Over all those years, Hades lost count of how often he would revisit the most painful memories in his mind. They were his burden, his shame, and his motivation to carry on even when all odds had been stacked against him. But now was not the time to ponder on those griefs any longer but rather explore a memory that was buried deep in his mind. She was closer.
Hydaelyn's presence loomed ahead as the lone ascian stepped over the crystal paths forged in the transcendent labyrinth that was the Aitiascope. Even for the one who could enter the rift at his own will, this was the passage that opened paths that Hades did not know of before, those that led directly into the heart of light.
Admittedly, this also brought pain. Even after Zodiark perished, the dark aura still surrounded Emet, and being in an environment full of light was excruciating. It couldn't be more obvious when broken memories emerged from the dark blue stream that surrounded the ascian. The crystallized beings were eager to feast on his aether; they were weak and fractured souls that were stripped of their identity, bar the futile desire to maintain their form and prolong this pitiful existence. Normally, Hades would have no problems dealing with those pests, but the light wore him down. The ascian felt himself reaching for the depths of his limits to annihilate those souls. Still, the rays of darkness were enough to send a dozen of them back into the cycle.
Until he sensed a familiar soul.
"Solus!" - A piercing shout echoed in Emet's ears. It was a broken and tired voice that reignited with passion and fury as soon as the ascian approached. A black spark blocked his way, a tormented soul that was slowly deteriorating, losing its own identity within the stream but not willing to give in to reincarnation just yet.
"Varis." - Emet said calmly, realizing that this wasn't an unlikely outcome. His grandson lived a life of shame and servitude to a cause he was forced to believe in and had to force others to believe in, all at Solus's behest. Nothing but an empty promise of mankind eventually becoming one perfect race and nation when all of their souls would be rejoined. He believed that this honor would be given to garleans, the poor fool.
"To see you here, in all of the places…" - Varis spoke with disdain. "You have fallen low."
"Such a nuisance…" - Emet sighed. "Have you not learned that your spite means little to me?"
"Even when your dark god has been destroyed? Yes, I know…The sheer surge of souls that pierced the fabric of reality in an instant could leave no room for interpretation. And now, for the first time…We are finally on equal footing." - His voice sounded maniacal and unhinged, a common trait of souls that lingered in the stream for too long.
"Stand aside. You do not truly think you can beat me, can you?" - Emet didn't like the prospect of wasting his time and energy, but Varis spoke sincerely.
"Hah, overconfident, how common for demons like you." - The spark expanded and began to form a body. Varis's phantom emerged before Hades, but it was twice the size of his original body. His empty eyes gleamed with hatred and eager resolve, and his pale skin fused with metal armor completely. He had no hands, only a sword and shield infused with aetheric magic and stuck out of his body.
"Very well…I will give you one last warning."
"AAAARGH!"
Varis charged at his grandfather with the fury of an entire lifetime. A puppet in life right until Zenos ended his life, now, in the rift between worlds, he was finally able to cut off his strings and allow the sheer desire for vengeance to cloud his mind.
Emet created a shield of darkness that blocked Varis's attacks, though even it could not stand forever. Emet teleported behind and unleashed a number of dark arrows at his grandson. The soul evaded some of them, though others managed to wound him. Varis grunted in pain before turning around.
"Attacking from the shadows and running away, as you have always done." - Varis spat at him.
"Is that what you call being pragmatic? If so, need I remind you that this is the exact approach that helped me create an empire for your people?"
"My people? We were YOUR people, too!" - Varis shot from his gunblade, attempting to pierce Emet with the energy of aether. This time, the ascian was not as quick to evade as he would have wanted. These were but a few hits, but even they burned. Varis's soul being in such proximity to Hydaelyn infused it with light.
"Enough of this! We went over this many times, or can we add memory to the list of your failures?"
"How dare you?!" - Varis rushed towards Emet, but the ascian was prepared. He created a claymore with his magics, clashing it with Varis's gunblade. Two broken souls were stuck in a clash of one's resolve, with Varis not even thinking of return. Despite a fleeting hesitation, Hades knew that he would have to unleash more to pacify him.
"It wasn't I that killed you and destroyed your Empire; it seems someone has problems with accepting responsibility!"
"You abandoned us again…Because you never cared, now I have no doubt!" - Varis spouted. "I know that our people dying in hundreds means nothing to you, probably just another spectacle for your twisted mind! But tell me…How did it feel to realize that your esteemed lord Zodiark is gone?" - Varis smiled with glee, pushing onwards. A momentary weakness allowed him to gain the upper hand and push Emet to the side. A few more steps and the ascian would be thrown off the crystal bridge into the light. Whether he liked it or not, a portion of his power would have to be used to send Varis into the cycle.
The ascian got up and teleported further away, creating a sense for Varis that he was stuck to his previous strategy. The fallen Emperor began to form crosses of Terminus Est with his gunblade, three of them in a row.
"Getting weaker, are you?" - He said before unleashing all of them, one after another. Hades created a dark aura that managed to absorb the first two. The third cross annihilated the aura, but here a trap was laid for Varis. The explosion of the shield deflected the magical cross back into the Emperor. He did not have time to react, and the energy pierced him.
Before Varis could strike again, Emet created aetheric mirrors all around Varis, unleashing their energy with a single snap of his fingers. The powers burned Varis, causing the man to scream in agony as he tried to deflect the light.
"Never listening to warnings, even in death." - Emet said with disappointment.
"DIE!" - Varis rushed towards the ascian, but Hades created a number of dark chains that tied the fierce warrior to the crystal floor; the man could not resist as those chains drained him of his power. Varis shouted, desperately trying to get to Emet, no matter how much agony every step would bring him. Even now, the ascian could see pain and shame in his eyes, more evident than ever. It was a pitiful sight, but the ascian knew that he was not in a position to judge him.
"Do not try to go against the current. That will only worsen the pain." - Emet said distantly, not moving at all.
"NO!" - Varis screeched before falling to his knees just a few steps before reaching Emet. His strength was exhausted, and the dark chains tied his soul, burning its essence away into oblivion. Varis was defeated and broken, and his fury was replaced with unyielding shame. "Not…Again…"
"It is long past your time." - Emet sighed. "Soon, you will return to the stream and reincarnate in a new body, a new identity that has no scars of the past…Though this isn't the world you would want to return to, not after the dark god you despise so much was killed."
"Tell…Me…" - Varis looked at Hades with a face of defeat. "Did you truly…Not care? You created an empire for the ages, a nation of pride of glory, people looked up to you, worshipped you, I did…Does Garlemald mean nothing to you? Not a single memory that will be worth keeping in that utopia of yours…"
"There were some." - Emet said gravely. "Alas, they were all but obliterated with the death of my firstborn son. Marcus allowed me to forget the reality of the sundered's pathetic existence…A sweet illusion, aye, but time and time again, my sentiments come to haunt me."
"All my life…" - It was hard for Varis to speak; cracks of light began to form on his body as it deteriorated. "I tried to live up to your expectations…I exceeded everyone in strength, I learned everything there was to learn about leadership...I never allowed myself to submit to anyone or anything, trained my will to be unbreakable…And still, you looked with disdain. Even now, after all this…I am just an animal to you. All of us are…Is that not so?" - Emet heard genuine pain in Varis's voice. The ascian was never kind to him ever since he was a boy, and it was not Varis's fault.
"You never stood a chance." - Emet shook his head. "For are not one of us, not one of the unbroken. The world I seek is not the one you dream of, and there could never be a reconciliation. Garleans were tools, first and foremost."
"As it has always been…I do not know what you seek, grandfather, but I hope it will burn you. I hope that it will make you suffer like we have…"
"Spiteful, pitiful little boy, what was I even expecting." - Emet turned around, ready to continue his path and leave Varis to perish, but something didn't allow him to move on. There was a stark feeling in his heart, a sense that this was a final opportunity for something that Hades wished to say. The ascian turned around, much to Varis's surprise. "However, know this…I've been to Garlemald, seen it with my own eyes. Most were tempered, and the few that retained their mind were left to freeze until they died. The palace was turned into a warped tower among the ruined city, where Zenos and an ascian renegade created an abominable eikon in your image…"
"Even in my last moments….You still want to rub my wounds?" - Varis didn't have the energy to be angry; it was clear from his faint voice that he wanted it all to end.
"My goals there were my own, but I met your people. I met Quintus van Cinna and the remnants of the Ist."
"Quintus…He is alive?"
"Very much so. I spared no words and told him the truth, everything that you had to keep from him for a generation. He told his closest associates, and I imagine it is only a matter of time before the truth will spread to the rest. He was crushed, just as you were when you first heard the tale." - Emet said in a tone of echoing regret. "I needed them to aid me in assaulting the tower, and in the process, I saw hope. Most of them accepted me regardless of the truth, and I saved many garlean lives. Even Quintus admitted that if not for me, they would have to grovel before Eorzeans or maintain their dignity and perish. And when the time came, I destroyed the abomination born of your memory. As someone who played his part very well…You did not deserve to become a twisted monster."
Varis remained silent as Hades recounted those events, but the ascian felt his soul growing calmer with every word. The rage within him subsided slightly, allowing for his soul's essence to finally crumble and let go. Varis peered into Solus's eyes one last time before closing his own. In the next instant, his body dissipated. Emet felt his soul returning to the heart of the stream, forever erasing the identity of Varis zos Galvus. That was the end for his descendant, exactly the one Hades planned long before his birth. A man defeated and forced to his knees, a soul who played his part in this game of his overlords, finally ready to perish forever.
And yet, it did nothing to make this moment any less bitter.
…
Emet continued his way deeper into the stream, nearing the mothercrystal itself. The ascian was still at the height of his power, yet for some reason, he could not let go of his grandson. He wondered if he would have done things differently had he had a chance to reverse time. Was he too resentful for a grandfather? What if he had given the young boy the care and love he desired? Would he have been different? Like Marcus…
As the lone ascian approached the inner circles of the Aitiascope, he sensed an overwhelming presence. A mighty stream above him, it was made purely of unsundered souls. They swirled in a vortex that engulfed the stream, which was too aetherically thin for them. Emet felt some of the souls separating from this stream, but they were immediately overtaken. The stream erased most of their souls, reducing them to a single shard, no different than any of sundered. This remaining shard was absorbed by the stream, forced into the same cycle as everyone else. His brethren, all manually stripped of their strength and memories, enduring the same fate that those sundered by Hydaelyn did thousands of years ago.
A sight to bring a tear to the eye, reminding Emet once again that this world was lost. There was no redemption for him and others, and the only chance was to rewrite the past. An intriguing thought emerged in his mind that even despite G'raha undoing that eight umbral calamity, his fabric was not unraveled. Perhaps in all those years, he became a part of this world and did not have to perish. This meant that there was still a chance for Hades to live among his peers in the past. A bittersweet image of him seeing Themis being the young and vibrant man he was before the sacrifice, spending time with Apollo and Hythlodaeus before they parted…He could only imagine himself together with Emet-Selch of the past being annoyed by their friend's antics and still aiding them in every endeavor.
It didn't feel right, however, to abandon Hythlodaeus and Apollo he knew here. Two souls for whom he gave his everything, trapped in an endless cycle of life and death. Hades gazed at the vortex once again, it was impossible to discern a soul when there were so many of them, but he wondered if Hythlodaeus was still there. If he still persisted.
Those musings were interrupted by an azure spark emerging before Emet, the sight of which caused the ascian to involuntary recoil in shock. He hasn't felt this presence since the fateful battle in Azys Lla, thinking it to be forever extinguished. This soul was unsundered, desperately resisting the stream's influence that intended to break it apart. The despairing force of hatred and disdain served as a boon in that. His soul was beyond salvation, but it was not extinguished yet.
"Lahabrea…" - Emet said moments before this spark unleashed a wave of fire upon him, causing the ascian to teleport to a safer place.
"You failed us!" - The spark screamed in a spiteful voice before descending to the crystal floor.
"What…What are you going on about? It's me, Emet-Selch, and…"
"I know who you are!" - The voice interrupted him before taking a horrific form before Emet. The vessel was that of Hephaistos, but a major scar permeated his body, cutting to the very essence of his soul. The corruption was spreading, slowly burning Lahabrea's essence away, causing him to fall to the deepest pits of despair, despair that reminded Emet of the horrific path Lahabrea had to go through. Watching Hephaistos slowly turn from the wise man and talented leader that he was to a deranged fanatic and a man completely devoid of sanity, thinking only of the chaos that furthered their cause. To suffer even more pain in death was a horrific punishment. "From the moment of my death has the duty of restoring our lord been entrusted to you and Elidibus…You were the hope of our people; you were our future! And now the stream is drowning…Those that we vowed to bring back, our savior, went, and you failed to give them the life they deserved!"
Hephaistos created an array of his own arrows, charging each of them with primal flames and leaving Hades barely any space to retreat. Emet-Selch channeled the power of darkness once again, allowing him to absorb half of this fire. Despite the pain he felt from remnants, the ascian did not want to fight Lahabrea. They were brothers in their misfortune, and Emet's hands were stained with Themis's blood. As the forces of fire and arcane darkness clashed amidst the realm of light, Lahabrea continued to mock Emet.
"Always so arrogant, how quick you were to criticize my methods, my hastiness. Where has your patience brought you? Is this what we fought for all those years?!"
"I wonder how you would have dealt with an enemy flying out of the damn rift and snatching your victory at the very last second!"
"Do not deflect the blame! You know of our agreement, you know of the promise we gave to each other…For all of them, for Themis!" - A shameful memory emerged in Hades's mind. He and Hephaistos rarely got along, with methods, pace, and visions of the future being a common source of their constant bickering. However, there was another that united them. Both knew that whatever suffering they went through, it paled before that of Elidibus, the one who heard voices of the past that slowly drowned out his identity. He who gave his all before and after the cataclysm, they agreed that he was the most deserving of them to see their world restored. For him, the two would put aside their differences and do everything in their power to ease his burden, even if it meant sacrificing themselves for the cause. "We swore to die before allowing Elidibus and Zodiark to fall…Yet here you stand."
Hades had nothing to respond with, no one to deflect to. The promise was fresh in his mind, an oath that allowed him and Lahabrea to remember what they were fighting for and work alongside each other. An oath he forgot after Hephaistos died, going back on everything he swore. Here he stood, indeed. With nothing to save and nothing to restore, a coward who wished to run away to a world of his dreams, abandoning those who gave their everything for this cause. It stung, and every second was well-deserved.
"I…"
"You've done enough!" - Lahabrea shouted before continuing to fight. An array of fire surrounded Hades, slowly burning his soul away. Emet forged a staff of darkness in his hand, helping to channel the magic.
A powerful spell of darkness infected the crystal floor; it had only a few moments to strike Lahabrea before being expunged by the sheer power of light around them. Emet had to act as quickly as possible, trying to rely on the spells that were arcane in nature and did not utilize the darkness. A wave of ice emerged to shield Emet, one of the strongest spells of black magic he knew. It empowered the ascian and made him resistant to the fire spells, but only for a moment. The flames engulfed this aura and extinguished them in a matter of seconds. There was truly no rival to Hephaistos in flame magic.
"Pathetic." - Lahabrea mocked him.
"I don't want to fight you! Our true enemy, Hydaelyn, is nearby; it's her I need to use my powers on!"
"I care not about Hydaelyn, she has already won. And it is all because of you!" – Hephaistos stroke once again, trying to wear Hades down. The ascian could see a look of pure spite on Lahabrea's face. "I wish it was Igeyorhm that left the capitol that day…You deserved to be sundered with the rest of them!"
This was the moment Hades knew for certain that Lahabrea was not speaking rationally. No matter how much he despised someone, Hades knew that Hephaistos would never wish the horror his son had to endure on anyone else. The blade of light harmed his soul, extinguishing all the dark power he had from Zodiark; the pain it brought upon him must have been immeasurable. The only way to end this was to heal this wound with the power of darkness.
"You want me to suffer so much…" - Emet said as he teleported closer to Lahabrea. "Here I am, then! Guilty of everything you ascribe to me. I was entrusted with a duty of protecting Zodiark, of protecting Themis, and I failed. Tricked by a renegade that unleashed the same cataclysm that destroyed our world eons ago! Everything…Is my fault." - Hades used this as bait, but every word was true. No matter how much it hurt him, there will always be a moment when one cannot run from his failures. A moment when one accepts them and does not repeat the same mistakes again. He could not ease the pain of his brother atop the tower, but now he would not run from an opportunity. "Come, then, Hephaistos, claim your prize!"
The furious ascian charged toward Hades; his skin was engulfed in flames that he was willing to annihilate his former friend with. Yet while he was approaching, Hades prepared a spell of pure darkness, one of the last remnants of their lord. Moments before Lahabrea could unleash his wrath, Hades forcefully grabbed him and let the darkness free right in the place of the light's scar.
"What…Are you doing?"
"The least I could do." - Emet responded, doubling down on his darkness. Lahabrea could not resist, and the scar's strength weakened. Hades felt his ally's soul-restoring itself, stripping him of the agony that permeated him for so long now.
Hephaistos tried to resist at first, but even his resolve was not enough. The ascian surrendered to the flow of darkness overtaking him. The flame fainted before ceasing completely, and Lahabrea fell to the azure floor, powerless yet relieved. Hades stood beside him, watching the white scar dissipate, replacing the created wedge with an array of dark magic, maintaining Lahabrea's soul. When Lahabrea perished, Emet and Elidibus assumed that he was gone forever, but this was only partially true. A fraction of his memories survived, consumed by the light of Thordan's blade among the stream. Now Hades replaced this power with his own, but this would give no more than a few moments to Hephaistos's tormented soul. Still, Hades felt his ally calming down, returning his soul to a semblance of balance.
"Hah…" - Lahabrea let out as he looked at Hades. There was no burning hatred in him, only regret that was just as agonizing. "You haven't lost your touch."
"How is the pain?" - Emet asked with care as he approached Lahabrea.
"It's no more…Almost. This light was sustaining me despite all the agony; I would not last much longer…But it is exactly how I want it." - Lahabrea smiled, trying to his pain and grief. Hades was no fool, and he knew that despite Lahabrea's insults, the pain within him was real and not without reason.
"I am sorry…And I know how little those words means after falling so low. There can be no excuses, not for a failure like this." - Hades uttered with acceptance and shame, not unlike Varis in his last moments.
"No point in grieving when it is all of us who have failed." - Lahabrea said with reassurance before speaking in a very stern tone once again. "There is only one question I want to ask…How did he die?" - As Hephaistos spoke those words, Emet's heart trembled, and Elidibus's horrific last moments flashed before him.
"He…Left to fight the villains that attempted to destroy Zodiark and bring about the Final Days once again, it was an unequal battle…He fell before them." - Emet's lips quivered as he spoke of the horrific day.
"And why did you not follow him? Why did you not protect him?"
"I stayed on another shard; I believed that if he could deal with the problem himself, this would help him restore the faith in the moment of doubt…" - No, this was wrong. Enough deflection, enough lies, enough denials. "But this was not the main reason. I stayed on the First because I wanted to entrap the crystal Exarch and force him to explain the secrets of time to me so that I could travel back in time to the Amaurot as it once was, to unwrite the tragedy…It was because of this that Themis died. When I found him, it was too late; he was scarred beyond recognition and twisted into a weapon to break our lord's shackles. I saw his soul perish without getting a chance at reincarnation…And because of my reluctance to kill the Exarch when I had the chance, he got an opportunity to destroy Zodiark…" - A tear fell down his eye. As he strived for perfection, as any amaurotine would, Hades robbed his people of their last chance of being saved. "I failed him. I failed them all." - A story that began with three heroes and a thousand souls that longed for freedom shall end with a lone fool giving what little he had for an impossible dream.
Even after this, there was no hatred in Hephaistos's eyes, just grief for a fate that Themis had to endure and the loss that every soul inside Zodiark had to suffer. Grief was overshadowed by pained acceptance of the tragic fate that they would have to share.
"I see…Even, after all we have done, the trials we endured, there is no justice to be found." - Lahabrea spoke with bitterness, though it wasn't directed at Hades. "Perhaps it is time for us to go into the stream and accept defeat…We will be free, if only for a moment. This world shall burn, and all memory of every civilization with it…Such is the fate of Eitheyris."
"No, not yet." - Emet said with determination. "The one that orchestrated the Final Days was Amon, our last Fandaniel. In his betrayal, he went against everything we ever stood for, but he opened my eyes to something that I still cannot understand, the reason why I am here."
"You've come here for Hydaelyn…"
"Fandaniel said that she knows the truth…Knows what caused the Final Days, knows who is behind it." - He said to Lahabrea's surprise.
"How is that even possible? She emerged long after the cataclysm, unless…"
"I am here for answers." - Hades stated confidently. "She will tell me everything, by force or not, and then…Well, there is one last attempt I want to make. One more."
"Then your vigil continues." - Lahabrea said with acceptance and pride. "Even when I am ready to give up, you still persist…I always respected that in you. If the end of our people is nigh, see that it is a fitting conclusion. Goodbye, Hades, it wasn't always a pleasure…But it was an honor." – Hephaistos and Hades gave each other one last gaze before the former closed his eyes and submitted to the stream.
The energy permeated his soul, sundering it to the same density any mortal had before having the cycle of reincarnation claim him. Now, he will be reborn one day, but he will be one of them.
"Erichthonios…I am here." - Those were his final words before dissipating and returning to the star.
When Hephaistos's ashes disappeared, and Hades extinguished his tears with dark magic, the lone ascian looked towards the looming mothercrystal. Now only two remained, him and her.
And he will have his answers.