[mat13295]

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"............."

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"It's been...How many years now...?"

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"It feels like...It was just yesterday. When the last thing i saw was the tears rolling down her face."

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"Time doesn't really have a place here i guess. Nothing does. Neither should my thoughts nor my soul here. And yet...I linger here."

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"...Is this Hel? I don't know. But I can't bring myself to leave this place. As if something is shackled to my legs. I know that feeling well. Both by steel and by mind."

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"...It's those same shackles from life holding me here isn't it? That guilt...The sins of life. My numerous failings. The Price paid for by others...Finally taking its due with me now.

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"...Good."

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"I look around this place and all i see is an empty field. A field littered with swords. Swords i recognize. Maybe it is my own Personal Hell then. The swords I wielded, the ones carried by friends and family and even those that i despised above all else.

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"...Each one i walk across and touch i feel the memories all flowing back to me."

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"...The most painful...Are from two blades i felt pulled towards."

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"...The Sword of friendship, a blade made once as a simple, silly gift from a friend...Who became so much more. And Renewal. The culmination of all of my Mother's love and hard work for artificing and her faith. The blade that drove me mad."

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"No. I drove myself mad. I let those flames consume me, didn't i? Despite Mother's warnings. Despite Liz's warnings. I let that rage eat away, feeding off of all that negativity in my life. Had I not already channeled that holy magic...What kind of path would i have walked down without that fleeting guard on my sanity?"

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"My hand is drawn to it like a moth to flame. Just like when i lived. As i touch it i feel the scorching heat of Mother's flames from all of our spars, from the times she fought in battle. And the scorching heat of her love for me and Hausos. Hausos...Without you it's like half of myself is missing. And after all you had done for me to save my life..."

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"I see flashes of the times we spent together. The day Mother first showed me renewal and i burnt myself grabbing it, the day she allowed me to wield it against her in a spar. The day she and it were traded over for my life. The tears i shed that night and the months to come. The infernal rage that sparked within me. And of course...My final battle with Ludmaz.

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"...And I hear Elizabeth calling my name as my consciousness slipped."

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"That steel blade of friendship calls  to me. As i approach, it changes shape into a blade of prismithium. And like glass, i see my ghostly face reflected in it. There's an empty void next to me in that mirroring sword. It's her that's missing. It aches worse than when my arm was torn free. Or when my flames burned through my own flesh. As my hand wraps around the hilt, the memories sear my mind. The day we met, the time this very same sword was made as a simple steel one. When we turned it into a grand prismithium one. The day I proposed...The plans for a wedding that never arrived. A family that will never exist."

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"...I put them all through Hell. Perhaps that's why i am bound here, fettered by this undying guilt for these sins."

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"..."

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"I just wish...I Can see them one last time..."

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"And as i think these thoughts, my wings sprout one final time, burning away like a phoenix. A phoenix waiting to be reborn."

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"...And Praying to be united one last time before I do."