Arc 1-The Other Fate:

As the scions and the warrior of light fall, Ryne is stripped of those who became a family to her and has to face the impending doom without her guiding stars. As people of Crystarium praise their heroes for purifying the sky, their lives are on the brink of extermination. Meanwhile, the ascians search for another way to bring about the rejoining and thus find their key buried in the Empty...

...

And so, the rain of darkness has ceased, leaving naught but death in its wake…And there she found herself, alone.

The screams have faded and were overtaken with grave silence. The abyss of Amaurot has turned into the wilderness of Lakeland, brimming with life as it always has been. Ryne stood among its trees, frozen, unable to move…Barely able to think. The girl might have returned, but she wasn't home. She couldn't feel the playful wind crossing the boundless land, couldn't hear majestic songs of birds flying beneath the crystal-clear sky, couldn't see wild animals roaming in the distance…

Ryne looked up once again, but just for a moment. The girl quickly averted her gaze from this sky, completely unable to realize why. She made an attempt to walk, but her legs would not respond. She was but a figment of her mind, fading and losing control over her body. The world around her was not alive anymore; it existed, the same as before, but its emptiness was slowly consuming Ryne.

The sense of time was all but extinguished for her; how long was she standing there for? Minutes? Hours? It felt like an eternity. An eternity similar to the life she spent in Eulmore's prison, but even those days paled in comparison.

Ryne looked down and tried to think with all her remaining willpower. To recollect her journey to Amaurot and the clash that followed, naught was found in her memory. Naught but countless flashes of moments from her past, emerging and disappearing so quickly, Ryne could not recognize them. There were voices, a myriad of them, yet none were apparent. They were unintelligible mumbles, something's with a recognizable tone. And yet one phrase was as clear as it was in the fleeting moment she heard it.

"A smile better suits a hero."

Ryne smiled reflexively at this thought. It was a weak, pathetic smile, unable to conceal the hollowness in Ryne's heart. She must have looked like an idiot; this thought caused the girl to giggle inadvertently. She wanted to take this advice to heart; she indeed did…Thancred would have understood. He would have helped. But he won't. Not anymore.

Finally, Ryne found it in herself to take another step. One after the other, she eventually moved. The girl walked towards the beacon in her sight, the Crystal tower rising above the city. That was the only place she could go to. Still, Ryne didn't think, had no control. She walked methodically, akin to a machine following its programming, attempting to be a futile parody of a living being. As the girl walked, she would still hear these echoes in her mind. Some benign, others burning with malice. They became louder and quieter in the whirlwind of pure chaos, making the girl shiver uncontrollably.

As she moved, the world around her became bleaker, evading her grasp of life, ready to dissipate at any moment. A reminder of what transpired towered above her. Her legs became weaker, the wounds were still fresh…If only they were her only source of agony, how blissful would it be?

As she walked across the bridge, reaching the gates of Crystarium, only a few people were in sight, guards at the other side. Neither was concerned with doing their job; all they did was talk with each other and look at the sky…

As Ryne passed them, not paying any attention, the puzzled voices of these men echoed in her ears.

"Hey, isn't she of the scions?" - One of them asked with suspicion.

"Hm…No, that's not her. That girl has yellow hair." - The second one denied after fleeting thought.

"She seems…Strange. What was she doing alone in the wilderness? I'd say we go and check in with her." - The concerned guard this.

"Oh, do you even hear yourself? She must be in disbelief that the light's tyranny is finally over! I had to explain the reality for ten people in the last few days; someone else can do it to her. For heaven's sake, we won, don't ruin the moment!" Another one responded with pride.

"Yeah…I must be seeing things. We won…" - The fading voice said as Ryne entered the city.

She had no strength to expect anything at all, but what she saw made her freeze for another stomach, brimming with inner disgust. The streets were filled with citizens and guards gazing at the sky. The plaza was full of happy cheers, smiles, and laughs.

"They did it; the bastards did it!"

"Look at the sky, how beautiful it is!"

"Is it truly the last time…"

Ryne maneuvered among the crowds to remain unnoticed. Citizens did not look at her, too concerned with letting out their uncontrollable joy. All their hopes were fulfilled, a promise of a better life finally before them. They hugged, cried, and kissed their loved ones, anything that would prolong this moment and make it more powerful. Anything that would make them feel even more alive. To transcend the limits that have oppressed them all of their life. Ryne wanted to be happy with them, but that was beyond any possibility. Two younger boys ran beside Ryne, full of energy and excitement. One of them carried a wooden sword.

"Give up, monster! I will bring you to justice and free our land!" - The one with the sword shouted, taking a battle stance resembling Edwin's.

"No, you'll never stop me, ha-ha! Lightwardens will consume your city with light; we will kill you and take all of your biscuits!" - The other one responded.

"You think you can beat the Warrior of Darkness? Hah, I'll never let my people fall to you!" - The boy yelled and chased his friend, running past Ryne and pushing her accidentally. The girl could've resisted it any other time, but now she did not have enough resilience. Ryne fell on her knees. The hit immediately brought her back to reality.

"I'm sorry!" - The boy said before running after his friend. He sounded so genuine and so innocent, Ryne was getting sick to her stomach. As the girl stood up, she did her best to control the dizziness and walk forward. She needed to reach the tower, needed to get away from this…

Ryne continued to stumble, seeking the tower. She was getting closer, but there was no sense of it. The tower only got further as Ryne walked towards it, a safe haven that eluded the girl. The voices became too loud, too unbearable. Soon they turned unintelligible, merging into one, just like in her visions.

At first, it was mumbling, conveying no purpose other than burning catharsis. Gradually, it became malicious. The voice gained form and tone; the chaos had submitted to order and clarity. One voice rang out, demonic and vile. Spreading through Ryne's mind is akin to poisonous decay.

"I am Hades, who shall awaken our brethren from their dark slumber!"

Several flashes lapsed between Ryne. A horrific, deformed, dark creature. There are dozens of elder masks on wings of darkness, covered by hundreds of eyes. The god of the abyss, bearing the crown of Amaurot. He was everywhere, no matter where Ryne looked. She couldn't help but shiver, surrounded by his nightmarish presence, having nowhere to run. Ryne was pulled out of this ephemeral dream through another voice.

"Oi, lass, you alright?" - An old man who sat by the crates asked with concern. Ryne shivered and looked at him. He was the first to notice how unsettled Ryne was.

"I… I'm alright." - She said very quietly; the old man moved closer towards her, not hearing the response.

"Eh?"

"It's just hard to believe that…You know, the sky and…" - She could barely form a sentence. Ryne saw a pleasant smile on his face.

"Ah, happens to all of us! I couldn't believe myself, though it was another blasted dream!" - He exclaimed. "Celebrate, lass, finally we can be happy 'bout something." - He said before getting back to his place. He had no malicious intent; his happiness and smile were nothing but genuine, but looking at them, Ryne wanted to puke.

She needed a few more minutes to collect herself and make another move. However, this time she did not have to wait.

"Ryne?" - Finally, a familiar voice. As cautious as ever, but now with under stones of unsettlement. The girl saw Lyna, a tall viera woman looking at her with worry. Lyna wasn't sure whether this was indeed Ryne, but she was certain of it now. "I didn't expect you to return…Not so soon." - Lyna walked towards Ryne. The girl looked down while avoiding Lyna's eyes. She didn't have it in her to look, to talk about what transpired.

"Hello…" - Ryne uttered quietly, feeling like an idiot at the moment. She couldn't say anything else. As she tried to speak, words slipped from her mouth, confused by the sounds around her. All this noise, this excitement, she couldn't concentrate. She looked around in panic, trying to see if anyone was listening to them. Lyna realized something had gone wrong. Horribly wrong.

"Ryne, what happened there?" - She asked with the seriousness that immediately pulled Ryne out of her fragmented state, if only for a slight moment.

"I… It's…" - She could barely talk.

"Please, I need you to concentrate. What happened? Where are the others?" - She pushed slightly but quickly realized that Ryne wasn't susceptible.

"Wait…Can we go to the tower…Please?" - She finally managed to say what was on her mind for a while now. Lyna changed her gaze from worried and stern to sympathetic. She sighed and tried to maintain eye contact with evading Ryne.

"Very well, let's go. But tell me everything that happened when we're there." - Lyna said and led Ryne to the Crystal Tower as the girl followed.

Ryne knew she had to tell Lyna the truth; she needed to know, they all did. And yet, she had no idea how to open up. When Ryne tried to think about the dreadful moment, flashes of Hades echoed in her mind, immediately causing her to shut off. She didn't want to think about him, think about them, or think.

The next moments went like a flash. Ryne did not identify anyone around her except Lyna. The guard captain led her to the ocular. When Ryne finally found herself inside the tower, she could finally breathe calmly. The azure walls made her feel like she was at home. This was the place where scions regrouped before setting out on another adventure. Where the beacon of hope could protect them from the tyranny of light. The legends of a portal between worlds, the limitless bounds…

For a moment, Ryne forgot. Forgot about them and what happened; she was just having a dream, a very confusing and draining one…But it was a dream, right? The girl sat by the tower's wall, looking at the celestial drawings on its floor. She didn't move at all, didn't say a word. Not until Lyna sat beside her and looked at Ryne.

"Ryne, it is serious. Where are they?" - She said with worry in her voice; Ryne wasted what little remained of her strength to raise her eyes as Lyna.

"T…They… 're gone."

…

They were gone, were they not?

G'raha was in an ephemeral dream, looking around and making sense of his surroundings. There was nothing but the light's energy, similar to the aura of Crystal Tower, yet so much stronger. G'raha walked in the light, trying only to remember. Trying only to recollect.

The Exarch saw a silhouette before him, the proud paladin he always looked. The hero smiled and gazed into G'raha's eyes, but this was far from a happy smile. It hid a sorrow of many trials and losses behind it, the tragic path he walked. The one that has now reached an end…Of course. This was the end. For Edwin, this was the end.

G'raha tried to reach for him, but the hero dissipated right in front of him. The dream ended before the Exarch could run, and he finally opened his eyes. Back to the reality that he wished to forsake at that moment.

He found himself at the familiar square with aetheryte in his sight. This was the place he only saw in flashes and recollections, the phantom city Emet brought him into. A hauntingly majestic area populated by ghostly giants following their established routine. They were in constant fear of tomorrow, of the dreadful future that would strike.

They were a memory of a long-forgotten world that has changed thousands of years ago. Emet-Selch told them about it, his memories, and his goals. After many years of fighting ascians and catastrophes they caused, there was finally some understanding. G'raha understood. No more was there a question of why the desires of these ancient immortal beings were familiar to many mortals. There was no fairness in the calamity they had to endure, but neither was there any justice in what they did now…

G'raha remembered…He looked around, beholding this magnificent city once again. He managed to break his shackles back there, free himself, and journey through Emet's creation to the heart of this illusion. He was just in time to help Edwin and the scions in this battle against the ascian; he summoned help from beyond the rift…Among these figures, G'raha saw one of his size. A man in the clothing of garlean nobility gazing at the horizon in silence. At this moment, he was finally awake.

G'raha remembered all of it. How the battle transpired, how they fought as a team against Hades and his creation. How he heard the dying gasps of his friends who fought tirelessly against the ascian. How they perished, one after another at his own hands. No mercy, no regret, no holding back. Emet disposed of them like broken toys; he could only save Ryne…

And then there was Edwin. The hero G'raha always looked up to his inspiration. The one that never gave up and rose against all odds, be it primal, the Empire, or ascians. His last plea was to sacrifice him so that this world could live…He discovered this world just recently and was still ready to give his life for it. The Exarch wanted to feel pain, some humane emotion…But not yet. He could only feel emptiness and weakness, slowly forcing him back into sleep.

G'raha attempted to move but could not. The ascian's dark magic chained him to the ground while the Exarch was too weak after this battle to resist. This, however, immediately attracted Emet's attention. The ascian turned around after hearing G'raha moving, following it by a quick teleport at his side. There was nothing G'raha could say to him, nothing he wanted to say.

"Are you happy now?" - The ascian said with disdain, looking at G'raha from above. "Happy with what you achieved with that little trick of yours?"

What answer was he expecting? G'raha could clearly hear his annoyance and anger; he did not know how to respond. The world around him seemed chaotic; nothing made sense anymore. His hero could not be defeated; he couldn't…

"My only consolation in killing your "vaunted hero" was that in such case, at least his death would serve a purpose!" - Emet said with a familiar tone, but there was something else there that G'raha recognized. Was this a shade of grief? Of real pain? He must have been disappointed by his failure to rejoin the First. G'raha felt no sympathy. "But your shenanigans have not only rendered his death meaningless…You have set us hundreds of years back!"

The ascian fumed. He tried to keep his cool, realizing that this would not work against the Exarch, but it wasn't an easy task. Emet spent many lifetimes building up to this moment, each of these moments of rejoining. One step closer to destroying everything G'raha and others fought for while restoring a phantom of their lost nation. Emet sighed and calmed down slightly, looking at him with disappointment.

"A story too familiar, isn't it? The same one I told your friends when they challenged me." - Emet looked over his domain, eventually focusing his attention on G'raha. "Heroes fight for their presumed freedom. Take a stand against us, one time after the other. Sometimes they fail in most pathetic ways, and their names remain forgotten and never to be mentioned in the annals of your history." - Hades kneeled before G'raha to look into his eyes directly. "You are of a different sort. You are the one who has potential, as were your accomplices. You weren't the first to exist throughout history; I suppose it's foolish of me to expect you to be the last. Your kind might actually succeed. Not in preventing our plans from fruition, mind you, but in slowing them down just enough to make their implementation more painful for your own kind. You ended my hopes for a momentary annihilation…Now they would have to suffer." - He spoke with arrogance and disappointment, trying to rub it as hard as possible into G'raha. When Emet finally finished, he would return to his musings, but not before the Exarch interrupted him.

"Why didn't you kill me?" - He said in a hollow quiet voice. Emet looked at him with surprise, either because he didn't expect G'raha to speak or due to his change from the usual tone. Nevertheless, he responded.

"For the same reason, I didn't kill you back in Kholusia. You are an enigma, something you share with your former idol. Suffice it to say, you bear potential…To bring another solution." - Emet said, avoiding direct responses.

"Do you expect me to…Help you? After all you've done? After you've…" - The Exarch couldn't continue, speaking became painful. Emet shook his head and looked at him with a semblance of pity.

"I expect many things, but having a rational conversation while you barely processed the loss of your allies is not one of them. I see no point in wasting time while so much needs to be decided…" - Emet stood up and was going to walk away, but he gave G'raha one more glance. "It hurts, isn't it? It will get better…After getting much worse."

A dark portal appeared in front of them; someone was approaching, another ascian by the looks of it.

"Look who decided to show up…" - Emet said with caution and approached the portal.

Perhaps G'raha could care. Maybe he could be interested in learning about Emet's plans for him. Maybe he could think about escaping this place…But at this moment, he couldn't care. Not for himself, not for the future, even the white-robed ascian emerging from the portal did not catch the Exarch's attention, for all were blocked by the pain.

The pain of his burning chest.

…

The moment the chest began burning would stay in Ryne's mind for the rest of her life.

She told Lyna everything in as much detail as she could. About their travels to Tempest, of what they found there. Of their clash with Hades, and the conclusion is reached. She did so calmly, unable to show any emotions at all. Ryne wasn't looking at Lyna's eyes; that would be too much for her. Lyna listened attentively; she had no words for her, none whatsoever.

Ryne could see it in her eyes. Shock, confusion, and agony. She tried to talk, but both knew that words were meaningless. A waste of what little energy they had. They stayed there for a few minutes before Lyna talked. Ryne already forgot what she said exactly, just like she couldn't remember what they saw in Amaurot, what G'raha did, who left first…An absolute shamble. Lyna was about to leave and talk to her guards, likely to deliver those grave news.

She asked if Ryne would be fine staying alone; the girl had already forgotten her response. It hardly mattered; Lyna was gone anyway. Ryne remained alone, having to face the reoccurring images of Hades before her. His voice echoed in her ears; his whispers made her shiver in horror. Left, right, up, down, walls, stairs, ceiling…Wherever she looked, she only saw one monster.

When Ryne could barely hold herself anymore, she slowly walked towards the exit. Lyna was there; she needed help, there was a lot to tell…Ryne stopped before she reached the door. The girl froze as her heart was pierced by a burning blade, smashed by a hammer into thousand pieces. She made one more step and fell to her knees once again.

Her chest burned, every fiber of her body was aching. Ryne felt as if she was pushed down by force equal to Hades himself. The girl tried to breathe, only able to grasp small airstreams, enough to keep her intact, not enough to get rid of this pain. Ryne was desperate, she wanted to breathe, but all her efforts were futile. And then the blade pierced again.

They were gone.

Gone gone gone gone gone…Thancred Edwin Alisaie all gone forever she is alone now…

And then the agonizing wail spread through the ocular.

Perhaps there was something reminiscent of Ryne's voice in it, but it was so distorted and deformed that it barely sounded human. The first sound lasted for almost a dozen seconds, after which came a moment of silence. In a few moments, it raged once more. Animalistic scream, second after second, almost turning into a pattern. There were some attempts to say words, letters coming out of her mouth, unable to form cohesive speech. It was so hard to breathe that Ryne tried to grasp her air, still unable to stop her soul's scream. Her heavy breaths broke the wail's patterns for a moment, in between of which the agony continued.

Ryne was lying on the floor, giving in. She realized the horror that had occurred. No more does she have a mentor and a protector, a few days after they were able to reconcile…No more did this world have a hero. Scions were no more.

The rest was bleak. Ryne could only remember a lone guard running into the hall when he heard the screams. He tried to help her get up and understand what went on, to no avail. Ryne couldn't stand up, couldn't walk, couldn't think, only scream.

For they genuinely were forever gone.