“Why are you looking at me like that?” Kenos asked, but I simply walked around him as he stood in the dark void that I assumed was our combined consciousness.

Kenos was far taller than normal Rendaro.

Was that because he was the Host of Darkness?

“I was just born this way. My dad was pretty big as well.” Kenos said with crossed arms.

I looked at the pitch black silk gown that Kenos wore.

It had pale grey highlights and was embellished with a bunch of overlapping circles that seemingly burnt.

“That’s the old Rendaro Crest.”

“What does do the circles represent?” I asked.

“No idea. I never really paid attention when anyone explained what it all meant.” Kenos said while sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

I looked at his messy long black hair and his pitch-black eyes.

My eyes back on earth were brown. I wondered what color they were now-

“They’re still brown. Except your pupils are all flat.” Kenos said.

I nodded before plopping onto the ground.

“Who are you?” I asked.

My voice echoed repeatedly in the darkness.

“My name is Kenos. I am the son of Rahad and prince of the Rendaro.” Kenos said with a rather serious expression.

“Why were you in that dark temple underground and who injured you?”

“I was down there because I had nowhere to go after returning home to find that Iana was gone. As for who injured me… it was the sun.” Kenos said before turning away.

“Could you be a little less vague?”

“Caligo Corriandos, the Golden Prince. After battling the Dragons, he was severely injured and so the Elders sent me and a few other Rendaro to try and finish him off. The ambush failed and I was almost killed by that jerk.” Kenos said before turning to face me.

He then sighed deeply and crossed his arms once more.

“I see. Someone brought up something pretty interesting. You and I are one now, right? If that’s so, then why aren’t you the one manifesting on the outside?” I asked.

“Ah, I simply want to rest for a little longer. When the time is right, I’ll take the wheel.”

“and do what?”

“Who knows? I might just take us to another world where we can live the rest of our days stress free.” Kenos said as he paced around.

“Mmm… just how long do you plan on living?” I asked.

“As long as I want.”

“Oh? How old are you right now then?”

“Can’t say for sure. Couple hundred years.”

“Mmm… does that mean you were there when the first Collision happened?” I asked.

“No. I only received the title of host after my father died. That was around the endpoint of the war.”

“Oh, so you’re around four hundred years old. Give or take a few years.” I said.

“Really? Wow… I’m quite the old geezer, ey?” Kenos asked, but I still had more questions.

There’s still more I wanted to figure out although I must say that all this exposition was a bit tiring.

Ah well, let’s get it over with. I thought.

“Farin called you the Black Prince. Any idea why people would call you that?” I asked.

“Nope. No idea. All I ever did was sit in my quarters in the royal palace. Can’t say I know why someone would give me such an edgy title.”

“What was life like as the prince of the Rendaro?”

“Honestly, it was pretty boring. I’m not saying I enjoyed being on the battlefield, but damn… long stretches of time would pass before anything happened in that place. The Royal Palace, I mean.” Kenos said.

“What were you parents like?” I asked and for the first time since we’d met, I saw a frown form on Kenos’s face.

“My father was your typical king, I guess. He handled his duties with a diligence one would expect from a true leader.” Kenos said before pausing and staring at nothing in particular.

“And your mother?”

“I… she-”

My vision darkened and I felt myself awakening.

“Times up? Ah well. See ya later.” Kenos said with an unnecessarily loud chuckle.

“Wait! I still have more questions!”

.

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..

I awoke with a yawn and greeted the new day with great enthusiasm.

I dashed out of Yna’s cabin while she soundly slept and made my way towards Coh’s southern wall where I looked out into the Dark Expanse.

A large part of me wanted to clean up all of the darkness in one go, but I needed to reign my excitement in.

I needed to be calm and cautious.

I looked to the east and saw the stream that went south.

The same stream that was Eimval’s main source of water.

I’d have to clean a large chunk of the land around it to ensure that it was safe and that could take some time, but I was more than prepared.

I wouldn’t be able to stop tarnished sand from blowing onto the stream with the wind, but at least the water’s quality would be drastically improved.

While I did that Yna would further improve Coh’s situation.

She didn’t say anything, but I guessed she wouldn’t enjoy hunting for food every time the Rendaro needed to eat.

We’d need to domesticate animals and crops, but that could take forever, which wasn’t a problem for me.

If Hosts could live for extended periods of time and I was a part of Kenos, I could wait everything out while giving guidance where needed.

But wait.

Kenos said that his father died and that he was the previous Host of Darkness.

That meant that hosts lived long, but weren’t invincible.

I’d need to be careful-

“Greetings, dark vessel.”

A familiar voice said.

I turned to find Farin walking up the top of the wall where I stood.

“Hey.” I said before returning my gaze towards the rising sun.

It gently bathed the ocean of black sand, revealing just how damaged the land was.

“This place, the Dark Expanse, once had a different name. Back when the Rendaro were still united.”

“Oh?” I sounded.

“Yes. It was called Rendaya. I feel… I feel like this place may become the next capital, but not just for the Rendaro. I think that with your open nature, this will make a good home for many.” Farin said.

I could tell he was smiling.

“It will. But for now we must plant our heels into the dirt and work. Actually, follow me.” I instructed before leading Farin down onto the Dark Expanse.

I then led him east until we arrived at the stream.

I looked north and saw that it was the very same water that came from the waterfall all the way up from the plateau.

I then began absorbing all of the surrounding darkness.

“Oh my!” Farin gasped as streams of pure black smoke rose from the ground.

Those streams gradually made their way into my body, leaving behind brown-ish sand.

I did this for about thirty minutes before looking around.

I had cleaned about a tennis courts worth of land.

I looked south and sighed before taking a determined step forward.

.

..

“I think you’ve done more than enough for today, sir.” Farin said as I stumbled around.

“No! We must keep going!” I said with a hiccup.

I then felt Farin grab my little self before walking back north.

“Put me down! We have so much to do and I’m not sure if I’m immortal yet!” I cried, but Farin remained silent.

He simply patted my head and I promptly stopped struggling.

We eventually returned to Coh’s southern wall, but Farin stopped after noticing something.

“Sir.” He cautiously droned.

“You’re eons older than me. You shouldn’t be calling me sir.” I said with my head hanging uselessly.

“No, there’s someone approaching. They look hurt.”

I quickly raised my head and saw what looked like a guard from Eimval-

Wait a minute!

“That’s Yog!” I said before hopping out from Farin’s grasp.

I then ran towards the bleeding Rendaro.

His armor had been ripped to shreds and deep cuts could be seen on his arms and legs.

“Hey, what happened?” I asked.

“It was… the Foph.” Yog said before falling forward.

I moved to the side and Farin promptly caught him.

“Come on! Let’s take him to Yna.” I cried before leading Farin back to Yna’s cabin, but we arrived to find that she wasn’t inside.

“Place him here. I’ll go look for Yna.” I said before running towards the waterfall.

If she wasn’t there, then she was further north hunting.

I quickly arrived at the waterfall to find a large ball of light floating above the water.

It looked as though a mini sun had fallen to the ground.

I wanted to run away, but I saw something in the ball of light.

It looked like a person.

I then noticed a set of clothes sitting neatly in front of a nearby tree.

“Yna?” I gasped.

The ball of light rapidly dimmed, revealing a naked Yna at its center.

She fell into the water, causing a plume of steam to burst from the water.

Yna swam to up to the riverbank before emerging from the stream where she shot me a curious glance.

“Yeah? What’s wrong?” She asked as she walked towards the tree where her clothes were.

“Uh… a guard from Eimval suddenly came here and he’s extremely wounded! He says that whatever happened had something to do with the Foph!” I yelped while Yna calmly got dressed before approaching me.

“Where is he now?” She asked.

“At your cabin!” I said as Yna picked me up.

“OK.” She said before jogging back to her cabin with me in hand.

There we found Farin doing his best to tend to Yog’s wounds.

Yna placed me down before nursing Yog's wounds.

“Did he say anything?” I asked, but Farin frantically shook his head.

“No.”

“What’s happening?”

I heard someone ask.

I turned to find the other Rendaro approaching.

“We’re not quite sure on the specifics yet, but it seems as though Eimval was attacked.” I said.

“Oh my.”

“It’s probably the damned Foph.”

Such things were said as Yna finished her work.

“How’s he looking?” I asked.

“He’ll live. Several deep cuts in inconsequential areas. Seems as though whoever hurt him didn’t want to kill him. Kinda like they were playing with him.” Yna said.

“I see. Let’s go investigate Eimval while he recovers-“

“Hold on. Who’ll protect Coh while we’re gone? What if the Foph also decide to attack this place?” Yna asked, prompting me to look into the frightened eyes of the Rendaro.

I let out a pained groan and wondered what would happen if Yna went and I stayed.

Would I be able to defend Coh?

Would I have to kill someone?

“Katsíki.”

My heart began beating so hard that it hurt.

I then felt someone pick me up.

“Calm down. We’ll go to Eimval together. You’ll be shocked to know, but I can actually travel pretty quickly.” Yan said as she rubbed my head, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad could happen while we were gone.

“O- OK.” I said, deciding to trust Yna in this.

“Y- you guys stay right here- wait! Yna, let’s take them to the waterfall. We can make Kenos’s underground temple some kind of emergency room.” I said.

Yna nodded before leading everyone to the waterfall.

I wanted to create a dark bridge from the riverbank to the secret entrance, but that would be stupid.

Everyone would have to swim and so we did.

Yna helped everyone into the dark cave all while carrying an injured Yog.

I looked around and saw the cave’s jagged floors and walls.

In my panicked state, I sent out a wave of darkness.

It quickly settled on the ground and hardened, creating a dark even path into the cave deep.

I then led everyone to what was Kenos’s throne room.

Everyone let out gasps and upon closer inspected I could see why.

The walls were all decorated with various depictions of war.

Some of the engravings depicted a dark kingdom.

One that sat in the middle of a desert.

Others depicted what looked like a Rendaro family.

However, one of the engravings was different.

It showed a man tightly clinging to what appeared to be a dead woman.

My eyes then locked onto the gigantic throne at the end of the room. At its center was still a large sword. One far larger than Yna’s.

I wondered who it belonged to-

I shook all unnecessary thoughts aside before filling the cave with darkness, I used it to carry out all dirt and dust, leaving the room nice and clean.

“From now on, this is where we’ll meet up in case of emergency. Stay here until Yna and I get back, ok? Farin, you’re in charge.” I said as Yna walked towards the room’s only entrance with me in hand.

Farin slowly nodded as we left.

Yna and I eventually left the cave to find that the sun had long since set and the world was shrouded in the darkness of a moonless night.