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All of their sacrifices.
Cyrene.
His Parents.
Aglaea, Cipher, and Anaxa
Castorice, Hyacine.
And Mydei.
As Khaslana, no, as Phainon prepared to reset Amphoreus and send the Trailblazer back to the beginning of the Flamchase, his mind flashed through the memories of all who were dear to him. He would not allow their deaths to be in vain.
The older memories he’d inherited were faint, the memories he experiences himself as Phainon clawing and tearing at his psyche, his friends’ deaths haunting his final moments like unceasing static in his brain.
Just…one more time. One more time and you’ll be free.
He had memories of 33550336 resets, cycles, recurrences of this version of Amphoreus. The weight of those memories destroyed his mind, while the millions and millions of coreflames burned his body from within.
He was going to destroy those who harmed them. That bastard Lygus, he’d have to leave to the Trailblazer, but he believed he’d placed his faith in good hands. What was left for him was THEM, those forces from beyond the sky…Nanook, the Destruction.
He knew he wasn’t going to last long enough to see the true Era Nova. He wasn’t sending himself back this time, there was no need. This time, he didn’t have to bear the memories of the world, so there was no use in his existence. Khaslana would end here, wiped of its traces from the universe, only preserved in the memory of one grey haired trailblazer.
He didn’t fear death. It was always a possibility. As a Chrysos heir, every battle he fought, he fought as if it were his last, dedicating his all to the flamechase.
How could he say that he feared death? When Cyrene had chosen, again, and again, and again, millions of times to sacrifice her life for a single chace. He would bring shame to her efforts. The Amphoreus he wished for was not burdened by a man clinging to sanity and burning with the might of millions of coreflames. He would only cause trouble, so he had to go.
He steeled his resolve.
Should we sing for you again?
(Goodbye, Lady Tribios)
He prepared to face the being that had caused this.
In our next lives, I’ll teach you how to truly embrace your divine duties.
(Goodbye, Professor Anaxa)
He ignored the searing, burning pain his body was enduring.
Despite everything, thinking back on the times we spent together makes me really happy.
(Goodbye, Castorice)
He prepared to reset Amphoreus, one final time.
Maybe what I wanted to save wasn’t you, child, but this crumbling world.
(Goodbye, Aglaea)
He began the regression.
You talk as if you have everything in the palm of your hand…so you did learn a thing or two from her.
(Goodbye, Cipher)
He felt as a single tear rolled off his fail and evaporated into mist.
At the end of the rainbow bridge, the Skyfolk will mend dusk and dawn
Doot-doot
(Goodbye, Hyacine. Goodbye, Little Ica)
He, after so many millions of years, accepted his death.
See you around, Phainon of Ades Elysiea.
(It’s a date, Mydeimos)
No one would remember him. A new Phainon would appear in this cycle, but his own existence…it ended here. That Phainon would not be the same person as he is now The driving force behind 33550336 Eternal Recurrences would be wiped clean from Amphoreus’s history. Only one single soul would remember his sacrifice.
You’ve never changed at all, Phainon .
(I’m not the same person I used to be)
But, if it meant that his friends would gain the chance to truly live, his existence is a small price to pay.
It’s fine if they, if he doesn’t remember him. He’ll fight until his soul wears thin and vanishes, all for their freedom.
If we cannot meet again in this life, then let’s all meet tomorrow, at the end of the west wind.