"Our close comrades were allowed to come with us with little hesitation."

"After ensuring Gabriel that my return would be swift, we departed to a new and unknown world."

"But you know where this is headed, Alex Whiter."

"The convergence point, where 0 meets 1, one beginning paves the way for another."

"I told you all that I knew about this journey so far…"

"But there are still a few confessions I have kept secret about the end. Not just from you, but from Mew, Riku…even my own daughters."

"The final path to the truth begins…in the Mushroom Kingdom."

Chapter 0.6: A Road for a Successor

"We arrived on this far-off planet in the middle of the morning, opening our eyes to fields of green and pronounced, towering mushroom stalks far off in the distance."

Ezekiel shivered as blades of damp grass tickled the space between his toes.

"W-Whoa! What a funny feelin'..." He said as every step made him shiver further.

Acai, Darnia and Tina were the quickest to adjust, the cheerful girl dancing around the field until Auris extended her hand to dissuade her from overstepping her bounds.

Yen Sid took the lead and for a moment, it seemed like he was caught reminiscing about a home long gone.

But he then withdrew his hands into his sleeves and bowed forward, pointing everyone's attention in the direction of God, standing at the edge of an elevated plateau.

"Sarajin has brought company with him, Almighty One." Spoke the wizard.

God turned and when the others showed even a modicum of hesitation, Yen Sid's turn to look made them put on a somewhat more respectful air.

God chuckled and brushed his hand out, "It's no concern of mine, Yen Sid. You are dismissed for now."

"As you wish." Yen Sid then disappeared within motes of pure light.

God levitated through them and stalled before Sarajin.

Darnia's heart nearly stopped as he recognized the infinite depths of divinity floating before him, "This is…our true creator? My word…"

Cecilia commented, "I…cannot even feel anything from him. No anger, no happiness…"

"Holy crap…" Ezekiel murmured.

God leaned his head back and let his glistening smile peek through for all to see, "I am overjoyed by your reverence, denizens of Genestasia."

Sarajin then reached out and asked, "I hope this isn't a big issue."

"I repeat, it matters little to me what they've decided. Now, follow me, all of you."

God floated back to the edge of the plateau and gestured his draping sleeve over the horizon.

The group saw far off lands of wonder spread out before them. The hills poked up and had small black beady eyes, there were these smooth green metal pipes floating in the air and out of the ground, defying rational explanation.

This planet housed a variety of strange, colorful creatures. Small brown mushroom-shaped beings with stubby feet, turtles walking on their legs with green, red and yellow shells alike, and plants with fangs and red and white dots popping out of the bushes.

But the most populated species seemed to be these tiny men with white-red mushroom shaped caps and no fingers or toes to their names. They roamed these underdeveloped lands, living in mushroom shaped houses made of stone and wood, with only pants to their names and tattered tarps crossing shoulder to hip.

"This is what you've been doin' all this time, brother?" Ezekiel managed to whisper out.

Sarajin shook his head slightly, "I-I've never seen a place like this before. It looks…peaceful, a perfect land to have an adventure in."

"An astute assessment, Sarajin Stratos," Uttered God with mild praise, "This planet…designated in some circles as 'Plit', is as simple as it appears, yet as complex as you wish to make it."

"It's a world that fosters the adventurous spirit, and has had minimal exposure to neither darkness nor war. It's the perfect place for a successor to flourish."

God then turned towards Auris and with a brief, hearty chuckle told her, "Of course, who said successor will be is up to you to determine."

Auris was the one not giving him the attention the others were, and brushed him off with a flick of the finger and a turn of her head, "You may have decided my husband's fate, God, but I will make sure his grave is accommodating enough."

"If you have your qualms, then voice them as you wish. But be assured, you WILL see out the road to succession." God's voice became a little more demanding near the end, doing little to quell the antagonism Auris' grieving soul felt.

"The forceful manner that he pushed the conversation along should have tipped me off that something was wrong. But he knew how to exploit my grief to dull my other senses…"

Auris twitched and then tightened her grip on her arms before remarking, "First, tell me what your plans are, then you will hear me out."

"Fair, I would assume all of you are recipient to her curiosity, no?" God spoke, waving towards the other figures, who nodded along befitting of their personalities.

God then turned to the horizon and floated beyond the plateau, guiding his hand away from the citizen's town, "All across the planet you will find biomes perfectly suited for each of Sarajin's elements. I want you to create a temple for each one, where Sarajin will then place a respective Wellspring inside of."

Darnia remarked, "And leave them exposed?"

Auris chimed in, "I was going to say. The people of these lands seem…simple, underdeveloped even, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't take advantage of such wealth of power."

God shrugged and bluntly remarked, "That's not my concern. What? Should GOD deign to give every answer to every mortal who asks for one?"

After a frightening pause he looked at them all, Sarajin in particular, to say, "Figure it out. And once you have fully completed all seven temples, you are to meet up with Yen Sid to deal with the matter of our 'Dark King'."

When Sarajin flinched at that part, and after God had left, Darnia approached him to remark, "H-He…wasn't referring to…"

Sarajin glanced over his shoulder and kept the conversation quiet enough for them, "Don't…worry about him."

Darnia closed his eyes part way and backed off.

Ezekiel scratched the side of his head and muttered, "Great, so he left us to do all the work in a place we've never been before. This always how it goes for ya, brother?"

Sarajin had a somewhat humorous tone as he admitted, "Ehhh, not really? But I guess God works in mysterious ways."

Ezekiel hung his brows and remarked, "Ya sure know how to be cheery for a dead man walking…"

Pitori then spoke up, "Hey, the good news is, he didn't give us a deadline!"

Darnia remarked, "A good thing too. We'll need as much time as we can get to figure out how to set up those temples."

Auris advised them all, "We should also try to be as stealthy as possible."

Sarajin put his hand on her shoulder and made her flinch, "With the two of us working together, that shouldn't be a problem."

Auris diverted her gaze elsewhere, "...Of course."

"Thus began our journey through a remarkably unfamiliar land."

"The immediate thing that drew my eye was the planet was rich in magic, which would explain why even the landscape moved like living creatures."

"The top priority was determining what was safe to eat."

"The denizens ate mushrooms aplenty, and none of them appeared poisonous."

"Some of the creatures were meaty, but also sentient. So we decided to sustain ourselves on a diet of mushrooms, roasted or otherwise."

"They weren't terrible. It was almost like eating meat, the vegetation we could pluck from the bushes were rich in flavor, with every celluloid pushing out the best potential it could."

"There was an unfortunate incident where Acai ate a mushroom that made her bigger, but a simple bonk on the head was enough to bring her back down to size."

"Beyond that, the poor girl was almost silent, with Tina being the only one able to approach her."

"Sarajin, inspired by what the vegetation had to offer, decided to seek out a temple for the Nature element first."

"He sensed a forest to the north of the denizens' small town that was heavily enriched by magic, to the point it was naturally able to create a labyrinth veiled in the fog of nocturne."

"We non-verbally agreed this was the perfect spot to put a temple."

"But deciding what to do with it would be the longest part of this entire journey."

"Cecilia and Ezekiel suggested arming the place with many traps."

"Tina believed that it should be a test of character."

"Darnia and I believed we had the most logical answer, that this place should have a guardian, a 'Titan' if you would."

"Sarajin took all our thoughts into consideration and decided to balance them all out into one idea."

"He would take his Wellspring of Nature and divide it up into three pieces."

"One would be used to create a guardian on the outside that could test a particular part of the successor's character."

"If they didn't prove worthy, then the role of guardian would be passed on to that person."

"Then there would be another guardian on the inside that would test their might."

"By putting these Wellspring fragments in a place enriched with the respective elemental energy, even should a successor fail the test, or someone else tried to steal the Wellspring for themselves, the Wellspring would naturally draw upon the environment to replenish itself."

"But despite constant pressure, he didn't reveal what he planned to do with the third piece."

"The rest of us worked hard to bring this temple to life. Ezekiel's experience with Stonestein allowed us to create decrepit ruins, giving it the weight of legacy behind it."

"And while we were at it, Sarajin decided to have a talk alone with a certain quiet child."

Acai sat on a log by her lonesome, watching the spotted, fanged plants popping up within the forest, with some small white specters coming out to spook them.

Sarajin sat down next to her and let a little time pass.

Both of them kicked at the dirt. And then Acai shyly said, "H-Hi…"

"Hey." He said back.

Acai tucked her knees up under her arms and remarked, "This forest…is nothing like home."

"Feeling homesick?"

"...Kind of."

Sarajin turned to her and wondered, "Why did you come along then?"

Acai looked away but found she couldn't do him dirty like that. With her cheeks red she tried to keep the truth at bay with a minor fib, "I…don't know."

Sarajin held his hands on the log and said, "...It's not good to hold your feelings in."

"I-I'm not."

"...I have been." Sarajin said in a soothing tone.

"Huh?" Squeaked Acai.

"I've been dragged around all over the place so…I never got an opportunity to visit your father's grave."

Acai tensed up, "S-Someone murdered him…!"

"I know. And you want revenge."

When he said that she immediately jumped to conclusions harshly, "Did Tina tell you that?!"

Sarajin shook his head, "I lost a lot of good friends and family today. So…I get it."

"But you should always remember to cry before you forget what it feels like."

His words cut straight to her heart and loosened her up to the vulnerability of tears.

"I-it's not fair!" She hiccupped while leaning her face against Sarajin's chest, which he welcomed with open arms.

She was allowed to get her frustrations out, and after a few minutes of this Sarajin shook with a slight crack in his face, "Did he at least…have a smile on his face?"

The rhythm of her nod made him feel goosebumps and let out a sigh of relief.

"Good."

Once she let go Sarajin extended his hands out and produced a fragment of his Nature Wellspring.

"What…what is this?" She said while wiping her tears, awestruck by the warm light it produced.

"It's a gift. For you. I'm entrusting you with creating the guardian for the outside of this temple."

Acai's hands were drawn to it and her soil shivered, "Can I do that?"

"Sure. Just use your imagination and the Wellspring will produce what you want."

She tried to hug the energy and relaxed into a sleepy posture, "It feels like…my dad."

She slowly closed her eyes and whispered to herself as the Wellspring grew brighter, "I want…"

"This resulted in the birth of the first guardian, Driad."

"And from there it was only a matter of time before we created the temple."

"The inner guardian was constructed to have full autonomy in the presence of the Wellspring, which was compartmentalized into a stone with Ezekiel and I's help."

"We then set out for the steady seas, where Tina enthusiastically acted as our guide…Until the strange sea life overwhelmed her."

"We spared some time trying to fish out what we could."

"Poor Pitori got squirted with ink by a flying white squid, and Ezekiel nearly got pulled into the water by a massive eel."

"Sarajin and Tina regaled stories of Brine's finest catches to us to pass the time, some tales entering Tina's ears for the first time."

"Since this area was becoming a place of fond memories for us, we decided to put the second temple here under the sea."

"The land wasn't yet developed enough for the citizens to notice as we split the sea and ventured along the ground."

"Once we found the right location, it was all a matter of digging a big enough hole and building the temple from there."

"Tina wanted to make it a habitat that could accommodate sea life. There were worries over whether that would make things too difficult, but Sarajin believed it would be a good way to test how much his successor could respect the life around them."

"While the others worked hard, Sarajin and I tried to spend a moment alone looking out at the ocean from this new angle. However…"

"Excuse me. I hope I'm not interrupting." Said Tina to the couple.

Auris was surprised but welcoming of her presence, "Not at all. What do you need?"

Tina approached them and said, "I was hoping you could teach me more about my power, Lady Auris. Torren was my mother."

Auris closed her eyes and let out a hum, "I do sense the veins of an Aurian within you, but they are twisting within your bloodstream."

"Is that…bad?" Tina said with a mild gulp of worry.

Auris puckered her lips, "I do not know. Have you ever felt…funny?"

"Sometimes I feel like I can hear what the sea is saying."

"Well…Hmm. I do not sense a point in your vein where a Drive would enter."

Sarajin remarked, "Maybe a birth caused by Aurians and other species unlocks a latent power in the child?"

Auris whispered, "This has never been recorded in Auruan history. Tina is very unique in that regard."

"So I'm going to be ok?" Tina asked.

Auris looked at her with a smile, "It appears so. You sadly do not appear to be able to call upon the power of Aura…However, I will try to train you in the ways of magic while we have time."

"Ok! Sounds great! I want to be able to do a ton more for you guys while I'm here!"

While she was caught in her excitement, Sarajin asked his wife, "You know magic?"

"I may not have loved my father's work, but I paid attention." Auris said with some melancholy hanging over her voice.

"Oi Auris! Can ya give me a hand with these mines?!" Ezekiel called out.

Auris then silently excused herself.

Tuna took this opportunity to waddle up in front of Sarajin and lean out, "Hey Mr. Sarajin. You always talked with my dad, but you rarely talked ABOUT my dad. What kind of person was he to you?"

Sarajin leaned and crossed his arms, speaking fondly of his old friend, "Your father was a pretty simple man honestly."

He then smiled, "Not that that was a bad thing. He had enough positivity to fill a whole ocean. And you're very much like him, Tina."

"And…what about my mom?"

"...I never got to know her for very long. Sorry."

Tina hung her head a bit.

Sarajin put on his best smile and remarked, "But I knew she loved to dance her heart out. Hey. While the others are working, why don't you teach me one of her dances?"

"Absolutely!"

"I watched from a distance as the two danced in the divided sea."

"It was her chance to get some tears out while doing the thing she loved the most."

"After they were done, she created the guardian, who would remain inside the temple inactive until the sea split again "

"Pitori suggested creating a mechanical guardian on the inside as a way to have something powerful, but capable of being limited in how much water it could produce."

"It was wise not to overwhelm the successor so we both agreed. And it wasn't difficult to tether the machine to the stone, similarly to how an Auruan summons a weapon."

"This took a lot out of us, so we found a place to settle far off from town to sleep for the night."

"Sarajin was restless. Despite my urging, he headed off to the sky in search of a place to settle another temple."

"Darnia followed."

"From how they described it later, the sky was full of clouds that could be landed on, with vines stretching across them."

"But curiously, there was already a castle erected in the sky."

"Inside sat a figure, half-man, half-beast. He ruled as a king over himself, for he could never find a cause worth fighting for."

"Sarajin expressed the urgency of his mission, and enticed the sky king's curiosity."

"With a short crash of blades, this man swore his soul to this just cause, and became the guardian inside his castle."

"A few arrangements were made to challenge the successor's patience, and then a guardian was created on the outside."

"After which, father and son flew back to us…"

The wind blew quietly through the night. Neither of them had said a word to each other throughout.

Until Sarajin whispered in a somber tone, "I saw mom again."

It sent a chill down Darnia's spine, "You…did?"

"Yeah. She's doing fine where she went. And she said…we'll see each other again someday."

"That's…wonderful." Darnia said, breathless.

"Dad…" When Sarajin jumped into another topic, his tone carried a hint of disappointment, stirring Darnia's gut with discomfort.

"You knew…Ophelia had your child."

"...I didn't want to believe it was true, but…yes."

Sarajin went quiet with a quick, frustrated grunt.

Darnia pleaded with his son in earnest, "Do you think it would have made a difference if I hadn't abandoned him? His birth damned him from the start!"

"...I-I…don't know," Sarajin said, biting his lower lip, "He wasn't normal like the rest of us, but…"

Images of Solomon's actions and the steady decay of his body and morality flashed in his head, prompting him to admit, "I wonder if he acted out of…desperation."

"You do not need to make excuses, son. It does not reflect poorly on you that you failed."

"...Yeah, maybe," Sarajin looked forward and after letting the tension settle down asked his dad, "Can you promise me one thing? That you'll go to where mom is when you die?"

"...I will."

Sarajin forgave him at that moment with a simple, "Thanks."

"The magic infused into the sky palace would eventually spread out and transform the very clouds into living beings known as Nimbusians."

"For the next element, we ran into difficulties. This land was too underdeveloped for electronics. And no matter how far we wandered, we couldn't find a place that created electricity."

"So Pitori came up with a plan. With some metal from his father and Sarajin, he built a rig that could focus in on the place that attracted the strongest electrical current when a storm occurred, using Voltneir as a frame of reference of what one would be capable of."

"Sarajin created a contained storm in a few secluded locations before landing on a lone island out to sea south east of the town."

"This would prove to be the perfect place to create a temple of Electricity, more modernized than all the rest at Pitori's request."

"He put his hardest work into constructing this alongside his family."

"They were starting to forget that this was meant to be the last moments we'd spend together like this."

"I couldn't. I had so much longer left to bear the pain of this moment."

"Pitori offered me a temporary avenue to vent my frustrations by setting up a voice alarm to ward off intruders at the entrance."

"Both guardians were to be machine-made this time, but Pitori seemed to take his dear time coming up with the inner one…"

Standing atop the newly completed temple with all the space he could ever want to work with, Pitori paced around with a few makeshift tools in his possession.

His parents were taking a nap outside and the others were putting the finishing touches on his contraptions.

Sarajin wound up approaching him via flight with a sincere offer, "Need some help?"

Pitori spun around and twirled his wrench near his face, "I could use a second opinion."

"Shoot." Sarajin said as he landed.

"I want the challenge here to be less…physically oriented."

Sarajin crossed his arms and took interest, "A puzzle then?"

Pitori flicked his wrench in his direction and commented, "Sort of! Actually…it'd be more akin to a game."

"Really?"

Pitori blushed, "But it's a little childish to still like games…"

"Says who? This journey's important, but I wouldn't want my successor to forget to have fun."

Pitori lit up and announced, "Well, if I have your approval!"

"Pitori…" Sarajin wanted to get him to settle down a bit before continuing, "You've still yet to realize that you're more than capable of standing on your own two feet and accomplishing great things."

"Working as a team is great, but if you wait for someone to approve every decision you'll always be taking longer to get anything done."

Pitori flinched and then tucked the wrench behind his ear, "Ok, but…do you think I made the right decision to come here?"

Sarajin turned aside and looked up at the moon in the sky, "I'll let the future be the judge of that. Personally, I think your influence will inspire great things later down the line."

He then gestured his head aside with a smile and said, "But enough about that, tell me what sort of game you've come up with."

"Ok!" Pitori shouted.

"So it came to be that Pitori invented the game of chess for this temple's final challenge, with a witty and jolly gamemaster machine at the helm."

"After another night's rest, we finally decided to venture further out across the planet in search of a stone dominant landscape."

"There were plenty of mountains to climb and caverns to explore. The bats in this world were rather pesky, one of them tried to suck my blood, but ended up bloating themselves up."

"Ezekiel had a hard time deciding a good place to settle on…until we found a massive desert, east of a growing settlement of moles."

"He was reminded of the time spent unearthing ruins with Stonestein, and figured we could build something under the sands in the style of said ruins."

"He led us to a place with solid rock underneath and we began the long process of carving our way deep underground."

"This would require a few days of labor. Ezekiel separated Pitori from this project to work on creating a digging machine to speed things up. Conveniently, they would make for an effective outside guardian."

"And the inner guardian would be infused with some of his father's jolly spirit…"

"During one of our breaks, Ezekiel and Sarajin decided to go exploring the desert in search of some hidden relics to give the temple extra flavor."

"Not much to show for, eh?" Ezekiel commented as they made their way back to the temple, a few fungus shaped pieces of gold in his arms.

"Still, I had fun." Sarajin said.

Ezekiel smirked his way, "Yeah, been a while since we just went explorin' for fun."

"Haaa…" He then relaxed with a hint of melancholy hanging over his mind, "I'm gonna miss ya, brother."

"...I don't want to believe that this is the end for us, Zeke." Sarajin commented.

"Me neither," Ezekiel admitted, "But nothing's ever gonna be the same once this is over."

"You guys don't have to stay here. Auris is going to head home, you can go with her."

Ezekiel was surprised, "She's goin' back? Huh…Thought she'd stick around. She'd sure have the best luck of watching over these temples."

Ezekiel then shrugged and came to understand quickly, "Buuuut, I suppose her home's kinda been left a dirty mess."

He then shook his head and got back on track, "Nah, I'm here to the bitter end. 'Sides, I've done pretty much all I could ever want to back home."

"This right 'ere? Been the most fun I've had in ages."

"I just wish a few of our friends were still alive to enjoy this…"

Sarajin hung his head and thought about the lives that were lost to even get to this point. It was very few, but felt like thousands in his heart.

"After a few more efforts to bring this idea to life, we immediately ventured onward to the icy mountain regions on the north hemisphere of the planet."

"Even in this terribly hostile region, a small flock of penguins had formed a pair of villages here to keep shelter."

"We noticed that some species of wildlife changed depending on the environment, like those biting plants now spewing icy breath our way."

"We climbed and climbed, some of us having to stay behind due to weaker resistance to the cold."

"Eventually, we found a seemingly empty palace, much akin to the one in the sky."

"In here was a king who ruled over crystals, a scourge in his own right."

"Instead of seeking violence, Sarajin and Cecilia used their wits to trick the would-be cruel king out of his throne and power, securing the palace for themselves and leaving the king to wander the mountains as a phantom of hate."

"Darnia and I worked on modifying the palace interior with an extensive labyrinth meant to test the successor's survival instincts, while Cecilia and Sarajin waited outside together."

Cecilia sat on the front steps of the palace and Sarajin walked down from behind, a pair of frosted glasses in hand, filled with liquid.

"Need a drink?" He offered.

She glanced over her shoulder and extended her hand to accept the drink, then took her nose to it, uttering in dull surprise, "An alcoholic drink? I didn't take you for that type."

Sarajin sat down and gestured his glass at her with a smile, "I figured I could give it another go."

She gave a smile back and then clanged his glass, both taking a sip after. Sarajin shivered at the shoulders and held the cup between his legs, "Nope, still not my thing."

Cecilia chuckled and then drank halfway through hers, both of them staring out at the snow swept mountains down below.

"I must admit, I never thought there'd be another land like the place I was born. But this place feels…happier."

"I've been to a few icy regions on my travels. They always seem to have a massive mountain somewhere in there." Sarajin commented.

"Is that so?" Cecilia finished the rest of her drink and then quietly extended it out to get a refill, which Sarajin obliged.

After a few more sips, she let out a prolonged, dainty sigh and remarked, "...I've come to respect you, Sarajin. Or rather…you grew to become worthy of my respect."

Sarajin looked aside and uttered, "Oh?"

Cecilia laid her glass beside her hip, "You said what I needed to hear, but it wasn't until you had the experience to back up your claims that I listened."

"Perhaps that made me a stubborn fool. A part of me still believes that my way was right."

"But now I'm sitting here, free to enjoy a simple drink with a comrade. If that isn't glorious, then what is?"

Sarajin let her reconciliation linger for a while before making a quick joking remark, "But we're still not friends, huh?"

Cecilia raised her empty glass and said, "Maybe another drink will change my mind."

Sarajin filled it up again and smiled, "I'm just glad you found happiness, Cecilia."

"The journey was reaching its end, and the most treacherous lands awaited us next."

"This was not our world. There was no Titan to restrain the volcanoes littered across the lands. Hostile regions of scorching magma and bubbling lakes were ruled by a king of turtles in a stone and iron keep."

"This was the closest this planet had towards true villainy, but we kept our wits about us and ventured deep into the territory."

"This place would be the final temple, a true test of the successor's grit and determination."

"At this point, only our small family could make our way through without a struggle."

"So it was imperative that we find another temple that was already built for us."

"Usurping another king may have been a step too far, especially one so adored by his species."

"But unfortunately, there were no other buildings to see. We had to settle for the caverns, and work out way deeper inside until we could open up a cooler pocket as a reward for reaching the end."

"Making a guardian for the outside was easy…the inside was stalled by our son's resistance."

"He had been silent the whole trip, and we had been negligent to take care of that thanks to our personal affairs."

"So I chose to step aside, and let Sarajin have some time alone with him."

Father and son had a spacious cavern all to themselves, with a hole in the ceiling being carved out to the cooler outdoors.

Sarajin sat down next to him in front of the fire stone and tried to reach out and get him to talk, but there was no response.

"Zeno…Talk to me." He whispered.

"No…" He murmured.

"..." Sarajin paused to think and then stood up without announcing his plans.

After leaving for a few minutes, he returned with two sandwiches wrapped in brown paper.

"Have you had lunch yet?" He offered.

Zeno's reserved attitude couldn't beat out a good ol' stomach growl, and after snatching the sandwich out of his hand he chomped down.

Chewing it helped him slow down and take a peek inside, "It's an…egg sandwich?"

"An old favorite of mine. I found it's a good way to start a conversation," And now that he had his son more open to talking, he decided to ask him, "Are you…disappointed with me, son?"

"N-No…" He said while glancing away.

"I feel like I have, because I can't tell what's made you this quiet," Sarajin laid the sandwich down on his lap and looked up, "You know, your mom told me that you fought very bravely against that demon."

"I think you've come a long way in your sword training, and I'm really proud of you for finding your own style."

"But I don't want you to think that fighting is the only thing that gives you purpose in life. Do you have any other interests?"

When Sarajin looked at him, Zeno started fidgeting his fingers together and muttering under his breath, "I-I like watching Tina fish…a-and dance."

"I think it's neat when Pitori builds machines…"

"Then tell them that! Show as much excitement with learning new things as you do fighting!"

"But I…" Zeno trembled and kept his feelings bottled up, resorting to eating the sandwich for comfort.

He then wiped his mouth on his sleeve and smiled, "Can't do it without you."

Sarajin felt the heaviest guilt over this and for once, did not know the right thing to say. But he could at least reach out and give his son a hug to remind him that come what may, he still loved him.

"The matter was settled as best it could, and Zeno eventually came up with the strongest of all guardians, combining my ferocity, Sarajin's strength, and the fear Justek inflicted upon him into one being."

"It may have been…slightly overkill. Oh, but you never got to see that guardian thanks to Bowser's interference, did you? You should honestly be grateful. You would have never beaten it."

"...This was, however, the final step of this journey where we had control over our course of action."

"The moment we stepped out of the cavern, Yen Sid and 'God' awaited us with open arms."

"There was one quick detour that required mine and Sarajin's aid."

"...The execution of the Dark King."

Next Time: Final Breath