Part 5 –

Desire hummed an innocent song. The collapse of the grand chamber was inevitable. A vast network of intricate tendrils revealed themselves in all their glory. It spanned from the ground to the ceiling, pulsating like living veins. They had prevented the collapse of this place for hundreds of years, and now –

Their usefulness had come to an end.

One by one the tendrils slithered back into Desire’s dark, womanly frame. Hundreds of metres worth of mass disappeared without a trace. As the manifestation of the power that was desire; the extent of her true body was beyond mortal comprehension. An existential nightmare only awaited those that attempted to conceive of what Desire’s form entailed.

Phase looked onwards to the light above with glistening eyes.

Mom…

“It has begun, and thus, our time here has come to an end. I was surprised. You really don’t hear the voice of Ephyla in your heart?”

Phase refused to answer. She waited in silence near impatiently for Desire to allow her to leave. To struggle now was futile, as she had painfully learned. All she could do was regrettably wait… even though her mother’s soul was snatched.

“Good. Neither do I. Phase. I hope your heart will arrive at its final closure.”

Phase didn’t spare her a glance, let alone a single thought. She only wished to escape and chase down the Well of Wishes that stole her mother’s soul.

Desire’s eyes slowly closed at Phase’s determination. Despite whom she was – and how the world depicted her – Desire truly hoped for the best outcome for this person.

The last Spirit of Balance, and the only one to come after the very first.

Finally – the last of the tendrils returned. Her eyes opened again, and the childish figure had disappeared into the world beyond the light. Desire watched as the last remnants of the living flesh were crushed to death by the collapsed ceiling.

Slowly, her gaze moved towards the opening above and she reached out with a single hand. It clasped at the air and formed a blue crystal orb, similar to the one she had destroyed before Phase’s eyes.

Desire only smiled longingly as she disappeared with the false orb, buried beneath mounds of stone and dirt. The catacombs were forever sealed, destined to never see the light of day.

* * *

Is there still time!?

Phase soared through the skies. The many kilometres that separated Palvel with the catacombs were but a few steps in the context of her brilliant speed. The air vapourised in her wake, for not even sound could follow.

Her one and only objective was to recover her mother’s soul from Well of Wishes. The object had already established itself within the heart of Palvel as the same beam of despair she saw within the catacombs fired straight through its centre.

But that beam felt different. Staggeringly different.

As the Spirit of Balance, she could sense when the powers of hope and despair were at play. The initial beam, which was the despair equivalent to the amalgamated mass of millions upon millions of beings could barely compare to this one.

She dared not to imagine where Despair sourced such powerful despair. The tip of the beam suddenly expanded out into an umbrella-like formation which expanded until it consumed the entirety of Palvel’s skies. It reached further than the walls and plunged Palvel into a starless night. Yet the sun – blackened and warped – could still be seen.

Phase paid little attention to the beam itself, and instead focused all her efforts into reaching the Well of Wishes as fast as possible. The lives were only secondary to her, however –

Talia is in there as well. I have to save her as well… for Inkshard’s sake.

The longer she stared and adamantly chose to chase down her mother’s soul, the more she was forced to remember that Talia was also fighting within Palvel.

I can save them both if I can just – just reach the Well of Wishes!

Suddenly, and to her utter confusion – something shattered inside of her. She came to a sudden halt, touching her chest until she found the remains of shattered crystals.

“This is – Wait – So then – Then Desire never actually –!”

Phase looked out towards the direction of Palvel and saw a pale, ghostly orb quickly fall into the gravitational tug of the black object.

Desire never took the orb from her. It was no more than an illusion to force her to chase after the Well of Wishes. As predicted by Hope and directed by fate; she had chased the black sun with the moon.

“M… mom…?”

This was their intention all along!?

Phase wanted to curse. But she deeply heeded Hope’s words and chose to move. She could not afford to stand and stare at the ‘eternal eclipse’, which slowly unfolded within Palvel. The blackened sun above the skies grew to a tremendous size as the darkness of the umbrella fell like rain. Each clump of the fallen darkness built up on top of the next, steadily creating a [Barrier] of some sort.

The soul of her mother was plunged into the darkness of Palvel, enshrouded by a reddish haze that soon consumed the air. Phase instinctively threw herself forward, reaching sonic speed near instantly.

I’m coming! I’m coming to save you! Please I just need a little more!

She would give anything for the chance of saving her mother’s soul. To salvage it from the maw of the Well of Wishes. However – Phase suddenly came to another halt just as she squeezed through the collapsing darkness.

By mere chance, Phase saw someone at the foot of Palvel’s southern gate. Amid a firestorm of debris and screaming bodies stood the figure she prayed was no more than an illusion.

“Ink… shard? Why are you here?”

The Priestess stood unmoving. Petrified of the situation. Phase took notice of Palvel’s near complete entrapment within the barrier, clutching at her heart to the dilemma that rocked her very soul.

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Her mother’s soul dangled before her, almost calling out for her to chase it. But how could she abandon Inkshard – the one sole person she wished would never have to face the cruelty of this world like she did. The choice ripped her in half, but she knew that if she remained her undeceive then she’d lose everything again.

Everything…

Talia can fight… everyone can. My mom… what do I do?

Phase clenched her fists into powerful balls as she turned towards Inkshard with sunken eyes.

… I want to save my mom… I want to chase her. I want to be with her. I want… I just want to see her one last time but… I’ve never asked what she wanted. But I knew. I always did. She wanted to…

Phase began to move again. This time – downwards in the direction of Inkshard. She still had time to save her from this mess. To remain within this place would undoubtably lead to more suffering. For them both… and even for Talia, and her own mother.

She needed to save Inkshard no matter what.

… Be free of suffering… and my selfishness led her to suffer even more after death.

She acknowledged it all. All of this could have been prevented from the very start. Tears flew from her face as she headed straight for Inkshard. Time cruelly ticked onwards as the [Barrier] neared completion.

“INKSHARD!” Phase cried out at the top of her lungs.

Inkshard jolted. She looked left and right and saw nothing until Phase gracefully landed beside her. But Inkshard only briefly acknowledged her before her gaze moved back to something bellow.

“Inkshard! We – Quick. Hold onto me! Hurry!”

But the Priestess didn’t hear her. She fell to her knees, her robes soaking into a pool of blood that belonged to hundreds that laid around them. From the charred to the crushed, to the minced to the ones that were shredded by metal shrapnel – Inkshard had chosen to kneel before only one body.

“… that’s…” Phase whispered.

“Lizen… Lizen… wake up. Hey… Lizen.” Inkshard spoke, her voice a wavered mess. “[Heal]. [Heal]… [HEAL]!”

The body that laid beneath them belonged to Lizen. The skin of her face was partially peeled, and one of her eyes were gouged out by a metal fragment. Her arms were completely twisted, with one so severely burnt that the bone had charred all the way through.

One of her legs were flattened, crushed into paste within her distorted armour. Her shield laid broken into tens of pieces; the front filled with countless metal fragments.

“[Heal]… Lizen. Why won’t you heal? Phase – can we save her?” Inkshard begged.

Phase held her tongue for the moment. They needed to escape. It was more important than the life of this person she barely knew. But…

Against her better judgement – she harnessed the power of an ancient creature and transformed. A bright flash of light consumed them for a moment and before Inkshard realised it – she was within of the mouth of a massive creature, right alongside Lizen.

A dangerous release of steam was expelled upon Phase’s transformation. If these people weren’t already dead, then they would be now. The pale dragon whose scales warded off the darkness flapped its majestic wings, and, in an instant, Phase lunged straight towards the last remaining crack in this dark world.

Inkshard quickly embraced Lizen to stop her body from slipping deeper into the dragon’s throat. And when she did; as she clutched onto Lizen’s mangled body – her eyes widened in surprise.

“You’re still breathing!?”

The skies began to change to a reddish hue as the black sun steadily grew larger until it appeared as if it were right above them. The Undead revelled in the light of its presence, empowering them to their fullest.

The Maw of the Uboros dawned upon Palvel once the beam of despair disappeared. Phase caught a glimpse of the world they left behind just as she twisted her massive body into a rotating spear and squeezed through the barrier, right as the final piece had fallen into place.

The bright light of the outside made her feel like she had just awoken from a nightmare. A sphere nearly ten kilometres in circumference consumed Pavel and its surrounding lands. The [Barrier] belonged to desire, hence the faint purplish colouration within the blackness and the faint, ominous moans of countless souls.

Phase stooped low and carefully tilted her mouth forward. Inkshard and Lizen fell gracefully into a patch of soft grass, both soaked in putrid, sticky saliva.

“Phase – Lizen’s alive!”

“… does she perhaps possess a skill that preserves her life?” The dragon-form Phase spoke telepathically, stunning the Priestess for a moment.

“Ah – mhm. She must have! But… for how much longer she’ll stay alive is the question. I can keep healing her, but it won’t be enough to save her life. Her legs are...” Inkshard struggled fiercely to even peer at Lizen’s lower half. “Lizen… just what happened to you in there?”

“We must not waste time. Neither do I possess the healing magic capable of saving her life, nor any creature with such power.” Phase stated.

“… will Exrite be able to?”

“I don’t recall Exrite being much of a healer.”

“Then who else can help her!?”

“… I suppose it’s better than nothing. Also – Inkshard – why did you come? You knew the dangers, yet you still stubbornly came.”

“I met with the Children of Balance. Hope – she told me to come to Palvel!”

“She did!? For what reason!?” Phase recoiled in surprise.

“For you! I’m sure of it now! She told me Exrite was key in saving everyone! But the problem was trying to reach Saicry fast enough. Now that I’m here with you – I’m certain she was talking about you!” Inkshard affirmed, grasping onto Phase’s scaley face, like she was holding her cheeks between her hands.

“Fate. How stupid… to think Hope planned this far ahead.” Phase sounded genuinely impressed, given how the events had played out so far. “Is Uru with Exrite at Saicry?”

“It’s likely!”

“Then –”

Phase scooped Inkshard onto her broad back. Her dragon form was more than 10 meters in length, and that was excluding the tail and neck portions. Her combined length was closer to 20 meters, and its weight could easily shatter the largest of boulders.

Yet she moved with a grace only found in much smaller creatures. The grass was hardly disturbed by her movements. With her tail, she carefully slid Lizen on and placed her beside Phase. Large spines protruded from her back and were large enough for the two to rest against.

“– We must find them. Uru especially. She’s an apostle of Desire so she’ll be able to open up the [Barrier] for our return.”

“How do you know that’ll work!?”

“Because Hope wouldn’t leave us without any option left unless she wanted to drive us into despair. If they think Exrite’s our saviour, then it’s also likely they are using it as an excuse to see him again.”

“… that sounds… reasonable.” Inkshard sighed.

“Hm? What’s wrong?” Phase asked as she began to layer her body with countless magic, most of which being protective magic for their sake. At the speed she needed to go – they would perish instantly without any protective magic.

“Nothing. Our Gods… they’re a lot more different than I imagined. I remember someone once told me to never meet your heroes in person… I think I understand that now.” Inkshard shivered lightly as she recalled her close encounter with Despair.

“It’s foolish to place your trust on them. I ran away as soon as I had the chance.”

“Maybe it is. But they’re the ones who showed me a way to save everyone. They gave me hope.” Inkshard whispered as she gently cupped Lizen’s only hand.

Phase didn’t reply immediately. The words that wanted to come out of her mouth never came. She could not tell Inkshard that her beloved Gods were responsible for all of this. Ignorance is bliss. If she knew now her mind would certainly crumble.

She wished to preserve her innocence until at least Lizen was safe. At that point it would be impossible to hide the truth from Exrite, let alone Uru. From then on, she could only imagine what would happen to the future interactions with the Priestess of Balance, and their Gods.

But whatever the case was – one thing was for certain.

She was not going to leave Inkshard’s side, no matter what.

“Hold on tight!” Phase exclaimed; the layers of protective magic finally complete.

“How long will it take to reach Saicry!?”

“At my top speed – we’ll reach the Golden City in only half a day!”

Inkshard was pleasantly surprised, but at the same time she felt sorrow towards those still inside of Palvel. She knew that this was the best possible outcome, but even so, she was pained regardless.

“A full day until we return with help… please stay alive. Mother… Haiyoto. Amy… everyone.”

With Phase’s wings spread out and primed to tear the skies – She finally launched onwards at supersonic speed, breaking the air as a coat of vapour followed.

Yet strangely enough – the grass beneath her was untouched and danced pleasantly to the gentle breeze.