Things had been going so, so well. Solace had finally gained enough gear and made enough allies to realistically take on the greater demon at the peak of Mount Majenna. The journey up the volcano had been, well, not easy, but a trek with as good a result as he could have hoped. The battle against the final foe was also going smoothly, and he had practically touched the Token he had been searching for after all of this time.

Then the demon exploded in a fiery, final, vengeful attack. The force and heat blasted everyone within the vicinity, him included; it was only bad luck that he was also launched off of the mountain.

Wind whistling in his ears, Solace tried his best to come up with a way to survive. Flight? No, he was out of juice. Grab onto something? He was too far away from the mountain. Besides, both of his arms were gone, decimated from blocking the demon's last strike. All that remained were stumps and the molten slag of his armor clinging to his flesh. What a pain. He wracked his brain through the pain to try to think of anything else, but quickly came up empty.

Face first, Solace plummeted to the ground and died on impact.

— 

The moment that Solace hit the ground, there was an understandably sharp uptick in pain as his vision went black. Then, the surface seemingly broke as if he had plunged head first into inky black water. The pain of death quickly gave way to the shocking chill of being submerged. Solace raised his now intact but much skinnier arms and began to swim upwards. It was steady but difficult work, even without the armor he had worn before death. Unlike normal water, he had no buoyancy and had to force his way up. He also wasn't able to breathe. Taking in even a small drop of Death's Draught would be bad.

Then he'd truly be gone.

After what seemed like an eternity, a trickle of light breached the liquid. He forced himself to remain calm and continue his steady ascent rather than try to speed up. The light grew stronger, until eventually the liquid looked like normal water. With one last stroke, he surfaced and took a deep breath.

He gave a loud shout the moment his lungs had the air, letting out all of his frustrations and anger in a single burst.

"You were so close. So close!" A familiar voice said from nearby.

It was Him.

Solace turned to look at the entity. The origins of all of his suffering. Human looking, but never human, He had distinct features that Solace could never remember or describe. Solace stared in hatred at the Being that had stolen his memories and sent him on wild chases across worlds for the Tokens to recover them.

Turning his gaze away, Solace waded out of the now actual water, stepping onto the ground of the now shallow pond of crystal clear liquid. In the bright sunlight, he saw his reflection in the pond. He had lost all his muscle again, like he usually did when resurrecting. The gaunt man that looked back at him in the light had brown eyes and flecks of gray in his short, jet-black hair. He briefly wondered what his age was before he was dragged into all of this, but pushed the thought aside. He'd find out someday.

Or die trying.

"You know, it's been several tries since your last success. How about we switch things up? You let me choose your starting abilities for once."

Solace moved towards the nearby brazier, cheerfully lit by a bright golden flame. He reached out a hand to feel the comforting warmth and to dry the water on his body.

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"The silent treatment, is it?"

Solace ignored Him and looked out at the dozens of other islands floating in the sky, rotating around the tiny one that he always resurrected at. All of the closest ones had already been explored, and so he would have to go at least half a kilometer through the air to reach a new one… somehow.

With a deep breath to steel himself, he shoved his right hand into the golden flame. It burned, and the searing pain brought back the memories of events long since passed, the ones at the beginning of all of this insanity. Of shadows and a dark, sunless place lit only by torches. Of spiraling floors that had tried their best to trap him within the confines, killing him over and over until he had finally managed to escape. Further and further back he went, until he drew on one of his earliest memories. Solace clenched his fist around the memory and withdrew his hand.

In pain but otherwise unharmed by the fire, he now clutched a smoking bag full of marbles. Along with it came a rush of energy as he suddenly remembered a long forgotten ability. He upended the bag, allowing the marbles to pour out. But rather than clattering to the ground, they floated in the air, held aloft by his mind. 

Solace walked to the edge of the island, and stepped off onto a marble with his right foot. The small glass ball wobbled a bit before he got used to the additional weight and steadied himself. He took another deep breath before taking a step with his left foot. Another moment to adjust, and then he began to walk. Marbles swirled in a loop of objects for him to traverse through the air.

The wind whistled in his ears again as he moved. Below, there was nothing but impenetrable clouds. Perhaps he'd investigate what lay below someday. 

"Where do you want to go next? There's this one place where the line between dreams and reality blur. Oh! How about a change of pace: the one further to your right involves training monsters to fight. You won't have to get your hands dirty... Are you listening? Hey!"

Solace marched on, focusing on the closest island that he hadn't reached before. It was a rather eye-catching island, the glassy black stones that comprised it glowed. As he got closer, he noticed shrubs inextricably thriving on the barren stone. The pool at the center was swirling, a light grey light emanating from the waters as well. 

"Ah... this one..."

Solace landed on the island, trying to take in everything that his eyes could. Every place had a theme, something to indicate what lay within the world that it represented. Unfortunately, there seemed to be very little to indicate anything, or a pattern he didn't understand. It was time for a deeper investigation. As he mentally willed the marbles back into the bag, he walked towards the pond and kneeled down next to it. He set the bag to the side and cupped his hands in the water, bringing them back up and drinking the liquid.

A vision of a place so vast filled his eyes. It wasn't just a world, but worlds. Tears in reality and chaotic space uniting countless planets across dimensions to each other. The beings that existed there, beast and man, had their lines blurred. He watched as a star exploded, and something that appeared human merely forced the dust back together to make a new one. Casually, simply, as if merely a course of the natural order; because in the world beyond, it was. This...

This was bigger than any place he'd ever been before. He had no idea what to do, or where to even start. 

"I was hoping you'd find this one later. It'll completely throw off the scaling I've been striving for with all of your adventures."

Solace merely kept watching. This place had so much power, beyond any other world he had been and perhaps would ever visit. He wanted it, wanted to understand it. Even if he failed to retrieve the Token in this one, he'd gain so, so much experience to help him.

"Are you sure I can't convince you to try some other place first? This is end-game kind of stuff. It won't be nearly as entertain—"

"If you can give me the best start, I'll let you choose my beginning abilities," Solace interrupted.

"Really? Finally it's been--" He coughed, calming down. "Then discard what you already have, and enter."

With a nod, Solace tossed the bag of marbles to the side off of the island. With a small golden flash of light, the bag disappeared in wisps of golden smoke, returning to the brazier. Once done, he dove into the pool.

What would await him this time?