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Chapter 1: Lost and confused in solitude

Darkstalker comes to his senses on a soft and comfortable ground, but is still feeling somewhat tired, though when he tries to move his body, all his muscles seem to respond correctly, and no pain is felt on any part of his body.

Strange, thinks the nightwing as he hasn't forgotten about the painful last moment he had in Pyrrhia. Now opening his eyes, the dragon vaguely sees his surroundings glowing faintly with blue light.

Waiting a moment for his sight to become more accurate, he stares at what is around him… and over him. Darkstalker's scales are now covered in the same light as well as plantlike accumulations of dust and viscous, glowing oil.

Trying to get rid of these "roots" on his talon, the nightwing finds out that oil feels oddly pleasant to touch. Realizing how vain it is to try to wash it up when it covers him from head to tail, he simply decides to focus on something else…

Rising his head, Darkstalker sees the ground becoming less glowy the farther it is from him. Curious, he decides to walk forward a bit. Getting up on his four talons and unfolding his wings because he can, the dragon feels in very good shape.

It is like his body has completely regenerated and regained its strength during his slumber, but how is it possible when he was torn to s- Better not to dwell into that, tells the nightwing to himself. But still, how can he be so well now? And how long did I slept?

Ignoring these questions for now, Darkstalker goes forward and quickly realizes that the soil is getting harder and harder until it is nothing but hard rock and dry dust. Coincidently, it also does not emit any light. It is like both softness and glowing are linked.

Now at the end of his small journey, the nightwing looks all around him and over the horizon… First he spots the numerous taints of glowy oil, the ones his body left when he moved, second he realizes the sky is nothing but a pitch black sheet, devoid of moons and stars, it's like this world is lifeless.

Speaking of it, What is this world? Why is there almost nothing? Is it some sort of purgatory for… no… oh no… Memories of Darkstalker's recent past come back into his mind, his torturous banishment and Clearsight's betrayal.

The dragon hisses, his body bends as anger spreads in his heart like a wildfire... but it quickly fades out, being replaced by doubt and denial. I must be mistaken, maybe this is just a dream? Then why are you awake? Right, then maybe this world is… something else, I don't really know...

Focusing on the distant lands instead of his mind, it is after several minutes of silence expect for the noise of the wind that the nightwing spots a faint light in the distance. Checking if it isn't an illusion, he blinks and turns his head, but the light remains no matter what, it is real.

But what do I do now? Ponders Darkstalker. Looking back at the place he comes from, he realizes there isn't much to do if anything at all. Turning his head to watch the distant light again, the dragon wonders… Then an idea comes to his mind, What do the futures tell me?

Using his foresight, the dragon sees… not any image of himself, nor any other dragon. But he does conceptualize a pulse, a slow but enormous wave of energy that comes back again and again, passing trough all things. Like a heart?

The nightwing sighs, this won't help him at all, and since he senses the mind of no one, both of his gifts are useless for now. Well, there is only one thing to do…

Gathering all his will, Darkstalker walks then runs faster and faster until he has enough momentum to soar with only one good jump. Now in the air and a bit exhausted, he realizes how much that world is dull and inert, with the absence of any light over an area that might as well be as big as the sand kingdom.

Yeah, it is like the sand kingdom in a way, but with rocks instead of sand and being devoid of anything else. It makes the nightwing wonder, is he and his glowy ground one of the only interesting things here? The only life here?

No! That would be too terrifying to be true, it must be a misunderstanding, thinks Darkstalker to avoid the image of him trapped in a dark world, alone with nothing. But he can't avoid his past forever, he needs to confront his memories and what they whisper to him. So he tries to think of it from a different angle.

He has killed his father, but it wasn't as satisfying as he thought, no matter how much cruelty was involved, in the end he just died and I felt too little. And to make things worse, the crowd who was cheering for the traitor's execution before ran away scared for their life, including Vigilance.

That worm had escaped because I was too focused on him. And that's not all, his friend ran away with his love, taking his scroll with them. How stupid I was, I should have used the scroll to get my magic back, or at the very least- No, I should have done just that.

It is now clear in his mind, that despite being so close to victory and becoming the nightwing king, the scroll was the most important thing. Without it, he still has unbreakable scales and is immortal, but what if he is out of time? That will hardly help him, like in many other situations.

Darkstalker curses himself, he has been an emotional fool for way too long, and now he pays for that mistake. Fathom and Clearsight were always worried about him and both rejected his ambitious dreams, but he thought he could convince them with time. And in his anger, he executed his plan on the moment, not bothering take into account their deteriorating trust.

Of course, like he said to Clearsight, I have the power of a god at my claws. But what did he do with it, not enough. Then the nightwing realizes why, he was blinded by his heart, he continued to try to convince them of his cause, to limit himself to prove a point, when he should have cut his losses.

I really was a fool, so overconfident in my destiny and myself, never believing I could lose any bet, like I believed mother would always be fine at the end.

The nightwing freezes, his mind overwhelmed by that sudden terror, he almost crash into in the ground but rises up at the last moment. Why, Why does my mind has such a dark, terrifying corner? It's my mistakes isn't it? I'm already paying and suffering for them.

Frustrated at his own mind and failures, Darkstalker begins to speak in the void as loud as he can.

"You know what? I assume, I made mistakes. It's my fault I am here, my fault I'm alone, and my fault my mother died!"

But nothing comes to reply and the now tired nightwing must take his breath again. At war with his own mind and raging against his betrayer, as well as having isolation striking him, he looks truly miserable…

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Flying lower and lower as his body spent to much energy, the dragon lands on the hard ground, but not without pain. Now totally exhausted, he looks at the light one last time, he can now distinguish the tower that hold it before falling to the ground. Closing his eyes, he falls into a deep slumber soon after...