Luna's eyes jolted awake as she realized a strange stillness.
Fear immediately filled her heart, as she hesitated before looking straight down at the boy below her.
"Huh?"
She feared he had died, as it had been nine straight days of convoluted seizures that never ended. Luna had lost so much sleep, watching the boy suffer for days on days.
But when she looked down, disbelief filled her being.
There had been days when she held her dagger above the boy's head, shaking and trembling knowing that she had to put an end to the boy's pain.
She couldn't believe what was happening below her.
He was breathing again, but he was vastly asleep as he two fingers rested against his forehead.
She brushed back his long ragged hair as the boy slept peacefully...
"I- I cannot fathom..."
She couldn't bring herself to speak further, as she lowered her head.
Tears began to fall onto the boy's forehead.
She brought her other two fingers to his opposite temple, letting them infuse energy into his being.
"On this day... I take your sight, touch, smell, taste, and sound... Both the voice and hearing of your body will fade... But the pain will fade as well. You will lose yourself..."
The chant ended but in her thoughts she spoke freely.
'Please... You only have a few hours left... You just need to master something impossible in record time... If anyone can do it... It is you...'
...
Chase woke up for the last time, as Cloudy looked onward at The Oasis.
Bliss filled Chase's being as he realized this would be the last time he got to sit beside his good friend.
"Did you have any regrets?"
Chase asked finally, after enjoying the peace for the short time that he could.
Cloudy raised an eyebrow, as if incapable of understanding how Chase could ask such a question after countless lives and countless deaths.
"I- I wished that I could have became a famous knight. I know it was never really my thing, but I wanted to be known for something beyond my fragile self. I wanted to be praised, and see the people around be proud of me."
Chase stood up, outstretching a hand for his friend.
"I understand now... And I will carry your wishes on my back..."
Chase awaited, as he held out his hand.
Cloudy hesitated.
"I cannot."
He eventually spoke, pulling his hand back.
"However, might I share some insight with you? Before you go that is..."
Chase nodded, closing his eyes as he prepared himself.
"First, there is reason behind your name, just as there is reason behind your ruins... Your father gave you the name Chase, because he knew of your purpose. You are destined to ever chase what is referred to as divine purpose. You cannot live without the grand sense of purpose calling your name forward... It is why you have near limitless potential. It is why you are unbounded by the chains of fate, why time itself has no control over your immortal soul."
Chase took the information in as slowly as he could, letting his eyes flutter open for the last time.
"The second?"
Chase asked.
Cloudy nodded.
"This bit of insight will help with the trials that await you after you make your next move- Energy is a flux of chaos, it only does as it wishes and nothing more, it is just as alive as you. It is not controlled, but it can be manipulated, it can be tricked, or it can be trusted... It can warm up to someone or something, it was gods are born, it is why celestials are birthed from pure chaos, why Paladins are said to have no limits..."
Then as the ground shook, Chase turned away from his friend. But before he stepped off of the balcony, before the battle began.
Chase waved at his friend.
"Goodbye Cloudy, I am sorry that I never got the chance to say it before; however, I am glad that I got the chance to see you again..."
Cloudy stuttered, almost choking on his words.
"I- Uh- Go on now. You have your own fate to meet..."
Chase nodded slowly, stepping off of the balcony as he did so.
The world around him moved in an instant.
The wind picked up into terrible gusts, that could have been thousands of miles per hour for all he knew.
But Chase stood strong, pressing forward against the powerful might of the winds.
Lightning struck around him, fires spread through the air, and soldiers battled before him.
But Chase's purpose lied at the eye of the storm, where his fate would be decided.
So he pressed forward, never yielding to the power far greater than his own.
He would not stop, there was no force in the world of the living, or the world of the living that could stop him.
No matter how painful of a death, no matter how many fell before him, no matter how many times he had to say goodbye.
He would be back, and he would grow stronger every single time.
The further he got, the more he lost.
His sight was the first to vanish, then came his touch, which also took away the stress of his body, making it easier to press forward as no pain could ever touch him.
Then went his smell, as the stench of rotting corpses faded away, leaving only the scent of nothingness.
His taste vanished as well, as the faint recollection of the taste of metal had been the last thing to go.
He could only hear his footsteps as he ventured further, knowing full well that he was heading straight West.
But with all that vanished, his hearing was no more, just as his very breath left his lungs.
He was simply nothing, unexplainable nothingness.
Leaving only that of chaotic presence that continued forward out of sheer tenacity...