Chapter XV
I woke up with a splitting headache. "Oh what the hell!" I said, getting off the ground.
I was soon distracted by the scenery around me. I was... in Pyra's Dream of Elysium. With the tree overlooking the hill. I immediately climbed the hill and approached the tree. The church bell wasn't ringing out, and no one was at the tree. I gently rubbed my fingers along the tree's surface when the bark twisted and morphed right in front of me, I jumped back in surprise.
It twisted into what looked like Mythra's face, it was crying.
"You have failed," it hissed at me. I instinctively grabbed Mythra's sword, but as I did I noticed the sword was crimson red.
"Wh-What is this?" I asked in fear. The sword began to reek like rotted corpses and I had to hold myself back so I didn't throw up from the pure stench. The sword turned into blood in my hands and I watched as my hands became covered in blood stains.
I screamed and jumped back, landing against something. I turned around to see Zaccharias behind me, crying with a twisted grin.
"Why didn't you save me?" he shouted at me.
"You knew I was in trouble. You knew it! Why did you let me become like this?!" he cried out.
"Th-There was nothing I could do!" I argued back.
I tried running the opposite direction, but I was blocked by another figure.
It was Vale.
"Had it not been for you, I would still be alive!" she shouted angrily.
"I-I didn't mean for this to happen! I swear!"
"Just like friend didn't mean to hurt Poppi?!" I heard a familiar voice say.
I turned to her. "P-Poppi! Please don't tell me your—"
"You are bad friend!" she said. "You constantly put everyone in danger and all you can think about is yourself!"
"That's not true! I'm doing this for all of you!"
"What about letting my sister watch you die, huh?"
I spun around to see Pyra.
"You took her from her one true driver and then you couldn't even grow the balls to protect her! Now she's all alone with Cereza and it's your fault!" Pyra accused.
"I—," My tongue fell silent as I turned to see Mythra.
She turned away, "You weren't ever going to be my driver."
I yelled out in despair. "I just want to protect! Why is that so hard to do?! I just want to—" I dropped to my knees and began crying. "I just want to protect," I sobbed. "Am I really asking too much? Where did I go wrong? What did I do? I... I couldn't have known. And yet it's all my fault."
Everything around me went black. I was alone. No one to help, no one to save, no one to protect. Maybe it was better this way. All I had done was hurt people, maybe I could live in an eternity of hopelessness and finally not be such a burden to the world. Of course that's not how I really felt. There was still so much I wanted to do, but at this moment, I had no idea what to feel.
"So you failed," a voice unfamiliar to me said. I didn't really care who it was, so I stayed down and away.
"You only statistically had a thirty-three percent chance of success anyway. Ignoring skill and backstory, of course," he continued.
"There have been few drivers of the Aegis. The first was Amalthus, who failed to control Malos. The second was Addam Origo, who even after showing her compassion, never had it in him to control her either. The third was Rex, who finally gave Mythra what she needed to continue. You are the Fourth Driver, are you not?"
I ignored the question. "Where did I go wrong?"
"You failed to fully comprehend her power and understand her fears. You were ready to accept her, but you couldn't understand what you were accepting," he replied.
I turned around, without getting up, to see the hooded figure, standing about as tall as I was.
"Who are you?" I asked.
The figure removed his hold to reveal his white hair, golden eyes, and a mark of a nation I didn't recognize. "I am Addam Origo, Prince of Torna, and Fourth in-line to a lost Throne."
"I never thought I'd ever get to see your face," I said. "Show me."
"Show you what?" he asked.
"Show me what happened five hundred years ago. Show me what I failed to understand!" I demanded.
"Are you a blubbering baby or are you the damned Aegis' Driver?" he scoffed. "You're going to have to prove yourself if you're ever expected to actually carry this burden."
I stood up and reached for Mythra's sword, it had reappeared where I sheathed it. I drew it.
"Now that's more like it!" he said, drawing what also seemed to be Mythra's sword.
Without a word, I lunged. Attacking with every thing I had. He simply moved out of the way and kicked me to the ground.
"Seriously? That's it? C'mon, you didn't become the Aegis' driver by simply flailing angrily, did you? Focus!"
I lunged again, unloading blow after blow, he simply parried them before hitting me in the chest and planting me on the ground.
"Did you forget how to fight? I've seen you do better."
I lunged again, and again, and again. I was struck down each time.
"So this is all you have to offer? You're even more pitiful than I thought. Don't you have any form of pride?! I know you have more, try again. This time, fight like you actually cared at some point."
I lunged again, he struck me down.
"Again."
Again, he struck me down.
"Again."
Again, he struck me down.
"For crying out loud boy! What do you fight for? Right now, she's on her own and you're here throwing a pity party while she's risking her life. SHOW ME WHY YOU ARE HERE!" he shouted, firing a heavy slash at me.
As the wave hit me, my mind began to ponder. Why was I fighting? Not in general, I knew why I had been fighting, but why was I fighting now? I had lost, there was no point in fighting. Was it out of frustration? No, it wasn't. So why?
I realized I was still fighting for her, for Mythra, and myself. I knew he had the answers I was looking for. The answers that would help me understand what I needed to do for her to trust me. But it went even deeper than that.
I was dead, so why bother? I realized why. I wasn't done yet. I wasn't ready to die. Even though it felt like I was being torn into a million pieces, I knew that deep down, there was something burning. Something in me that refused to die, that refused to give up. It had always been there, but it's presence had never been so indisputable. I wasn't going to die, even if I already had, and I was going to get the answers I had been constantly refused.
I slashed through his wave of light and my sword began to glow much brighter as I looked him in the eye.
"Oh what's this? Finally coming around are we?" he smirked.
I read his emotions. He was confident, concerned, and... sad? Why was he sad? I decided to ignore that for now as he rushed me.
I parried every blow and struck back at lightning speed. He did an unintentional backflip through the air and landed funny, I immediately seized the opportunity to plant my fist into his chest, knocking him on the ground.
He looked up at me in a daze and I stretched out my hand to help him up. He looked at me and laughed before accepting my reach and I helped him up.
"I've never seen someone put me on my ass that fast, boy!" he laughed. "What is your name?"
"Waylon," I responded.
"Pleasure to meet you, I knew you had it in you!"
"Why were you so sad?" I asked, getting to the point.
"Whatever do you mean?" he questioned.
"I saw it, in your eyes. Something was seriously wrong, and it didn't have anything to do with me," I continued.
"Perceptive," he applauded. "I guess it's time I finally showed you. You've been through enough now that I think you're ready."
The entire room, which had been dark up to this point, lit up in images of things past.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"In all of my five hundred years I could never answer that question myself. All I know is it brings me wherever an Aegis driver wants me to go. For years I lived in my old memories. Then, when Rex made it to the Spirit Crucible, he entered this realm and brought me to Pyra's vision of Elysium. And now that you're here it's bringing me to my entire time on Alrest. Watch carefully and you'll learn Mythra's true fear."
I stood quietly and watched the events play out. Weirdly enough it was played out in Lora's point of view.
"I know her... that's Lora!" I pointed out.
"Someone's done their research," Addam commended. "Yes this is both her's and my story."
I watched as Jin and Lora met Mikhail and went on to meet Haze. They were interrupted by one of Malos' artifices, which was then destroyed by Siren's blast. I watched as Addam and Mythra fought Lora and Jin. It was incredible! Although I couldn't understand why Mythra was so cocky. It also weirded me out when both Addam and Mythra used weapons separately instead of passing it like Lora and Jin did. Soon it was explained when Lora admitted that it was because they were broke.
I began laughing hysterically. Addam did as well.
"You're telling me that the fighting style used and loved by all drivers today was invented because five hundred years ago someone was broke?" I laughed.
Addam laughed as well. "Yes that part still makes me laugh!"
"Also both you and Rex are just as big of dorks as I am, does Mythra just prefer dorks or is it just coincidence?" I laughed on.
"I don't know, but definitely ask her for me!" he laughed.
My tone shifted a bit more seriously. "But with that cockiness..., I cant shake the feeling she learned about the extent of her power the hard way," I said sadly.
His face grew grim as well. "Yes, you are correct."
And so we watched on. Mythra not being able to cook, their battles, their griefs, the shameless display that was Gort. Everything. Eventually we made it to the final battle that marked the end of the Aegis War. I watched in horror as Malos destroyed the entire Tornan capital. I, admittedly, wasn't ready to watch that, yet it only grew worse. Mythra had touched me in doing things like wondering why her dish didn't win the cooking competition despite her trying. Poor girl was treated pretty harshly during this time. I mean, in all honesty she was just as harsh towards people, but at least they didn't jab her when she learned to show compassion.
I wasn't ready for what happened next. The True Aegis Sword appeared in Addam's hands as all expression of emotion was wiped from her face. She took the sword from him and I watched the horrendous battle unfold. Addam began crying at the sight of it.
"I... just couldn't control her," he said.
The last part, the part that I truly wasn't ready for, was watching Pyra's birth. Her face, the scream, it was too much, I broke down and cried as well.
"I'm a fool. How could I have not understood that fear?! That's why she was so pissed when she revealed herself the first time! That's why she was so mad! That's why she was so scared...," I started before I realized something. "Addam can you show me what's happening outside of my body right now?"
"I can't quite control how the room works. It's based on what you want!"
"THEN SHOW ME WHAT'S HAPPENING OUTSIDE THIS FUCKING INSTANT!" I shouted at the room.
Immediately, the room switched and showed me what I wanted to see. Mythra was battling Zaccharias, with the True Aegis Sword. Her eyes were emotionless and dead and the aura of golden light was burning bright around her. Zaccharias was getting torn to pieces. And Elysium was burning around her.
"No!" I gasped. "No, no, no! No!" I began pacing.
"Addam how do I get out of here?" I asked.
He remained silent.
"Addam I have to stop her! She can't go through this again! I won't let her!"
"What is it you want? Wealth, dominion, power?" he asked.
"Knowledge. I don't want to be in the dark anymore. I want the knowledge and wisdom to be able to do what needs to be done!"
"So power then? Power for what?"
"Knowledge is power," I thought to myself before responding. "Power to wipe Cereza off of this world and give Mythra, Rex, Zeke, Poppi, and everyone the ending they deserve!"
"You are greedy boy. There is a limit to what one man can do."
"You're right, that's why I won't do it alone. I have people to back me up every step of the way. I won't do it alone! Even if no one else stands next to me, I know that Mythra will. I know we can do it. But I have to stop her now."
"And what makes you so sure you deserve this chance?"
"I don't deserve anything, all I've done is cause problem after problem. But I want to help give these people what they deserve."
"You mentioned Cereza, is she your blade as well?" Addam asked.
"Why? Do you know her?" I questioned back.
"Know her? I was her first driver!" Addam explained.
I was taken aback. "Wait seriously? How was she then? Was she evil? Did she seem like she had a motive behind her?"
"I'll never know," he said. "I watched her kill twenty people and she cut them up in front of me. She said she was going to do the same to the rest of Alrest. I knew her power and knew there was only one thing to do."
"And that was?" I questioned.
"She can only be resonated with a good-hearted driver. So I left instructions to pave her into a prison wall, where few good hearts would ever come into contact with her. Then...," he paused. "I stabbed myself through my heart so that she'd return to her core."
"That's pretty ballsy Addam," I commended.
"So if she's still around after your death then that can only mean she's become a flesh eater and won't return to her core," he reasoned. "Go now Waylon, and stop her. Mythra and Cereza both. You will be the last Aegis driver I will ever talk to before I'm finally allowed to pass on, so I have one request for you."
"What is it?" I asked sympathetically. I didn't realize how sad this was going to be.
He chuckled. "Tell Mythra that I'm sorry..., and then... tell her that I miss her awful cooking." he laughed out with tears in his eyes.
"Addam...," I didn't know what to say. I decided to just be confident. "I will."
"Thank you, Waylon," he said sincerely. "Y'know, it's strange."
"What is?" I inquired.
"You're eyes are blue," is the last thing I heard before coming to.
...................................
"Ugh, it's hot out here," I complained as I got off the ground. Where the hell was I? My chest felt a little sore too. I took a look at it, it was completely healed. I heard a loud explosion that caused a slight earthquake.
"Mythra!" I realized. She was still going at it with Zaccharias, on the ground thankfully. I had been worried that she would be fighting in the sky. Zaccharias wasn't holding up well, Mythra used her fist and beat him into a tree, he fell unconscious. She then proceeded to punch him repeatedly until his body flew through the tree. She readied the True Sword and prepared to finish him with a full-powered Siren blast. This would destroy this entire section of land, if not all of Elysium. I tackled her to the ground.
"Mythra stop! I'm ok! I'm ok!" I shook her, but there was no response, her face stayed emotionless as she casually tossed me off of her.
I grabbed the sword, but she flung her arm and launched me out of the way.
"Damn it Mythra!" I said as I got in between her and Zaccharias. She pointed the sword in my direction as she backed me up right on top of Zaccharias' unconscious body. Threatening to use Siren.
"Mythra! This isn't you! This isn't you at all! Remember who you are!" I tried to reason. Her expression didn't change. "Please Mythra! You only want to protect! Remember?! Addam, and Rex, and Pyra, and me!"
Her core crystal began to glow as she readied her attack.
"Mythra! If you shoot this laser you will have counteracted everything you've ever stood for! I'm not letting that happen!" I didn't know what else to do.
I reached out and took hold of her core crystal. "Mythra, hear the will of your driver. You. Will. Not. Fire. Siren."
Mythra's crystals were shining more intensely with every second.
I placed my hand on her cheek in one last attempt. "Let me help you potato chip...."
Immediately I saw myself standing in front of Aion, in front of it, stood Mythra.
She was crying. "You don't understand! You don't understand! You don't understand!" Was all she was repeating.
I approached her. "You're wrong! I do understand! I saw everything. Torna, Addam, Milton! I understand your power fully now."
"Then why aren't you RUNNING?!" She screamed at me.
"Wha?" I began to question.
"I can only destroy! The longer you have me in your life, the more hurt you'll be! Don't you get it? Get away from me! I'm a monster, far beyond saving. Far beyond anyone's help. So just leave me be!"
"I'm not going to do that!" I yelled back.
She looked up at me with an angry expression with tears in her eyes. The expression read, "GET AWAY FROM ME".
I kept walking forward. "I made a promise to you, I'm not going back on that. Not now, not ever. Mythra I understand your scared," I said while approaching her.
She looked away.
"But look me in the eye," I said. She did so, reclusively. "I. Am. Not. Scared. Of. You. I think you're the most beautiful thing in this universe. You're kind and gentle, at times," I chucked a bit. But switched back to being serious. "Hell your favorite food is cloud sea crab sticks! Monsters don't usually have a preferred food! I don't care what power you're packing, I want to help you. I want you to help me! I want to fight this with you!"
"Even after all the shit I've put you through, you still think I'm worth being around?"
"It's because of the shit you've put me through that makes me want to be around you more! I want to know you, I want you to know me! I want to face this world and I want to face it together with you!"
She looked away, but looked back at me as I continued.
"Sooner or later we're gonna have to fight things that neither of us are prepared for. And when that happens, I want to be there, standing with you! Now c'mon," I stretched out my hand. "Let's beat this, together."
She laughed a bit as she took my hand and I helped her up.
"Oh by the way you never explained what on Alrest a potato chip was, or why you keep calling me that. Can I get some type of explanation or...?"
And after completely ignoring her question we awoke back in the real world, I was holding the True Sword and Mythra was standing behind me. Zaccharias, who had woken up, stood to face me.
"You should be dead!" he hissed.
"Well I'm not, so what now?" I responded.
"I kill you again, and then I'll rip that core crystal out of her chest."
"Oh? And then what? You'll go on a picnic with your family? I'm sure they'd love to hear the story of a father who killed an innocent man," Mythra mused.
"I will have saved them," he started laughing maniacally again. "I'll be their hero!"
I was tempted to tell him that his family was already dead, but I knew that that may only cause him to go even more insane, so I left it alone.
"Mythra are you ready?" I asked, readying my stance with the True Aegis Sword.
"Yeah, I'm right behind you, let's do this!" she confirmed.
He rushed me, this time I could find some emotion in him, fear. I didn't hold back as I parried all of his attacks before slamming him onto the ground.
I realized that controlling her power no longer seemed like a chore. It was natural, as if we were the same being, moving with one mind.
"Is this how it normally feels?" I asked Mythra.
She seemed to immediately know what I was talking about. "Yes and no," she replied. "It's supposed to feel easy, but even I've never felt like it was this easy!"
"Yeah, it definitely seems different," I replied.
"Stop ignoring me!" Zaccharias shrieked out as he flew across the field, attempting to shatter Mythra's crystal.
In a split second, I parried upwards so that his body was launched in a spin, threw my sword at Mythra, and she used the flat end to smack him to the ground.
Zaccharias got up in a daze. "You, could've killed me there, why... why didn't you?"
"Because I know this isn't you. Your actions now aren't your fault," I tried to reason. "Please Zaccharias, stop this."
He finally stopped to consider, before Cereza showed up in between us.
"Oh no you don't!" she said, punching Zaccharias and taking her sword back. She unleashed a barrage of attacks, and I parried them all before taking a slice at her, wounding her arm.
She groaned as it healed immediately. "Not bad." She glared at me. "I'll be back though."
Zaccharias started screaming in the background. We turned to see him covered in sap from one of the firewood trees. It was causing his skin to boil.
"Oh good, a punishment for failing," Cereza said, picking him up by his hair before punching him in the face, knocking him out.
I readied my sword, Mythra right behind me.
"Not today boy, but soon," she said before disappearing.
The True Sword reverted back into the normal Mythra sword and we both immediately fell over and took a minute to breathe.
"How the hell did you even not die?" Mythra asked, while breathing heavily.
"I'll tell you in a bit, for now let's reset up camp," I advised.
Luckily Queen Raqura left us two tents, because the first one was incinerated. I set it up while Mythra began working on the fire. After everything was set up, I put a pot over the fire and began boiling some water.
"I met Addam," I said.
Shocked, Mythra replied, "How?! He's been dead for five hundred-ish years!"
"Rex did so too back when he went and found your true sword the first time," I said.
"He never told me that! So Addam's alive?!" she exclaimed.
"No, we can only speak to a memory of him in a vision," I explained.
"So can you talk to him now?"
"Unfortunately no, he told me that our meeting would be his last...."
"What did he say? Oh he must hate me...," Mythra replied, lowering her head in shame.
"No, he was honestly proud of how far you've come as a person!" I reassured. "In fact he told me to relay a message to you for him."
"Oh?"
"He said that he was sorry and that he missed you and your terrible cooking," I laughed out.
She began chuckling too. "Dumbass," she uttered. "Eh who am I kidding, I miss him too."
She looked at me. "But it's alright, I have you now. I think that'll be more than enough."
"Thanks," I said, before changing subject. "Speaking of cooking, I have some noodles, barbed tomato sauce and armu cheese. You wanna learn how to make spaghetti?"
"Do I?!" she's answered excitedly.
And so that evening was spent making spaghetti, which I'm proud to say she excelled at, and sleeping that day off like a bad hangover.
That night, I didn't have a dream. Cereza didn't bother me and neither did the broken voice. However something peculiar did enter my mind. That vision, the one where Mythra's sword turned into blood and made me question everything I've done up to this point. Klaus did the same thing to Rex and them when they entered his room. Each and every one of them were faced with looking at themselves in the mirror and wondering where they had gone wrong. Was Klaus still alive? Or was there a memory of him like in the case of Addam. I wasn't sure, but I figured I'd find out eventually.
If he was alive though, I wondered what he thought of me, or any of this. Just then I heard a noise outside. I shot up immediately.
"What is it?" I heard Mythra say drowsily.
"I don't know, but let me go check on it, you rest and I'll call you if I need you," I said, walking outside.
"Oh you're... too... kind," she tried to say, obviously passing out mid-sentence.
I chuckled as I went outside. As I heard the flapping of wings, I quickly ran in one direction until I saw a large flock of Rhoguls soaring over us in a panic.
"That's strange, Rhoguls are birds of prey, they don't normally travel in flocks," I thought to myself before finding at least fifty volffs, ferises, bufoolos, elks, and much more charging through the forest, luckily Mythra had burned up the area we were staying at, because the animals seemed to be staying away from that area. Otherwise we'd have been trampled. What were all of the animals running from?
Soon, the animals had all passed by and I heard some groaning sounds. Not just groaning, but screaming and crying too. I realized something wasn't right.
"Mythra!" I called. "Mythra get out here!"
Soon I saw the problem, a large, pulsating beast that seemed to be in absolute agony came towards me.
"What the hell are you?" I said allowed.
"EEEEEEEEEND MEEEEEEEE," it cried out.
It immediately ran back to the tent. "MYTHRA GET OUT HERE NOW!"
"A LITTLE BUSY!" she shouted back. I looked up to see her in the talons of another pulsating beast, it sounded female, and it was carrying off with Mythra.
"I'LL TAAAKE YOUR HAAAIIIR, ILL BE BEAUTIFUL AGAIN!" it laughed in a raspy, wheezing laugh that made me want to throw up.
I took out Mythra's sword and threw it at the beast, planting it firmly in its chest. Mythra grabbed the sword and slashed it in half before falling.
"Mythra!" I yelled out, sprinting towards her, jumping and catching her mid-air. We both landed on the ground. Soon we were surrounded by pulsating beasts.
"You killed heeeer," one wheezed out.
"This is whyyyy blades must diiiie," another added.
"Theeey are the cause of all war," a third one laughed out.
My blood ran cold as I realized what these beasts were.
"Ugh, what the hell are these things?!" Mythra exclaimed in disgust.
"It's just like Gort...," I replied.
"Gort...? Like Lora's sorry excuse for a caretaker?" she replied, I was actually impressed she remembered.
"Yeah, right after Addam sank you in that vessel, Amalthus and his associate performed an experiment on him. The first blade eater experiment. It went horrible wrong, but that's what they expected. He tried to attack Lora, wanting to make her endure a slow, painful death. He was terrifying. She, Jin, and Haze killed him, but these..." I turned my attention to the failed blade eaters around me. "These aren't failed, they were failed on purpose. These are all of the innocent people that lived on Indol!"
Mythra gasped. "Of course Amalthus would have a backup plan! He's going to have these things kill off the blades he couldn't!"
"But how many of these things could there be?!" I asked.
"There could be hundreds Waylon! We don't know how many people he actually turned into these things! We need to get out of here, it's not safe!" Mythra warned.
"Agreed, but I don't want to leave all of these people suffering!"
"Well we can't retreat to Indol anymore! Who knows what they're still doing?! We need to regroup with Rex and the others and formulate a plan. These things are too violent and too full of bloodlust!"
As she finished saying that one of the blade eaters caught a feris, smashed it against a tree and then proceeded to shred its body into tiny pieces, rubbing the feris blood all over its face and laughing to itself while refusing to let the poor creature die. I fired a beam at the feris, putting it out of its misery.
The blood-covered blade eater looked at me. "'Ey you ruined all the fun!" it said in a thick accent through sounds of pain. "Guess I'll 'ave ta use you as a substitute!
"Mythra!" I called out.
"Understood," she said, reading my mind.
The Aegis sword turned into its true green form and we took off, moving much faster than what these beasts could keep up with. We took down about twenty of them but they kept piling out of nowhere.
"Where the hell are they all coming from?!" Mythra exclaimed.
Soon we were pinned without a way out. One of the blade eaters broke a firewood tree, letting the sap get all over it.
"AAAAAHH!" it shrieked out as it rushed us, I took it down with an anchor shot before stabbing it through the skull.
"There's nowhere to run Mythra, we fight til we drop, you in?"
"We're not dying here! Let's do this!" she cheered. We stood back to back, killing off a few more before we heard a loud noise that kind of sounded like a whistle.
"Get down!" I yelled, pulling Mythra to the ground as a fireball flew past us, nailing one of the beasts.
Azurda flew over us and Rex and Pyra jumped off and shot off a beast from behind us.
"Rex!" Mythra and I said together. I realized that he was also wielding the True Aegis Sword.
"So both Pyra and Mythra can separately wield the True Sword? How peculiar," I thought aloud.
"Yeah, it is pretty weird," Rex said, helping me up.
"Nice to see you again!" I said, shaking his hand and laughing a bit.
"Hey idiots!" Mythra said, dodging one of the beasts. "Catch up later maybe? We've got bigger shit to worry about!"
"Right!" Rex and I said together.
We both readied our swords and charged into them, fighting side by side. Not only did we as drivers fight as one with our blades, but as two separate drivers and two separate blades, we fought as one as well. It was incredible!
We passed our swords between each other, I'd pass mine to Pyra and Rex would pass his to Mythra, who would in turn pass it back to us. It seemed as if all four of us could use either sword just as well as the other, except I always used Mythra's arts and Rex always used Pyra's arts, regardless of which sword we were wielding. It made for great strategy though, I could pass to one of the blades so that they could use their arts while Rex used his own sword to watch my back. And if he needed to charge an art while an Aegis was dealing one of her own, he could always pass me his sword and I'd cover his back.
The blade eaters didn't stand a chance as we tore through about a hundred of them, but still more kept showing up, we realized that we may need to come back later to effectively deal with this, so we waited for Azurda to fly over us before we both shot our anchor shots onto him, grabbed our respective blades, and flew out of there.
Once we were on top of Azurda, we flew up above the clouds, and Azurda began flying at a gentle cruising speed.
"Sorry for the bumpy ride everyone!" Rex apologized.
I looked around and realized everyone was already on, including Emperor Niall, Queen Raqura, and the newly-crowned King Zeke von Genbu.
Poppi immediately ran up to me and gave me a hug. "Friend did it! Friend made it with Mythra!"
I laughed. "Thanks Poppi!"
Mòrag grinned. "There was a bit of debate whether you were actually going to survive or not," she explained.
"Nothing Mythra and I couldn't handle," I responded.
"That's kinda who we assumed was going to kill you," Pyra added.
Mythra and I both laughed.
Pyra slapped Mythra before giving her a hug.
"Also what on Alrest were you thinking?! Using your power like that! I felt how much you were using, what the hell is wrong with you?! We didn't come all this way for you to destroy another continent! Did you know there's a twenty-mile stretch of dead trees and burnt grass with a river that was depleted?! What the hell were you thinking?! I'm so glad you're ok!" she unloaded.
"Pyra enough," I stated. "It was my fault."
"Yours?!" she said, turning to me.
"Yeah, that's right," I admitted. "I, at first, didn't understand how to control her power, and I apologize, to all of you. But I understand now and that won't happen again."
Pyra looked around, everyone seemed fairly content. She sighed, "Alright Mythra, you're off the hook. But I'm watching you two!"
"Yeesh!" I whispered to Mythra. "Remind me not to ever get on her bad side!"
Mythra slugged me in the arm before laughing herself. "Thanks, now let's go explain your plan to all of these people now. We've kept them waiting long enough."
Everyone began to sit around in a big circle.
"Yeah, let's change the world!"
Readability Level: 9th-10th Grade
Time Taken: 9 Hours
Please do not use without permission. All artwork is not mine and credit goes to the artist.