August 22nd 4070 - 8 AM

The clock strikes 8 Am in the Alphonia mansion. Royal families are very structured and their days must start a specific way every day at a specific time. As we see the inside interior of the house with walls that glimmer as the sun beams onto them. We see statues, paintings, and family photos of all sorts as we then get a view into the 3rd-floor bedroom of a young girl. As this girl, who seems to be no older than 18 rests her head on her pillow, She soon gets woken up by her alarm clock near her bedside table. She slowly lifts her hand and slams it into the alarm clock with tons of force. She pulls her hand back in pain as she forgot what material her new clock was made out of after she broke her last one. The girl gets up and begins to rub her arm as she hears a knock on her bedroom door. She gets up still in pain and goes to open the door. When the large wooden door swings open, She sees her assistant, Winston. Winston is a quite tall, slender man with gray hair, Slowly starting to bald. He has the kind of hair of a man who's trying to keep their hair on their head as long as possible even though he's pushing 50. Winston’s bloodline has been made for the Alphonia manor decades ago, being devoted to them after they were saved from poverty a few thousand years ago by the current head of the Alphonia family at that time. Ever since his bloodline has been watching over this family as their sword protectors.

“Madam, Please come now. It's time for your daily routine.” The girl looks at her butler in his eyes and she smiles, telling him “Please Winston, You don't need to be so formal with me. When nobodies near us, just call me Eiko. It's a lot more simple than calling me Madam, Less awkward too.” She laughs and Winston smiles. “Well, Miss Eiko, It's time for your daily routine. Please follow me.” Eiko stands up and walks behind her personal assistant/butler. She has a gut feeling today is going to be a bad day, but she keeps her negative thoughts to herself like her father would always inform her to do.

This is Elanora Alphonia of the Alphonia Dynasty. But for simplicity's sake, we will just refer to her as Eiko from now on as she prefers to be called. She’s a member of the royal Alphonia family, one of the 6 royal families of the Khourburg Dynasty, Eiko is in the most powerful family of those 6 due to her brother, Fafnir Alphonia being the emperor. There were 4 main kingdoms. The Kingdom of Skies Avolisia, The Kingdom of South Reptar, The Kingdom of the East Side Khourburg, and The Kingdom of the North, Spirefordge. All of these kingdoms are in one Big Landmark known as Eternia. For reference, consider Eternia Like the USA but if it only had 4 known states on it that took up the entire state. That's a pretty accurate representation of how huge Eternia is.

Eiko walks out of her room with Winston by her side. Eiko is a Girl who's around 17 years old. She has long silky Black hair, Bright Red eyes, and a Strange mark on her arm in the shape of a crescent. This was there from her birth, but she normally tells her parents guests it's a battle scar so she can seem cooler than she is. (Nobody ever believes her). Eiko heads to the bathroom and as she brushes her teeth, outside the door Winston stands and waits for her while informing Eiko of her entire schedule for the day. “You have a family breakfast at 8:00 Am, 2 hours of freetime then you must go deal with your political responsibilities as princess at 10:00 am, Then after about 5 hours of that you need to go to a Special Family Dinner between your family and the cavindine family to discuss important matters, then after that you have another Meeting to help out your father with his own personal affairs for the rest of the day then it's your bedtime at 10:00 Pm. So 2 hours of free time today, Lady. Eiko.”

Eiko feels dead when she hears all of this but she's used to it by now, this has basically become the usual. 2 hours is the peak of the free time she's had since she became Seven years old. “Do you know what the meeting with the Cavindines is about?” Eiko asks as she continues to brush her teeth. She's a little hard to understand but Winston picks up most of what she’s saying and replies “Not fully no Ma’am. All I know is that it's very important and shouldn’t be missed.” “Understood. Thanks, Winston.” “Anytime madam”. After Eiko finishes with her shower and does her hair and makeup. She heads downstairs and meets the rest of her family. For simplicity's sake, I'm going to refer to them by their shortened names/nicknames just like Eiko. Her father is Devard, Her mother is Vega, and her 3 brothers, are Saul (Younger Brother), Aki (Twin Brother), and Fafnir(His actual name and Oldest Brother). Fafnir is different from the rest of the family due to being the emperor of the Khourburg Dynasty and 1 of the 4 rulers of Eternia. Fafnir achieved this title by killing the last emperor with his insane strategy. Despite how he doesn’t have much magic, He makes up for it by being extremely tactical and making his magic way more useful than most Fire magic users due despite lacking a lot of mana. The death of the previous king is what made Alphonia the top royal family. There are only 2 ways you can become emperor which is by Killing the old one or being a part of the Royal Family that's connected to the throne.

As Eiko walks through and looks at her family all sitting at the table she starts feeling uncomfortable quickly, as she realizes everyone in the room is staring at her. She's late to the family breakfast for the 3rd day in a row, this one is even more special since her brother Fafnir was able to appear. He’s normally very busy with the duties of being emperor, so the fact he could show up today means something special must be happening today. She hasn’t been able to hang out with Fafnir since he was around 16 and she was 8. That's the day he killed the king, they hung out in their spot in the forest one last time before he vanished. She didn’t understand at the time, But she slowly understood why her brother stopped being around. “Sorry for my late arrival,” Eiko says to her parents, somewhat ashamed. Her father doesn’t say a word, but her mother quickly says “You’re starting to have the decency of a commoner, Elanora.” Eiko mumbles something insulting under her breath only her twin brother picks up, but he chooses not to say anything and she sits. Winston and the rest of his family bring in trays of food for the family to eat. The appetizers, Chocolate-Pomegranate Truffles with Caramelized White Chocolate Centers. The drinks, Elderberry and Juniper Infused Wine sprinkled with stardust, and the main meal, Braised Dragon Meat with Mushroom Sauce, Dragon meat sent from the corners of the Spirefordge Kingdom.

As the family begins to eat their extremely fancy breakfast in absolute silence, Eiko decides to break the silence and asks her older brother Fafnir, “How come you came home now of all days? Aren’t you normally busy with Emperor duties?” Fafnir looks at Eiko and then turns to their mother, “Yeah, Aren’t I normally busy with Emperor duties?” He says throwing some shade at Vega. “Well, today is a very important day for the family that may determine and affect all our futures.” Eiko’s younger brother Saul, who's more of the silent type, decides to murmur “W- What's the meeting with the Cavindines about..?” Both parents look at each other and their father begins to speak. “As you know, Eiko’s 18th birthday is tomorrow. Me and your mother have been discussing some things with the Cavindines, and we decided, we're going to marry off Eiko to the Cavindine’s son, Riley.” The room is now pin-drop silent, this news even attracts the attention of Winston and the other maids in the corner of the room.

“What…?” Eiko says, She can't believe what her father just said. “You’ve gotta be fucking joking right?” For the first time in years, Eiko said a cuss word, This attracts the attention of her mother who doesn’t see the big problem. “Watch your profanity.” Eiko stands up from her chair and slams her hands on the table. “You guys can’t be serious. This has to be a fucking joke right?” Eiko looks at her whole family trying to see what they have to say. Her siblings are silent and confused, Her father has a somewhat guilty expression but her mother is confused. “What? You sit around doing nothing all day, We’ve been planning to do this since you were first hitting puberty.” Eiko looks at her dad, the one person she’d never expected to betray her like this but he just looks down, Shameful. “Me and your father got married at 16, You’re lucky your father convinced me to let you wait till you were a legal adult or else you would have been out of my castle.” Eiko begins to giggle, She still slightly thinks she's being pranked, but a part of her gut is telling her that they’re being serious. Eiko begins to tear up and just runs back to her room, Not being able to continue eating after the news.

Fafnir sits there somewhat guilty for not saying anything but, He knew. He was a vital part of the deal so he couldn’t just sit there and pretend he was shocked. He tried to fight for his sister at first but gave up despite being king, after being convinced by his father that it will mend the relationship between the family after Fafnir killed the head of the family to become king, making the kingdom even more secure if Eiko is the one to connect the 2 families. So he picked the many over the 1. That one was his sister. Fafnir stands up from the table and says “I’ll go check on her. I’ve always been able to calm her down. Maybe she’ll understand.” He stands up and walks up the flight of stairs toward Eiko’s room. He knocks on the door but it opens due to not being fully closed.

“Eiko?” Fafnir walks into his sister's bedroom and sees her sobbing, head in her hands. She feels like her life is over. “What is it, Fafnir?” Eiko says in a cold yet sorrowful tone. “I’m sorry.” He says looking at his sister with genuine concern and sympathy lingering in his voice. “Sorry isn’t going to give me my freedom back.” She looks up at her brother, He can see the tears in her eyes and snot running down her nose. “I’ve always tried so hard to disconnect from this royalty stuff, and I was forced right back into it. No matter what I do, it feels like SOMEONE is out to ruin my life. I wanted to explore the world, get stronger, find true love, and just live out my life happily, and to me, that dream was gonna start tomorrow. But NOPE! Im forced right back into the same bullshit I was trying to escape.” Fafnir pats his sister's back, “I understand how you feel, but you need to understand-” Eiko slaps her brother's hand off her back at these words. “Do you understand? You abandoned me. I’ve felt so alone since I was 8 that day you left. Forced to deal with Royalty, no time to be a child because oh, “You have a meeting today” or “Oh you have more work to do '' and it's YOUR fault. Life was never this difficult before you became king, You made my life harder and then LEFT me alone to deal with it. You had a chance to have a childhood, I didn't.” Eiko regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth, but it was already too late. She let out how she genuinely felt. Fafnir seems to realize how she actually feels and stands up, leaving the room without saying a word.

Eiko realizes her mistake, but her emotions get the best of her and she’s too mad to apologize to her brother. She sits in her room for the next hour and a half, alone. Giving herself some time to mellow off. She knows that she’s wasting her last bit of free time, But to her, Her life is damn near over anyway so it doesn’t matter. She sits in her sorrow until Winston enters her room. “Lady Eiko… Are you doing alright?” He comes over and sits on her bed beside her. “No…” She says, curled up in a ball facing her wall. “I know it's hard to accept, But let's see if you can change their mind later today. You’re a smart girl, you’ll for sure be able to change their mind.”

Eiko sits up, still hesitant. “I'm not sure... No matter how I try to convince them, My opinions normally get overshadowed. It's been like that my whole life.” Winston holds Eiko’s hand and looks at her “If not your mother, Maybe your father. That man loves you with all his heart and is just trying to look out for you, He just wants what might be best for your future. Please, hear him out and then try to convince him. I believe you can do it” These words somewhat speak to Eiko, but she's still mad.

“I mean… I guess I can try.” She says looking down. “That's my girl. Even if you’re still forced to get married, I’ll always be there for you, whether you're right here with me, or halfway across the world.” Eiko hugs Winston and gets teary eyed she might never see him again. “Thank you… Winston.” “It was my pleasure to be here and see you grow, Lady Eiko.” He reciprocates Eiko’s hug and they sit there for a couple of minutes. Soon, Winston’s watch rings and they have to break the hug. “It's time for you to get ready for the meeting with the Cavindine family.” Eiko gets up, cleans herself up, switches out of her routine clothes, and wears something more elegant. She reapplies her makeup and heads over to the meeting room of the castle.

Once Eiko arrives with Winston following right behind her, they enter the main meeting room. Once there, they realize they’re late again. The Cavindine family has already arrived. The mother of the family Diana, Her son Riley, and her 2 adopted children, Azra and Zerx. The 2 adopted kids seem to be here out of obligation to support their brother's marriage. Not seeming to have much interest in it. As Eiko enters the room with Winston behind her. Diana seems to be disgusted at Winston's very presence. “Please, take your pet out of the room, We’re having a serious conversation and I don’t want some common rabble listening in.” Winston smiles “Nice to see you too, Diana.” “Don’t call me by my first name you vermin, I want him out of the meeting room at once!” The room falls silent as Eiko’s siblings watch the conflict in silence. Soon, Eiko’s father Devard speaks up. “Winston, Do you mind just going to assist Luna downstairs with dishes?” “As you wi-” But before Winston can comply or even finish his sentence, Eiko responds to him. “No. He's not going anywhere.” Everyone looks at her in shock, for once, She’s speaking up to her father.

Her mother interjects, “Eiko. Winston is going downstairs whether you like it or NOT.” “No, he's not.” Eiko looks back at her mother as she glares at her. If looks could kill, Eiko would have been dead as soon as she started talking. In all honesty, Eiko is scared of her parents. The punishments they would give are very traditional and damn near torture, But that's how they discipline their kids. Making them fear talking back, During Eiko and Aki’s 10th birthday, Eiko got 1 more present than Aki did and he screamed at his parents. They forced Aki to run laps around the castle 30 times without stopping. Additionally, they never celebrated Aki’s birthday on the same day as Eiko ever again, despite them being twins. They wait a month after Eiko’s birthday to celebrate Aki’s. This caused Aki to resent his sister a little, So they stopped playing together. He still loves her simply because they’re siblings, But just lacks any fondness towards her. That's just the start of the punishments they would give to all their kids, So one of them daring to speak up is like blasphemy, something that hasn’t really happened in a while.

“Eiko. He’s leaving, Do not embarrass me in front of the guests.” “Guests?” Eiko laughs. Before Eiko begins to say anything else, Winston interjects. “Eiko, please don't get yourself in trouble. I’ll simply leave, I don’t belong here.” “What makes you think you don't belong here? You don’t have as much money? What does being here change?” Winston doesn’t really know how to react, So he doesn’t respond. “If he leaves, I’m leaving and you can forget about the wedding.” Eiko stands firm with her beliefs and before her mother yells back at her, Her father ends the conflict by simply stating “He can stay. As long as he doesn’t interject in the conversation, We should have no issues, correct?” Diana rolls her eyes and agrees.

“So. The date of the marriage is tomorrow, We are simply here to discuss what the marriage will uphold.” Fafnir says, The man can't bring himself to look Eiko in the eyes. Diana begins to speak “All my boy asks, is that Eiko, his loyal, treats him with the utmost respect. This marriage will bind our families and will be forgiveness for Fafnir slaughtering my husband to take control of what used to be ours.” Aki begins to say “So, Is this whole marriage just a way to build a bridge between the 2 families for forgiveness?” “Correct” Riley, Eiko’s “Future husband” begins to speak. He's a Gray haired boy with green eyes, Eiko somewhat finds him attractive but feels no love for him. “Fafnir is the cause of the death of my father and he's the one that caused conflict between the royal families. He's the reason that there was a divide between the royal families at Khourburg. When there are only 3 remaining kingdoms, and none of them are allies, You would at least expect Khourburg to stick together, Especially after what the damage he’s caused.”

“I came here to discuss a wedding, Not have my decisions be judged by people that can’t move on from the past,” Fafnir says, looking directly at Riley. “If this continues, I will have no hand in this wedding.” “Hiding from the truth like always, your majesty,” Riley says in a mocking tone and snickers to himself. “You killed my father and you’re running from the consequences, You’re the reason I grew up alone, and now that you’re facing criticism you want to run? Pathetic. Is this who’s ruling our kingdom? Is THIS who the future generation has to look up to?” Riley says, slamming his hands on the table. “If I'm being fully honest, I can’t stand you or your family.” The room goes silent as Riley finishes this sentence. “Well, I see why this meeting was REALLY held.” Fafnir stands up and as he walks out of the room he begins to say “Never speak to me with such vulgarity again or I’ll make sure you see your father sooner than you’d hope. I do everything I do for a reason. Just because you can’t understand it doesn’t mean I owe you an explanation, Rodent.”

He walks out of the room. Diana says “What a brute. Can’t accept the consequences of his actions.” “Please stop speaking about my son in such a manner, He may have made mistakes but everybody makes mistakes. I understand some of his actions you can’t forgive, but that's not what we’re here to discuss. We’re trying to build the bridge between the 2 families and you’re separating it even further.” As Eiko hears this it finally clicks in her head. “Wait. You’re telling me, you're giving up my future and the rest of my life because you want to build a bond with this family we can’t get along with???” Eiko sounds genuinely confused at this and her mother glares at her, giving her a sign to pipe down. “We can’t even get along! Why are you sacrificing ME to basically make a contract with people that don't even like us??” Eiko’s father is taken aback by his daughter's words but he subconsciously had this same thought in his gut.

“That daughter of yours has quite the mouth on her.” Diana says regarding Eiko’s outburst “Clearly didn’t get disciplined enough as a child. Unfortunate.” “Takes one to know one,” Eiko mutters under her breath. “Excuse me?” “I said. It takes one to know one.” Diana is clearly distraught when Eiko responds in such a violent tone of voice. “You might have to knock some sense into this future wife of yours, Riley.” Diana laughs and looks at her son, who just smiles at her comment. This enrages Eiko’s father, He stands up “If your son puts a HAND on my daughter, I will kill him.” Diana smiles “Relax, I was joking. This whole family seems to be unable to take a joke.”

“This meeting is over.” Eiko’s father stands up and orders Winston to escort the Cavindines to the main entrance. Diana, her son, and her adopted children who seem to not have any interest in participating, get up and are beginning their way out when Diana says “We can discuss this again, parents only. Give me a call.” She smiles and leaves the room with Winston.

The family sits there in silence.

To break the silence, Vega orders Aki and Saul to go to their rooms. The siblings leave the room. As soon as everyone else is gone, Vega is LIVID. She screams at Eiko “WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM!” Eiko looks at her mother with sadness, fear, and hatred in her eyes all at once and says “You’re selling me off for money. You don't care about the kingdom, You want to be richer than you already are.” Vega is taken aback and screams at her daughter “WHERE DID THIS ATTITUDE COME FROM, I ONLY WANT THE BEST FOR YOU AND THIS IS HOW YOU ACT?!” Eiko has no response. She believes what she believes. She begins to tune out her mother and silently cries. She's turning 18 tomorrow. The day she's been looking forward to for her entire life ever since she was 8, and they ruined it. “I’ll never be free from this, will I? Fafnir should’ve just died that day.” Eiko regrets her words once again but she stands up and runs out of the room. She couldn’t get punished, She was basically an adult, and there was no “punishment” that could be done. Eiko walks into her room and sits there.

August 22nd 4070 - 6:30 PM

8 hours later, Eiko wakes up by hearing a knock on her door. She walks over, lacking energy. Somewhat soulless. She sees Winston, who's finished with his daily chores. So he's using his free time to check on Eiko. “Lady Eiko, Your family wanted me to report to you that you’re still getting married tomorrow.” Eiko doesn’t react, She nods and slowly closes the door but Winston puts his foot in between the door before it can close. “Don't risk your job for me.” “Nobody is home besides Saul, He’s out playing with some friends. Please Eiko, Let's talk.” Winston walks into the room and sits at Eiko’s desk as she falls back onto her bed. “I’m tired, Winston.” “You cannot sleep your problems away Eiko. Please, Talk to me. It's your last day here so I want you to do something special.” Eiko sits up and looks at Winston. “What can I do? I’m alone.” “You can go to the one spot that used to make you happy as a kid,” Winston says, this catches Eiko’s attention and she responds “Stardust road?” Stardust Road is a river through a forest near the side of the castle Eiko’s room was located on. It takes a little bit to find it, and that area is an old war ground from 2000 years ago where they used to test out artificial golems. If you make your way through at night, the river is in a way that's directly under the moonlight, illuminated by the night. Making it have this kind of stardust pattern. Eiko and Fafnir used to go there all the time at night to go see the phenomenon. Eiko would always tell the stories to Winston and the fun adventures she used to have with Fafnir.

“Are you sure?” Eiko sounds interested but confused, a little more life in her voice though. “Your family went to the Cavindine’s Castle and Saul is out with some friends being watched by a few maids. The only one you have to worry about is Fafnir, and that's why I’m here.” Winston uses his clone magic by using his energy mana, He takes Eiko’s hand, and he perfectly clones her body but it's missing a face. “Now the clone only still exists here if I’m in the vicinity. So you’ll be lucky enough to make it out on your own. Cover yourself and enjoy the sight, ok?” Eiko smiles at Winston and gives him a big genuine hug. “Thank you, Winston.” “Anytime, Eiko. I see you like my own daughter, so your happiness comes before any job in the world.” Eiko takes a random hoodie from her closet to stay hidden and sneaks out the window of her bedroom. Making a bed of ice to break her fall.

Eiko begins to make her way toward the forest. The memories of her and her brother playing around this part of the castle comes back to her and she smiles to herself, missing the simpler times. The one thing she thanks Fafnir for is revamping the castle instead of getting a new one, to keep the memories that they made here. As she begins to travel through the forest she ducks and weaves a lot of branches. This is the first time in forever she’s been outside by herself. As she tries to navigate where she remembers the Stardust River being located, she realizes she's lost. She never went back here after Fafnir became Emperor so she has no idea where she's going.

Eiko, Trying to navigate toward the Stardust River, trips over something. It happened to be a switch. She feels the ground below her rumble as rocks and rubble that seem to be molded begin to reconnect. A giant mossy green and light brown golem is assembled. One of the test dummies from 2000 years ago, Due to being artificially made, could never actually decompose, just getting physically older and a little weaker. The big golem beast is still in an attacking mode, so it launches its fist towards Eiko’s face. She swiftly dodges the attack but the back of the golem's hand slaps Eiko in her side towards the direction where she jumped.

Eiko has never felt so much force towards her body all at once in her life, It feels like her body is literally being torn apart as she's launched by the golem's backhand. Eiko’s fragile body slams onto the ground, battered and bruised by this one simple attack. The golem walks toward Eiko and throws another punch, Eiko makes a wall of Ice protecting herself from this attack. “Get up Elanora…” She thinks to herself as she forces herself to jump backward, just in time to barely dodge the golems skull-crushing punch. Eiko prepares to launch a wave of ice at the golem but her subconscious doesn’t let her. She begins to think about her future of being married to Riley, and her life basically being over. So, even though her brain is telling her to attack, her subconscious would rather die than go back home, she chooses not to attack.

The golem launches a wave of boulders at Eiko which she freezes over with her ice powers, still dodging the attacks, but she unfortunately gets slammed with one of the boulders. Her body falls to the ground limp. She's not used to fighting or even using her magic all that much. So her body is still not used to feeling so much damage. She falls over. Eiko begins to reflect and think if it was worth it, and if this was the life she wanted to live. Her body goes numb, she slowly begins to succumb to her injuries. The golem walks over to Eiko’s limp body. It raises its fist, Swinging down ready to crush her body.

*CLINK*

A sword intercepts the fist right as it's about to connect. The person stands right in front of Eiko, back facing them. This person is in rags and from the angle where Eiko is looking seems to have a cape and a mask. With a hood covering the top of his head. “W-who…” Eiko barely manages to utter. The person glancing back at Eiko holding their position with the sword. Looking back at the girl on the verge of death. He decides to speak and says

“Think of me as like a guardian angel. A phantom of the night here to carry you to the afterlife.” “Wh- Why?” Eiko barely manages to reply. “Why doesn’t matter. All you need to know is-”

“I’m here to save you.”

At these words, This man covered in rags swings his sword upwards, slicing straight through this golem's mossy right arm. The golem stumbles backward, taken aback by the human's swift slash. The man in rags quickly grabs Eiko and puts her on his back. Eiko is barely able to keep her consciousness as she watches this guardian angel of sorts fight against this golem. The man charges at the golem that quickly regenerates its arm, but it's slightly smaller than before. The man charges past the golem faster than it could perceive, quickly, he sends a surge of lighting from his palms to the blade of his sword. The lighting is yellow and the man yells “Static Wave!” He swings the sword and the lightning launches off the sword in a wave of lightning towards the golem. The golem quickly makes half a wall of rocks blocking the attack. Then it stomps, shaking the ground where the man stands with Eiko on his back getting woozy. He jumps towards one of the trees and uses it to propel himself towards the beast, slashing the right arm off of the war machine once more. It regenerates the arm again, but once more it's smaller than before.

A lightbulb begins to click in his head, He then ducks the boulders the golem launches at him and slashes at its head. It uses its left arm to block him from hitting its head. It then uses the momentum from him jumping at it and pushes its arm upwards with a high amount of force. Launching the man and Eiko upward. This maneuver allows him to yell “Static WAVE!” as he launches another wave of electricity at it right before he blasts off. This attack sends him further in the air but it also blasts the golem's left arm off. It quickly attempts to regenerate that arm but before the rocks could even reattach, the man uses his and Eiko’s weight combined to force himself back downwards. Falling, the man puts a huge output of lightning into the tip of his sword. He crashes on top of the golem slicing it in the middle of its head, straight on the top.

He lands right on top of the golem's head, with his sword implanted. This attack completely immobilizes the golem for around 10 seconds. “I’ve figured out how you work without even battling you for that long.” The man laughs and says “You can regenerate but smaller than BEFORE!” As he says this, he pulls his sword out of its skull, backflips off of its head, and then slams his foot into the golem's face with a kick, launching its head off into a tree. Its body falls over limp, the man decides to take the problem into his own hands, literally. He charges electricity into his fist which is covered by a leather arm guard with brass knuckles at the top. He slams his fist into the chest of the robot and shattered its core, shutting down the war machine for good. As this happens, Eiko passes out. All of this fighting and jumping has drained her of her energy.

About 2 hours later, Eiko wakes up with a throbbing headache and her body is in agony. She realizes she's in a pretty beat-up purple sleeping bag. She looks around without getting out of the sleeping bag and sees a table that seems to be broken and held together with some duct tape, a few papers on it she can't seem to read from that angle, a few potions on a table that seem to be a mix of a bunch of different colors, a beat-up wooden sword, some bandages, and some arrows. Eiko stands up and sees her legs and arms wrapped in bandages, as she tries to walk she feels a sharp pain through her entire body. “However long I was out for clearly wasn’t enough..” She thinks to herself as stumbles. “But sleeping all day has its consequences…” She continues to walk out of this strange tent. Looking for whoever brought her here.

Eventually, she manages to walk out of the tent, She sees the same person in rags and a mask fighting against some type of training mannequin or dummy. She looks around and sees that she's still in the forest but it seems to be night time with a full moon in the sky. The surrounding trees seem familiar to her and in the distance, she even sees a very old tree with yellow leaves on it that she seems to recognize. It contrasts with the rest of the forest with its very bright dark greenish color. She looks back at the man in rags, He's practicing doing a backflip off of its… shoulder? As he hears the tent, he turns his head quickly. “Oh, it's you. I thought someone was going in the tent.” Eiko looks at the man, surprised he turned around so suddenly. “You can walk? Those injuries looked pretty severe, I’m surprised you could even stand on your own 2 feet.” The man remarks in genuine curiosity, Eiko looks at him and says “I may be a princess but I'm stronger than you think.” The man just stares at her and chuckles “Ok sure. Well, Princess, What were you doing out in the forest so late? Don't you royals have bodyguards or something?” “I should be the one asking questions here! Who are you?”

The man turns back towards Eiko and says “Are you in any position to be asking questions here? I asked first, So you answer me.” “I asked you second, and 2 is more than one, so there,” Eiko says with a smug look on her face like she got checkmate in a perfectly played game of chess. “Is this bitch serious?” He thinks to himself, “Fine. I’ll answer.” Eiko smiles to herself “Works every time” She remembers when she used to use this same excuse against her brothers. “I am, the Phantom.” He says with a dramatic pause, Eiko is looking at him with a confused expression. “Who?” Eiko says with no idea what to make of this information. “Did I get kidnapped by a psychopathic cosplayer?” She thinks to herself as the man speaks again. “Phantom? Khourburgs most wanted? Half soul savior? Does it ring a bell?” “Never heard of you in my life.” The man looks back at Eiko. “B- But I even said when I saved you?? Phantom in the night?? ANYTHING?” “Nada. Never heard of you. I just thought you were being cool, I didn’t think that was your name.” Phantom slaps his mask and murmurs to himself “And here I thought I was the most wanted…”

“So uh, Mr. Phantom. You said something about being the most wanted. What's that for?” “I'm known as the Half Soul Savior. I'm more so a person that the royal knights of dynasty don't seem to like because I'm always interfering with their missions. I just get my missions done and head out but I’ve been framed with a bunch of things that aren’t true.” Eiko is taken aback by this but she kind of believes the Phantom, he seems to be somewhat kindhearted and not some ruthless murderer because at least he saved her. She also gets interested in hearing about the royal knights of dynasty. She remembers how her brother Fafnir would always talk about joining them one day when they were kids.

“What's up with these royal knights?” Eiko asks. “Damn you really are sheltered aren’t ya, Mrs Princess.” He snarkily laughs as he explains, somewhat annoying Eiko with his comment. “The Royal Knights of Dynasty. The Khourburg Dynasties' main defense force. They get sent out to solve different problems and issues around the country, but the whole system is corrupt. Even the current king led an invasion that led to the deaths of millions of innocent people in another kingdom.” As he says this Eiko can tell it kinda bothers the Phantom as the tone in his voice becomes more serious. “They silence anybody who could speak up against them. That's why I'm framed as a criminal. Causing problems and destruction and blaming it on me, even when I'm not in the area.” The Phantom walks past Eiko and goes into the tent, He pulls one of the papers off a table and walks out. He shows her the paper. It's a bounty.

Half Soul Savior

Phantom

Wanted: Dead

Bounty: 300,000,000 Million Gold

“They want me gone. Am I innocent, No. I’ve taken a few lives but because I’m the biggest threat around, They’re trying to do anything to get me dead. That's one of the reasons the Emperor wants to make allies with the Cavindines I'm assuming. The previous one was killed by Emperor Fafnir. Now, the family of assassins is out of the throne.” This news makes something click in Eiko’s brain that she didn’t even comprehend. “So that's why..” She thinks to herself as the Phantom keeps speaking “They haven’t worked together since. If they want me dead, a family of assassins are the perfect people to do it.” Eiko looks at the man with intrigue. “So that is the only reason they want you gone?” The Phantom hesitates but then says “Yeah. From my knowledge at least, Now that I answered you, I want an answer to my question.” Phantom takes a seat on a log and Eiko sits beside him, Frankly getting tired of just standing.

“Well me, I’m the daughter of Vega and Devard Alphonia.” At these words, "Something changes in the Phantom's head “she's an Alphonia… Can I trust her… Man, what was I thinking” He thinks to himself, bashing himself, realizing his mistake of being TOO open for once. “They’re trying to marry me off to the Cavindice family for the “GoOd Of ThE kInGdOm.” They’re basically using me like a prize to build bridges in between. Like I'm not my own person trying to live my own life… It's just not fair…” The Phantom pats Eiko’s back and he looks at her, She's tearing up just talking about it. “It's like my life is over. I'm forever cursed to be stuck living in royalty when I just wanna live my life, adventure, find love, and do something with myself rather than living off something someone else built. Build something for myself for once.” Phantom pats Eiko’s back as she continues to say “I came out here before my wedding tomorrow. The preparations are all set up, So I'm assuming this is my last day before I get forced into marriage… I wanted to go to stardust road, Just for some memories of a place I used to go with my brother. One last time.”

The Phantom sits silent. “I can see where you’re coming from and how that makes you feel. Since it's already a full moon, Do you wanna head to Stardust Road right now? It's a full moon after all.`` Eiko has a shocked expression which soon turns into a big smile. “Really? Do you know where it is?? I kinda got lost before..” “Yeah that's why I'm out here. I got a mission from my sponsor.” “You have a sponsor?” “Yeah, In exchange for doing tasks and missions for her, She gives me info on the knights and a place to stay.”

Eiko feels somewhat relieved that this man isn’t dealing with this all by himself. “I have to head there to find the group of Tritons in the sea, Apparently it owes her some money.” “There's Tritons in the sea?” Eiko asks confused, “I thought Khourburg was the one country that didn’t have any mythical creatures in it?” “Well a couple of villages exist where these different races reside, This sea is one of them. I'm surprised they migrated all the way from the seas of Avolisia.” The 2 get up and begin to walk toward the sea. Eiko feels safe around the Phantom, she doesn’t really understand why herself but something about him makes her feel protected. Before leaving, the Phantom quickly grabbed his sword. It's a sword with a dragon for the hilt of the blade. Eiko remembers seeing the Phantom use this sword and some lightning when he was fighting the Golem. “Soooo, You use thunder magic huh?” Eiko asks curiously. “Yeah. I don’t have much Soul Energy, not really sure what happened when I was born but I was born with a lot of mana rather than Soul Energy. Most people aren’t even born with Mana, it generates later in life, So the fact I was born without a lot of my Soul is a rare case.”

“From what I remember, The smaller the soul the more mana right?” “Exactly. So the fact I lack Soul Energy means I have high outputs of mana. Despite that, I picked lightning magic to specialize in even though the more mana I have, the more detrimental.” Eiko looks confused at these words “What do ya mean?” The Phantom pulls the sword from his back to show Eiko an example. “When humans finally generate Mana, it can adapt to whatever the user chooses to train their body and mana in. Out of all 6 types, I chose Thunder magic. The difference between thunder magic and all the other types is that the more mana you have, the weaker your actual lightning is.” Eiko looks confused at this so Phantom continues, “It's all determined by the color. For example, I have yellow lightning, the weakest kind because people with more mana can use higher outputs of it, which keeps it on par with the rest. It's also the easiest form to control.” Phantom sparks lightning through his blade and Eiko sees it's a yellow color.

“What are the different colors?” “Well, that's simple. Yellow, then Blue, then White, then Black. This also ranks them in terms of skill to wield. They say users of Black magic have the potential to be kings and queens.” Eiko becomes more interested to learn about the other kinds of magic, but she decides to save that topic for another time. “Oh, interesting! I learned about some magic stuff reading books as a kid that my assistant Winston would let me borrow!” “You royalty really have your own individual personal assistants huh? I thought that was just a myth. I didn’t think you guys actually had those.” Eiko laughs “Welllll It’s mainly because my family helped out another, more poor family all those years ago. Apparently, the family split up, but half in my mansion chose to still work for us while the other half chose to separate from the past.”

“Oh interesting,” The Phantom says interested in this “So they’re paying off a lifelong favor huh?” “Pretty much. I can understand both sides though, wanting to repay the favor but also wanting to live your own life separate from the deeds of the past.” “So this Winston guy, What's he like? He's your personal butler so I’d expect you to know about him.” “Well, Winstons my personal assistant but basically my best friend. He's always there for me, giving me good advice.” Talking about Winston makes Eiko smile without even realizing and Phantom notices this face but chooses not to say anything.

“I can understand that feeling, it reminds me of how I used to view my Dad. He probably enjoys it, that might be why he's staying rather than paying off the debt of his ancestors. Never doubt for a second that he loves ya.” “Yeah, They’ve been with my family for a pretty long time so I'm kind of used to it, I tried to learn how to do some stuff for myself though. I didn’t wanna be completely useless. I had fun doing that as a kid.” “What did ya do for fun as a kid?” Eiko tries to think back to some of her core memories as a kid. “I used to read a LOT of books that my dad would find for me. I used to play outside with my brothers, Play toys, In Fact, we even had this entire series where we’d make our own storylines. It was fun, that's kind of what got my little brother Solomon into wanting to write stories.” “Oh that's cool, I heard royals also have really long names, Is that true?”

“Don't even get me STARTED.” The Phantom snickers at her comment, She continues saying “My name was GOING to be Alexandria Nora Alphonia.” The Phantom can't help but laugh at this absurdly long name “You’re kidding right?” “I'M SO SERIOUS! My mom had to convince my dad to shorten it to just Elanora.” “Well, that name is just kinda ugly.” “THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING!! But my dad also gets mad when I make the servants just call me Eiko. I should AcCePt My HeRiTaGe.” “What's up with Eiko? Elanora and Eiko just start with the same letter, where did Eiko come from?” “Middle name.” “Ooooh Ok.”

“Anyway, Since you asked me questions, It's my turn to learn a little about YOU! What was your childhood like? You know a bit about mine.” Phantom goes silent for a few seconds and then begins to speak “My childhood was fun. I enjoyed my life, I had a dad, 2 best friends, and basically, everything I could ever want. I’d still spend my days training to be a Royal Knight, But I was happy.” “That sounds like a fun childhood” Eiko has a gut feeling that this is only the beginning of the story, but right as her mind goes through that thought, the duo appears right at Stardust Road. Eiko takes a seat at the right spot and Phantom follows, sitting beside her. They sit, trees behind them blowing in the wind as the grass whistles beside them. The moonlight reflects off the water's surface, creating a shimmering curtain of silvery light that seems to come alive with each passing moment. The ocean's steady current gives rise to a gentle lapping sound, adding to the overall hypnotic quality of the scene.

For a second, the air is still and quiet, as if holding its breath, and it seems as if time itself has slowed down. The ocean looks like a mirror, reflecting the silvery moonlight back up to the sky. The only movement is the gentle undulation of the water, like the breath that animates this tranquil scene. It's as if the whole world has been reduced to this one beautiful moment, a fleeting dream come alive. The waves splash like music as the 2 sit together watching this scene. Eiko begins to cry a bit, remembering a simpler time. A time when she used to think she had her whole life ahead of her, a time when she felt genuinely happy. “Eiko.” The Phantom says breaking her streak of sobs. She looks at the Phantom, He sees genuine sadness and sheer passion to escape her imminent future. For once in his life, for the first time in years, he forgot about his own problems. The Phantom pulls his mask off while looking at Eiko, revealing a boy that doesn’t seem much older than her. He has short, yet spikey blonde hair with fair skin. His eyes seem baggy, like he's tired with a stoic yet sympathetic expression on his face. “Come with me. You don’t need to stay back here.”

Eiko is taken aback by his suggestion. She's not sure how to feel. Abandon her family? Her parents, her brothers, and even Winston for something so selfish? “I- I don’t know... I want to escape but I’m not sure.. What about the consequences of that? How would the world react to a princess going missing?” “I’m not sure of the consequences or the effect that would have on your family, but I would regret it for the rest of my life If I didn’t at least make the offer. So, Think about it. Ok?” The Phantom touches her hand when he says this and she feels something. She can't describe it but it's like her stomach is doing backflips on its side. It's like the books she read before but she can only really describe it as butterflies.

“I-” Right before she continues to speak a huge wave jumps from the sea in front of the 2. The Phantom quickly pulls his mask back on and grabs Eiko into his arms to dodge the wave. He bolts to the left, swiftly dodging this wave of water that freezes over into spikes of ice on the ground beside them. “W- What?” Eiko stammers blushing while in the Phantom's arms. She's not sure if she should be focusing on this or the wave of water that just attacked them. “Tritons.” He says and then puts her down. “I thought you came to get some money??” “That money I came to get is 2000 gold they stole from her. She would’ve come to do it herself but she has other matters to worry about. All these people know is, they see the Phantom, they fight.”

A Triton jumps out. “Leave now, Phantom. We have no problems, if you came for Rika’s money then you’re asking for an early death.” Phantom sighs and puts down Eiko. “I’m a simple man, I get a job and I get that job done.” The Triton is a vibrant turquoise color with yellow eyes that glow in the darkness. He has gills and fins, with plate armor that consists of interlocking steel plates that are strapped to his body. The plate armor provides a high level of protection while still allowing the Tritons to move relatively freely. The Triton, fittingly wields a trident.

“It's a shame. I’d expect a little more independence for a person of your stature.” The triton says, Phantom shrugs “Never meet your idols.” “Who are you?” Eiko says, looking at the aquatic creature. “I am Maris, leader of my tribe.” Maris looks at Eiko and then looks back at the Phantom. “Just bring back what you stole and we have no problems, Maris. I’m not even really sure what you need that gold for.” “Why should I explain myself to you? You’re a criminal yourself, You should understand.”

“Eiko, do you think you’re healed enough to fight?” The Phantom looks back at Eiko, concerned for her. She attempts to stand up to fight but her leg cramps and she falls over. “Very well.” He claps his hands together and launches a wave of electricity at Eiko. Covering her body with an electric cage to keep her out of the battle. Maris charges at the Phantom. The Phantom dodges the attack by jumping to the side and then swings his sword downwards toward the top of Marin’s head. Marin pushes water down from his hands, which propels him upwards and the water turns into ice about 4 seconds after. The Phantom begins to quickly dash up the wall of ice that Marin left behind. Marin launches droplets of water at phantoms that move at bullet speeds. Phantom quickly dodges 3 of the bullets but right as he reaches the top of the wall of ice, one of them strikes his knee, turning into Ice on contact with his clothes, Piercing through it and making a cut on his skin.

The Phantom slips off the wall of ice after being hit with this bullet, heading towards the ground. As Marin begins to fall from the momentum of when he propelled himself upwards, he spins the Trident in his hands, covering it in water. He uses the momentum from his fall to power up his strike, he falls and swings the Trident but Phantom blocks it with his sword. On contact, Ice freezes over the sword's blade but he sends a surge of electricity through the blade to destroy the Ice that froze over the blade. The 2 of them crash to the ground, both quickly stand but Marin stands up a split second early. Marin swings his trident towards Phantom, But Phantom yells “Voltic DISCHARGE!” At this, a bunch of electricity surrounds Phantom's body and his sword, it moves very chaotic as if he's just outputting energy. This catches Marin off guard and he gets hit by this wave of energy, his body has a strange tingly sensation throughout causing him a bunch of pain. While he's off guard, Phantom disarms him with his sword, jumps up, and kicks his face to the left. Marin crashes to the ground and while Phantom is still in the air from his kick, he spins and launches a static wave at Marin. Blasting him backward into the wall of ice he made previously, destroying it. The shards of ice begin to fall and Marin quickly gets back up barely dodging them.

Marin uses his mana to pull his Trident back into his hands. Phantom appears behind him, Slashing at Marin’s neck. Marin ducks and punches Phantom in his stomach. “How’d he see me coming?!” Phantom thinks to himself but he remembers a fight with a previous Triton he’s had, which he inferred they have advanced hearing of sorts. Marin takes the second while Phantom is off guard to launch waves of water toward his legs. It connects, including Phantom’s legs in a wave of Ice, Leaving him unable to move. Eiko, Watching the battle realizes what could happen next. So she chooses to quickly force herself up and uses her Ice magic to block Phantom from getting struck by his trident. Eikos prediction was correct, as Marin attempts to strike Phantom right in his head with his trident. This attack is blocked by her wall of ice which makes Phantom snap back into the battle.

Marin looks over at Eiko, Launching a wave of Water toward her. She quickly tries to block the attack with her own ice. Once the water makes contact with the Ice, It actually transforms INTO ice, piercing through Eiko’s barrier with Ice with Icicles that almost pierce her body. She falls back just in time and doesn’t get hit. Before Marin could continue, Phantom slashes through the wall of Ice in front of him, With a sword completely covered in lightning, taking the opportunity he was distracted with Eiko to charge his attack. Slashing through the Ice also propels his hypercharged, Blue Static wave at Marin. This attack launches him right back into the water he came from. But Phantom isn’t done, He quickly channels his mana into his lungs, holds his breath, and jumps into the ocean after Marin.

He begins to swim and slashes his sword down through the water. But since they’re underwater, It moves slower than normal allowing Marin to block this attack by grabbing the sword while its momentum is still slow. Marin immediately freezes over the blade and also covers Phantom's hands. “Following me will be your last mistake.” Marin then puts a bunch of mana into the Ice, Making it implode, and launches Phantom upwards out of the water. Eiko watches Phantom rise from the water, lining up perfectly with the moon in the sky and stardust road, She also sees Marin jump up out of the water with his entire leg in the air, slamming it down onto the Phantom's back slamming him back into the water. Waves splash onto the shore and a little on Eiko’s face.

Phantom took the opportunity in the air to consume more air before getting blasted right back into the water. Phantom was able to take most of the attack but the pressure from getting launched upwards from that exploding ice attack, combined with getting thrown in the air and slammed back onto the water felt like a bomb exploded on his back. The force is getting somewhat overwhelming but he manages to keep the air in his mouth and uses the mana in his lungs to keep that air he consumes steady. Phantom turns and sees Marin swimming towards him, He chooses to avoid using his electricity. Feeling like it could have a negative effect on his surroundings and his body since everything is water. Marin thrusts his spear towards the Phantom, who blocks it but then gets 2 feet slammed on his stomach. Propelling both of them downwards.

Phantom doesn't know how long he can keep the air in his mouth, thinking to himself “I have to find a way to end this quickly. The entire surrounding area is his playground.” Something clicks in The Phantom's head and he comes up with an idea and decides to shoot his shot one more time. He grabs Marin's legs, and channels electricity into them. “What are you-” Marin begins to try to shake off Phantom's hands. Once that doesn’t work, he uses his mana to call back his trident while Phantom's back is turned to it, attempting to pierce his skull. Phantom releases the electricity he charges through Marin's legs, Which shoots him upwards like a rocket through the water. Phantom spins around and grabs the Trident that almost pierces his flesh. He uses this trident, spins around with it charging electricity into the tip, and throws it in the same direction Marin is going. He puts an output of electricity in his feet to quickly spin upward, this harms Phantom since his body is completely covered in water, It works and he sends himself up out of the water.

Marin is LAUNCHED out of the water, the same way Phantom was, right in front of the moon. He feels his trident coming out of the water and quickly grabs it before it could stab him. But grabbing the trident actually shocks Marin from the electricity charged through it. While caught off guard by this, Phantom ascends from the water. The Phantom slashes Marin through his chest plate, making a clean cut through the metal right onto his skin. He grabs Triton's face and throws him onto the shore. Phantom falls back into the water but quickly swims back out. Marin lies face first in the shards of his broken Ice from his previous attacks. Phantom walks up to Marin, pulling him towards him. “Where is the gold?” Phantom asks while having his sword next to his neck. “I’m not dumb. Give me a genuine answer, Now.” “I don’t have it. I used it to pay off some debt I owed to someone else.” “Who did you owe this debt to?” “A guy named Keen. he lives in the capital of north Khourburg, Kelbath.” Phantom throws Marin into the water. “You’re lucky I believe you.” Marin pulls his trident back to him using his Mana and swims underwater.

Phantom's attention turns to Eiko, who’s sitting on the floor drenched in water. He runs towards her “Did he hurt you?” “N- No... He almost hit me with his Icicle thing.” Phantom picks up Eiko in his arms and begins to walk back towards the campsite. Eiko doesn’t want to admit it, but that battle gave her a thrill. A thrill she's never felt before, It confuses her but something about watching that battle sparked a feeling in her she's never experienced before. “If I come with you, How often will stuff like that happen?” Phantom looks down at her “Pretty often. Almost all the time If you want me to be fully honest. Not sure if that's the life you want to live. I’m telling you, Fighting like that becomes very stressful and I’m not sure if you’re ready for that.” Eiko thinks for a second “Is this how I want to live?” She doesn’t speak until they eventually head back to the campsite. He puts her down on a log where she sits as he makes a call. He clicks something on his arm and a holographic screen appears.

“What's that?” Eiko asks, never seeing such a high-tech device before. “It's how I keep in contact with my sponsor, It's sonar. You can call people, play games, take photos, and do a bunch of other things. Mine was made for me by the Spirefordge kingdom. It's where most high-tech things come from that you don't see around here.” The sonar produces a purple esc screen, Phantom begins to tap his wrist as Eiko sees a bunch of caller logs, until he eventually hits one with the name “Rika” on it. The sonar rings, making a buzzing sound as Phantom stands there waiting for this person to pick up.

“Hey, hey, HEY!” A cheerful voice comes from the other side. The sonar produces a holographic video that both Eiko and Phantom see. It's a girl with black hair and purple highlights near the bottom. She seems to be in her mid to late twenties. The woman wears a gray hoodie with a purple pattern that resembles a hoodie but she's not wearing it right, with her shoulders exposed. She wears a black shirt with a long collar yet lacks sleeves. “You get my gold back?” The woman types looking away from the screen. “No, But I know who has it.” “I thought Marin had it? He's the one who robbed me when I gave him a place to stay.” “Well he stole it but he used it to pay back debt.”

“Who’d the little rat give it to?” The woman remarks still typing away on a computer to the side. “Some guy named Keen. Apparently, he lives in Kelbath, the capital of north Khourburg.” The woman looks at the screen showing her green eyes to the camera “Wait a minute, Isn’t he the one from the mission you had to do with Flint a few years ago? The kid you told me about.” “Doesn’t ring a bell. I go on missions every week, I don't remember everyone I meet.” The woman sighs “You don't remember ANYTHING. Just go find the kid and get my money back, I’ll double your pay.” The Phantom looks at Eiko who's sitting there, enjoying the conversation. “Anything else ya needa ask me?” “No. Not right now at least.” “Alright have a good one kid, Make sure you get to Kelbath in 5 days tops.” The woman then hangs up and The Phantom looks at Eiko.

“Who was she?” Eiko asks curiously. “Just my sponsor, Rika. She took me in and I’ve been working for her for a couple of years. I told you about her earlier.” Eiko seems to remember the conversation they had previously. “Oh her!” “Yeah. But enough about that.” The Phantom sits down next to Eiko who looks up at the stars. “You need to make your choice, I can help you. All I need is your word.” Eiko sits for a second, contemplating her choices. “Life won't be easy on the road ya know, fights like before will happen constantly if you’re up for that. I’ll always be there to save you.”

Eiko looks at the Phantom and says “I…. I want you to save me. I don’t want to live my life trapped in that family forever. I want to be free, and if this is my only way to achieve that. Then I’ll do it.” Phantom nods at Eiko, “You want to come with me right now? I’m willing to take you right now.” “I can't… I have to get some things and say goodbye to someone…” “I understand. I might not be able to save you tonight then, but if you know the location of the wedding, please tell me. I’ll be out here all day tomorrow.” Eiko smiles at Phantom as he helps her up. She hugs him and he embraces her. “What's your name, Phantom?” Phantom hesitates for a second but then he responds “Roy.” Eiko smiles and then gets out of the hug, “I’ll be seeing you then, Roy!” She begins to walk back through the forest but the Phantom says “I can’t just let you go alone.” “No, it's fine. I should know my way back, I recognize this spot. If you come too close to the castle it could ruin everything, So I’ll head back home.” Eiko waves at the Phantom and turns away.

As Eiko walks back home, her mind is filled with memories of the previous night's events. She has never seen such violence before, and she wonders if she is truly capable of becoming a hero like Phantom. Despite her doubts, she is determined to find a way to escape her family and live a life of her own. As Eiko walks through the forest, she notices the change in scenery. The bright moonlight illuminates the tall trees, casting eerie shadows on the ground. She walks past dark caves and rocky outcrops, the sounds of the forest echoing in the distance. Despite the beauty of the night, Eiko feels an undercurrent of fear in the air.

As she walks through the forest, Eiko takes in the surrounding nature. The trees are tall and strong, their branches reaching out to the sky. The air is fresh and cool, and the sounds of animals can be heard in the distance. She sees a stream nearby and stops for a moment to drink some water. It's cool and refreshing, and the sound of it flowing brings her peace.

She thinks about the challenges she will face on the road, but she also feels a sense of excitement and possibility. She has spent so long dreaming of a life outside of her family's control, and now that dream is finally becoming a reality. She has a long journey ahead of her with the Phantom, but she is confident that she can handle anything that comes her way. She has a new life to look forward to, filled with adventure and potential.

As she approaches the castle, Eiko's heart races with fear. She knows what is waiting for her there - pressure to conform to her family's wishes, an arranged marriage to a man she does not love. But she also knows that Phantom has offered her a chance at a different life, a life where she can be her own person. Eiko reaches the edge of the castle grounds and stops for a moment. She looks up at the castle, with its imposing walls and turrets, lit up by the torches of the guards. She takes a deep breath and runs towards her bedroom window. She uses her ice to build a stairway toward the window she escaped from. She quickly jumps back into the room.

Her bedroom is dark and cold. The sense of fear she had amplifies as she searches for her bedroom light. She quickly turns the light on and turns her head. A chill runs down her body once she turns around and recognizes the person behind her. 

“Riley?!”

“Eiko.”

Riley looks Eiko in her eyes as the 2 of them stare each other down. Eiko has a feeling deep in her gut that this can’t be good. Eiko begins to shake in fear and adrenaline starts to rush through her blood. She's not sure why he's here, but she feels so much Fear. “Why am I shaking…” She thinks to herself as they stand in silence. “This…. This is the same way I felt when I saw the golem. What's going on with me…” “W- What are you doing in my room freak! Where's Winston?!” Riley quickly runs over and slaps his hand over her mouth. “Stop yelling.” Eiko is taken aback by this she stumbles “I didn’t even see him move.. How did he get to me so fast?!” Riley whispers in her ear “I'm here to talk. Shut your mouth and you won’t have to worry about your butler.”

Eiko shutters, she feels like this is some type of threat so she raises her hands as a sign of surrendering. Riley takes his hand off her mouth and sits down on her bed while she continues to stand up in shock. “You don’t wanna get married to me, That is clear as day to me.” Riley speaks which spans Eiko out of her shock as she looks at the gray haired boy. “So I’m here to understand you and you probably wanna understand why I’m agreeing to this.” “Y- yeah..” Eiko responds knowing she didn’t even think about why he would want to marry her a single time. “Why would you ever want to get married to a person you never really knew before today? I probably talked to you once before Fafnir became king and then I haven’t seen you since.” “Well it's simple. Your brother killed my father.” RIley looks down onto the floor of Eikos bedroom. “My father, Reggie Cavendine was the king of Khourburg for years. My family grew into royalty after being so poor for so long, our bloodline finally made a comeback and kept the title for generations, but us gaining this power split our family in half.”

Eiko continues to listen as Riley speaks, trying to find it in herself to understand him. “I don’t even know the other half of my family, Who chose to pay off some debt rather than accepting royalty. I don’t understand it, I’ve had no siblings all my life. No real friends, all I had was my father. My mom spent more time spending the money of the Royal life then looking after her son and I didn’t have my own Winston to spend time with me. But my father took every chance he could to make me feel loved, feel wanted. He would train me, hang out with me, watch shows with me. Sometimes he even avoided his royal duties sometimes to spend time with me…” Eiko begins to sympathize with Riley, knowing his life story and how similar it was to her own. She can’t even imagine not having Winston in her life to help her through these dark times. Riley then pulls out an elixir in a small bottle, it's a very bright purple color. “Drink it” Eiko is taken aback by Rileys request “W- Why?” She says scared “It's a memory potion, it's not gonna do anything to harm you. But I want you to witness what I witnessed that day. The memory is so ingrained into my brain even when my mind is blank it crawls its way back into my brain.” Eiko hesitates but decides to drink it just because he might harm Winston if she doesn’t comply…

9 years ago

August 23rd, 4061

11 year old Riley Cavendine entered the room where his father summoned him. He hasn’t seen him in quite a while, the man seems to have drowned himself in his work and other endeavors he’s been avoiding. As he walked into the room he spoke to his father “Dad are you ok?” Riley looked at his fathers face, genuine sadness and despair resting on it as he looked at his son. “I’ve never seen you like this… Is something wrong?” Reggie Cavendine stood on his feet and looked at his son. “If you want me to be completely honest with you, No.” Riley isn’t surprised but hearing those words from his fathers mouth made his heart ache, that mixed with his fathers less than excited expression gave Riley a very bad feeling about his dad. “W- What's the matter dad? Did something happen to the kingdom?” He grabbed his fathers shirt and tugged it as a way to call back his attention.

“Riley, You’re young but you’re a smart kid.” His father said, looking down at him, “So I’ll be fully honest with you, No.” Riley felt his heart sink as his father spoke. The sudden weight of the world seemed to settle on his small shoulders, and he knew that something was deeply wrong. "But surely there must be something..." Riley started to say before his father interrupted him."Not anymore, Riley. The problem has already been taken care of." His father's words hung in the air, leaving Riley with more questions than answers. What had happened? How had it been taken care of? And what did it mean for him and his family? "We've been targeted, Riley. By someone who wants to destroy us and everything we've built."

Riley felt a chill run down his spine as he realized the gravity of the situation. For a moment, he was too stunned to speak. "What do we do?" he managed to ask, his voice shaking with fear. "Not anymore, Riley. The problem has already been taken care of." His father's words hung in the air, leaving Riley with more questions than answers. What had happened? How had it been taken care of? And what did it mean for him and his family? "We've been targeted, Riley. By someone who wants to destroy us and everything we've built." Riley felt a chill run down his spine as he realized the gravity of the situation. For a moment, he was too stunned to speak. "What do we do?" he managed to ask, his voice shaking with fear. His father's expression softened, and he placed a hand on Riley's shoulder. "We'll figure it out, Riley. You and me."

For a moment, Riley felt a glimmer of hope. But as he looked into his father's eyes, he saw the burden of responsibility weighing heavily on him. He knew that he would have to be strong, for both of them. "What can I do, dad?" Riley asked, determined to help in any way he could. His father smiled at him, a small ray of light in the midst of darkness. "Be there for me, Riley. That's all I need. We’ll get through this together, I promise." And with that, Riley knew that he could handle whatever came next. He was ready to face it head-on, with his father by his side. “So what's the issue dad? What's this guy up to?” “Simple. I’ve been challenged to a King Conquest.” Riley is confused but his father continues and explains “For years, The Cavendine family has been the royal family of khourburg and one of the 4 royal families in the high council of Eternia. But we used to be a bunch of peasants. But soon, your great great great grandfather slaughtered the previous king in what was labeled that day, a King Conquest.”

“A King Conquest is a battle that anybody can challenge the Emperor to under specific circumstances, those circumstances consist of making a sort of deal or request that gives up power or money or something else of value to the Emperor if they win, but it's a fight to the death and its up the king to accept it. If I die in the battle, we will lose everything and I will lose my life.” Riley looks at his father with a simple question “But why? Why would you accept it knowing we could lose everything?” “Well I'm not the one who accepted it, Your mother accepted it on MY behalf.” Riley's mouth dropped in shock as he heard his father's words. He had always looked up to his father as a strong and capable leader, but now he was facing the stark reality of the danger their family was in."Why would mom accept something like that?" Riley asked, his voice shaking with anger and confusion. Reggie sighed heavily and took a seat, motioning for Riley to do the same. “The person in question is Fafnir Alphonia, he put his entire family wealth on the line and well, Your mother loves money in all honesty. So, she accepted this offer without asking me. The problem with the King Conquest is that once it's accepted, "By law and god oath you can’t back out of it.”

“So you’re really gonna fight that guy to the death?” Riley asked his dad not really sure what else he COULD say in this situation. “Yeah. I'm in a corner here, I have no real idea what to do besides fight and if that's what I have to do so you can stay safe, so be it.” Riley sat and thought about his fathers noble cause, He's putting his life on the line just for his family. One day, he wanted to be as noble as him. He wanted to be a person that everyone could look up to and would risk anything to keep his family safe, not even family, everybody safe. As Riley had that thought, a horn was rung outside the castle and this indicated the start of the King Conquest. “I don’t have much time, but I want you to have this, Riley.” Reggie handed his son an orb of sorts. The orb was black with a purple aura around it. After handing this to his son without explaining what it is, Reggie walks out of his office and heads outside the castle, Riley straggling behind. Outside, many people surrounded the kingdom, innocent bystanders, the kingdom's staff, Diana Cavendine herself, and a boy that looked no older than 16. The boy had slicked-back black hair, with scarlet red eyes and he seemed to have a sword in one hand, and brass knuckles on his other.

Riley felt a lump form in his throat as he watched his father walk out to face the boy who had challenged him. The boy stood in front of them, his expression grim but determined. "Fafnir Alphonia," Reggie said, his voice firm. "The stakes are clear. One will survive and the other will die." The boy, Fafnir, nodded. "I know the risks," he said. "I accept them." Before anyone can think, the main and open town area with the massive castle behind it, transforms into a completely clear and green battle field as soon as a man who stood beside Fafnir claps his hands. Suddenly, Riley realized what was about to happen. His father was going to fight this boy to the death. He felt a surge of fear and anger welling up inside him. He had to do something to help his father. But what? He didn't know anything about fighting, or magic, or anything that could give his father an edge. Fafnir moved first, rushing at Reggie with his sword raised. Reggie sidestepped calmly, avoiding the attack with ease. Riley watched in amazement as his father swiftly knocked Fafnir to the ground with a single punch. Reggie stood over the boy, his expression unreadable. "I have no desire to kill you," he said. "But if you insist on fighting me to the death, so be it." Riley watched as his father and Fafnir faced off, ready for the battle that could cost one of them their life. He felt a sense of determination rising inside him, even though he had no idea how to defend himself. He needed to find a way to help his father and his family, no matter the cost.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

The 2 circled each other as Fafnir wielded his blade close to his chest, as they began to circle each other a bunch of robotic creatures came down from the sky and began to record. The main one shouts “Reporting live in the Khourburg Dynasty! The first King’s Conquest in the past 100 Years! W- Will the Cavendines stay in power or will the Alphonias come out on top! L- Letz find out!” Riley recognizes those robots “Those are from Spirefordge… Is this being streamed across the world?” He thought to himself as the battle began. Fafnir charged towards Reggie with his blade pulled back ready to slash, Reggie quickly clapped his hands together in front of him then he pulled his left hand back towards his arm which created an Arrow of Light. Reggie released his hand and the light arrow is BLASTED at Fafnir, The swordsmen quickly ducks the arrow but barely made it out of the way which left a small scar near his hairline.

As Reggie's arrow of light missed him by an inch, Fafnir became even more enraged. He charged at Reggie once more, this time with his blade raised high, ready to strike. But Reggie was ready for him. With a quick flick of his wrist, he summoned a shield of light that enveloped him. As Fafnir's slash made contact with the shield, Reggie used the opportunity to slam his fist into Fafnir's chest breaking through his own shield, sending him skidding backwards. Fafnir was launched back and slammed onto the ground from the force of that punch. Fafnir feels a strange impact never feeling so much pain from a simple punch before. He stood up but a small chain appeared around his chest. “What the-” Before Fafnir could react, Reggie slammed his fist into his face as he plummeted to the ground. As Reggie claps his hands to make another Light arrow, Fafnir slammed his sword onto the ground and launched a wall of fire which made Reggie jump backwards. Fafnir jumped to his feet and tried to pull the chain off his chest, but right as he stood up a chain appeared around his face in the same location where he got hit.

“What the hell is this?” Reggie smirks at the confused Fafnir and chooses to not explain and rushes towards him. Before he can even perceive what's going on he gets 3 jabs to his side which launched him away from Reggie but 3 more chains appeared that wrapped around his stomach area near the side he got hit. Reggie clapped his hands in front of him and pulled back towards his arm once more, making another Light arrow, he fired. Fafnir finally began to understand what Reggies new chain ability actually was, right as the arrow spins towards to hit him, Fafnir snapped both his hands and a wall of Fire appeared in front of him. This wall looks different to the other wall of fire from before. It was a black flame. The wall makes the arrow completely vanish as Fafnir begins to talk. “These chains deplete soul energy, slowly killing the opponents will to fight, reserves of soul energy and the rate at which mana is generated.”

“I'm curious, How did you figure that one out?” Reggie said as he claps his hands together but this time pulls his right hand back, making a sword of Light energy that he drops into his hand and begins to wield. “Simple, I felt my Soul Energy slowly go down and came to that conclusion. I don’t use it so I notice the slightest changes in it.” Fafnir said as he pulled his sword in front of him and embarked it in a Scarlet red flame. Riley takes note that Fafnir can change the COLOR of his flames to most likely do more damage or have different effects. The 2 rushed towards each other and began to clash with their blades. Reggie and Fafnir clashed blades repeatedly, their swords striking one another with a loud clanging noise. Their movements were lightning fast, barely possible for Riley even to perceive, the heat from Fafnir’s flames clashing and combating Reggies Light sword was intense.

At one point, Fafnir's sword struck the ground, causing a burst of flames to erupt from the ground and launch Reggie into the air. Reggie rolled with the impact and landed on his feet, ready to fight once more. "Impressive," Reggie said, his voice rife with sarcasm. " "Your speed is commendable, Fafnir, but it's nothing compared to the skill I've honed over many years of training," Reggie said, his voice filled with confidence. Fafnir let out a low growl and charged again, coating his blade in a blood red fire. Reggie quickly countered, launching a burst of light energy from his sword that pushed Fafnir back. Reggie took advantage of the moment and slammed his foot into Fafnir's chest, sending him to the ground, which made another chain on his body. "This is pointless," Reggie said, his voice dripping with disdain. "You're no match for me. Surrender and live to fight another day." But Fafnir refused to back down. He pulled himself to his knees and summoned a giant ball of black flames above his head, which he slammed into the ground. The black flames spread across the battlefield, consuming everything in their path. Reggie was forced to retreat, his eyes scanning the area for a way to escape the spreading flames.

Reggie once again claps, and launches another Light arrow towards Fafnir. Fafnir attempts to duck but the chains begin to take effect on his speed now which barely allows him to duck out of the way of this attack. He gets slashed on his nose, a wound opens that goes from the side of his mouth, through the top of his nose, to his eyebrow. Before he could focus on the chains that held him down, getting a fist straight in his face. Fafnir's eyes widened as he tightened his grip on his sword. He had trained for many years, but never before had he faced an opponent with such speed and skill. But he was determined to win, no matter the cost. As Reggie and Fafnir continue to fight, the robotic creatures record every moment, broadcasting it live to Eternia. The battle is intense, with each warrior trading blows and using their abilities to try to gain the upper hand. Reggie's ability to create chains and arrows of light gives him a significant advantage, while Fafnir's ability to create walls of flame and manipulate the color of his fire makes him a formidable opponent.

Fafnir was getting pushed to his limit every second of the battle. As the battle rages on, the two fighters become increasingly exhausted, but they show no sign of giving up. Their clothes are torn and burnt, their bodies are covered in cuts and bruises, but they continue to fight. Suddenly, Reggie sees an opening and takes advantage of it. He claps his hands together and summons a massive chain, which appeared around Fafnir's chest and arms, which completely immobilized him. Reggie then raised his hand, and a wall of light energy appeared, trapping Fafnir where he stood. “May you rest in peace, Fafnir.” Reggie claps and pulls his left hand back, he sits and charges up a bright yellow arrow. He lets it go and it propels towards Fafnir. Fafnir smiles and stomps his foot on the ground with a wall of fire appearing in front of him. “It's over.”

“NOTHING BREAK!”

Right as the arrow makes contact with the Black flame, it propels itself backwards which seems to be double the speed and power. Before Reggie can even process what was said or what happened, the arrow pierces his skull. He fell back to the ground with his brain spilling out right in front of his son. Riley looks down at his father's corpse, not really understanding what just happened there. “He won.” He says to himself. “It's not fair…” He says to himself.. Our point of view then switches to a blond haired boy who seems to be watching from some type of house, looking at the tv as he was watching the entire battle. “It's not FAIR” he hears the boy scream from his TV.

“It's just not fair, wouldn’t ya say, Phantom.”

Riley says, which snaps the Phantom out of his daydream. The Phantom jumps up and grabs his blade. He pulls his mask back down that was only really revealing his mouth after getting caught off guard by this voice. “You.” Phantom says looking back at Riley. “Yeah, Me. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. But I didn’t come here to chit chat.” Phantom squeezes his sword as Riley steps closer to him. “As you know, Princess Eiko is getting married to someone tomorrow, that person is me.” Phantom looks shocked at Riley “Never thought you were the type to be into arranged marriages, Pretty out of character for you.” “You’re not one to talk about something being in cHaRaCtEr, buddy.” “But enough talking let's cut to the chase, no? I know you want to save Princess Eiko from her arranged marriage to me. I fully understand that feeling of wanting to escape your predetermined destiny. But your endeavor is foolish and honestly pretty stupid to even risk, especially with the entire Alphonia Family being at that wedding, Including the king.”

“What are you trying to say here?” Phantom says, trying to get Riley to cut to the chase. “Well it's pretty simple. You help me and I help you, Let's make a Soul Pact.” “What are the conditions for this Soul Pact…?” “I’ll help you get to Princess Eiko so you can crash the wedding, and in return you agree that you’ll tell me the exact location of the Dundred Cavern.” The mention of the Dudred Cavern makes the Phantom shutter to his core. What happened there that week hasn’t left his mind since and the very mention of that location makes him physically react. “What the hell do you need the location of that place for?” “Simple. I’ve been looking for it for my research on the origins of Mana and Soul Energy, to perfectly master it for my inevitable fight with Emperor Fafnir. You,Rika and Flint are the last remaining people alive that know about that location from my knowledge. Rika and Flint are unable for me to contact, so you being here is a perfect checkmate.” Riley smiles looking at the Phantom while knowing in his gut he's already somewhat won with his demands. “Aren’t you getting married to Eiko to build a bridge between the 2 families anyway? That's what she told me.” “You think I care about any of that building a bridge bullshit? I want revenge on the Emperor and I know you do too, Roy.” The mention of his first name makes the Phantom crack a smile underneath his mask, seeming to him that Riley hasn’t forgotten a thing.

“Revenge, such a powerful emotion that can drive people to take extreme actions to right a wrong that has been done to them. It can be a powerful motivator, pushing someone to pursue the person who wronged them with a single-minded focus that may lead them to take risks they wouldn't normally take. A definition me and you both understand very, very well.” Riley says glaring in Phantom's eyes which would leave most normal people threatened or feel as if they were being pierced directly into their soul. “I have no bridges left to be built, I simply agreed to this wedding so I can destroy the Emperor from the inside, for my good for nothing mother. But saving Eiko actually works more in my favor than I first realized.” “Why would I even agree to this deal? You clearly have some sort of ulterior motives for wanting the location to Dundred Cavern. So what if I say no?” “Oh simple. I warn Fafnir about a surprised guest appearing at the wedding, they change the location or add extra security and then Eiko gets married to me and I destroy the family from the inside. Either way, I win. So think of this as a little wedding gift from you to me.” Phantom thinks about the words of Riley, thinks about Eikos words which reminded him so much of what happened that day in Dundred, What he would change, what he would go back and fix, this might be his only chance at getting some closure for that day. “Fine.” Roy says, “let's make a pact.” Riley smirks at how quick the Phantom folds but he's happy that he agrees “All according to my plan” Riley thinks to himself as the 2 walk towards each other to begin the Soul Pact.

The 2 walk up to each other and stand face to face, forcing their Soul Energy into their hands. The two clasped each other's hands as their Soul Energy coursed between them. The power in their grasp was overwhelming, and they could feel an invisible bond forming between their souls. Each of them knew that by agreeing to this pact, they were binding themselves together for a common cause. From that moment on, their fates were intertwined, and they would have to trust each other completely. It was a risky move, but with so much at stake, they both knew they had to take a chance. “I Vow” Riley starts, “To help Roy Spyrestorm get into and interrupt the wedding happening tomorrow, August 23rd, 4070.” Phantom follows up the statement. “I Vow to give Riley Cavendine the location of Dundred Cavern.” As the energy festers and shimmers into the moonlight the 2 hands separate. Phantom seems to have lost more energy than Riley has from this Soul Pact, He seems to have less Soul Energy then Riley or even your average joe. It seems to have had a big impact on him and Riley notices and chooses not to say anything.

It was a moment of tension as the two stood there, each one waiting for the other to speak. Finally, Riley broke the silence. "We both know why we're doing this," he said in a quiet, determined voice. "Now, we just need to figure out how to make it happen." Phantom nodded in agreement, but he couldn't help feeling a sense of unease. There were so many things that could go wrong, and he wasn't sure if he was ready to take on such a dangerous task. But he also knew that the reward was worth the risk—if they succeeded, they would be one step closer to getting the closure they’ve both been craving for so long. “From the moment this pact starts to the moment it ends, We’re allies. So I’ll do everything in my power to help you get Eiko out of that wedding to not break the Soul Pact. In return you’ll send me the coordinates to the Cavern.” “Yeah I’ll transfer them to you once you hold up your end.”

We return to Eiko who seems to be running through the basement of the Alphonia manor. Her mind flashing back to her conversation with Riley.

“Well that's the truth. How does that reality about your brother make you feel huh?” Eiko doesn’t know how to react. It's not exactly clear, but it seems like she is very conflicted. On the one hand, she is feeling anger, fear, sadness, and disgust about her brother's actions, but on the other hand, she is also worrying about Winston’s location in the present day, while also worrying about the wedding taking place tomorrow. All of this is just too much for her to understand. It's possible that these two feelings are both vying for her attention and causing her to feel overwhelmed and confused. “Look. I don’t really know how to feel about this Riley, Do I feel guilty about my brother's actions, yes. I know he's not a good person but I have a feeling he had good intentions.” “GOOD INTENTIONS?!” Eiko gets slammed into a wall by Riley grabbing her shirt looking down on her right in her eyes. “You’ll understand that feeling I had one day, Eiko.” He lets go of her as she drops to the floor. “Who did you go outside to meet? Give them your REAL answer, I hate when people lie to me.” Fearing the safety of Winston, she complies and she says “The Phantom… H- He promised he’d help me escape…” “What kind of idiotic pledge? You don't even know the location of the wedding, a whole bunch of OTHER factors that could change the outcome. But I’ll help you if you help me.”

Eiko looks confused at this and Riley continues “If you tell me the location of Fafnir's secret Tomb in the capital of Khourburg, Kelbath. I know there's a bunch of tests going on there from the info my father gave me, But I don’t know the exact location.” Eiko remembers Fafnir telling her the location and how to enter the tomb a couple of times before. “Tell me the location of that and where you last saw the Phantom, and I’ll tell you where I'm keeping Winston AND I’ll help you escape the wedding with your little lover boy.” The lover boy's comment makes Eiko blush but she responds “And if I… Don’t?” “I’ll tell your parents about your little escapade, get Winston fired, and get YOU locked up in your room till our wedding. Either way I win.” Eiko is shocked at the predicament she's stuck in but it seems to her that Riley just played his cards right. “So what will it be? Lets make…”

“A Soul Pact.”

Eiko begins to run down to the basement of the Alphonia Manor, Unlocking the basement door with the key given to her by Riley. She opens the door and finds Winston battered and beaten with bruises on his face. “Madam Eiko….” He speaks looking up at her “Winston!” She yelps, rushing down the stairs of the basement towards Winston who lays on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. “What happened to you? Did they catch you and the clone? What happened between you and Riley?” Eiko's emotions seem to be in flux throughout this scene. On the one hand, she is grappling with her conflicting feelings about her brother's actions, while simultaneously worrying about Winston's safety and the logistics of escaping the wedding ceremony tomorrow, even with Rileys help. Her mind is scattered and all over the place, unable to think straight.

“Madam… Eiko.” Winston weakly mutters, His old body still very weak from his scuffle with Riley. “I was in your room with the clone when Riley quickly barged in. I drew my sword in order to defend you when he started getting aggressive with me when I said you weren’t interested in talking to him. He beat me, quite fast and swift. But I’m not surprised. At my old age, my experience as a knight is outdated and my Magic couldn’t be used to its full capacity against royalty like Riley so he disarmed me quickly....” Eikos heart sinks at this as news Winston makes a weak smile as he continues the story. “I refused to tell him your real location, So he dragged me down to the basement and paid off some maids to keep me here till you returned. Nobody checks down here and it seems like he's paid off every worker except me..”

"Oh, Winston," Eiko mutters, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry. I never should have put you in danger like that." She shakes her head, anger and frustration coursing through her. "I will make sure Riley pays for what he did to you, don't worry." Winston nods slowly, clearly relieved that Eiko is there with him. "Thank you, madam. I know it's not your fault. I just... I just want to get out of here. I can’t stand the dark.” Eiko carries Winston upstairs through the sleeping mansion. As she takes him back to her room and places him on her bed she recaps the full situation with her and the Phantom as Winston listens to her tales intrigued.

“Are you sure that life is what you want Madam Eiko?” He is supportive but genuinely concerned for her. “A man you just met and you’re ready to give that wanted criminal your life? Put your life on the line everyday? Is that really what you seek?” Eiko considers Winston's words for a moment. She knows he's right - she barely knows the Phantom and she's willing to trust him with her life. But she's also desperate for a way out of this situation, and the Phantom seems to be her only option. "I don't know, Winston," she admits. "But I can't give up now. I still have to figure out how to get out of here and stop the wedding tomorrow." She takes a deep breath, trying to gather her thoughts. "And I know the Phantom is dangerous, but I also know he's smart. He's already helped me so much. Maybe he can help me get out of this mess, too." Eiko looks back at Winston, who seems worried but understanding. "I'm not sure what else to do, Winston. Do you have any ideas?" “Go with your heart.” He says and this catches her attention. “I may be old and wise in your eyes, But I can’t make all your choices for you. Your heart wants what your heart desires. So how about you tell me, what do YOU genuinely want, Elanora?” Eikos emotions that she's built up over all these years begins to seep out, she begins to genuinely let loose and cry. Something Winston has never seen from Eiko to this extent.

His mind flashes back to when Eiko and Aki played on the playground in the front yard. He was sitting next to Saul, he's always been the more reluctant and quiet type and nobody really knows what he feels about things and how he's thinking. Aki pushed Eiko over after she beat him in their friendly playfight. He pushed her out of anger, and a splinter gets stabbed into her leg “You’re so good at EVERYTHING!” Aki yelled at his twin and ran away from her back into the home. Winston runs over to Eiko who has a big scar on her left leg where the splinter got implanted. “Eiko! You have such a big wound and you look so fine? Are you sure you’re ok? Do you have some durability magic or something?” “Silly Winny.” Eiko says to her butler as she pokes his nose with her finger. He could tell she's in pain but she's smiling “Big girls never cry!” These words stick in Winston's head and a moment of every time she’s said this to him flashes in his head.

Eiko begins to ball her eyes out. More and more tears fill her eyes as she begins to speak “I- I want to be happy…” Winston listens as she continues her sentence, muttering and saying it in a barely audible broken voice “All my life… I- I’ve never known what I really wanted. Every… De- Decision I’ve ever made has been forced onto me, to the point where I don’t even know what I want.. I want to be appreciated, Loved, adventure, find a place where I belong… and I want to make my own choices, for once in my life." She looks up at Winston, tears still streaming down her face. "I don't want to be a puppet anymore for people to control however they want and then toss to the side… I want to be a person. I want to feel like Eiko. Elanora. Somebody. I want to feel something.” Winston listens to Eiko's emotional breakdown with a mixture of sadness and empathy. He can see how much she's struggling, and how much weight she's been carrying for years. He looks at her with a mixture of admiration and compassion. "Eiko, you're not alone," he says, trying to offer her some comfort. "You're a strong and intelligent person, and you deserve to be happy. Don't let anyone or anything hold you back from achieving that happiness. You have a lot to offer this world, and there are people out there who will appreciate you for who you are. If you will find those people by going with the Phantom, then go." Winston looks at Eiko who sniffs and rubs her face and all the tears as they keep streaming down her face. “What am I doing…” She says to herself loud enough for Winston to hear still smiling “Big girls never cry” She says and stands up, holding back her tears.

Winston laughs and stands up through his pain to give Eiko a hug. “Life is hard. Not every decision may be the right one, but that's something for you to figure out on your own because you’re human. You’re not a puppet, there’s always another option.” He release Eiko from his embrace. “Now have a wonderful night, Elanora. I’ll be back tomorrow to escort you to the wedding location and help you prepare. Hopefully, Riley and Phantom can keep up their bargain aye?” Winston says quietly as he walks out of the room. Eiko lays on her bed and wonders how the conversation between Riley and Phantom is going, Maybe he's discussing the mission and making a plan of sorts to help her escape. That makes the most sense but she won’t know for sure. “My plan was to get Winston to talk to Phantom, But this works too.” She thinks to herself as she closes her eyes. She's had a long day and is prepared for the day that will decide it all.

August 23rd 4070 - 8:35 AM

The morning of the wedding dawns. Eiko wakes up and stretches her muscles, feeling more at peace than she has in a long time. She smiles to herself, knowing that her plan to escape is nearing fruition. She can't help but be a bit nervous, though. What if something goes wrong? She takes a deep breath and pushes those thoughts aside. She needs to focus on the task at hand. She gets up and gets ready for the wedding. She is the most beautiful she has ever been and is excited to show the world who she really is. Eiko stands up and heads downstairs without doing her daily routine, not seeing the purpose of doing it yet. She gets downstairs and she's met by the face of her 2 other brothers. Saul and Aki. Aki is a 5’10 boy that seems to look like Eiko with shorter hair. Saul has dyed brown hair with red eyes like the rest of his family. “What are you 2 doing down here so late?” “Just wanted to talk to you before everyone else woke up.” Aki says and Saul silently nods. “Well spit it out, What is it?” Eiko replies, she's concerned about the opinions of her brothers but this might be her final conversation with them. Eiko can't help but feel a bit of sadness at the thought of leaving her brothers behind. She looks at them both, and then takes a deep breath before Aki starts speaking. “I won’t miss you.” He says with all genuine contempt in his voice.

Eiko is surprised at her brother's words and it seems Saul is surprised but chooses not to speak up yet, holding his piece. “Y’know today's my birthday too? Yet just like every year, it's always about you. What kind of twin is that? You have everything I’ve ever wanted in life, the attention from dad, Fafnir, Winston, Everybody I honestly care about.” Eiko cuts him off “Mom has ALWAYS been on your side, and because I also have people that enjoy talking to me and care for me I’m the bad guy?” “You’re the FAVORITE. That's the problem.” He yells at his sister in a louder tone. “I can’t stand you and I’m so happy mom finally chose to get rid of you. Every time I got in trouble it was related to YOU in some way and honestly I got tired of it. So, I don’t really consider you my sister anymore, honestly I hate you.” As Aki finishes what he needs to say, he walks away from her. Eiko sighs, she feels guilty but as she speaks Saul realizes a clear difference in her energy, the same way she carried herself during the meeting yesterday. “Fine.” Once the words leave her mouth Aki turns around “What…?” Eiko feels a lump form in her throat but she chooses to keep up this demeanor “Fine, Aki. You hate me and that's ok. There’s nothing I can do to change the past and after today you’ll probably never see me again anyway.”

Eiko and Aki look at each other for a couple of seconds until Aki just scoffs and walks away from her again. Eiko sighs in relief, proving to herself a bit more that she can be confident if she tries hard enough. “Never seen that from you ella.” Saul says, looking at his sister with a look of shock “You gave me the same vibe just now that you did in the meeting! It seems like you’re like 2 different people sometimes.” Eiko smiles to her younger brother and chimes in “Yeah but to be fully honest my heart was in my ass yesterday. I’ve never spoken to Mo- Vega. I’ve never spoken to Vega like that before so it scared me what they would do, But I kind of realized that she can’t do much to me anymore. I’m getting married off today so I wanted to go out with a bang.” Eiko giggles and rubs the back of her head. “Speaking of the wedding, I just wanted to say that I don’t really know how I feel. I feel like it could be something good for you, Y’know? You’re finally out of this chamber and Riley seems nice, so maybe just make the best out of the bad situation rather than fighting so hard on it. That's all.” Saul walks away from his sister after finishing his sentence leaving her in the dining room alone. She begins to ponder about the words spoken to her “Make the best out of a bad situation…” She thinks in her mind, She remembers Winston told her something like that before but she kind of brushed it off. “I’ll keep that one in mind.”

August 23rd 4070 - 7:40 PM

After a long day of royal duties and preparations. Eiko is in her bathroom giving her final preparations for her wedding outfit. “This is a day I’ve kind of been thinking about since I was a kid, Might as well look nice” She mutters as she puts a flower pin in her hair. Eiko is wearing a traditional wedding dress with a light blue fade near the bottom with different star patterns. She's also wearing her mother's old jewelry, which she found while cleaning out her old bedroom. It was a gift given to her back during her childhood so she felt like wearing it as something special. As she looks at herself in the mirror, she can't help but feel a mix of emotions. On one hand, she's excited to start her new life on the run with the Phantom. On the other hand, she’s extremely scared if the plan goes wrong and she has to get married to Riley, but that's not even her biggest concern. The Phantom is going to enter a wedding with the Emperor himself inside of it as a wanted criminal then kidnap the Emperor's little sister. It doesn’t sound too good in her head the more she thinks about it. As she finishes her makeup and puts on her shoes, she feels a sense of determination wash over her. She knows it won't be easy, but she's ready to face whatever challenges come her way. She hears a knock on the door and runs over to open it quickly, struggling to do so in high heels.

“Winston!”

She yelps and runs into his arms, he gives her a warm hug. “Are you ready to head to the wedding ceremony? Your carriage is outside the Manor waiting for you.” She smiles and grabs his hand “I’m ready to go.” Winston snaps and a few other maids enter the room and grab her bags and carry them outside to the carriage. They believe she's going to move into the Cavendine palace after the wedding. Winston walks her down the stairs of the house for the final time, the house where she grew up and had so many memories. Despite the fear in her head, she can’t help but smile to herself, forgetting what’s to come. Eiko makes her way outside and is met by 3 members of the Knights Of Dynasty. A man with a mask and a suit that seems to be completely made of metal. 2 plates on her shoulders, 2 metal tubes poke out of his back, and he seems to have 2 katanas. His face isn’t even visible, he has a metal visor over his face. The first man on the right has gray hair with blue eyes, some of his hair being held together by a hair clip, with a ponytail at the top of his head. The guy on the left doesn’t have your average knight attire on, he has a green hoodie over his head and brown hair in front of his eyes with a necklace on his bare chest.

Winston points to them and says “These are the Knights Of Dynasties second best squad, Squad 6. They’re quite close with the Alphonia family so they’ll be the ones to escort you out today.” The mention of them being the second best squad makes Eiko more concerned but she keeps her stoic expression. “Hello gentlemen.” She says in a peppy princess voice. Pretending to act like one of those snobby princesses is something she enjoys. “Hello, Madam Alphonia.” The man in full metal replies to Eiko “I am commander Zed, The man on my right is my second in command Buck and the man on of my most skilled knights, Dohjo.” Eiko smiles and shakes the hand of all 3 of these knights as she then walks into the carousell. Her mind wanders as the carousell, attached to horse and everything like it was straight out of a fairy tail, carries her to the destination of her marriage. As the carousel carries Eiko through the streets, she can't help but marvel at the beauty surrounding her. The moonlight glimmers, the air is warm, and the trees are all vibrant with colorful flowers. Eiko's heart skips a beat as she thinks about all the possibilities that her future could present her. She's ready for a new adventure, ready to leave her old life behind and start fresh.

She makes it to the venue of the wedding. It's a huge palace with guards surrounding all sides of it. It's a bright gold material. Paintings of royal weddings scatter the walls everywhere as she gets escorted through the entrance of the venue, her eyes gleam onto one photo. A man with black slick back hair and blue eyes, and a woman with long brown hair and red eyes. The label under the photo says “April 19th - 4050.” She recognizes these 2 people as her mother and father's wedding photos, Vega Luminous and Devard Alphonia. Her mother looks so, Sad. It reminds her of how she was feeling when she was first told she was forced into an arranged marriage. Maybe that's why her mother was so avid on this, She thinks to herself. “Maybe she does want the best for me…” Eiko enters the main room of the wedding, with Winston and her both arm and arm. She enters the main room, all eyes on her. She begins to feel nervous with all the looks she's getting so she puts her head down as they walk, but Winston squeezes her arm a bit, to make sure she remembers that he's there. She lifts her head up and looks around the crowd. She recognizes a few people from business meetings she was dragged along to as a kid, She looks through some more people until she sees her father, and 2 of her brothers both Aki and Saul standing together. Her father has his normally messy Black hair slicked back, and he's wearing a very fancy black suit with a sharp red tie. Her brothers follow suit with Akis sleeves rolled up and Saul has a bowtie that's green instead of red. Eiko notices that Fafnir is nowhere to be seen, for some reason that makes her upset. This isn’t even something she cares about but this is the biggest moment in her life and he didn’t even show up. As she makes it to the altar, Winston lets her go and Eiko stands across from Riley. Who seems to look the same but in a suit, Seems like he didn’t take much consideration or care into his wedding appearance, Eiko can’t help but think he looks more attractive than before though.

Riley grabs Eikos hands once the Priest begins to make his statement. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony," the priest begins, his voice echoing throughout the room. Eiko can feel her heart beating faster as they continue with the ceremony, “This is a truly joyous occasion, as we gather to celebrate this sacred bond forming between these 2 families, Marriage is a commitment to love and care for each other, through all the challenges and joys of life. It is a bond that brings two hearts together, united in love.” Eiko begins to reflect on the words of her mother “Building the bridge between the 2 families.” “To love is to give of oneself without expectation of return. It is to put the needs and desires of another above our own. It is to be there for our partner, through all the ups and downs of life. It is to be a source of comfort and strength, to hold each other up and make each other better.” The priest continues as the room listens “As we stand here today, let us all hold this couple in our hearts and prayers. May they always find joy in each other, in their commitment to love and care for one another. May they always remember the promises they have made to each other today, and may they always be a source of comfort and strength for each other.” Eiko begins to feel guilty, knowing her plan to escape and her idea running rampant in her mind. Praying to the lord just doesn’t feel… Right.

“Now, let us join hands and witness this couple making their vows to each other, to love, honor, and cherish, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, for as long as they both shall live. Let us ask the blessing of the Almighty to rest upon this couple and their marriage, and let us pray that they may live long and happy lives together, filled with love and joy.” Eiko and Riley both close their eyes, as courtesy of marriage in Khourburg. “Now, let us all congratulate this wonderful couple on their union, and let us support them as they begin this next chapter of their lives together. May God bless them always.” “Amen” The room says in unison. “Now. Do you, Eiko Alphonia, take Riley Cavendine to be your lawfully wedded husband, to love, to honor and cherish each other in sickness, for better or worse, and for as long as you live” Eiko feels a log in her throat, but the serious look in Rileys eyes that scream “Just do it” force her to release her statement. “I… Do.” She hears her mother breath a sigh of relief behind her. The priest turns to Riley. “And do you, Riley Cavendine, take Eiko Alphonia as your lawfully wedded wife, to love, honor and cherish, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, for as long as you live?”

“I do.” He mutters in a very stoic and cold, not seeming genuine in the slightest.

The room goes silent and the priest begins to speak “If anyone has anything to say, Speak now or forever hold your pea-” before the priest could finish his sentence, the sealing shatters and the room erupts with a massive shockwave. Eiko and Riley's hand separate as the dust begins to collect around the room, everyone gets on the ground in fear of it being a bombing or something. But a man in a raggedy brown costume, with a mask and a hood around his head appears in between Riley and Eiko who are both sitting on the ground in shock.

“I object.”

The man grabs Eiko, throws her over his shoulder, then he uses the lightning underneath his feet, the static underneath his leather boots disburse and spring The Phantom and Eiko hop towards the ceiling. But before they could fully make it out, Devard launches a fireball towards the roof of the palace. Phantom barely avoids the attack by making it out of the room right before the fireball makes contact with his physical body, slightly burning Eikos dress and his cape. Eiko finally comes to her senses once they land on top of the Palace ceiling. “What the hell are you doing?? Why are you so reckless?!?” Eiko screams while being held over the Phantom shoulder. “Well” As she responds to him, He jumps off the roof and on top of the carriage with all her stuff on it. He then slashes the carriage out of the connecting carriages with his sword, It rolls down the forest with them on it. The bright yellow palace is in a secluded area away from most of the kingdom, it's around the same location as the Alphonia Manor but it's completely surrounded by trees. Large Dark tree oak trees in this very long forest, there seems to be no ending for miles. As the cart begins to dash through the darkness of the forest, only illuminated by the lanterns connected to the Carriage, Phantom begins to follow up on his previous sentence. “I wanted to go in with a bang” He laughs and Eiko looks in the same face HE gave her before when she said “2 is more than one.” “This guy can’t be serious…” She thinks to herself.

“You’re taking too many risks, Phantom” She mutters. “What if Fafnir was there, What if you got caught by the knights of Dynasty?” Phantom laughs to himself “According to my Sponsor, I have the strength of around 5 Dynasty Captains. I’ll be fine if those nobodies come to fight me.” He says with confidence “and with Fafnir… Well, Me and Riley talked about him.” We get a flashback to the conversation. “From the moment this pact starts to the moment it ends, We’re allies. So I’ll do everything in my power to help you get Eiko out of that wedding to not break the Soul Pact. In return you’ll send me the coordinates to the Cavern.” “Yeah I’ll transfer them to you once you hold up your end.” Phantom then offers Riley a seat on a log, Riley scoffs but accepts the offer taking a seat on the tree trunk. “So, the wedding is happening tomorrow around August 23rd around 8pm. The location of the Palace where it's gonna be held is hard to narrow down, So I’ll have some of my men come pick you up from this spot. You’ll be in one of the carriages, Hopefully the one with all Eikos stuff to make the plan easier.”

“So let's get to the big issue, Fafnir.” Phantom looks at Riley with all seriousness. “I can’t defeat him yet, that's for sure, I don't think I could even defeat the entire Knights of Dynasty at once in one go, and He could probably defeat them all 3 times over.” “If Fafnir is there, All you really need is a good strategy to counter his calculating brain.” Riley says standing up from the log where he was sitting. “Fafnir's biggest advantage in fighting is his destructive power. If you’re holding his sister he obviously wouldn’t be foolish enough to go all out and kill her.” “So you’re telling me to use Eiko like a… Hostage?” “Yeah duh. She's some girl you haven’t known for long, I don't see what reason you have to care so much or even help her in general.” “None of your concern on why I'm choosing to help her.” Riley looks at Phantom with a knowing expression, like he knows exactly why he wants to help Eiko but he doesn’t want to say it. “Well whatever your reason… Using Eiko as a hostage to keep up the idea that this isn’t of her choice is the best way to go about it. Realistically, Fafnir will hold his strength back to save his sister.”

“Have you considered the fact I might be fighting a Captain or 2 ALONG with Fafnir?” Riley makes a face of cognizance, Just remembering about the Captains on post outside the Wedding. “And how do I even get in?” “Well you’re the legendary Half Soul Hollow, You could figure something flashy out. I don't need to help you with everything here.” “And what about the CAPTAINS helping Fafnir?” “Oh, Well, Uh.” Riley stands with his hand on his chin thinking to himself “And to think I thought you were smart, Riley.” Riley scoffs at this remark, not letting Phantom see it boosted his ego a little bit. “Well, I’ll probably end up getting my Mom to discuss something with him. She's been meaning to talk about some transactions with him anyway and knowing that rat, He’ll pick the business transactions over his family. My mom has a way with words, that skill makes her finally useful for something.” Phantom is shocked and somewhat appalled at the comment Riley made about his own mother. “What's with you and your mom?” Riley stares daggers at the Phantom at this question, the Phantom can’t help but feel a little intimidated by this glance. “Not going to get into it…”

At these words we go back to Eiko and Phantom riding down the hill on top of the carriage with Eikos stuff on it. Eiko can somewhat think why Riley hates his father after the memories that she was forced to watch, 10 times. Once Phantom finishes his story he begins to speak “As much as I loathe that man, I just want you to know, Your brother cares about you. He probably wanted to go to the wedding but didn’t show up cuz of Riley's plan. So please don't be upset at him, for that at least.” Eiko thinks about this realization, about her brother. Even though she knew how the wedding would end, him not showing up to the last time he thought that was the last time he’d see her in a long time. Something like that can’t be forgiven, picking business over family is a pretty bad thing on such a big day, but She can’t help but be used to it. The cart continues to bob along the winding road, and the moon illuminates the surrounding forest. The forest seems endless; the road twists and turns, and the thick foliage blocks out any light except for what leaks through the canopy. “Thank you Phantom.” Eiko says smiling in his arms, Phantom tries not to look down at her and says “You want me to put ya down? I would’ve thought you would have gotten uncomfortable by now.” “Nah, I feel safer here.” The Phantom can’t help but look away from her at this moment, He's not sure why but these words got to him. He's never had this feeling before and it's something strange he can’t explain. "O- Okay, if you're sure", Phantom says, and continues to ride in silence for a few more moments. As the cart continues through the forest, Phantom notices that Eiko's demeanor has completely changed. She's gone from being tense and defensive to calm and content in his arms, as if she's found some inner peace by accepting Phantom's words from before.

We have a look back at the remains of the wedding sight a few minutes ago. Devard, Eikos father, stands up in fury. With a snap of his fingers he says “Get up.” At these words, everyone feels a strange spiritual energy, a very powerful spiritual energy that they can’t seem to understand. Everyone feels compelled to obey this almighty authority so they all stand. “I want everyone in here to go find my daughter NOW!” In fear of this normally docile and kind hearted man screaming, all the guests and family members run out of the wedding. Most are not running to find Eiko, running away from the wedding sight. Leaving only Devard, Vega (Eikos Mother), Saul, Aki and Riley. “Vega.” He turns back and looks at his wife who still lays on the ground behind him in fear of the blast through the ceiling. She runs towards him and grabs his arm “I- It's ok Devard~!” She mutters to her enraged husband, but before she could continue her sentence he backhands her. Slapping her to the ground off his arm and launching her back towards the wall. Saul and Aki watch in shock and fear at their fathers rage. Saul backs further away while Aki runs in front of his mother with both of his hands out. “WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM?!”

As if he's ignoring his son's presence, Devard speaks to the astonished Vega uttering “You. If I figure out this ploy was to get rid of Eiko like I suspected, I will drag you into the same hole you crawled out of.” Vega rubs her face where a brutal mark is left from the force of Devards slap and she speaks “I Promise! This wasn’t just for- '' Before she could finish her sentence Devard Spiritual Energy ERUPTS through the room. Bringing both Saul and Riley to their knees. Riley watches the conflict build with a sick grin across his face. He feels a sense of justice and karma as he continues to watch the conflict unfold in front of his eyes. Vega falls to the floor from this spiritual energy but Aki stands and resists it. He seems to barely be keeping himself steady but he's using all his strength to keep himself standing to protect his mother. “I won't let you.” “What?” Devard says finally acknowledging his son's existence. “I won’t let you… HURT HER AGAIN!” Aki launches a blast of wind at his father which throws him off balance, Releasing the spiritual weight off of the rest of their bodies. “Someone needs another punishment huh?” Devard says looking his son dead in the eyes. “One of the many reasons I liked Eiko better.” “OH PLEASE” Aki laughs hysterically at his father “Tell me something I don’t know.” As soon as Aki finishes his sentence he gets blasted into the wall full force by his fathers backhand. He immediately goes unconscious from the sheer force of this attack leaving the rest of the people in the room stunned.

Saul has seen enough and musters up the courage to step forward and stop his father. He knows he may pay the price for intervening, but he cannot stand by and watch his brother be treated like this any longer. He blasts his father with a wave of flames from his hands. This catches Devard off his guard and leaves a severe mark on his arm despite blocking most of the attack when he preserves it. Devard rushes towards Saul, who quickly ducks his fathers backhand. But as he ducks, a fist comes hurtling towards him. Saul gets punched right in his face, and he's blasted out the side of the palace. Riley can’t help but smile watching the downfall of the family that ruined everything for him, though Devard does slightly scare him. “Despite not being king he sure has the wrath of one.” Riley thinks to himself quickly, removing the smile from his face once Devards eyes turn towards him. “This was your mothers idea wasn’t it.” Riley quickly ponders what to say in this, would throwing his mother under the bus be the right call? Having a man this strong on his side would be a benefit for sure but he's not sure how to anger him without being attacked on the spot. “I’d probably kill him, but that's not what i'm trying to do here.” Riley thinks to himself as Devard glares at the boy. “Answer me.”

“Well my answer depends on something.” Riley smugly lifts his hand up, covering it in soul energy and a brownish aura as he continues to speak “Depending on if you’re willing to make a deal with me or not.” We cut back to Eiko and Phantom continues to ride through the forest with Phantom continuing to keep up the carriage's moment by shooting tiny zaps of lightning near the back of the wheels. “This sure is a long forest huh?” Phantom says looking at their surroundings. The surroundings of the forest is clearly changing and he's seeing different things but he can’t help but feel this forest is way bigger than it seems on the outside. “Feels like we’ve been here for like 40 years.” Eiko responds to Phantom. Before Phantom can respond he hears footsteps coming from around behind him their carriage. He looks behind them and sees a guy that looks no older than them, he has Gray hair with some of it being kept together by hair clips, Blue eyes, and a ponytail. On his back there seems to be something he only recognizes as Griffen. It has the features of an Eagle and a Lion. But it's black and white, Eiko turns and seems to recognize it as well but only from fairy tales Winston read to her as a kid, something out of a picture book. It carries him with its talons grabbing onto his Knight of Dynasty uniform.

“PRINCESS EIKOOOOOOOOOOO!” The man screams while reaching his hand out trying to grab onto the carriage but his hand narrowly misses the carriage propelling it forward some more. “I’m here to save ya!” The man snaps and his Griffin lifts him up further into the air. He watches the Carriage from above while also not going above the trees. He dashes as the moonlight glimmers through the leaves and narrowly poking branches. The man has 12 tubes on his waistband, but only 5 of them seem to have anything in them all in different containers. The containers are labeled from numbers 1 - 12. But only containers 1, 2, 4, 7 and 8 have anything inside of them. As the man continues to fly, he pulls something out of container 4. It's a piece of paper rolled up to fit inside of it. He unwraps the piece of paper and Eiko can barely see what's on it. It has a picture of an Orc that looks similar to something in one of her old picture books. The man throws up the paper and claps with the paper in between, he then says “Imagination Orc!” As he says this an Orc drops infront of him and the Griffin. He snaps and the Griffin drops him onto the orcs back as it swoops towards the carriage. Phantom quite clearly seems interested in this technique but before he can speak the Griffin comes swooping towards them. As the Griffin flies through the air behind Phantom and Eiko, the wind picks up and debris is thrown about in its wake. The Griffin's sharp talons are still tightly gripping Phantom's shoulder armor, and it's not showing any signs of letting go anytime soon. Suddenly, a bright flash of light erupts from the Griffin's beak, and Phantom is blasted away back from its grip, almost stumbling off the carriage but indents his sword into the roof of it, keeping him steady with Eiko in his arms. The Phantom quickly pulls his sword from the roof of the carriage and launches a wave of lightning at the hybrid beast.

The carriage continues to tumble, as the Griffin swoops down to intercept it. It extends its talons toward the carriage, but before it can grab hold, Phantom swings a wave of lightning at the Griffin screaming “STATIC WAVE” This attack slices through the Griffin's wings with a fierce strike, sending it tumbling through the air. “Let me help!” Eiko says through the commission to the Phantom. “You’re supposed to be a HOSTAGE” Phantom loudly whispers to Eiko, snapping her back into the context of this battle. The man stairs in terror as the Griffin crashes to the ground beside him and his orc its wings now shredded and useless. It transforms back into some paper version with one of the 4 stars on the paper crossed out now. He puts the paper in the 6th container as he commands his Orc to throw him. His orc tosses him and reverts to its paper form in his hand as soon as it launches him. He lands on top of the carriage right across from Eiko and the Phantom. He looks at the man and the captive he's supposed to save.

The man's heart drops to his ASS when he takes a good look at who has Eiko in his hands. He shutters in fear as his face goes white in dread. “THE PHANTOM!!!!” He screams as the Phantom stares at him, Eiko notices how quickly Phantom went from playful to dead serious, Similar to the fight with Marin from before. As he looks back at the man frozen in fear, Eiko can feel his determination as he puts her down beside him. The man snaps back into it and before he even continues to speak, he pulls out the 8h paper and the last one he seems to have in his possession. He unrolls it, throws it up, and quickly claps on it. “IMAGINATION DRAGON!” Without even a second to breathe a Black and white colored 40 Feet, scaly dragon appearing in the forest. Its huge size makes it even appear above the trees. It's massive in sheer size, overwhelming even the Phantom. “DESTROY HIM!” The man quickly points towards the Phantom and his dragon rushes towards him. Fire emits from the beast as it rushes towards the Phantom who seems to be unfazed from the common eye. He covers his blade in a massive amount of Thunder and Energy. Right as the Dragon is about to obliterate the Phantom, He swings his sword down screaming “VANQUISHED EXILE” Right as he swings it eradicates the dragon in a single blow, Slashing it right through the middle it vanishes and turns back into a piece of paper.

The man stares in shock and awe as the strongest of his imaginary monsters is destroyed right in front of his eyes. The Phantom seems to be virtually unphased and begins to say “Y- Your monsters are all probably things from storybooks you brought to life with soul energy. Right?” Phantom says in a groggy voice. The man chooses not to speak and stumbles backwards “What the hell?” He thinks to himself “That dude took basically no damage from the strongest of these things and he looks unbothered?? The rumors about him have to be true…” “Answer when asked something.” Phantom says coldly looking at the man. He begins to back away but he hears voices in the distance calling towards him. “Man Buck, do you need help with EVERYTHING?!” As these words are uttered, the other 2 members of the Khourburg Dynasty appear. “Dohjo! Captain!” Buck sighs in relief as he jumps off the carriage. “I’ll leave the rest to you twoooooooo” Buck jumps off excited, taking this as a perfect chance to escape while he has all his limbs.

Eiko takes notice of the Phantom posture. Though he physically seems to be fine, the way he's standing shows signs of fatigue. “That big attack might have used too much of his energy…” She thinks to herself “You need to help him out Elarnora! Come on,” Despite the gravity of the situation, Eiko can't help but feel a sense of excitement. She's fascinated by the Knights of Dynasty and their incredible strength, and now she has the opportunity to fight alongside them. She knows that if she and the Phantom work together, they can take down the knights of Dynasty and any other threats that may arise. But she remembers the plan right as she's about to stand to her feet. She's supposed to be a hostage in this situation so she can’t blow their cover. “So you’re the Phantom?” The man who was referred to as Captain says looking at the Phantom. The man is wearing Very high tech steel armor with a mask and 2 Katanas on the back of the suit that seem to be attached to the back of his suit. Metal tubes stick out from around the suit as well. The other man who seems to be named Dohjo stands besides his Captain with unusual attire for a knight. His brown hair covers his eyes and he wears a green hoodie exposing his bare chest underneath. He wields a scythe in his hand. “No.” The Phantom says still in a quite serious voice, keeping his composure. The man laughs, “I’d beg to differ. You’ve made quite a name for yourself in the Dynasty Y’know.” The captain says looking at the Phantom “For such a wanted guy, I’d expect you to be more sneaky when it comes to crashing parties huh?”

“Did you come here to talk me to death or die like your friend's little dragon.” Phantom says dismissing the man's comment in a very firm voice. “Eh whatever.” The captain pulls both of his steel Katanas from the back of his suit and says “Commander Zed. That's my name.” He points his Katana at the Phantom and his other Katana at Princess Eiko. “Dohjo, get the girl. I’ll deal with this joker.” Dohjo rushes towards Eiko while Zed throws one of his Katanas at the Phantom. The Phantom quickly dodges the Katana as it falls behind him. Zed snaps his fingers and he and his Katana switch places, now appearing on the edge of the Carriage where he was just standing and he appears behind the Phantom. The Phantom is caught off guard and almost takes a vital slash in his backside, though he jumps before Commander Zed’s blade could fully slash him. His clothes are slightly cut by this attack but makes it out of the way in time. Zed runs towards the Phantom, who enters a battle stance. “This guy has some sort of teleportation power. Probably related to his swords in some way…” Zed swings his Katana down onto Phantom's Thunder Sword. The 2 blades clash but Phantom manages to overpower him and blast him back from the force of his slash.

Dohjo walks over to Eiko “Hey girl!” He says to her as if she were a dog. “I’m here to save you! So just come with me and we won't have any problems Ok?” Eiko feels as if she's being talked down to. “I have to help the Phantom somehow…” She thinks to herself while backing away from the Dohjo. “What's her deal?” He thinks while looking at Eiko who's crawling away from him. “W- what if you’re another kidnapper?” She mutters in a very scared and anxious voice. “...What?” Dohjo says, confused looking at the princess. “Stay AWAY!” She yells at him blasting a wave of Ice in his direction. This catches Dohjo off guard, before he can react to what's going on he's hit by a blast of Ice and stumbles back. “What's your deal bitch?” Dohjo says losing his whole savior persona. Eiko doesn’t respond and stands up, she throws spears of Ice at the man who quickly dodges them and rushes towards her. He doesn’t spear as he swings the back of his scythe down towards her head in an attempt not to hurt her but to knock her out. Eiko quickly reacts by making a layer of ice above her head to block the attack. She then punches upward with both her arms, which makes 2 spikes through the already formed layer of Ice. This stabs through the back of the Scythe, throwing off Dohjo. The scythe doesn’t break but now it has holes poking through it, making it looser than before. Dohjo pulls the Scythe off of the layer, then steps back assessing the situation with a much more aggressive and serious demeanor. Eiko is taken aback by the sudden shift in Dohjo's demeanor. He rushes towards her and she quickly realizes that he's become a much more imminent threat, and she needs to find a way to protect herself. Without thinking, she summons a massive wall of ice to block Dohjo's advance. But Dohjo isn't easily deterred, and he quickly rushes at the wall with his scythe, trying to cut his way through. Eiko's heart races as she watches the scythe make contact with the ice, sending shivers down her spine.

Zed snaps and his other katana zooms back to his hand. He bolts toward the Phantom with lightning speeds, The Phantom is able to keep up with his movements but he's caught off guard when he realizes that Zed jumped into the air. Zed throws down one of his Katanas at the Phantom that blocks with his sword. But the Katana seems to be getting pushed down by some other force despite having nobody holding it. The Phantom struggles to hold back the blade as Zed falls down with his other Katana in hand and slams it onto the Katana already held down by the strange force. The Phantom strikes with his thunder blade with even more force upward, counteracting the added pressure of Zed’s strike. He then uses the momentum from the block to strike back. He sends a massive wave of lightning through his body to his blade, which sends out a massive bolt of lightning that makes it seem like he’s striking the man with the force of a lightning bolt. “Backblast WING” The Phantom shouts at the man who's in point blank range of the strike. with his 2 katanas he gets sent flying backwards even faster this time. The Phantom rushes and swings his blade down, sending a wave of thunderous lightning that slams the man, who's still flying from the moment of Backblack Wing, down onto the ground. The man seems exhausted already while the Phantom looks calm and ready for more combat. Though the Phantom is still feeling the effects from his battle with Marin a day earlier AND the fight with that Buck guy. He’s barely keeping himself together.

Before Eiko can react to Dohjos attack, He breaks through the layer of ice with his scythe, shattering it into pieces. He then charges at her, swinging his scythe down with all his might. Eiko ducks out of the way just in time, narrowly avoiding the blade, leaving the altercation with only a small cut on her leg. Her wedding dress makes it harder to move, but she quickly scrambles to her feet, summoning two ice spears in her hands. Dohjo rushes towards her as she tosses the 2 Ice spears at the knight. He hardly ducks the first one with the first one piercing his leg. “FUCK!” He yells as he crashes to the ground from the wound. He rips the Ice spear out of his legs but before he could stand up Eiko kicks him right in his face, launching him backward closer towards the Phantom and Zeds battle. Eiko swings her hand and it stops near her face, she closes her hand and a WAVE of ice comes crashing down towards Dohjo. He stands up and swings the scythe, quickly shattering the Ice, but this allows Eiko to get behind him and run into him. Slamming him down to the ground with her. Dohjo is caught off guard wondering how this princess is overwhelming him, but Eiko already knows the answer and is using it to her advantage. “He can’t actually deal any killing blows to me.” She thinks to herself while they both crash to the ground, breaking through the roof of the carriage as they both fall into it with all Eikos things surrounding them.

Phantom looks down at Zed who's holding onto his swords but clearly seems to be exhausted. The Phantom can barely stay on his feet due to his fatigue and notices that they're nearing the end of the forest. “Let's wrap this up, Commander.” Zed stands up not saying a word, he looks down at his Katanas. All of a sudden a voice comes out of nowhere and Phantom listens as it says “Kill him. Let me feast.” Phantom realizes the voice is coming from Zed’s Katanas. The Katanas are both made of steel with a black blade and a white and red hilt. “Yeah I'm working on it.” Zed responds to the voice “He’s strong though” “Do you need our help with EVERYTHING?” The sword on the left says, the sword on the right responds saying “Give him some power, Maybe he’ll finally be able to take down that threat. He seems to lack Soul Energy.” "They call him a half soul Hollow.” Zed says in response to the Sword on the right. “Interesting, So his Mana must be immense. I’ll give you some of my power so you can kill this rodent.” Zed’s sword on the right glows immensely, the blinding light illuminates not only the carriage roof, but the forest surrounding them. The light beams through the leaves. Phantom is blinded by it and once it fades he feels a sharp pain on his stomach. He looks down and realizes, He has a massive gash through his stomach. Zed caught him while the light was still glowing and slashed right through the fabric of his clothing. Zed grabs the Phantom's face, and throws him to the other side of Carriage where Eiko and Dohjo were fighting. Right as this happens Eiko and Dohjo both crash inside the carriage, leaving the roof exposed. The carriage is still barely moving on its own at this rate, the lightning being put into its wheels is starting to grow thin and it seems to be slowing down.

Eiko and Dohjo both lay on the floor of the carriage for a few seconds. She quickly sees that her wedding dress is now torn and dirty, but this is not the time to worry about that. The 2 jump back to their feet and they begin their brawl once again. Dohjo has a look of anger on his face, clearly very bothered with how this fight is turning out, believing he's particularly wasting his time when he could be helping out his captain. Continuing to hold back, Dohjo swings around his scythe through the carriage, slashing and tearing apart a bunch of things lying around the room Eiko is using to cover her. Eiko grabs a box and throws it at Dohjo, He slices through the bag but in return a punch of rocks and dust poof out of the box and covering Dohjos face leaving him unable to see. Eiko lifts her hands upwards and an icicle shoots through the middle of the carriage, blasting Dohjo into the air, knocking him out, and stopping the carriage's movement, stuck in place due to the icicle. “That old rock collection is finally good for something” She mutters to herself and falls over. “Damn it.. I'm out of mana…” Eiko lays on the ground out of energy and thinks to herself. “If he wakes up it's over… It's all up to the Phantom now..” Eiko gasps as she hits the ground. She's exhausted from the fight, both mentally and physically. She can feel her body trembling and her heart beating furiously in her chest.

As the carriage comes to an abrupt stop, Zed stumbles while Phantom falls off the roof. He crashes to the floor with his wound open and he starts to reflect. “How did I get here… Why did I do this.” He thinks to himself. His mind flashes with memories of the things with Eiko, how he saved her tending to her wounds, their conversation at his camp, the walk, and the look on her face when she told him her problems. The dread and despair in her voice when she was talking. Sounded all too familiar… to her. Phantom's mind then quickly flashes his memories of Dundred cavern and a girl with black hair, and red eyes. “Oh yeah, that's why.” He smiles to himself as Zed jumps from the top of the carriage in front of him. The Phantom stands up onto his feet with his sword in hand, Zed rushes over and punches The Phantom right in his face, directly in his mask. The bottom half of the mask breaks off from the punch and the Phantom gets propelled backwards into a tree, it breaks and it falls backwards into another tree. Leaves fall on Phantom's head, his mask is broken at the bottom revealing his mouth. Blood rips from his mouth as he lays in the remains of the tree. Zed scoffs and walks towards the Phantom who's laying in the tree, Katana’s in hand. Phantom forces himself to stand back up, his thunder sword in his grasp. The Phantom looks up at Zed, He’s covered in a strong white Aura. “You’re pretty sturdy, Phantom” He says looking at the battered and beaten up Phantom. “That's what I'm known for.” Phantom says with a smile on his face, wiping away the blood from his mouth.

Zed and Phantom square off, each with one hand on their sword and the other raised ready to strike. The tension is high, with both warriors anticipating the next move. Zed takes a step back, and Phantom advances forward, his thunder sword held at the ready. Suddenly, Zed lunges forward, swinging both of his katanas in rapid succession. Phantom is quick to react, blocking the attacks with his sword. Zed slashes downward at Phantom, Phantom uses everything he has left putting his thunder into his Sword and countering Zed's slash. The 2 collide and have a full on collision, 2 swords vs 1. Who will come out on top? Zed lets go of one of his katanas, and quickly blasts a Light energy ball into the Phantoms side, his body jerks left, weakening his grip and his static wave is launched into the sky. The Phantom stumbles back as Zed charges toward him with his Katanas. The Phantom and Zed clash, going blow for blow with their blades but the Phantom physically seen moving slower than before. Zed charges his beams of light into his blade which push back the Phantom further. The combined toll of his Marin fight, his spout with the Griffen and the Dragon, AND his fight with Zed is really taking a major hit to his swordsmanship, he seems to somewhat be swinging his sword around, still with a general motion but more predictable which allows Zed to get the one up. Zed and Phantom lock blades once more, their eyes locking, both knowing the fight will soon end one way or another. Zed launches a powerful kick at Phantom's side, which sends him flying into a nearby tree, right back into the one that was previously destroyed from something similar. He lands with a sharp crash, hurting his back in the process. Zed rushes toward the Phantom, ready to swing his katanas down onto him, ready to finish the battle. Phantom quickly thinks to himself of something Rika said to him before.

His mind flashes back to when they were eating at a dinner table. Roy looked at his sponsor and said “I have a lot of mana but my attacks take a lot of energy and focus to get done.” “Well yk what they say sometimes right?” Rika said while stuffing her face full of pasta in the most sloppy way possible. Roy looked at her in disgust. “Grown ass woman…” He thinks to himself before she said “Sometimes you just gotta let loose, not everything needs to be so controlled you know? Just let it out!” Roy sat up and responded “But that's so sloppy?!” “Aye not everything needs to be so organized lil bro” Rika slurped up the rest of her noodles and then burped which left Roy shocked but still her words got to him and he sat at the table thinking for a few seconds. Rika noticed the look on his face and blushed, she said out loud “Man I'm such a good teacher.” Roy looks at his mentor confused but also grateful for her words.

“STATIC DISBURSE!”

As Zed charges towards him, ready to strike with his katanas, the Phantom explodes with lightning around his body, it's going all over the place. There's nowhere for Commander Zed to even stand as his Metal suit absorbs all the lightning shooting it through his body. The lightning seems to have no formula, no actual method or movement pattern. It's going all over the place as if the Phantom is just releasing the mana from his body without even thinking about it. Despite this he still seems to be focused on something but Zed doesn’t even take notice of this. Zed launches a white blast directly at the Phantoms chest, which stops the discharge of energy. Zed looks down at the Phantom, he walks over and says “The man who I once feared, so sad to watch you so beaten, Half Soul Hollow.” Phantom doesn’t react, from just his mouth Zed can tell he's not reacting. “Any last words? I don’t plan on keeping you suffering much longer, I'm not that cruel” A sick grin appears on the Phantom's face, he sits up which sends fear through Zed's body. “What is this..” He's thinking to himself “I'm winning! Why am I so..” The Phantom points his finger up in front of his half broken mask and with that sick smile on his face, he says “Static. Downfall..” All of a sudden, the Static Wave launched into the air earlier comes crashing down with double the force exactly where Zed is standing. The amount of force from the blast completely immobilizes the Captain of Squad 6. Zed falls over limp in his whole body going limp and the white aura from his body vanishing as he drops his Katanas and falls over.

Phantom barely stands up on his feet. He's fatigued and tired from this battle. “Holding that up there for so long limited my strength in that battle… Took me a long time. But I was able.. To get it done.” Phantom stumbles and can hardly move but he begins to walk to Eiko in the carriage. He's fading in and out of consciousness. The slash mark on his chest is taking major affect onto him and he can barely manage to stumble to the carriage door and open it. As he looks down at Eiko, his mask falls off, genuine sadness in his face. As Phantom approaches Eiko, he becomes increasingly weak, and he struggles to stay upright. He leans against the carriage for support and takes a deep breath, trying to regain some of his energy. "Eiko," he says weakly, "I'm sorry. I couldn't protect you." He limps over and crashes beside her, the last thing he sees is her slowly getting up before he completely loses consciousness.

Roy gets up, his body wrapped in bandages in a sleeping bag. He sits up to see the wound on his chest completely covered and his clothing and half broken mask sitting beside him. He looks around and sees Eiko starting a fire. It seems to be sometime around 5AM and the sun is starting to rise in the distance. The 2 are near a cliffside and Roy sits in a sleeping bag with some random remains of what seems to be Eikos stuff around her. “Oh! You’re awake!” Eiko smiles at the boy “Yo” he says nonchalantly “I took the remains of my stuff and kinda migrated my way over here. I'm not sure where you wanted us to go but this is the farthest I could take us.” “I'm surprised you had the resolve to do that, After that fight you had with that Dohjo guy.” “Oh yeah, him! Yeah he didn’t hurt me that bad, I got a few scratches but it's fine.” Roy looks down and notices her dress, it's all mangled and torn up. “Doesn’t that bother you?” “What?” “The wedding dress, It's all messed up.” “Eh, I’ve never been a big wedding gal anyway.” She laughs it off and the fire starts. “I did it!” She yelps in excitement. Roy smiles at her being able to get it done. “I'm proud you were able to take down the Knight all alone, Shows some improvement” “Well I picked up some notes after watching your fights and decided to use it to my advantage.” Eikos smile then kind of fades, breaking this character she's been putting up. She takes a deep breath and turns to Roy, her shoulders sagging. "I don't know what to do. We're in the middle of nowhere, alone, with little to no supplies or help. And to top it all off, we’re both extremely tired from all this" Roy places a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Eiko, we're alive. That's what matters. We'll figure out what to do next, one step at a time." She looks at the fire, feeling a sense of warmth and comfort wash over her. "Let's rest for a bit. We can tackle it when we get there. I already have a plan. Let's take time to relax.”

Eiko takes a deep breath and tries to calm down but it's pretty clear to Roy that she's still struggling. Roy gets up from his sleeping bag, still clearly exhausted and wounded but still making his way over to Eiko. He grabs her hand “Follow me.” Eiko gives a shy nod as Roy takes her to the cliffside. He sits down and invites her to sit with him. She follows suit and sits directly next to him. “Just enjoy the view.” The 2 sit on the edge of the cliffside, watching the horizon and the sun come up. They sit in silence for a while, lost in their own thoughts. The sun rises, casting a warm glow over the landscape. The butterflies flutter and the smell of fresh air fill their senses. It feels like a moment of calm amidst all the chaos the 2 were experiencing before. A warm light slowly creeps up from the horizon, as if pulled by an invisible string, lifting the darkness and shrouding the world in a soft ochre hue. The first traces of the sun are like wisps of fog, clinging to the earth, until a sudden burst of golden rays breaks through, casting out the remaining night and warming the dew-laden grass. As the sun climbs higher, the sky turns from pale pink to a deepening blue and the world gradually becomes awash in light. The air grows warmer, and the chorus of bird songs grows louder. The sunrise over the horizon is a sight of majesty, a reminder of the natural beauty that surrounds us and the awe-inspiring power of the natural world.

The northern side of Khourburg beams in the sunlight. The many villages, forests, seas and the capital of it all stand in the middle of it all. The whole north part can be seen by just looking through the cliffside. "It's so beautiful… I've never seen anything like this before." She turns to Roy and smiles. "Thank you for bringing me here. This is a moment I'll never forget." As they sit there, taking in the serene scene, Eiko's mind begins to clear. The stress and anxiety she had been feeling slowly fade away, replaced by a sense of calm and gratitude. She realized that even in the midst of all the chaos and confusion, there was still beauty and hope in the world. Roy notices the change in Eiko's demeanor and leans in slightly. "I'm glad you're feeling better," he says softly. "I know we still have a long journey ahead of us, but I promise I'll be there to help you. No matter what" Eiko smiles at him, feeling a sense of comfort and security. "I know," she says. "I'm lucky to have you." “In a few hours, We’ll head over to meet with my sponsor and move from there. I have a mission to complete but I'm not sure how I can continue with these injuries.” Eiko smiles, feeling a sense of excitement. She finally feels ready for this new chapter in her life, whatever those problems might bring her….

Phantom Entrance Arc - Complete