Xerxes slowly opened his eyes, trying to capture the world before him. He attempted to smell the burning of the leaves. He attempted to feel for the slight resistance of air. He tried to see the light the world had to offer, but there was nothing.
Nothing at all.
Suddenly, Xerxes felt a sensation, one he was unfamiliar with, but strangely enough, the nostalgia of the sequence of events began to replay. The ground, which was materialising from dust, convulsed beneath Xerxes' feet, and six towering pillars tore free of the stone, rising like titans into the endless void.
Certain runes inscribed on the pillars burned with violet fire, bathing the void in an eerie magenta hue, and each one of these runes began to shed light into the void, with various stars forming off in the distance.
Xerxes staggered back as the air warped, threads of raw energy stitched themselves into a platform suspended above the abyss, and then he saw it.
Rising from the ground, the same purple crystalline shard that he had grown weary of over these past few months, hovered at the platform's heart, jagged and radiant. Its pulse echoed through the marrow of his bones, making him feel uneasy.
Shards of light split the darkness with every beat, as though the crystal itself breathed, but as crazy as it sounded, it was possible. After all, there was a person who was within, wasn't there?
Xerxes knew that for a fact his encounters with him weren't a part of his imagination but of a greater scheme, which he had yet been introduced to vividly.
There was someone who had warned Xerxes to leave the Truth kingdom, as if they knew what the future held and what was spelt for him.
Xerxes took a deep breath, gathering his bearings, then called, "I know you're here, so why have you brought me here? Why have you decided to summon me to my soul?"
His instincts sensed a deep threat; it was as if every nerve screamed at him to run and lower his tone, but Xerxes wasn't a coward anymore, and he swore himself against it, so, lodging his feet in place, he stood firmly.
The voice came out low and was instilled with the vibration of something otherworldly, "Your being here is not a matter of question, it's a statement, indeed it is your own doing as much as it is mine. The very choices you made from our last meeting till your battle with Learna now are all conduits for you to be before me."
As if the person had control over his body, a surge of memories flooded Xerxes' mind, all the events over the past few months converging to draw him to this very moment.
The first act of his 'death' before Aya.
Hearing Airi's voice.
Living with the Truth Kingdom.
Acquiring Tier 5, alongside the warning.
Yves' arrival and brutal slaughter.
Teleporting to the dwarven kingdom.
His entering and fighting in the Eclipse tournament.
Finally, blacking out just before Learna's strike had hit.
However, as he relived them, he was met with the bitter feeling of the past and the choices he made. Holding his head with a tense palm, Xerxes staggered.
A low and fierce voice came from his mouth, coupled with a face painted with the regret of his choices, "Aemon, Conrad, The Lieutenant, all of them, everyone died..."
For some odd reason, Xerxes felt as if he could be vulnerable within this place. Before this person, there was a strange feeling of hatred and comfort that mixed, and it was inexplicable.
He couldn't explain why, but to this person, he wanted to help him, as he did everyone, but he always wanted to curse. He wanted to keep him encased in that shard for eternity for what had happened.
Slowly, a dark shadow fell over Xerxes' face, as his true fear was voiced, "Will something like that happen again. It seems you know the future, you knew what would happen if I stayed there, so why didn't you tell me how bad the outcome would be..."
Gripping at his chest, he felt his knees weakening, "I would have been able to help them, but instead they all had to die."
But his statement was met with cold silence.
The lack of response agitated Xerxes; the alien thing merely observed him, observing everything, and it seemed to have the answer to everything, which is why Xerxes was so infuriated. But how could he target his rage towards him? 'I was at fault for not heeding the advice.'
His blood boiled, a cruel brew of self-loathing and pain, as he tightened his fists, dropping down to the floor, and once fully clenched, he raised them and struck the floor in pent-up agony that he had been restraining all this time. "They didn't have to die, but they all did!"
Xerxes' vision blurred from tears that were forming, and whilst his head was buried into the floor, the thing spoke without any remorse, it was completely callous, "An idiom used by man, 'Do not shoot the messenger', so Xerxes, why is it that you blame me for a message that destiny had written?"
Materialising and forming into runic writing, a list of the abilities Xerxes had unlocked from Tier 6 to Tier 5 was unveiled:
[Mana Type: Fire (awakened), Wind (awakened)]
[Soul shards: Orc soul shard: Rank: Ascendant]
[Sword Style: The style of the Ezurewrath (novice) ]
"You fire mana had ascended to tier 5, your wind had awakened, your orc soul shard had matured and become a graded soul shard at the ascendant rank, and finally, the Ezurewrath and that power is something only a select few have in this world."
Xerxes retorted, "Do you think my tier 5 mana would have done shit against Yves, who overpowered even Aemon! Then you speak of this 'Ezurewrath' power like it means anything to me; the only things I've been able to hold onto and rely on are Dorian's and Conrad's teachings, not some bullshit. I'm not sacrificing their memory for something I have no clue about."
Conrad's and Dorian's styles weren't just any discardable object to Xerxes; they were the foundation of who he had become.
"To think I was trying to tell Thornfum how to fight, I'm shameless..." The memory of him telling Thronfum how to fight weighed on him even further. His hypocrisy only fueled the fire within him.
'But I've learnt my lesson, haven't I? I've changed right...' He wondered. However, the question of whether he would heed advice given to him this time around challenged that. As much as Xerxes wanted to believe it, would he still be reckless in his own way? Would he be a man who pushed through to near death every time?
He could only wonder and wait for the words of the voice within the gem.
"Sacrifice is the balance that rests between failure and success, the more you sacrifice, the more the weights turn to success, the less, the more it falls out of your favour and Xerxes Draedon, the future you doesn't give you any room but to sacrifice."
The very message sent chills down Xerxes' spine, and his body shivered momentarily. He would be lying to himself if he believed that he wasn't convinced by his words, but why would his future end that way? What would lead to those events, he thought.
'Sacrifice? The decisions I make? My companions?'
"I won't dive into it any further, as time is a precious resource I can not deprive of with how you currently are. Though as your power grows, that resource will grow in more abundance, and I'll be able to mask my presence beneath yours, but let me tell you, Xerxes Draedon, I do not tell you these things out of selfish desire but for a greater purpose."
Xerxes scoffed, "And what purpose could that possibly be?"
Replying calmly, "If you want to unveil the truth behind your purpose, this world's purpose, then continue to follow my messages. I can not give you the answers, but I can guide you, so place your trust in me and I will give you results."
"The first message is to guide those who have been oppressed through the harrowing envoy led by the 7th."
Xerxes stumbled, as the entire world around him shivered. Pieces of this reality that had been created slowly began to crack, with rays of sunlight creeping in like the light through a canopy.
Sensation of his 'real' body began to settle in, with tinges of pain swarming his hands, a pain he had grown unused to in recent times, which was heat.
"My second message is to enter the dungeon within the Amento Kingdom. If you want answers on who you are and why you've been placed in this time, on this planet and your family, you are sure to find them there."
The same convulsion occurred again, but this time more fierce. The pieces of reality cracked like a shattered mirror, as the shard began to grow dimmer and dimmer. However, the subtle pain which was easily warded off immediately became more pressing.
Xerxes staggered as he roared in pain, a pain so fierce it was only reminiscent of one thing he had experienced before. It wasn't near death, it wasn't Yves' brutal beating, but instead it was the sensation of passing over from the previous tier onto the next.
"The final message is not to confront a master of the north, east, south or west, without unveiling Odhran's covenant with Ezurewrath."