It’s so bright.

Brian's eyes abruptly shot open as a sharp pain erupted from his stomach. His whole body convulsed, buckling against the hard ground underneath him, and suddenly he was wide awake, his mind racing. Where was he? How did he get here? The last thing he remembered was being trapped in Zephyr's sinister time loop, forced to watch his friends die over and over again.

As his vision came into focus, Brian realized he was no longer in the time loop. He was lying on the rocky ground of what appeared to be the forest near Restview Station. The air felt heavy, like the atmosphere before a thunderstorm. Brian shakily pushed himself up, each movement sending spikes of pain through his tender body.

A menacing snarl tore Brian's attention to the other side of the battlefield. Zephyr stood there, his mismatched collection of eyes glinting with rage, his mandibles clicking together rapidly. The chittering insectoid creature looked decidedly worse for wear - his crystalline wings were cracked, several of his spindly limbs bent at unnatural angles. But even incapacitated, the vengeful anger radiating from the chronovore was palpable.

*You insignificant speck,* Zephyr hissed, his reedy voice echoing eerily in Brian’s mind. *You dare interfere with my weaving? I should shred your timeline into scattered moments and feast on the remains!*

Brian's heart seized in his chest. Zephyr was ready to strike again, and he was still feeling nauseous from the time prison. They had to think of something to stop the crazed chronovore for good. But it seemed impossible. Zephyr would not stop until he unraveled their timelines completely.

Shoving down the spike of fear, Brian struggled to his feet, gritting his teeth against the pain. He knew how Zephyr’s trick worked, he could handle it again. Maybe. And his friends needed him. Gripping his sword tightly, Brian focused, trying to wrap the blade in tendrils of void energy like he had learned. But the power sputtered out pathetically, flickers of dark energy dancing across the metal before dissipating into the air. Brian cursed under his breath. The time prison had drained his valtite significantly.

Glancing around, Brian desperately tried to assess the situation. To his right, Ilex sat slumped against a tree. The acid mage was deathly pale, his face set in a grimace of pain. His right arm ended abruptly in a bandaged stump just below his elbow. But his friend was alive, and Brian felt a small measure of relief. On his left crouched a hulking, reptilian creature Brian recognized as a grivaxian, but had no idea how it got there. Seven feet tall, with dark, scaly skin and a muscular, powerful frame, the being watched Zephyr warily with slitted yellow eyes. Brian tensed, gripping his sword defensively.

“Who are you?” Brian demanded. “How did you get here?”

The reptilian creature turned its gaze on Brian, studying him intently. After a moment, it spoke in a hauntingly familiar voice.

“What’s wrong with you?” the grivaxian asked. “It's me. Serdna…Am I still in the time loop?”

Brian gaped in disbelief. Serdna? He was now this hulking monster?

"What...how..." Brian stammered.

“Shit what happened to me? No, no, no…why,” Serdna rasped, his voice like gravel scraping over stone. "I watched Xezia die over and over. Hundreds of times.” The creature - Serdna - shuddered violently. “I couldn't stop it. I hated the grivaxians so, so much, the pain...it consumed me. But why? Why did it shape my valtite?”

Brian's chest constricted at his friend's anguish. Was it like him, where the valtite had been fused with every cell—Serdna had tried desperately to save Xezia from the time loop, to no avail. Watching the woman he loved murdered repeatedly must have shattered his mind, allowing the vicious Valtite to warp his body.

“I’m so sorry,” Brian said heavily. “But I swear to you, Zephyr will pay for this. We’ll finish him off right here.”

Serdna just stared brokenly past Brian, the haunted look in his slitted eyes telling Brian his friend was lost in traumatic memory. They would have to deal with Zephyr first, before Brian could even attempt to pull Serdna back from the darkness.

Turning, Brian met Ilex's pained but determined gaze and raised an questioning eyebrow. Though injured, the acid mage gave a subtle nod. He would fight. Relief coursed through Brian's veins.

Past Ilex, Brian spotted Shinmu. The time walker sat cross-legged on the bare ground, looking completely unruffled. In fact, Shinmu appeared younger, his hair longer, his face oddly smooth. Apparently his time abilities had allowed him to reverse his own timeline within the loop.

“Well this sucks,” Shinmu stated bluntly, giving Brian a crooked grin. “Let's smash this bug.”

Brian huffed a humorless laugh. Reckless as always. But they would need that courage for what was coming.

Brian turned toward Zephyr, resolve steeling his heart. They could do this. Together, they could-

A strangled cry escaped Brian's lips as he spotted the prone form lying crumpled just in front of Zephyr's clawed feet.

“Mandrix?”

Brian was at the big man's side in an instant. He clasped his friend's broad shoulder, shaking him, but there was no response. No rise and fall of breath. No heartbeat beneath his palm. Mandrix's skin was cold, his empty eyes staring lifelessly ahead.

Brian reeled back in horror. “No,” he choked. “No!”

This couldn't be real. Mandrix couldn't be gone. They were supposed to finish this mission together, he owed him a drink. This couldn't be how it ended.

“Brian.” Shinmu's solemn voice cut through his spiraling thoughts. “Without a Valtite core to anchor him, Mandrix's timeline couldn't withstand the time loop. He’s gone.”

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“He can’t be!” Brian cried again, clutching Mandrix's limp form to his chest. “There has to be something—”

Ilex rose to his feet, conjuring a new acid arm to replace the one he had lost.

“There's nothing left,” Shinmu said sadly. “His timeline has already unraveled.”

Tears streamed down Brian's cheeks as the awful truth settled over him. He had failed. As leader, he was supposed to protect them all, but he hadn't been strong enough. And now Mandrix was lost forever.

Wrenching sobs tore from Brian's chest. He dimly heard Ilex shift closer and felt Ilex's hand—not the new one made of acid, but the other one, the one he still had—on his shoulder; Zephyr had already taken too much.

Shinmu remained respectfully silent.

After long moments, Brian carefully laid Mandrix's body down. He methodically closed his friend's empty eyes before standing. His hands trembled with grief and rage, but his voice was steady as he turned to his two remaining companions.

“For Mandrix. We end this threat here and now.”

Ilex and Shinmu nodded resolutely, the same thirst for vengeance burning in their eyes. Shinmu cracked his knuckles, his youthful face set in uncharacteristic solemnity.

Together, the three charged toward Zephyr just as the crazed chronovore began weaving another time spell, the air warping sickly around his outstretched limbs. Brian poured every ounce of power he had into his blade, desperate to disrupt the casting.

They were mere feet from Zephyr when suddenly the insectoid creature let out an ear-splitting shriek as one of its spindly limbs went flying, severed clean through. Before Brian could process this turn, a figure leapt over them with blinding speed, propelling itself through the air straight toward Zephyr.

Brian skidded to a halt, gaping at the newcomer. The man was tall and rugged, with a mane of dark hair and a permanent five o'clock shadow along his square jaw. He wore battered mercenary leathers, a massive sword gripped expertly in his remaining hand.

With astonishing force, the stranger slammed into Zephyr's distorted body. The two figures wavered for a split second, blurring at the edges as if viewed through a heat haze. Then they crashed apart, the newcomer tumbling to the floor as Zephyr screeched in fury, wavering in and out of focus.

“You insignificant welps!” Zephyr rasped. “I will return with a thousand woven timelines and erase you all from existence!”

And then the chronovore was gone, displaced out of sync with their timeline. Where they safe? Brian couldn’t see Zephyr’s valtite signature. Gone. They were safe, for now. Brian released a ragged breath and turned to the mysterious swordsman, who was rising slowly to his feet.

“Friend of yours?” Ilex muttered wryly.

The man gave Ilex a measuring look before turning his attention to Brian. Piercing blue eyes assessed him from beneath a heavy brow.

“We’ve met before, remember me? Joseph ring a bell?" the stranger rasped in a gravelly baritone. “Aleron sent to make sure you didn’t die.” Joseph looked around. “Seems he was right. And I think you be alright too.”

Brian nodded warily. “How could I forget you? Thanks for the assist, but we had the situation in hand."

Joseph Charles barked out a rough laugh. “Sure you did. Look—”

“Hey!” Shinmu shouted suddenly. “We can still save Mandrix!”

“See ya kid. You should be safe…for now. But I’ve got to report this.”

With that, Joseph Charles casually walked away.

But Brian didn’t care. He whipped his head around to stare at his friend. “What? But you said—”

“I know what I said,” Shinmu snapped. “But now that I have the Gustatory core, I can rebuild his timeline from the residual energy!”

Hope ignited in Brian's chest like a flame catching tinder. “You can bring him back?"

Shinmu nodded eagerly. “I think so, if I have enough power. And we probably only have a few moments.”

From behind Brian came Serdna's gravelly voice. “Use mine.”

They all turned to stare at Serdna's monstrous form. The brokenness had faded from his eyes, replaced by solemn determination.

“I can transfer some of my Valtite energy to Shinmu, to bolster his power.” Serdna shifted, retrieving his lyre from where it had fallen to the floor. “Let me help.”

Brian's eyes stung with fresh tears. Even after enduring horrific trauma, these decimators wouldn’t give up. Brian clasped his scaly shoulder.

“You can do it,” he rasped.

Serdna gave a small nod and began strumming a complex melody on his lyre. Shinmu closed his eyes, brow furrowed in concentration as he worked to spin Mandrix's lost timeline back into existence. The air in the cave grew heavy, humming with gathering energy.

Brian held his breath. This had to work. He couldn't lose Mandrix like this. Not another dead decimator.

The energy peaked, making the air crackle. Then Shinmu loosed the spell with a shout. Blinding light flashed through the forest, forcing Brian to look away.

When he was finally able to see again, Brian's eyes flew to where Mandrix lay. For one agonizing moment, nothing happened.

Then Mandrix jerked and sucked in a great, heaving breath. Brian shouted wordlessly, rushing forward to pull his friend into a limp, stunned embrace. Behind him, he heard Ilex's rare laughter, Serdna’s deep sigh of relief.

Mandrix grumbled in confusion, shoving weakly at Brian's clinging arms. “Gerroff me,” he grunted. "The fuck happened?”

Overwhelmed with relief, Brian just squeezed his resurrected friend tighter, heedless of the grumbling. Mandrix was alive. They had won.

After several more moments, Brian released his flustered friend and sat back, scrubbing the tears from his face. He gave Mandrix a shaky smile.

"It's good to have you back, friend."

Mandrix's scowl slowly melted into a reluctant grin as Shinmu recounted what happened with Zephyr. But as Brian gazed fondly at Mandrix, he felt a small twinge of unease. Using his Valtite senses, he realized Mandrix's energy signature was just slightly dimmer than before. As if the timeline Shinmu had spun back together was just a tiny bit frayed at the edges.

Oblivious, Mandrix flexed his arms appreciatively. “Well I feel perfectly normal. Good work, Shinmu! Can't have you lot getting too far ahead of me in levels, eh?”

He gave a hearty laugh and cuffed Shinmu across the shoulder. Watching the big man grinning and bantering heartily with their other companions, Brian felt his worries about the residual fraying fade away. It was subtle, likely unnoticeable unless one knew Mandrix's power intimately. He was alive and whole. That was all that mattered.

Together, the companions left the clearing and stepped into the forest and back to Restview Station. Birdsong filled the air, which seemed sweeter than ever before to Brian. They had survived Zephyr's madness. For now, the future lay brightly ahead of them, its horizons vast and untamed.

Brian took a deep, contented breath. They had, somehow, survived the strongest monster he had seen. He wondered if Sophia was doing okay, and if the temporal disturbance that was affecting the Lumivyrns had been resolved.