Llew swiped away the pool of sweat that had accumulated on his forehead. Exiting from the mouth of a cave, he found that the sky was still draped with the curtain of darkness that was the night, but he guessed that it was the early morning of the day after his arrival at the City of Angels.

The evening before, Kiriel's instructions had led him to a winding labyrinth carved deep into the heart of the mountains that bordered the floating city.

He had marched without rest, eager to reach his destination and the only form of resistance he had encountered was a swarm of bats that had proven to be more of an annoyance than a threat.

Now, as the cool wind brushed against his face, he lost track of his fatigue momentarily in favour of thoughts that his journey was ending.

Switching off his lamp and reattaching it to his belt, he made his way down the cliff face and arrived at a sparesly forested area.

The location he was at was encircled by lofty peaks, much like the land where the City of Angels was situated, but on a much smaller scale.

Traversing past the trees, he found himself at the grey stone bank of a small river which had both ends meandering into vertical crevices.

By the calm waters was a small wooden hut, complete with a smoking chimney.

Llew started towards it, then something else caught his attention.

Splash!

He turned.

Splash! Splash!

A girl in a blue frock was throwing pebbles by the waterside. Her hair that was tied into a ponytail was a hue of blazing orange that burned as brightly as the sun, so much that it seemed to glow in the dark air.

Uncertain, Llew approached her. "Hello?"

Splash!

"Excuse me?" he repeated.

Splash! Splash!

Seemingly satisfied, the girl turned around. "Yes?"

"Are you Ergodiel?"

"Nope. I'm Phoenix. Ergodiel takes care of me."

"Oh. Do you know where she is? Can you take me to her?"

Phoenix jabbed a finger at the hut. "She's in there. But it's early so she's still asleep."

"Thanks."

But as Llew took his first step forward, she grabbed him forcefully by the arm.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm going to wake her up." Llew replied. "I need to see her right away."

Phoenix shook her head. "No. Ergodiel needs to rest. She works very very hard everyday."

"This is important," Llew frowned. "It's a matter of life and death."

Putting her hands on her hips, she stubbornly said. "If Ergodiel doesn't rest, she could die too."

"Please. This is really important to me. One of my most important friends is dying and only Ergodiel can help her."

At this, Phoenix's eyes softened. "Oh.. I'm sorry, but I really can't let you see her right now. If Ergodiel dies.. I don't know what I would do."

As Llew looked at the girl, he was reminded of how helpless he had felt standing by Salome's bed back in the Capital.

He sighed. "It's alright. I guess I'll just sit here and wait, then."

The girl's eyes brightened. "Great! It's been so long since I've seen anyone other than Ergodiel!"

"It's just the two of you here?"

"Yup. Kiriel and Hermieres used to visit but they've stopped. And no one else is allowed to come in here."

"Why?"

"Because of the pain."

"The pain?"

"Yup. Whenever there are people, the pain comes.. and the nightmare starts. But some people don't give the pain. Like Ergodiel. And you too! That's probably why they let you in here!"

Llew pondered the meaning behind the girl's words but was unable to grasp anything substantial.

"How long have you been in here?" He asked.

"I'm not sure.. maybe ten years?"

"Ten years?!" Llew was baffled, that was even longer than the time he had spent as a Royal Paladin. "Don't you get lonely?"

"Sometimes.." she murmured wistfully and gazed at the stars. "Hey. Tell me about the outside world."

"Didn't you live outside in the past?"

"Yeah, but it's been so long that I can't remember. And Ergodiel never wants to tell me anything about the outside."

"Well.. what do you want to know?"

"Everything. Tell me everything."

And so Llew began his tale. He talked about the town he grew up in, Reed. He talked about his two friends Alfred and Salome. He talked about the fields and rivers that they would play in. And he talked about the day they lost everything. He talked about the Capital. He talked about Pendragon and the knights. And he talked about Blaster Blade.

As the words spilled from his mouth, bitter nostalgia flooded his consciousness. And a deep sense of loss started to form in his heart.

"Ugh.."

Llew stopped. "Are you okay?"

Phoenix was curled up on the ground, clutching her head vehemently. An expression of excruciating pain was carved across her face.

"Phoenix! Phoenix!" Llew panicked. "Are you okay?"

"The.. pain.." she groaned. "The.. pain.. stop.. nightmare.."

Nothing could have prepared Llew for what happened next.

In an instant, Phoenix's entire body was engulfed by a huge bonfire. All that remained of her figure was a charcoal silhouette within the torrent of raging flames.

Shocked beyond comprehension, all Llew could do was inch backwards as the conflagration started to form into a shape.. and take to the sky.

The shape of a bird.

Without warning, it flapped its wings violently, unleashing a barrage of blazing fireballs.

Llew brandished the Blaster Blade and deflected them. "Phoenix! Stop!"

The flaming creature opened it's beak. "I AM NOT PHOENIX."

Llew gritted his teeth, it seemed that combat was inevitable.

"I AM. THE REVERSE. AURA. PHOENIX."

The creature dived towards Llew.

Leaping sideways, he countered with a mighty slash but even the sacred sword passed harmlessly through the beast of flames.

A family of trees was razed as the Reverse Aura Phoenix swept in a crescent path, aiming once again for the knight.

Wanting to minimize the collateral damage, Llew dashed and plunged into the river, taking a deep breath as he did so.

He stared at the water's surface as it was immersed in the powerful radiance of the phoenix's form.

Just as he thought he was safe, the temperature of the pool suddenly sky-rocketed. His skin started to burn from the intense heat.

The beast's flames were just too powerful!

He struggled to the river bank and managed to escape the boiling cauldron, but the effort had severely drained him.

And the burning avian hovered just above him, fully prepared to consume its prey in a wall of eternal flames.

"I'm sorry.. Salome.." he whispered.

"LLEW!"

Just then, the shape of Mushi broke out from behind the forest's canopy, Epona riding upon its back.

"Epona?" he gasped in disbelief.

And all he could do was watch as both Epona and Mushi crashed into the floating shape of the Reverse Aura Phoenix in a burst of flames.

"EPONA!"

…

From her tower in the City of Angels, Kiriel watched as an orange spark exploded in the distance, right above where she knew Ergodiel lived.

"It's begun.." she muttered.