When I confirmed that everyone had safely retreated, I also started to back away, timing it so that they had some more time to finish their preparations. When I finally flew back, everyone was ready. Not wasting time, I instantly took the central spot in the formation, holding my Royal Scepter in my left hand while I took the Witch King's baton into my right.
I took a deep breath to calm down and lightly flickered my right hand, a first note sounding around me. I closed my eyes; the music around me wasn't the main technique, only something to assist me with preparation.
I reached deep into my inner world, for the first time, I wouldn't be just manifesting part of it around me, but the whole thing. I entered my inner world using the technique that the Promulgator taught me. Soon, I stood in front of the giant tree at the center of Azure Dream. I placed my hands on it, focusing on it.
This tree was the most direct representation of my heart in Azure Dream. The white bark was covered with countless lines that flowed with gentle moonlight showed the current me, the Holy Son, a dependent of some Moon goddess. But I needed to look deeper, not at what was on the surface but into my heart.
As I looked past the surface, I saw myself from different moments in my life. Each tree ring showed some important moment that changed me. I saw myself blocking the ray of light that happened a few months ago. I saw myself kneeling before Princess, being ordered to depart. I saw myself watching that man departing from Liurnia for the final time. I saw myself kneeling in the pool of my blood, the Primal Glintstone Blade piercing my heart. I saw myself standing beneath the false sky of the Eternal City, my eyes without focus as the darkness clung to my body.
This was where an abnormality occurred. Past this point, the tree rings started to grow wrong, twisted. As if I lived two pasts at the same time, one real one from some other future that appeared from nowhere. I followed my true past, continuing to see images of myself.
The day when I was saved by the Princess, the day when I was betrayed and infected, the days of my life in Laterano. I saw people I had met before, I saw people who cared about me, I saw those who worshipped me. The me in the images was getting younger and younger as the images got blurry due to how long ago those moments occurred.
And then, I found myself standing in an entirely different space. There was nothing around me, only a golden ocean spreading beyond the horizon and a white rhombus in the black, featureless sky. I looked around, feeling that I shouldn't be here.
-"Oh? What do we have here?"-A woman's voice appeared next to me, making me look around once more.-"Hmm..? Aren't you...? Right! I remember."
Her voice was strange, seemingly cheerful, but it caused me to have chills. My body seemed afraid, even though my mind couldn't understand why.
-"You've grown quite well, of course, it was expected, as you are our child. You adapted well to Originium, even mutated it... An interesting combination, but slightly lacking."-She continued, completely ignoring my body trembling at her every word.-"But that little trinket should be able to solve this issue later. But you shouldn't have come here, my dear. What are you doing?"
I didn't speak, but I could feel my memories leaving my mind, not disappearing but being copied into the golden sea.
-"Ah? Those disgusting things? Sigh, to think those useless things can't even serve their purpose, and what is AMa-10 doing? How can she treat both of my dears like that? Sigh, disappointing. Well, I'll deal with that later. Let me help you a little. With this, you'll truly be our Child of Originium."
When her words registered in my mind, I felt something changing in me on a fundamental level. It was as if all the crystallization in my body suddenly disappeared. I looked at my left arm, and it was still like before, a deep blue Originium Glintstone, but it was now truly part of me, not something that was foreign. I could now feel a connection to the golden sea I stood on; I could also sense the countless memories of people existing beneath the surface.
-"Careful."-The voice brought me back before I could 'drown'.-"This is your birthright, no need to rush. I'll send you back, but I hope you can take care of your other parent for me. It wouldn't be long before we can reunite."
With that, I felt myself taking a step back, my surroundings returning to my inner world. My breath was disordered, my body still shaking slightly. I grasped my left shoulder; the strangeness of not feeling any usual strangeness caused me to know that what happened was real. I was about to take another step back, but then I felt someone place a hand on mine.
-"What's the matter?"-Promulgator looked at me worriedly.
I just shook my head, once again taking a deep breath to calm myself. After a few seconds of silence, I stepped forward once again, placing my hands on the tree once again. This time, I focused on the false past, seeing that my true past was a dead end. The images this time quickly started to look different.
There was no more me present in those scenes, only a nameless knight. I watched his journey, but there was no great undertaking, no glorious mission. It was just a story of a normal knight whose strength was far from being a main character. He watched how his country declined and then fell; he watched and took part in countless battles, some were won, some were lost.
But in the end, it didn't matter. Everything turned into dust under the most cruel knife: time. Only he remained standing on the remains. At some point, even he forgot what all this represented; he forgot his purpose, his vows. But he continued upholding them. His body and mind gone long ago, but what remained of his soul still made him stand his guard.
I continued watching this history, my mind fully immersed in it, feeling everything that the knight felt, and those emotions echoed around my inner world and outside. Around me, the wind stirred the crystal petals as the rain far above the tree started to intensify.
In the real world, the melody of my Arts changed. The calming and serene feeling was gone; in its place was pure desolation and loneliness. The change made everyone feel that something was wrong; it was as if the world was ending. The feeling of despair enveloped the whole city. A lonely violin spoke the story in my heart. The knight standing at the end of the world. The loneliness of forgetting. The forgotten promise.
Despite Laqeramaline best attempts, the desolate feeling couldn't be stopped, even when Otto and Promulgator stepped to help her, they couldn't change anything. They started to contemplate interrupting my casting, but before they could decide, another melody started to play by my side.
At some point, familiar black-haired Sankta came to my side, the smile on her face nowhere to be seen, replaced by the pained look in her eyes. She held her cello and joined my melody, bringing some company to the lone tone.
In my inner world, I was drowning in the past. No longer the observer, I now walked the desert of gray ashes, my mind empty of any thought. I held a sword in my hand, dragging it behind me as I took step after step. But then, I hear the quiet melody, and I saw the gray ashes shift before me.
First, I recalled that I was here to do something, next I started to recall some faces and names. One by one, memories returned to me; no, they were never gone. I remembered that I wasn't that knight; this wasn't my end. This history was neither my past nor future, just my power.
I strengthened my grasp on the sword, bringing it before me. I looked at it, wanting to see what it was that made me so afraid all that time. On the broad blade of the moonstone, I saw a rune. No matter how I observed it, I couldn't grasp its form; the lines twisted and swayed in front of my eyes.
This was the power that I always feared, something so fragile it couldn't even form properly. I almost wanted to laugh; if not for the anger I felt at myself for my weakness, I would be rolling on the ground. This was no greater power, no terrifying curse, not even a danger to myself. It was just a tool, one I already utilized once, yet feared for no reason. I looked at my left arm, feeling the power of this rune already flowing in it. I closed my eyes as a spark of blue flame appeared on my palm.
The melody of my Art reflected the changes in my emotions. The music started to pick up, building up as the fear morphed into anger, and the anger into conviction. When I opened my eyes, the music disappeared for a second, making others think that something went wrong; only Arturia looked relieved, the smile returning to her face.
I waved my hand as the music returned, my mouth opening as the words of incantation I spoke morphed into a chorus echoing around the quiet streets. The blue flame appeared around me, slowly moving forward into the crumbling Kargereich. The melody still held that desolate emotion, still possessed the tones of loneliness, but mainly, it carried the will to fight against the end.
I started to walk forward, matching my pace with the flames spreading before me. Those who were guarding me quickly avoided the flames, feeling the threat coming from them. Soon, only I stood at the border of Kargereich and Terra, the blue flame holding Collapsals at bay. I looked at the destroyed world and felt the irony of using this power to cleanse it.
As my incantation continued, the chorus started to rise in intensity, the voices making the space shake with each word. Above me, the black clouds started to gather, and the rain quickly started to fall. The music never stopped, telling the story of the end of the world that was about to take place. Before I was the only witness of the history that was never to be, now I'm executioner ready to deliver the final blow. And I didn't hesitate, unleashing the Art in its full might.
The clouds quickly spread throughout the Kargereich, the rain covering everything. I watched how the buildings turned into sand under that power. The Collapsals quickly melted into puddles of the oil-like substance, but even that didn't prevent their demise. I saw how their true forms, far in the different realities, screeched and trashed. The beings that couldn't be comprehended were destroyed with power that came from a place that never existed.
In a few short minutes, the whole Kargereich turned into an ash-gray desert. The Night stripped it of everything. Life, purpose, time, even fate. Beneath the Starless sky, only Night existed; all else was meaningless. Kargereich was no more; this world had met its end.
The clouds dissipated as my melody came to an end, the silence fitting the destroyed landscape. By now, other people noticed that the threat was gone, many entered interested in what happened, looking around the changed landscape. Some started to gather the ash to research it later, other scribbled in their notebooks, trying to record the melody I played. While they thought that everything was already finished, to me it was just the first part.
I flew into the center of this space, allowing the divinity in me to fully appear. Floating slightly above the ground, I opened my arms as the Azure Dream started to manifest. First, like before, the grass started to appear around me, slowly expanding through this space. But even the normally excessive vitality of my Azure Dream couldn't overcome the desolation from Night.
So, I once again opened my mouth to chant as the sounds of the flute and rhythmic beating of drums echoed around.
~"Isil'falo ilu'di sar."
The language not belonging to this word resounded, stirring the vitality that was previously suppressed. With every word, more life started to appear around. First, there were some flowers, next a bush, finally, the trees started to sprout, quickly turning the whole space into a forest identical to my inner world.
~"Sela'di lune na eranil."
From between the trees, the Wisps started to emerge, gathering around me. Tens, hundreds, thousands, and soon, the whole space around me was a sea of light made of Wisps floating around. The power of those unassuming little spirits was enough to destroy this whole space into oblivion, but they hold even greater power.
~"Anathae'o felo isil."
I raised my hands, the Wisps flying up, the trails of light behind them. They formed a pillar reaching into the sky before spreading in every direction, weaving a canopy covering the whole sky. As the light solidified, the familiar towering tree appeared in everyone's eyes. The bare branches started to sprout leaves, and soon, the only thing visible above was the foliage that started to gleam with starlight.
~"Dinore falah."
I ended the song, looking at the Azure Dream now in full glory. I watched as the first leaves started to fall, their light finishing the mystical feeling, and felt a profound peace from the depths of my heart. For the first time, I managed to unload everything that I kept hidden deep within. This didn't solve everything, but it was a good place to start.
The falling leaves didn't just cause me to reflect; they made many people look into the sky. Those inside the now Azure Dream looked at the ethereal surroundings, making many people wonder. Outside, as the crack in the sky still existed, people on the streets of Zwillingstürme looked at the canopy behind the sky, knowing that the last shadow of the Witch King had disappeared for good.
I slowly landed at the foot of the giant tree, watching Arturia approach me.
-"Thank you."-I bowed to her, knowing that if not for her assistance, let alone succeeding, I might have made everything worse.
-"I said that I'll always be your accompanist, Dear."-She smiled.-"This was our first real performance. How about naming that song?"
I nodded and thought for a moment.
-"Heolstor the Nightlord."-I spoke the name, returning the identity to the nameless knight in the past future that will never happen.
Arturia nodded, looking me up and down again.
-"What's the matter?"
-"No, just..."-She put a finger to her chin, thinking what words to use.-"Never seen you so relaxed."
I just smiled at that. I also had never seen myself so relaxed like now.