blaze looked at it, feeling a tremendous sense of destiny behind the blade. Slowly, her tears finally ceasing, she picked the blade up and held it firmly by the hilt. Looking back at Silver, she noticed that he was struggling.

"Argh...I can't speak with you any longer..." Silver uttered. "Galvaria's influence is becoming too strong. This is it, Blaze...your final chance to save the world...Blaze...goodbye..." he uttered. Closing her eyes, clenching her sword as tightly as she could, she took a deep, harsh breath, a couple of tears re-emerging from her eye lids.

"Goodbye...Silver"

With all the rage and power built up inside of her, she let her hatred loose. She started to slash wildly at Galvaria, cutting through the flesh all over his body. She felt the blood spray onto her, but she didn't care any more. She knew Galvaria was to blame for all of this, and for every slash that she dealt to Galvaria, her anger doubled. She screamed and yelled as she cut open various parts of Galvaria until he was a bleeding mess. With a strong cut, she completely struck his arm right off of his body, adding to Galvaria's screams of extreme pain. Then, just as Blaze felt her energy waning from the exertion, she let out one final yell and sunk her blade right in between Galvaria's eyes.

There was a silence as Blaze looked into Galvaria's eyes again. There was nothing this time, no Silver or anything. Just pure white.

Standing back, Galvaria got to his feet, screaming. The entire area shook wildly, as if a gigantic earthquake was taking place. Everything around Blaze turned white as every touchable material vanished into thin air. She looked at Galvaria, who had thrown his arms out screaming, blue light shooting from out of his body as a flame shot out of his head, like a meteor crashing into a planet. Blaze could hear Galvaria's frenzied screams continuing as his body started to dissipate into nothing. As he did, a few comprehensible screams came out.

"CURSE...YOU...BLAZE!" he screamed as his body disintegrated into ashes. "Curse you, and curse everything you live and stand for! Curse Sol, curse Silver, curse Zanskar, and curse your damn Sol Emeralds! Curse the gods! When I break free many years from now, I shall return onto this weak planet and wreak utter havoc on this pathetic little existence! I'll never die! I am a god!" he screamed in a deafening voice, before his voice faded away into a little squeal, vanishing with his body.

Blaze felt supremely weak and fell down. There was no floor to break her fall; she just kept falling into the expanse of white around her. She felt herself resting slowly on a soft surface. Looking up, she saw the face of Sol, smiling down at her. A finger stroked Blaze's hair as she lay wounded by all her battles, the cuts and gashes sending torrents of pain. Blaze looked weakly into Sol's soothing stare as she was stroked be her finger. Her eyes were closing, her body was weakening. She felt depleted of everything. She had lost Silver. She had lost all meaning to her life. Everything she loved felt empty and useless. As her eyes closed and her body shut down, she could hear Sol speaking.

"Thank you...Blaze"