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Once again, he suddenly woke up on the ground. He had forgotten many times ago how many times this has happened before, simply too many times to count by now. The small, delicate hands carding through his long hair, pushing white bangs from his eyes were intimately familiar now. As was the childlike lap his head was rested on. He couldn’t help but scowl as the sensation of entrapment finally returned.
“This is pointless.”
“Really?” Her delicate giggles are reminiscent of jingling bells. “I think you’ve made a lot of progress.” Her words sparked fury in his chest.
“SHUT UP!” He slammed his right arm up furiously, attempting to break the shackles locking him down. “I’M… TIRED… OF… THIS… STUPID… GAME!... NOTHING… WILL… EVER… CHANGE!” Between each word was another futile slam against the shackles. Breathing heavy, furious, he let out a scream of frustration from clenched teeth.
“Khaos.” His heart skipped a beat at the name he used in the last cycle. It snapped him out of his tantrum as the weight of reality seemed to crush him, suddenly feeling a lot more present in his body.
His heaving chest began to return to normal, and he slowly became more away from his body's sensations. His head was no longer in her lap, rather resting on crushed wheat stalks. She had moved to crouching beside him during his rage.
His arms and legs felt heavy, shackled to the ground with no give. His chest hurt, either from the eternal slash running through, forever bleeding ichor, or something indescribable to him. He could feel how his wings laid under him, crushed by his weight. How his whole body rested on crushed wheat stalks. And all available for him to see was the circle of wheat surrounding him and the ever golden sky, at least, besides the girl who is always there when he wakes from another failure.
“Don’t call me that…” He protested softly, he didn’t know how to describe to her the weird feeling that hearing that name caused him.
Her face remained unchanged, always looking at him with that weak s̸̢͙͚̠̝̗̫̞̯̗̀̀͌̏̉͋̈̓̊̄͌͌͑͠͝ō̶̱̖̝͚̩̤̠̅̏f̴͔̣̞̥̰̬̝̏̓̇̀t̵͔͎͋́͊̾̉̄̉̒̂̿̒̄̕͝ smile.
“Well…” She started.
“Stop,” He protested. They’ve played this back and forth so many times before. She will try to tell him he is feeling love for these fleshy beings he has to repeatedly play this game with. And that he is grieving that he lost them, that they have died so many times. And then he has to once again explain that he is a being of Destruction, that he has no feelings other than the wish to destroy. Then she will give him another pitying smile before she sends him off, to wake without his memories, to start the game once again, until it ends with his memories returning when he obtains the Coreflame of Worldbearing. And then he will wake up in this stupid field again, and the whole cycle will repeat again without change.
And verbatim, just as he predicted. Her blue eyes looking down on him through her pink hair, she gave that stupid smile. She brought up a hand, laying it on his forehead.
“Well, I really think this time will be different.” A faint blue glow emanated from her hand. Another weird, indescribable feeling began to form in his chest.
D̶̯͖̯̭̫̦͇̟̹̖̫̭͚̝͌̈̈́͂̍̀̈̎̍̿͐́̚ŗ̵̳̘̺̠͍̭̥̞̥̝͍̦̰̪͕͔͒̍̿̂͂̒͌̈́ę̸̼͈̫̭͎̮͊̆̈̓͗̀̇̍́̐̇̓̈̚͘͘a̸̧̝͙̫͍̲͚̝̪͓͕͎̩͚̺͉͋̆̂̈́͋́̌͋͐̾͐̓͝d̴̺̥̹͔̮̝͆̌̉͠ͅ
And the world once again faded to black.
Phainon wanted to crumble into a ball and just sob violently. But he forced himself to run even as his vision began to blur from the tear streaming from his eye. The Flame Reaver continued his brutal assault against the city. They had already lost Algaea today, and then Cipher, then Mydei fell in battle.
And now the others were counting on him. Phainon was running full speed towards Kephale, the others stayed back to guard him while he goes to take the Coreflame of Worldbearing. Everyone, who wasn’t dead, was counting on him. At this point, it seemed everyone believed the final Coreflame was their only hope at stopping the Flame Reaver, and that meant the weight of saving everyone would be on Phainon.
He didn’t think he could do it, but really what choice does he have anymore?
N̷͚̦̪̉̊̆̅̆͜ŏ̵̱̫̟̜ť̸̙̄̋̒ ̷̦͇͔͔̿̓͊͋t̸̢̹͕̂̃h̵̝͕̄̇̎̂͠ä̴̡̳̞̺̘́̀̀t̸͖̫̭͔̊͒̚ ̶̧̱̜͙͒̽̽̊͘t̶͓͈͈̲̓̐ḩ̸̮͙̲̤͊̓e̴̜̫̟͍̓r̷̟̥̪͋͑̈e̵̪̗̤̿̿̑ ̴̡̜͚́̇w̸͓͇̝̅͜ā̸̲̙̎̈́͘͜s̶̰̗͖̉͋͐͗ ̶̨͇̠͛̄̈́͘̚o̴̟̞̰͇͂́͝͠n̸͚͘ͅè̶̪͎͖̀ ̷̰̼̟̋̑͒͑̆i̶̡̝̱͌͂n̴̡̠̤͛̈́ ̴̻̱͍́͌͆t̷̛͈̤̼͐̚ḩ̵̙̹̖͆e̶̩̩͒̌͋͜ ̸̝̰͕͍͕̆̒̈́̋̚f̴̫̀̿̿̅i̵͇̞̘̲͓͒̊̐̕̕r̵̨͓̳̉͊͗͝ş̷̈́̊̃͐t̴̙̪̭̼̍̌̈͗͜͝ ̷̡̘̣͎͂̑p̸̧̯̮̗̙͂̿̅͝l̶̛̞̯͉̕a̸̢̘̣͓͗̀̽͝c̷͇̎̓͌̆͊ͅe̵̯͇̱͐̕
By the time he reached the artificial sun, he couldn’t hear fighting anymore. He reasoned with himself that he was just too far away now, refusing to believe any other notion, but his urgence only increased.
He reached his hand out towards the fake sun, where he knew the Coreflame would be and pulled. An invisible force pushed back against his efforts but he couldn’t give up, he just pulled at the force harder. Until, in his hand rested a small engraved stone, feeling no different than the Coreflame of Strife he once held.
Phainon brought the Coreflame of Worldbearing to his chest, and without any more thought, pushed it in. It entered, slotting in like it belonged.
And suddenly he just became… aware.
Hundreds of life times entered his head, so similar but oh so different from this one. His own truth suddenly became known to him.
And yet… his previous apathy did not return. His heart still desperately ached and tears still streamed from his eyes for his fallen friends, his family.
He fell to his knees, his arms fell limply to his side. He stares at the sky, eyes wide for a few moments, before he lets out a long, agonizing scream. He wrenches forward slamming his fists into the ground, slamming them over and over, continuing to scream until he can’t any longer, completely out of breath.
“FUCK YOU! I HATE THIS! LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID TO ME!” He curses out, now desperately gasping for air, he mentally shatters after the outburst. He completely ran out of anger, now all that is left is unbearable desperation.
“Ẽ̵̡͍̜͉̗͎̄̍͊̇̌́̋L̵͔͍̠̝̰̙̀̽͑͌Y̴̳̜̲͕̟͂̿́͆͐͒Ş̵̱̙̺͙̮̱̀̈́͆I̴̢̮͚̘̭̭͔͛̄͂̎̂̈̂̽ͅA̶̛̟͂̈͘͠, PLEASE! I GET IT NOW! PLEASE, GIVE THEM BACK! I NEED HIM! I NEED HIM BACK, PLEASE!” He cries, he begs. He shouldn’t care, this isn’t right. Now that he has his memories back, these feelings should have faded. This isn’t what he, a being of Destruction, shouldn’t be like. But now that he’d lost everything he’d cared for, it hurts like nothing he could have imagined before.
The world around him suddenly changed. Everything seemed to stop as a cold feeling spread over him. The world around him shattered, opening a hole as a pair of small arms wrapped around his neck, hugging him from behind.
“█████, all you had to do was ask~” She sang out, it could have sounded mocking, but knowing her, the love was there.
The world began to fade to black once again.
____________________________________________________________________________
Once again, as he had so many times before, he woke up to golden surroundings and a bed of crushed wheat. He blinked his dreary eyes a few times as his senses returned. One feeling did not return however. No feeling of being restrained, he’d begun to realize his chains were gone. He reached a hand out towards the sky, inspecting it like he hadn’t seen it in many years.
He suddenly shot up, still seated on the ground. But the realization came to him. Feeling his wings for the first time in many millennia. He stretched them out as far as they could reach. If he were a being of just flesh and blood, there would have been cracking noises and intense pain from the years of no movement.
Then another realization hit him. He began to hyperventilate as the memories from his previous life came to him. He desperately tried to breathe as tears came to his eyes. Everyone he loved, who taught him to love, was gone, maybe forever.
“Phainon.” A voice said. It snapped him out of his spiraling, reminding him that he isn’t the only being. He twisted his head towards her, where she was standing next to him. He began to remember the plea he gave out to her, and how she responded.
“I’m glad you finally found what I’ve been trying to show you.” She gave him a loving smile. “He is in a cabin I placed off in that direction.” Holding her arm out to the side, pointing.
The face that he made at that was one that has never been made by this body before. He gave her a blindingly bright smile as he shot into the sky. He tried to wipe the tears from his eyes one eye at a time so he could search the horizon. Although, he had a feeling all he was doing was smearing the tears considering he cried ichor.
Finally, he spotted the mass of brown among the fields of gold. Diving straight down, too focused on the end goal for a proper landing, twisting his body just in time so he stumbled on his feet rather than crash into the ground. He ran to the shack, slamming the feeble door open. The only reason it stayed on the hinges was the fact that they were on a fabricated plain.
“MYDEI!” He scanned the room to see his love lain over the top of the red covers of a rickety bed. He tumbled forward until he was on his knees next to the bed. Grabbing one of Mydei’s hands, bringing his open palm to his face. Whether it was the movement or the feeling of life against his hand Mydei began to stir. He let out a quiet grown and Mydei, perhaps instinctively, began to move his thumb to wipe the tears the Emenator didn’t know began to fall from his eyes again as he whispered out this time, “Mydei…”
“Phainon?” Mydei called out, cracking open an eye. Once Mydei saw the man before him, he jolted up. He took that as the opportunity to hug Mydei, throwing himself forward. But the hug wasn’t immediately reciprocated.
“Deliverer? What- Where-?” Mydei was at a loss of words, but no matter the conclusion he seemed to come to, he settled on returning the hug. Mydei slowly brings his arm around the others back just below the protrusions of the wings.
“The others aren’t far off, if you're ready to reunite.” A voice rang out in his head. And the blinding smile returned to his face, untangling himself from Mydei but switching to interlacing their hands. Perhaps it was the fact he was acting so much like Phainon but Mydei’s hesitance seemed to further melt away as he pulled him towards the door. Once outside, he stopped and pulled Mydei till they were side by side.
“You ready?” He asked cheekily, looked over at Mydei, his smile turning from a sunshine one to one more mischievous.
“Wha-” before Mydei could finish, the Emenator scooped him up into a bridal carry and shot into the sky. “HKS! Warn me next time!”
He felt Mydei hold on a little tighter as they flew up. The grin on his face refused to rest, the happiness he felt was unstoppable. For a time, he thought he was going to lose this. But he actually got everything back.
It was like nothing he ever felt before…
He didn’t actually know where he was supposed to go, he was given no instruction like before. But he felt a pull that he decided to trust. He believed it was likely the girl guiding him to the rest of his friends.
When he felt the lead come to an end the mischievousness returned. Suddenly he halted to a stop, still holding on to Mydei as he let them plummet from the sky.
“DELIVERER! STOP THIS FOOLISHNESS! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US!?” Mydei yelled, his grip tightened making the claws of his gauntlets dig into the other’s back. But the other didn’t care, just laughing gleefully. It wasn’t until a small distance to the ground that he opened his wings to slow their descent until they were gracefully landing on the ground.
The second they touched down Mydei pushed off him, essentially jumping from his arms. When Mydei freed himself, he brought out his fist, hitting the other hard.
“HKS! What in the Titans was that?!” Mydei berated, but he had no defense so he just chuckled sheepishly.
Looking around he realized they were in a cleared out section of wheat with 3 wooden picnic tables set out. The others: Aglaea, Tribios, Castorice, Hyacine, Anaxa, and Cipher were all spread out. They stared at the new arrivals cautiously. Though, it was likely just him, not Mydei they looked at that way. Closest to the pair stood the pink haired girl, standing fairly close as she had clearly expected them.
“I’m glad you had some time to make up. Though I wish I could have given you more~” The innuendo was not lost on him.
But before he could respond to her words. He was slammed to his knees. He felt his ankles bolted to the floor. His arms were forced straight to his sides, with his wrists chained to the floor with no give. A collar also formed around his neck, which was also chained to the floor. The sudden action forced him to stare at the ground. He thought that he would have the range of motion to look up, but in what was perhaps cowardice, he continued to only look down.
“█████, are not free. Think of this like parole. I have given you freedom, I will give you your friends and I will give Ampohorus back to you. But make a mistake and I will make us begin this game from the start.” Her voice was harder than he’s ever heard it before. “I’m proud of you, I really am, but I can’t fully trust you yet, so be cautious.”
He felt all his shackles fade away and when he slowly looked up, the girl was gone. But he made no move to get up from his place on the ground. When he looked around he saw all the familiar faces with such mixed emotions. And in that moment he couldn’t help but weep.
“Thank you, thank you,” He basically slobbered, rubbing the palms of his hands futilely against his eyes in an attempt to wipe the streaming tears. “I’m so glad.”
Aeons, he must be such an ugly crier.