Red sky.

Warm air.

Barren land.

The young man stands on a marble slab in the middle of a forsaken town.

His hands grasp the chains that smother him.

The wind blows dust into his hair as he gazes out at the nothingness.

The reluctant tears have long since evaporated.

But the pain remains...though it has been hidden away now.

Footsteps pad closer to him on the baked earth.

Two scarred feet.

Still damp with primordial ooze.

The young man doesn't turn around.

"Have you finished your job, Alex?" the Eidolon asks.

The young man nods, still staring.

A pause.

The Eidolon speaks.

"What did you feel as you killed them? A rush of power? The thrill of oblivion? As you severed their connections, did you feel the freedom of knowing that you have cast off their chains?"

"I have gained their chains."

"Are you feeling regrets, Alex? Regrets have no place in a quest for power. They hold you back, drag you down from what you could become."

"What is power without anything to exert it on? It is worth nothing to me at this point."

"You cannot back out now. Do you not remember Garet's words? We all have Fates inexorably linked to our actions. You have made your choice already because of what you have done. This is your destiny, Alex of Imil. Accept it, embrace it, for you can do nothing else."

The Eidolon's aquamarine gaze settles on the young man.

A silence.

"...you see now the pain of your crime. And it paralyzes you."

The young man's back stiffens.

"The weight of your chains is the weight of your crimes," the Eidolon says. "I am your Reaper...but I am also your Judge. By accepting your job, you had proved that your mind was unrepentant, ever ambitious for control. Your job, then, was also your punishment.

"But now you are chastised, and see the error of your ways. I will relieve you of the power you have gained, and free you to the oblivion."

The Eidolon reaches up to touch him—

"Wise One."

The name stops the Eidolon right in his tracks.

The young man finally turns around.

Cold blue eyes burn against a crimson horizon.

"I'd been wondering what your motive was for offering me the chance to gain power again...to 'finish the game'," he says. "First you snatched the Golden Sun from my grasp, seemingly for a righteous cause. And then you instructed me on how to reach again for what I had lost. But here, in this dead, dry desert, I see you for who you truly are."

The Eidolon glares at him with a single aquamarine eye. "What are you saying?"

"You were the first to reach for the Golden Sun...and the first to fail." Alex steps down from the fountain, his chains falling around him like a regal cloak. "Its pure power corrupted your soul. You tried again, only to find that you were barred from its glory forever, and you were transformed into the form you had when you struck me down on Mt. Aleph. Your soul, at that point, was eternally damned. But that didn't stop you. Now, you guard the Golden Sun not out of good will, but out of jealousy..." Alex sneers. "You're even worse than I am, Wise One. Even with the knowledge that Weyard would die without the power of Alchemy, you lied to Isaac and his friends to keep the lighthouses from being lit. You would have left an entire world to wither away because you didn't want anyone else taking the thing you so craved but could never have! At least I would create a new world from the destruction of the old; you would have forsaken it to oblivion."

"Alex..."

"You lied...no, you manipulated me here. When I came along, I was something you could control. So you took the chance. You spouted off things about destiny and finishing the game and other such nonsense that I believed in my desperate state of mind. You dangled the bait, and I snapped at it—even I have to admire such sleight of hand. And even now you play at more deceptions, hiding behind the façade of righteousness and justice by presuming to be my Judge when the only one who has the right to judge me is myself. Through all of this...your mutated form, your chains...you have not repented. You had—have—only one goal in mind."

"There is no one here to blame but yourself, Alex," the Eidolon says, his voice resonant. "When I offered you a way to taste true power, you accepted it. The guilt resides solely within your corrupted soul."

Alex glares. "But you knew full well that under the conditions you set, I would accept."

"Do you not see? It was a test of your mind, of your morals!"

"Don't dare speak to me of 'morals'," Alex growls. "Neither you nor I have them. I may be guilty of following my ambitions by taking you up on your offer, but you are guilty of setting before me the trap to eventually leech off my labors...to 'relieve me of the power I have gained'."

The Eidolon's mouth is set in a grim line.

Alex laughs softly, though there is no mirth in his eyes. "This is all just a game..." he breathes. "An endless game of chess, forever cycling..."

"Do you see now?" the Eidolon asks. "This is the state we are reduced to. This is the Fate you and I are linked to. There was no way you could have refused my offer even if you had wanted to."

Alex stares at the Eidolon.

The sun burns upon both of them.

Alex turns his head away.

Aqua strands obscure his eyes.

"There is nothing to regret," the Eidolon continues. "You had no choice, and neither did your connections. You were their Reaper."

"No." Alex shook his head. "No...they told me things...deep, personal things...they spoke to me of fears and desires...they confided in me! Even when they knew what I was there for, and what I had done. I was not their Reaper; I was someone they could trust! Me, who had used them for my own purposes...who barely knew some of them!"

"That matters not in the end," the Eidolon says. "They are dead. You have done your job...and now I will do mine."

The Eidolon reaches out again—

"No, Wise One. I am not done yet."

The Eidolon blinks unbelievingly.

His hand lowers.

"What are you talking about?" he demands. "Those who hated you or loved you...they rest now. You killed them!"

"Look at who stands before you."

The Eidolon stares.

Alex glances up again. "I hate myself, Wise One. I hate who I am and what I have done. But that means that I still have a grasp on myself." He glares. "You have lost your true body and your true self. You're not concerned with power for yourself; you're concerned with power, period. You don't care what happens to you, because there is no you." Alex sneers again. "For all your supposed greatness, you've been relegated to the status of a common pebble. No feeling, no awareness of existence. But my hatred won't allow me to be numb to existence."

A crying wind.

Alex straightens up.

"I am still alive, Wise One. My job is not complete."

The Eidolon shakes his head. "See what such connections bring you. Only more pain, more chains." He steps forward. "I shall be merciful and spare you from it...and then we can both rest—"

"No."

The Eidolon twitches in alarm.

"This is my destiny...my fate," Alex says, his eyes blazing. "You even told me so! You say that I can wield my power here, like I always have? Then I will do so. I choose who lives, who dies...and who experiences eternal rest."

He holds his head up high.

" And I say that as long as I do not rest, neither will you."

The Eidolon trembles.

"Alex...finish the job."

"No."

"Finish the job, Alex."

"No."

"DO IT!"

"I said no!" Alex stands firm, fists at his side. "I have made my decision! It is final!"

"N-no..." The Eidolon steps back, disbelieving. "You must do it...you must finish the job!"

"I won't answer to you anymore."

"But we need to rest. I need to rest!"

"You have no power over me, Wise One."

The Eidolon spasms demonically.

He shrieks.

There is a piercing blast of cold and a swirl of sharp snowflakes.

The Eidolon is slowly freezing over.

Cerulean vapors dance their deadly dance around him.

Frost gathers on every hair of his body, stabbing into his pores.

Alex recoils in shock.

"Do you see what I have to go through?" the Eidolon growls through chattering teeth. "This is true pain, Alex, and how dare you accuse me of not feeling it! The cold here burns far more than the desert sun above us right now! If I had a chance to be where you are, sweating out your tears instead of having them freeze the moment they leave your eyes...I would give anything and everything! No matter the souls I'd need to reap, or the blood I'd need to spill, or even the power I would have to sacrifice! Whatever the price, I would do it in an instant!" He tears at his hair...his skin. "The cold is life, and it constantly tears at the burning death within me! The ice resides in my heart and keeps me eternally awake! Not even the endless trials of Tartarus can compare with the horrors I go through! This is true agony, and you have no idea of what it feels like!"

Alex gazes at the Eidolon's figure for a few more seconds.

And he bows his head.

"I do now."

The Eidolon casts a surprised look at Alex.

"I know now...and I will leave you. I will leave you to burn in your icy inferno."

"Alex..."

"As I leave to burn in the desert sands."

"Alex, you...you cannot leave me here."

"I can."

Alex turns.

And he walks away.

"Farewell, Wise One."

"Return at once, Alex!"

No answer.

"Do you hear me? Come back here!"

Silence.

"I'm sorry that I lied to you!"

Again, nothing.

"I'm sorry for being selfish!"

The earth wheezes.

"I'm sorry for taking the Golden Sun from you!"

The sky bleeds.

"YOU CANNOT LEAVE ME HERE!"

The Eidolon...freezes...