The darkness of the night had receded making way for the light of day. Kirveas was walking through the area Marrow and Yuga had fought a battle to the death the previous day, passing by the large craters and chasms they had made.

He came across the divided body of the man Yuga had fought, surrounded by smaller bits of flesh. It hadn’t started rotting and remained as it was the previous day, preserved by the cold snow.

Kirveas had observed the entire battle up until the opponent was killed by mimic bearing his form. Yuga had performed impressively even though he hadn't won.

Kirveas was heading down to the mountain Luke had been taken. He arrived at the mountain's base and entered the cave via the larger opening Yuga had made.

Yuga was sitting cross legged, cradling Luke’s body in his arms, staring at the air, his back facing Kirveas.

The boy was dead, Kirveas could easily tell that. All Yuga's struggles had amounted to nothing. It was a very sad fate.

“Kirveas.” called Yuga in a flat, emotionless voice. His hair had regained its colour now, though Yuga had never noticed the change.

“Is there anything that you need from me?” asked Kirveas in reply.

“Where were you?”

“Searching.” Kirveas replied, calm as usual.

“If-” Yuga began but cut himself off. “No, this is pointless.” And he became silent again.

Kirveas looked around the area for a bit and decided he’d seen enough and was ready to leave. Before he left he paused and spoke. “I am no saviour.” he said before moving forward.

“I’m taking him back. To his family.” said Yuga.

“Do as you please.” Kirveas said and walked away.

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With one last shovel throw of sand, Yuga was done covering up the grave again. Yuga had taken Luke’s body back to the log house to be buried. He dug up the grave Luke had laid his family and placed his body in the middle of them, just as he would’ve loved to be.

When he finished, he sat down, crossing his legs and looked at the grave, a solemn expression on his face.

Luke had died. But maybe that meant somewhere right now he was with his family. Maybe cutting logs to his hearts content.

Yuga had also brought Luke’s axe back to the house. It lay on the ground next to him. He got up from the ground, picked up the axe and drove it into the grave. And with that, he left.

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Day after day, Kirveas had scoured Lehrone in his search, progressing slowly so he could thoroughly check for leads.

Every house, building, forest mountain or cave, he’d inspected to the smallest speck. And every day he had retired finding nothing at all. But today was different, he had found something, a small clue but it was something to go off and his search finally had a direction in which to head.

A blizzard had started again. Frigid winds blew and snow fell furiously, dampening visibility till one could barely see beyond a meter in front of them. But that wasn’t enough to faze Kirveas and he slowly made his way through the blizzard placing one foot in front of the other.

!

Something he felt caused him to stop in his tracks. There was a danger zone in his path and it surprised him because his gauntlet didn’t have it registered.

He only had his right foot in the danger zone so far. This was unchartered territory, he wouldn’t know what to expect from this zone but he had to go through it, there’d be no gaps in his search.

Kirveas stepped into the zone and that familiar eerie feeling enveloped his entire body now. He scanned the area for beasts but there were none to be found yet, which meant that he could expect the zone to affect his body directly in some way. So far he’d felt nothing and kept moving forward.

After he’d walked over a hundred meters into the danger zone his movements started to slow. The effects, whatever they were, had kicked in. His body felt heavier and moving forward took a lot more effort, like he was walking through thick jelly rather than air.

Aside from moving becoming a much harder ordeal something else had been bothering him for a while. He’d paid it little mind but it was prominent enough to catch his attention now. His ears felt wet, but it wasn’t just his ears anymore, his eyes and nostrils felt the same now.

He put a finger to his ear then brought it to his eyes. His finger was now stained red with blood. He put a hand to his neck, it was covered in blood on both sides and somehow he hadn’t noticed until now. At the same moment the blood that had gathered above his upper lip, streaming from his nostrils trickled down his face and fell to the snow.

Kirveas had been dying and hadn’t been able to tell. Not long after, he passed out.

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I’m alive. This was the first thought that came to mind the moment Kirveas regained consciousness. He still had his eyes closed.

The second thing was how odd he felt. Actually, he could barely feel at all. From his head down to his toes he felt numb. He opened his eyes to observe where he was. It was a house, smaller than most. He’d been placed on a bed that was nearly too small to contain him. Who had brought him here?

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Kirveas didn’t have to look too far to get his answer. Just a few meters in front of him was Yuga.

He was crouched on the floor, looking over some objects in contemplation. Fruits.

“I think I’m getting better at guessing which ones taste good.” said Yuga.

Kirveas was stirring which caused Yuga to look up. “Oh, you’re awake. I found you unconscious in the snow. Never expected to see you in a condition like this. Didn’t believe it till I checked with my eyes.”

With a more serious expression Yuga asked, “What did this to you? What was in the zone?”

He got as far as I did yet wasn’t affected? Or have the effects just not kicked in yet? Kirveas thought, surprised that Yuga didn’t seem to have been affected.

Kirveas didn’t reply.

Must be too tired to talk* thought Yuga and didn’t ask again.

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It was much later now, Kirveas had just woken up. When did I sleep off?*

Yuga wasn’t around anymore. Although Kirveas was numb he could tell that his condition was even worse now. His body weaker and his vision was blurring.

Not long after he woke up, Yuga entered the house, carrying a pile of wood. He drops them and starts preparing a fire by the chimney. Every house here seemed to have one, probably because Lehrone was always cold.

“How long have I been asleep.” asked Kirveas.

“About a day now.” replied Yuga, still setting up the fire.

“What is the fire for?” asked Kirveas curiously. Voyagers didn’t need the heat.

“For you, you were freezing up.”

He was freezing? Kirveas’ condition was worse than he’d imagined. Death wasn’t far.

“I’ve tried healing you but there was no change.” said Yuga, his expression bleak. “Your condition just declines. At this rate, you’ll die soon”. He picked up a piece of wood and started carving it.

“You’re rather tame about my condition, almost like you’ve accepted it. I imagined you’d motivate me to live like you did the boy.” said Kirveas.

Yuga looked at Kirveas for moment. Despite his deteriorating condition Kirveas still looked unfazed as he usually did. Like he couldn’t be bothered with even his own death.

“People go through hard times and their spirit wavers but somewhere inside there’s a will to keep living. But not you, there’s no will in you. You just kept on living because the end hadn’t come.” answered Yuga.

“I see. Perceptive aren’t you?” said Kirveas and he drifted into sleep once more.

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“You’re still here.” said Kirveas. He had just woken up from what he imagined was days of sleep. His skin was pale and eyes were bloodshot. His body was at its worst and the end was near. “I’ll be dead soon, what keeps you here?”

Yuga was sitting on the floor across from him chewing silently, a half eaten fruit in hand.

“I might not know much about you and even with all the time we’ve spent we’re barely closer than the very first day. But you helped me a lot so the least I can do is make sure your body is buried.

Kirveas went silent again. They remained in silence for a few minutes before Kirveas spoke up again. “I can barely see now and there’s hardly any life left in this body. Would you get me my sword?”

The crimson coloured sword was hanging on the wall by a cloth tied to a nail which was also tied to the handle. Yuga got up and brought it down from the wall and handed it to Kirveas. He held it weakly in his hand by the handle then turned it around and held it by the blade.

“Hold the sword by the handle.” instructed Kirveas and Yuga did as he was told. “Send drive energy into the sword and I’ll do the same from this end.”

As Yuga powered the weapon with drive he first felt resistance from the weapon. It felt like it didn’t want his energy and his hand hurt as he held it. But as time passed his energy flowed more freely and the pain ebbed.

“With this, this weapon is yours to use. I will soon die and it’d be a waste if it went with me.” Kirveas explained. He let go of the weapon and his hand fell limp.

Then Kirveas did something Yuga had only seen him do once before. He chuckled.

“You woke up on this planet having no memories, bearing an appearance unlike any other, possessing talent that could put even clan leaders to shame and somehow befriended a creature even more strange than yourself.” Kirveas recounted. “Not long after I entered the danger zone I fell to its effects and now I’m at the end of my life. You went as far as I did into the zone and brought me out of it. There wasn’t anything in the zone, merely walking into it was what caused this. A voyager of my caliber fell to its effects but here you are, completely unscathed. You’re as strange as ever.”

Kirveas went silent and Yuga stood unmoving, watching as Kirveas got more pale with each passing second.

“One more thing.” said Kirveas, suddenly breaking the silence. He pulled out a small object from his shirt, small enough to fit in the palm and handed it to Yuga “Here, take this. Maybe by some luck you’ll meet someone who can recognize it.”

Yuga took the object and examined it, looking at it from different angles. Then he looked up to ask, “What’s it for?”

But Kirveas didn’t reply. Kirveas was gone.

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Yuga didn’t know where Kirveas was from, or much about him in general, so he had no idea where and how he would’ve liked to be laid to rest. He most likely wouldn’t have cared.

Yuga decided to bury him on a hill because it was easier to find just in case he (or someone else) would need to find his grave.

After he’d finished burying Kirveas he laid down on the ground with both hands behind his head, lost in thought.

A long time had passed since he woke up on this planet with no memories whatsoever and up till now that hadn’t changed. He’d followed Kirveas around because he needed training and didn’t exactly have where to go. But Kirveas was dead now and so was Luke. He also hadn’t seen mimic since the night Luke died. Maybe he wouldn’t come back this time.

He was just as he was now when he had woken up, alone with no memories and nowhere to go. What would he do tomorrow?

As Yuga lay lost in thought he eventually drifted into sleep. A short while later, he's whisked far away, to the land of memories presented as dreams.

Yuga finds himself swimming leisurely in the sea, something he did every other day.

Deep diving in the sea was a very rewarding activity. The sea held so many cool things. A strange, never been seen before creature, a lost sunken object, fascinating plant life.

He remains in the water for ten minutes before he finally runs out of air and makes his way back to the surface.

Yuga resurfaces then swims back to land. On the seashore is a large settlement that spans as far as one could look.

It's a lively place and many people can be seen going about their daily activities.

Yuga knows most of them and when he emerges from the water some wave and he waves back.

He knew these people or at least he knew he knew them but as in previous dreams, every inhabitant of the settlement was veiled in shadow.

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It's a different scene and a different time now.

This time Yuga is standing in an open space within the settlement. The world around him is chaos and he can barely take in what's happening.

There's fires, screams and people running frantically. In front of him is a veiled figure, a familiar one, one he's very fond of. It's expression is pained and distraught.

"Yuga '....', '.....' is dead, he's dead!"

Yuga is dazed, everything he's being told barely registers. He's still for a moment before finally snapping back to reality.

"What about dad?" asks Yuga.

"They started with the council, he was the first." said the figure.

"I....see." said Yuga. "Take anyone you can find and run. Find the safest place. You know a lot, you'd know the best way to go.

"What about you?"

"You know what I'm going to do. Just go." said Yuga.

The figure isn't happy with this but accepts it anyway and runs. Now it's just Yuga standing in the open space.

Once the figure has left a horde of enemies approach Yuga, all brandishing weapons.

They don't speak and neither does Yuga, their purpose was clear and so was his reaction to it.

To think that they'd lose everything so quickly. The place they called home set to flames, their people dying and their days of peace would be no more. There was only one thing left.

Without a second thought Yuga goes after the first enemy. He's much faster and they can barely react. He strikes them in the neck and wrangles their sword out of their grasp. Their body drops and Yuga moves back from the horde.

Now that he had a weapon all that's left was to fight. Till his last breath. For the sake of those left.

That was the last scene Yuga saw before waking up.

A dream. A different one from the usual but like the others it was something he'd experienced at a point in his life. It'd been a while since felt bothered about his memories but this dream left him sad. What did I leave behind?

But there wasn't any point in asking questions he knew there wouldn't be an answer to. So he pushed down those thoughts, got off the ground and walked down the hill, back to the house he was currently living in, the one where Kirveas had died.

He had come back here to get Kirveas’ sword, one of the two items he’d taken from him. The second one was his gauntlet. He had tried using it but it denied him access to most of its functions save for very few. But it could still be useful to him.

Yuga took the sword from the wall where it hung and stepped outside. Holding it in his right hand, Yuga took a sword stance and concentrated. He let drive energy flow into the weapon, making it come to life and the patterns etched on the blade glowed.

Like a taut string set loose he swiped the blade through the air with incredible speed and force. The result was powerful shockwave that traveled through the air, renting the earth as it progressed till it got to a far off hill and split it in two.

It wasn't quite as impressive as when Kirveas used it but it was still incredibly cool. He headed back into the house to get cloth which he used to wrap up the blade and strapped it to his back.

Yuga stepped out of the house for the last time. It was early into the day, the blizzard had stopped the previous day and the sky shined a bright blue. He was ready to leave.

What would be do tomorrow? The answer was clear. Just keep moving. And he walked on with no particular destination in mind.

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LOCATION : THE FINAL VANTAGE

The final vantage, a place in the universe from which one could observe all that occurred within it. A place inaccessible to most beings.

Four entities currently resided here. They bore forms quite unlike any other in the universe.

One of them spoke, “Our candidate has awoken.” it said. It had been watching Yuga’s progress ever since he woke up.

“Do you think he can make the bridge?” asked another.

“Maybe, maybe he can’t. Maybe he can” the first who had spoken replied. And it continued to watch Yuga’s progress.

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Somewhere else in the depths of space…… A storm was brewing.

PROLOGUE : END

MAIN STORY BEGINS : TEN YEARS LATER