At the end of the first known age. The stars fell. As they lacked a herald to hold them. And those stars scorched the land. Destroying anything that even glimpsed them. The entire lands was turned into ash. Two gods stood over a defiled corpse as the stars fell. And they fought. The already scorched land was defiled by a newborn flame. Creating obliteration, creating abyss, creating nothing. And from that nothing. One star remained. A star that burned bright blue. It hung over the sky. Only hundreds of feet from the ground. The star did not fall. It simply died. And its ashen corpse crashed into the sands left behind by the fallen stars. And its body created two beings. One born of contempt for the world, and the other born of love. This star tells a great tale.
From one crater, rose a boy, a small boy, with long black hair. Born with it. Clutching something in his arms. And in the other. A flame. Glowing as blue as the star. Yet its flames held life. But also death. The boy, born with curiosity, curiosity born of a great sin, touched the flame. The flame responded. Mimicking the boys shape. A boy made of flame. And it smiled. And the boy grew fearful. And ran away. If the flame had a heart, it may have ached.
With death, comes rebirth. And on that day. A boy and his sword, created humanity, and a blue flame, sought to destroy the gods, forever, and ever…
Inside Arthur's mind. Two beings sat next to each other. One, a demon. The other. An old man with long black hair, who had young features for his age. Clutching his sword. The man looked at the demon. As he burned the books behind him.
"Isn't it funny? I'd never imagine we'd meet again. Demon."
The demon looked back at him. There was no crooked smile on his face.
"I didn't choose this boy."
This only made the man's smile wider.
"Oh but neither did I. And yet here we are. Fate, she is playing a funny game with us. And I fail to see the ending of it. Isn't that right, Verity?"
Standing across from them. A woman with a plain white dress and long sky blue hair. With two horns poking out of her head. Sighed and looked at the man.
"I don't understand this child's body. Any other person would have their body torn apart at the seam the moment they even took one of your powers."
The demon looked at her.
"He's the perfect vessel. I didn't imagine there would be another born so soon. There is another 'pathfinder' still alive."
Verity looked at the demon.
"How is it you're still alive after being vanquished so many times, calamity?"
The calamity stood. His hulking figure looming over the library. Before looking to the right. He saw a slight emergence. A black orb. Swirling in the light of the library.
"…what exactly is that?"
In the labyrinth. Revan and Arthur were running. They had been running for several minutes. The flow of goblins seemed to be endless, they trampled and fell over each other while desperately trying to reach for them. Revan clenched her hand and turned around. Attempting to summon Ignis again. But Arthur reached out and stopped her.
"It's a waste. I already figured it out."
Revan looked at him before turning back around as they ran down the corridor.
"Figured out what, exactly? And hurry it up…"
Arthur turned around and quickly spread a huge wall of white flame. Making the goblin hordes pause. Tumbling over each other and being instantly killed but the white flames. Arthur caught his breath and looked at her.
"They're not…real goblins. Their mana, is extremely thin. Like they're incomplete. Like spirits."
Revan paused. Looking at the fire wall. The goblins left no corpse behind as they fell into the fire. Instead. They vanished into mana particles.
"How could someone—"
"The person who made this labyrinth must still be around. Only someone with that huge of a mana pool could split that amount of mana amongst such a large amount of spirits. Artificial spirits, at that. I have a feeling there's something here that needed to be protected."
They both turned around and ran down the halls. Arthur could sense it, they were nearing it. The destination. All of the mana from the labyrinth came from an origin point. And it was just around the corner. And then he stopped. A sharp pain in his chest. Revan turned to look at him. And her eyes widened. A blade made of gleaming golden light had been shot into his chest.
"…eh?"
A man blitzed in front of Arthur. Looking down at him.
"I told you. You should've taken them and left. Boy."
Arthur looked up.
"You…why are you…"
The emperor loomed over him. And stomped his face into the ground. Revan paused. But she couldn't move. There was an insane amount of sword energy and mana suppressing her. The emperor was a battle mage.
"Don't worry. I won't kill him…"
The emperor lifted Arthur's now unconscious body in the air. Which was still bleeding.
"I've finally found my pathfinder…"