Phase wasn’t always the type to laugh.

A life of over a thousand years would surely whittle one’s emotions down to dust and leave them as an empty husk of their former selves.

Yet Phase managed to laugh.

Her life of over six-thousand years was heavy, and it burdened her with incomprehensible sadness and loneliness. If it weren’t for her nameless mother – she would’ve broken a long time ago.

There was a saying her mother would often hum.

“You either die as yourself, or you live long enough to never recognise the face that stares back in the mirror.”

It was an odd saying. Really odd. Phase never understood what those words meant at the time. But now, she realised what they entailed.

It was her mother’s first cry for help.

Phase was unlikeable, insane, crude and menacing all at the same time.

But her smile carried the same warmth of a child’s.

Sat perched atop a mountain of the valley, she idly stared down at the blackened field. The wildlife had vacated the valley ever since her fight with Uru left the valley in an inhospitable state.

Even now, the air was still smoky with residue embers scattered about. With their explosive battle here, it would be easy for one to conclude that this was the result of a volcanic eruption.

The air was cold up in the mountains, but she didn’t mind. The dark recesses of her prison were colder.

However, it oddly managed to pierce through her thick skin.

The warmth she received in the past two days seemingly mellowed her. As a result, her body became susceptible to the cold as if she was a newborn Spirit.

But recalling that far was difficult. She didn’t know if she was born with the same child-like appearance as she had now, or was something as insignificant as an amoeba.

The thought scared her.

Because she didn’t know if this body was truly hers. The hardships of her mother came back to her all at once as she pulled out a fist-sized orb.

It glistened in the sun. A thumb gently brushed over it as she stared at her own reflection with a small smile.

“I’m sorry, mom.”

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Her eyes slowly narrowed.

“I’ve been a bad girl, right mom? I’m always selfish, always stubborn, and always short sighted.”

A tear fell onto the orb. Phase curled herself over and messily wiped her eyes.

“Yet you still stayed with me. You still stayed with the selfish me from the very beginning. I’m sorry… mom.”

The lament in her heart never left, nor did the smile on her face.

“I’ll finish what Zeluru started, and what I prolonged. I promise I’ll find a way to free you. I’ll end the chain so you won’t have to suffer any longer.”

She shivered and trembled as she stared into the ball with teary eyes.

No matter how long it would take, or where she would go – Phase vowed to free her mother’s soul. She felt like it was her responsibility as the one who began the chain of her mother’s suffering.

It was a task more important than even the Gods themselves.

* * *

The Capital was another place that was just as comforting as the valley.

Talia was a splitting image of her mother, and Inkshard was identical to herself. It was as if she travelled back to the past where things were simpler.

Not that she was complaining.

Her days were filled with smiles, warmth and the strange thing they called ‘food’. As a Spirit, she had no organs to process the chewed chunks, so it would immediately absorb into her body and become a part of her mana reserves.

It filled her belly with warmth – an odd sensation that she had never felt before.

Talia was like a doting mother, who treated Phase like her own daughter even if she was the Spirit of Balance. A part of it was because of how similar she was to Inkshard.

Another reason was because of a request Uru made.

When Phase heard about Uru’s involvement, she returned to the valley with a face full of tears and regret. She’d call out into the ruined grassland and lamented by throwing giant weaponry all over the place.

As a result, the entrance of the underground prison collapsed with the steep staircase returning to dust.

No matter how selfish the girl was – forgiveness wasn’t something she could conceive. Not until the day her mother returns to the skies with her wings spread.

And no longer trapped within the gilded cage that she so dearly kept on herself at all times.

That aside; Phase would often transform into the creatures she had killed in the past in order to demonstrate her powers to the Priestesses. From the smallest wolf to the larger creatures like the four-armed Orcs of Vevillen or the Iron Basilisks of Plunnerdell; there wasn’t anything she couldn’t morph into.

It was the defining characteristic of the Spirit of Balance.

She regretted that her Facipod was killed by Exrite, but that was the least of her worries. After all, she still had an arsenal of powerful monsters at her disposal.

If it weren’t for her short sightedness, she could’ve stood more of a chance against Uru as a fire-breathing dragon.

Apart from the Priestesses, King Inclark was also aware of Phase’s existence. When he asked what the Spirt of Balance was doing here in the castle, Phase replied with:

“Protecting my master’s beloved Priestesses. Don’t interfere.”

She didn’t need to say anymore. Even if he was a King – he was only a human; and he didn’t deserve her words.

Only the Priestesses and Exrite to an extent, were the only humans worthy of her attention.

The Spirit discriminated against the lesser races, for they were nothing in her eyes.

Dangerous, spontaneous, bipolar – yet was a child through and through.

A six-thousand-year-old one at that.