For Nimus, it was a straight shot from that horrid floating cage back to the comfort of his home in Sancturia. He hovered over the guarded city for a moment and observed the surrounding damages.
Luckily none of the fissures managed to get past the barrier, but it had sustained a decent amount of damage regardless.
"Damn, that really was a monster if it could hurt his barrier." Nimus mused to himself in amusement.
He then dive bombed straight through the center of the barrier like it was ethereal and swooped upright to transition into a perfect landing a few steps away from the Royal Hive, the grand golden citadel where him and the other Ten Sages reside.
Gabriel was at the entrance with his arms crossed, looking disturbed and tense. Nimus let out a quick whistle to grab his attention and as the man opened his eyes he remarked with relief, "Lord Nimus, you've returned safely."
"Duh. I'm not going to die that easily!" Nimus patted him on his armored shoulder and then looked up into his eyes, "So, how many of the other Sages have shown up?"
As Gabriel began to open his mouth Nimus pulled away and shook his hands out with a chuckle, "No you don't have to tell me...I'm the last one to arrive again."
"For once, you are not." Replied a strong and gravelly voice a few feet away.
Nimus raised his eyes towards a man even taller than Gabriel with a receding hairline and indominant armored build, complete with a scarab shaped tower shield on his back. He was carrying a bag at his hip full of some wordy, broken stone tablets and a canteen on the other hip.
"Well howdy do Stonestein! Not like you to be tardy for the meeting." Nimus walked on up and gave him a couple playful nudges into the chest, "What, had to mourn the loss of those silly ruins you like so much?"
Stonestein let out a brief and tired grumble before closing his eyes and commenting, "Like history, the ruins endure strong."
He then opened his eyes and remarked with a slight hint of disdain, "You have accomplished your mission, Nimus?"
"Haaa, lighten up will ya?" Nimus then reached into his pocket and pulled out the orb full of Wellspring energy, "One Sky Wellspring fragment, hand-plucked from that feathered bastard's nest."
"Lord Borealis shall appreciate this." Stonestein nodded.
"Yeah yeah..." Nimus grumbled under his breath, tucking the Wellspring away for now before remarking, "The younglings better have gotten their fragments while the Titans were distracted with whatever the hell that monster was."
Stonestein nodded, "We shall see."
As the two prepared to enter the citadel, Gabriel turned to them and remarked politely, "Permit me to speak, Lord Sages."
Nimus gave a flippant gesture his way and groaned, "Don't have to be so stiff, just say it, Gabe."
"R-Right," Gabriel coughed twice and then composed himself, "Have either of you seen Lady Temporis? I fear in the chaos that unfolded this morning...She's nowhere to be found."
"Ah shit," Nimus slapped his forehead and groaned, "Don't tell me the princess' outside the city at a time like this..."
Stonestein closed his eyes and mumbled, "Unfortunately, we cannot hunt her down."
"Right, duty calls..." Nimus flipped his goggles off his eyes and then walked right into the crystalline innards of the citadel.
The lights were dimmer inside and gave the place a relaxing and mystical appearance. The broad width between the walls let the voices of the other Sages carry out to him, confirming the presence of six others besides himself and Stonestein.
A whiff of the fresh clean air made him smile and remark "No place like home" with his voice melting into bliss.
Crystal veins in the ceiling carried energy throughout the building from the back room down into the city itself, which helped sustain the barrier.
Off to the sides were the glass doors that led to the hallways where their rooms were. Nimus hadn't slept in his bed in lord knows how long and had to wonder if that little red gremlin Vermilion went and messed it all up just to pay him back for the head pat's the other week.
There would be time to sort that out later though. Once he stepped foot through the large arched doors he was back to being a proper Sage, and will play along with the role given to him until the end of this meeting.
Stonestein split off from him and went towards the two doors in the back behind the throne to let Borealis know they were gathered.
"Ok, let's get a head count here..." Nimus murmured and then silently mouthed off the names of everyone here until he noticed a noticeable absence, "Huh? Where's Lilith?"
"Nimus." A voice, dripping with detachment from emotion, whispered out to him from the right side of the room.
He was a man with no hair and a hooded dark green cloak, covered in wilted leaves at the bottom half. In his sleeves were bubbling vials of poison. Most of the veins on his body were visible on the surface of the skin with the ones near his eyes the thickest and darkest, making half his sclera look like a dark purple liquid resided inside them.
Nimus walked up to him and gave him a friendly wave of the hand, "Yo, been a bit, Glade! So, where's our little Lady of Light gone off to?"
"She is on her way," Glade said, moving straight to the point, "So, you have finally secured the location of the Sky Wellspring?"
"Weeeeeell...Not exactly," Nimus turned his head aside and whistles innocently, then with a sharp click of the tongue remark, "I secured a portion of it off the kid the princess has been hanging around with."
"You were in contact with that boy?" Glade remarked bluntly.
"Yeah, guess all that time spent with him wound up being useful in the end. Who would've guessed?" Nimus gave a passive shrug and Glade glared at him.
"Then you should have secured fragments from the other Wellsprings he possesses."
"Oh come on!" Nimus threw his hand out a scoffed, "I wasn't gonna push my luck and get that feathered bastard after me. I'm a little rusty from all the 'peace' he provided, y'know."
Nimus then pulled the Wellspring fragment from his pocket and murmured, "Besides, now that I got a feel of its power it'll be easy to find the real deal next time ol' double-face let's their guard down."
Nimus' hand trembled and he let out a weak chuckle, "Man though, if this is just a fragment, I can see why she's so obsessed with obtaining the real deal..."
"Then you better make sure to remember this fleeting feeling of power, Nimus," Glade commented, "For once we surrender these fragments to Borealis-"
"I know, I know, it's back to square one for us pretty much," Nimus sighed, "Which means more years of having to be 'loyal' to his great leaderness."
He crossed his arms and chuckled, "How HAS she not cracked under pressure from keeping this up for so long?"
"It's because of the sheer strength of her poison that she has our loyalty."
"Heh, you're right. We wouldn't have gotten this far without her," Nimus turned around and took a few steps away with a smirk and a whisper of, "And now...this is where the fun begins."
He looked to the back as the door creaked open, and a man began to make his presence known.
With a dull sigh he followed the rest of his fellow Sages in falling on one knee and laying an arm over their chest.
One look at this man would show why he was worthy of such reverence to some. He was a tower built of regimented iron clad in a draping, sagely turquoise cloak. His hair was the same color, but glistened like a gem, with his beard acting in conflict with that by being rugged, almost like a bear's.
In each hand adorned a gauntlet. One of gold on his right, the other glazed in silver. The gold clad hand carried sharp fingers and a long ruby embedded on the back that branched out to his knuckles. The silver clad hand had perfectly replicated the look of human fingers down to the grooves of the fingerprints, but carried a sapphire instead.
He was an aging middle-aged man with wrinkles beneath his eyes but a firmness in his gaze.
The intricacies of what lies beneath the cloak made little difference. What he presented on the outside was more than enough for a leader of the Ten Sages, and the leader of all Aurians...Borealis Aurora.
...That would be how he'd usually present himself though, but today was different. He was weak in the eyes and his hands were limp at his hips. He was tired and fraught with worry, and the cries of his eldest daughter Auris, clinging to his side, would provide the answers why.
"Father, this is no time for a meeting! My sister is still out there somewhere!" Her fair skin had turned pale and her cheeks were damp with tears.
She barred her father's path with her body as a wall. His gaze turned downward and faltered a little as she pleaded, "If you won't assign anyone to find her then I will volunteer myself!"
"Enough!" Borealis proclaimed, his wise and grizzled voice shaking the room they were in, "Verily, I understand your plight my daughter, but I cannot risk your life now. Please, stand down until this meeting is over..."
"Hmph...!" Auris squeezed her fists.
"Do not behave like a savage in front of me, Auris." Borealis said in a firmer tone.
"..." Auris' body shook until her fists unraveled, upon which she turned and slowly stepped out of his way, bowing her head and whispering, "M-My apologies, father..."
Borealis nodded and then reached out towards her shoulder to whisper "I forgive you" and then continued onward with Stonestein standing behind him.
He then swung his hands towards the sky and shouted, "Rise before me, my fellow Sages!"
They stood on their feet in unison, with Nimus beaming him a brief nasty look. Borealis then tucked his hands behind his back and began to announce to them with a voice that was empowered by a force that could shake the heavens.
"Today we as a race stared down the face of the cataclysm and endured as we always have! You have many questions, but rest assured I have answers!"
Borealis then waved his right hand out and created a series of fuzzy windows depicting the events of the recent past.
It showed in close detail the face of the black beast that tore through the wyverns and dragons like sandpaper.
"This monster descended from the stars with a depraved nature and an allure towards the negative...Gaze upon it as it reaped fear from it's dying victims and engorged itself on their anger and helplessness."
"It was drawn to this world because of the violent nature of the savages that reside outside our walls! Thus...reaffirming what I've always stated."
He squeezed his fist and presented it towards his fellow Sages, crushing the devilish imagery into nothing, "That the people of this world need to be led back in the proper direction, a duty I will sacrifice my time and energy to achieve!"
"...I have asked nothing of you all but your trust and your patience. But now, through these dire circumstances, we have moved one step closer to silencing the false gods that nurture savagery in the hearts of all mankind!"
He then lowered his hand behind his back and turned his gaze towards Nimus, who felt a chill creeping down his spine.
"Nimus...Am I to understand you've acquired the final piece I need?" He asked softly.
"Yeah, you got it," Nimus walked on up without a care and pulled the Wellspring piece from his pocket, "One fraction of the Sky element, just as you ordered!"
Borealis reached out and took it, levitating it over his palm. He then breathed a sigh of relief, extending the other hand to Nimus' shoulder.
"Thank you, my friend."
"Let me GO already!" The meeting was interrupted by the sound of Temporis throwing a tantrum at the entrance.
She was being carried by the wrists by a slender woman with sleek black hair tied into a dainty bun. She wore a satin robe with faint streaks of black going down her chest and a double-layered dress skirt with the bottom layer having see-through silk and the top layer a very light shade of yellow. A ring of dangling glass balls full of light secured her waist.
Temporis was flailing around and kicking this lady in the stomach but she didn't react and continued to smile with her eyes closed.
"Pardon my interruption, Lord Borealis," She said in a smooth, sultry voice, "But I found this lost child wandering around outside of Caimanabal."
"Sister!" Auris proclaimed.
"Daughter..." Borealis murmured, his eyes trembling.
The lady lowered Temporis to the ground and the moment she let go, Temporis tried to elbow her in the gut only for her to not flinch.
"Screw you, Lilith!" She shouted.
She then pulled up her sleeves and marched on between the other Sages towards Borealis.
Borealis bent down and extended his hand out partway, "I'm so glad you're safe."
Temporis stopped and took a step back. Borealis' hand froze and then closed partway, with him retracting it back towards him with a weary look on his face.
Temporis grit her teeth and wondered, "Well I guess since I'm back here, you might as well tell me what the hell's going on with the planet! It was like Armageddon out there!"
Borealis gave a stern nod and then murmured, "...I'll tell you later. There's an important matter I must attend to as soon as possible."
"Important matter?!" Temporis growled, "The ground was getting churned up like butter and you wanna tell me-"
She then glared at the faint glow behind his back and with a quick bit of deduction remarked, "...Where did you get that?"
She quickly tilted her head up towards Nimus and proclaimed, "Uncle Nimus, how did you get a hold of that?"
Nimus calmly raised his hands up and remarked, "Now before you get any ideas in your head, princess-"
"Unbelievable," Temporis grunted, "You did something to Sarajin, didn't you?"
She then made a sharp turn around and then began to march off. Nimus then sighed and drew out the blades from behind himself to form a wall in front of Temporis.
"You really ought to just stick around for now. Seriously."
Temporis flashed a glare over her shoulder and declared firmly, "I'm going to check on my friends."
She then started to reach for her Drive, only to find Adderbolt zipping over to her side and restraining her by the elbows.
"Sorry, princess," He said in a sincere voice, "Can't let you do that."
Borealis raised his voice an octave and declared, "Did I give you permission to handle my daughter like that, Adderbolt?!"
Adderbolt shivered and meekly looked over his shoulder, "I-I'm sorry, Lord Borealis, I didn't mean to step out of line or nothing..."
Borealis extended his right hand out at Auris and snapped his fingers, "Please take your sister to her room until I can sit her down and have a talk."
"Y-Yes father!" Auris then ran over and took the reins from Adderbolt, using her strength to drag Temporis towards the doors in the back.
"Let me GO, Auris!" Temporis grunted.
Auris leaned towards her ear and whispered tiredly, "Enough already sister..."
Once the two were out of the room Borealis furrowed his brow and shook his head with a sigh. He then glanced across the room at Lilith and remarked, "I cannot thank you enough for returning my daughter home, Lilith."
Lilith brushed her arm out across her chest and remarked, "I've only done what's expected of me, Lord Borealis."
Borealis nodded and then gestured his hand to the other Sages, "This meeting is adjourned, but our mission has not come to an end. Let us continue down the illuminated path of our ancestors...For a peaceful world!"
"For a peaceful world!" The Sages proclaimed, all taking a knee in reverence of their Lord.
Borealis then nodded once more and turned to return to his chambers beyond the doors.
"Lord Borealis, if I may." One more voice called out to him from behind, speaking with a raspy but mostly polite voice.
Borealis peered over his shoulder at a man standing in his shadow. He wore a yellow mask that melded into his face with metallic black webbing over his eyes and a permanent smile at the bottom. A tight, dirty black robe entangled his body, and four prehensile spider legs stuck out from the sides of his shoulders and thighs.
A few dark red sashes wrapped around his waist while faded gray symbols covered his body. He wore gloves on his hands and thick boots, all covered in a sticky material.
He gestured his hand out warmly to Borealis and remarked, "The survivor and the two otherworldly children...I have put them in separate rooms as you have requested."
"Thank you, Atrax. I shall attend to the survivors shortly."
Atrax bent one of his spider legs before his chest and murmured, "You are most assuredly welcome, my Lord."
Borealis then exited through the door.
Atrax stood there, and Nimus walked on up beside him, nudging him on the shoulder gently.
"You sure that was a wise call, giving him that Justek kid?" He whispered.
"It'll keep his attention for a while at least, while we continue to work in the shadows." Atrax whispered back.
"You should've run the plan by the rest of us first though," Nimus replied, "You know how bad your sister gets when things don't go her way."
"And that shall be my burden to bear," Atrax chuckled, "A little spontaneity can disrupt even the greatest of minds."
"You should be more concerned with what 'Lord' Borealis will do with those fragments." Atrax said slyly.
Nimus shrugged and turned around, rolling his hand around in the air as he walked away, "Eh, what's the worst he can accomplish with a few bits of power?"
Atrax's head creaked back and with a hearty chuckle he whispered under his breath, "More than you could possibly imagine, my companion..."
Borealis had retreated to his workspace in the very back of the citadel. In this expansive space, where the dimensions of common sense no longer applied, he shelved hundreds of books along the walls and ceiling, each containing the intricacies and secrets of the laws that govern this world.
Pure, refined crystals hung in the air without strings, filling the space with their mystical warm colors. There was a cauldron in the center of the room but today, it was at the side, a ten-sided seal now burned into the ground by magical energies.
There were nine orbs floating above a runic circle at each side, with the addition of the Sky Wellspring making it ten.
He hovered the fragment over with a gesture, and then held his hand in the air, observing the power inside them all with a dew of sweat trickling down the side of his face.
He pulled his hand away and reached beneath his robe, grabbing hold of a prismatic, blue-ish stone dangling at his neck.
"Silvis..." He whispered, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath in and out...
He then extended his right hand towards the ten orbs and the ruby on the back began to glow, the light seething out like the end of a comet's tail.
"With my Golden Mandate of Equivalency, I command your future," Borealis said in a firm voice, as the orbs began to fizzle and dissolve to the atomic level, "In the name of the Forebearers of Aura, you shall become as one and serve my will."
The orbs began to push towards the center of the seal at the exact same pace and not a millimeter off. Borealis began to sweat a little more as the orbs approached their inevitable collision.
A pulse of raw gravity ricocheted off the orbs and knocked some of the books off the shelves. Borealis stood resolute with his eyes flared open, for no mere wind would blow him down.
The orbs pressed together at a singular point and sparks flew off, smashing the crystals to nothingness and scarring the walls.
All manner of elements flew forth and bombarded him and his workspace, while the light within the orbs began to swirl together into a blurry rainbow color.
Borealis pushed onward against the onslaught of elements as the blurriness sharpened into something solid. He then thrust his other hand up and caged the completed rainbow colored orb within his aquamarine aura.
"With my Silver Decree of Theology, I bring you to yield!" Borealis shouted. The energies from the orb went wild and bashed against the ever-shrinking orb.
Borealis' left gauntlet started to crack and he grit his teeth, "As expected from the source of all life...! You may be strong, but my will shall prove your superior!"
He moved against the tides of power until he stood within arms' reach of it. He then forced both his hands around the orb and held them an inch away.
"Invert properties!" He proclaimed, his golden gauntlet glowing.
The energy started to bleed a deep crimson and the energy shooting out through his aura was black and hollow.
"Ghh...!" Borealis grit his teeth as a slight ill feeling swelled up in the pit of his gut, "And with this final step...! Shall I be closer to freeing this world from it's false gods!"
"Forge!" Borealis squeezed the orb like he was forming a new star. With one massive crunch the turmoil ceased with quick and immediate silence following.
Between his gauntlets the crimson glow bled out like actual blood. He slowly pulled his hands apart and what he was left with was three semi-thick sigils independent from what one could define the natural forces of the universes.
They were the infinity symbol laid vertically, but with thorny lines coming off the signs that wiggled around on their own. But it was more than just a symbol, the infinity itself depicted a dragon from it's tail to its head overlapping what appeared to be an apple. At the top of the symbol, the dragon's maw was wide open, ready to consume the apple.
Borealis was sweating profusely but it felt like ice on his skin so long as his eyes met this sigil.
He levitated them out in front of his body over his right hand and stared at them, marveling at his accomplishment, "It is done...The Anti-Genesis Theorem."
The sigil whispered demonic noises into his ears, but he calmly squeezed his gauntlet taut and whispered, "Contain."
The sigils were bound in thick vials reinforced with subtle magic seals.
"Haaa..." Borealis dropped his hands behind his back and sighed, "Now then..."
…
Screams. Screams of the living, screams of the dying, screams of the fearful who have yet to be targeted. So many screams. So much fire...Too much blood.
But all Justek could recall...was black. Black, and one instance of searing, burning red.
And when the soon to be damned were not screaming, he was being assaulted by a tumultuous hurricane of warfare between beings beyond his knowledge...
In this chaos of memories, one voice scratched it's way free and forced itself to the front of his mind...
A desolate, gravelly whisper where all happiness is swallowed up, like a black hole...
"SCREAM for ME...!"
"AH!" He let out a cold scream and heard the clatter of his glasses falling upon the ground.
His eyes were thrust wide-open but all he saw was pitch black nothingness.
Panting, exhausted, and empty inside in every facet of his bodily functions, the only sense of normalcy he could adhere to were attached to his glasses.
But as he tried to claw desperately towards where he heard them fall, he found his arms being pulled back and locked into place, with a rattling noise soon to follow.
"Where am I...Where am I?!" He shouted out in desperation.
He heard the faint sound of babies crying, it seemed to be coming through a wall, "Babies...babies...other survivors?!"
His mind was a jumbled mess and he tried to move his arms again, just to fail. He then wrenched his head forward and screamed, "Can anybody hear me?! PLEASE!"
The burning, painful memories made him cry heavy tears and saliva spewed from his mouth with every scream, "Where is my mother, my father...?! Sarajin...Temporis, anyone! Please, I beg of you, hear me!"
He heard a door opening, but could still not see anything. Heavy footsteps approached him, carrying a man with a voice as strong as iron, "So, you have awakened...half-breed child."
"W-Who are you...?!" Justek screamed, rattling his chains.
"I am Borealis Aurora, leader of the Aurians."
"A-A-Aurora...? You're Temporis' father...!" Justek sputtered that out but felt no sense of relief from this discovery, "Sancturia...Why...why am I in Sancturia, and why can't I see anything?!"
"...Your experiences have taken an unfortunate toll on your soul. I understand. I, too, have known the pain of loss. It is a gravity that none should have weighing on their shoulders."
"L-Loss...? No...no no no no no NO NO NO NO NO! You can't be saying what I think you're saying! Take it back, TAKE IT BACK!"
"I wish I could turn back the hands of time, and deny the present reality. But we are both trapped by unforeseen circumstances...A cruel joke by an even crueler world. You have lost much today. Your home, your people...And even your eyesight."
"My...my..." Every utterance of consequence weighed heavily on Justek's soul, rending his poor heart until it was ribbons in his chest. Now where there was a bark, the poor child was left to whimper, "Everything...gone...?"
But there was the tiniest glint of hope he could focus on, and with it, he thrust his head out and came up with one more roar, "LET ME GO! I MUST SEE SARAJIN!"
"I cannot," Borealis said decisively, "Do you not understand? As the last of your kind, you are burdened with the legacy of their power...And such monstrous strength shall be coveted by the savages inhabiting all the Tribes. I can sense the tides changing once more...War shall begin again in time."
"But here, you shall be sheltered from the hostilities that shall sweep the land."
"I do not care for your 'sanctuary'...!" Justek reached deep within and started to draw upon the power of his heritage to bend the chains at his sides, "Sarajin is my FRIEND...You will not keep me from him...!"
Borealis snapped his fingers, and Justek found himself pulled down by even tighter chains, with one collaring his neck as well.
"Ghhh...!" He coughed.
Borealis sighed, "I shouldn't have expected better...Verily, a well-read beast is still a savage at heart. Ready to bear his fangs at even the slightest opposition..."
Justek felt warmth approaching his chest and Borealis' voice now directly before him, "You will despise me for a time, I am accepting of this fact...But eventually, we shall rid your tainted soul of this needless poison called 'violence', and you will come to appreciate my guidance."
"Until then, I shall bear your fangs of hatred on my neck...Just as you shall bear the weight of this name upon your soul, and be reborn."
Justek's eyes bulged as he felt Borealis penetrating him on a spiritual level, burning him so thoroughly inside that it was like he was cast into a thousand fiery hells.
"Invoked in the language of the forbidden tongue, I engrave upon this child's soul a last name, one that shall instill and beckon obedience to my word and law. And this new name shall be...'Arcavira'."
But this power was invoked without any external pain to Justek's body...Perhaps he had grown too numb to the feeling.
He now felt...eerily relaxed. He remembered the pain and fear, the sadness and rage, and even the happiness of the past, but now it's like he couldn't express any of it.
"What did you do to me...?" He asked in a perturbed tone.
"I have used the power of Alchemy to engrave a new purpose unto your soul." Borealis snapped his fingers again and Justek felt his body collapsing out of the chains, the back of his hands limping against the cold floor while his chin pressed against his chest.
"Now...you will adhere to my guidance, so that I may save you like I shall to every soul the false gods of this world have led astray."
"And to accomplish this task..." Borealis pulled out something that immediately made Justek's blood curl worse than anything the blackness could've managed, "You shall become the first to bear the sigil of their end."
"NO! NO! NO!" His soul screamed, but his body remained still, as Borealis opened the vial and guided the burning red sigil to Justek's chest.
And that was when the true pain began, as the inside of his soul tore open with a bloody scream that no one would get to hear.
This...was truly Hell.
…
…
Everyone had a price to pay for the events of this day, but none felt they felt it more than Sarajin.
He remained alone in his room for days on end following the betrayal of trust at Nimus' hands. He did not know if his best friends were well, or even alive. But why would he be able to do anything about them even if they were? He couldn't change anything...and everything he did felt pointless.
He was glued to the edge of his bed staring quietly out the window when he was awake, and staring at the ceiling when he was asleep...
His mother had tried to bring him food but he didn't eat a single bite. His father was struggling to come in and say a word, withdrawn into his own regrets after the laceration between himself and his son.
One day, Darnia chose to just stand outside his house and look up at the sky. His loving wife soon joined him, looking a little faint in expression these days.
"How are you feeling, honey?" She whispered, laying a hand on his chest.
He laid his hand over hers and turned to look at her loving face and pull her closer with a dim smile, "It's healing just fine. Thank you."
She pressed her face against his chest and rubbed it gently, letting out a long and weary sigh, "If only we could heal our son's heart..."
"Mmm..." Darnia sighed.
Misty pulled back and asked, "Have you had a talk with him yet?"
Darnia closed his eyes and turned aside, "I've thought and I've thought, and the words are there...But not the soul."
"How can I possibly look my son in the eyes again after I hurt him so...?" Darnia raised his hand before his face and cursed it's presence with his glare. He squeezed it into a fist and shook his head, "He has every right to hate me for the rest of his life."
"Darnia," Misty grabbed hold of his hand and forced him to turn and face her, raising the hand before his chest, "I've done everything I can for our son. Raised him, nurtured him, and was there as a shoulder to lean on. But this right now...? Is a problem only his father can help with."
Darnia pulled her hand to his chest and stared longingly into her tender eyes. She felt his beating heart, palpitating with stress.
"Everything I've done has been for the worse...I do not know if I could bear to fail again."
"Then do not lose the one thing you've done right." She whispered, caressing the side of his face, and reaching up to give him a brief kiss on the lips.
"..." Darnia put a hand on her shoulder and nodded, "Thank you. For everything."
He then pulled away and entered his house. It was empty, and quiet, leaving him with this lasting sense of tension over his body as he made his way up the stairs to his son's room.
He lingered at the door, the only thing standing between him and his son being two simple footsteps.
He reached out, brushing the cloth aside, and stepping forth, refusing to let hesitation hold back what was necessary.
What he found was his son only half-alive, his smile and optimism gone. His eyes were red and his body didn't budge an inch at the provocation of even the gentlest of breezes.
Darnia frowned and moved towards the bed. His son continued to stare outside even as he sat down on the opposite corner.
There was dull air between the two that was broken by the occasional hum. Darnia kept his gaze distant and craned his head back towards the ceiling.
When he finally mustered up the courage to speak, he spoke softly and with plenty of remorse, "...When I was young, I too had dreams of grandeur...Of peace, of happiness, of wonder..."
"Reality crushed those dreams into powder and made me bitter and detached from the world I once loved..." Darnia laid a hand atop his lap and sighed, "I thought I was raising you to be a better man than I ever was...But all I was doing was projecting my insecurities and mistakes into my parenting, trying to restrict your dreams instead of nurturing them."
"And that was wrong. You...are your own person, my son, with wonderful hopes and aspirations. I...cannot help but envy your determination and spirit."
Darnia turned and leaned in with his hand laid halfway between them, "But none of that excuses the lies and secrets I have kept from you. In trying so hard to keep you safe, all I've done is push you away."
"You've become a fine young man...And a better person than I could ever hope to be."
This drew a tear and sniffle from his son, who slowly shook his head and murmured "No I'm not" defiantly.
Sarajin dug his nails into his pants and trembled, "What have I ever done right...? I haven't been able to convince anyone to stop fighting...! I was too stupid to see that I was being deceived...! And I can't even be strong enough to make sure my friends are ok!"
The tears continued to flow as he tearfully proclaimed, "I'm worthless...!"
Darnia grabbed hold of Sarajin and pulled his face into his chest so the tears would soak into his poncho. The two of them trembled, as Darnia began to cry himself.
"You are NOT worthless...!" Darnia bemoaned in a pained tone, "You have done things even I couldn't have managed. You have called forth the mighty Voltneir, befriended faces from all across the Tribes, and even managed to venture into the city of Sancturia."
"None of that matters...!" Sarajin exclaimed, "I'm not special...! I can't change the world!"
"No. No my son...!" Darnia shook his head defiantly, "You're you. And what you are...is kind, determined, and hopeful."
Darnia pushed him out by the shoulders so they could look each other in their tearful eyes as he continued, "Do NOT let one mistake define your entire life when there's so much good you can still accomplish. Please, do not let yourself become like me..."
"You can STILL accomplish your dream of making this world a better place...And from now on, I will do everything in my power to support you in your efforts."
"Y-You will...?" Sarajin sniffled.
"Yes..." Darnia smiled weakly and nodded, "This will be our chance to start over...As father and son. So...can you give this foolish old man a second chance to do things right?"
Sarajin's smile slowly began to return, pivoting the trail of his tears off his cheeks, "I...I will, dad!"
He then threw himself into his father's chest and held him tight, "Thank you...thank you...and I'm sorry for never listening to you before."
"No..." Darnia held him back, "I'm the only one who should apologize..."
Sarajin closed his eyes and with his sense of optimism renewed just a little, he made an internal vow towards the future, "Wait for me Justek...It'll take me some time, but I promise you...! I will become strong enough to see you again, and I WILL make this world a better place...for all of us!"
Chapter -119: Innocence's End
ACT 1: END