Raym froze in place for a few moments. Was what was happening right now even real?؟؟
And for another moment, those words echoed back to him: Live for me...
He had heard those words before — but from whom?؟؟ And when?؟؟
An image surfaced at once in his mind — a woman, her features indistinct, crying out over and over: "Raym — live for me..."
Who are you???
The woman drew closer to him, slow and unhurried, while he stood frozen in place. She took hold of his left arm and smiled into his face — and Raym was pulled back to reality. But a thick, black aura had wrapped itself around his left side...
Araki watched, struck with disbelief,
as though he couldn't accept what stood before him. That shock twisted into a horrifying grin, and he lunged straight for Raym — but what remained of Lorian's spirit held him back...
Suddenly, Araki's body collapsed to the ground,
and he returned to his human form. He shoved Lorian's dead body off himself, and forced himself upright, still fixed on Raym as his target despite his condition...
But that aura surrounding Raym's body was growing thicker and darker by the moment.
The instant Araki drew close enough, the aura surged and threw him back.
Before anything else could happen, Daniel rushed in and pulled Raym away at speed, while Arvela did the same, carrying Lyra with her.
Round was holding Aldous up as he walked. Saon moved with the rest of them, all in one direction, fast...
Raym's eyes flickered, and he looked toward Round and Saon with a look that made no clear sense — yet said a great deal all the same...
Round smiled at him, speaking from behind that mask of a smile: "I know... He chose his own fate."
And they all ran, pulling away...
Elsewhere, near Valerius's fallen body, Agnyr spread his wings high with an unmatched dignity.
He smiled into the face of the transformed Valerius without a word, gathered his body up, and began to climb, slowly, painfully, until he'd lifted off the ground...
Then he laughed to himself — a laugh soaked in grief — and thought: Heheheh. Fate truly holds a grudge against us. It kept us from meeting, and now it tears us apart even in our final moments...
But Agnyr never realized his lips had actually spoken what he was thinking, without meaning to. His eyes were watching the sky for one thing — and watching his own state, and Valerius's, for another.
As he rose higher, his body began to crack,
filled with strange fissures glowing with an unfamiliar light — and with it, the entire place.
As though reality itself were tearing apart. And with every passing second, those fractures deepened further, just as his height above the ground kept climbing...
At some point, Valerius's hand closed around him, gripping hard.
Agnyr had no time to understand what he meant by it — but somewhere inside himself, he felt it as though Valerius were saying: I'll follow you to the end of the world...
Or was it only that his body had no strength left to fight, and this was all that remained of him???
We will never know...
That small moment brought back to Agnyr a memory he'd believed he had forgotten forever:
He found himself, all at once, transported to a place vast, boundless, and impossibly grand — after having stood, only moments before, before Valerius's seal. He looked around wildly, saying, "What happened??? Where am I???"
And suddenly, a gleaming light — gold and silver, radiant — appeared before him, and spoke in a voice beyond description, as though it were writing reality itself into being with those very words.
He turned toward the source of the voice...
A being higher than any that had ever existed, like a perfect ring of glory itself. A creature with two separate heads, and a colossal body sheathed in golden, stone-like scales, its wings stretching so far across the horizon they swallowed the entire place whole. A blinding light surrounded him, higher and brighter even than the sun at its most brilliant...
Agnyr looked at him in fear, and found himself bowing with everything he had...
Lord Syldrax.
The great Dragon Lord continued to stare at him for a long while without a word, and then said:
"Dragon who carries, in your shattered core, the wrath of the entire world — Agnyr, Dragon of Wrath. I ask your forgiveness for what happened to you and your two companions. I have already uncovered that deceiver's treachery, and exiled him — but it came far too late. And now I am here, to return you to your homeland..."
Agnyr cut in quickly:
"Lord Syldrax, please — you know nothing of what's happened. Send me back there at once. I cannot remain here any longer. It isn't that I hate any of you, or anything of the sort... I simply have my reasons for going back..."
The Dragon Lord looked into his eyes, which carried an urgent longing to go, and spoke:
"Agnyr, you understand that I brought you back here because I do not wish for any dragon to come into contact with a human. The war has already ended. And your core is shattered — repairing it would be exceedingly difficult, perhaps even impossible..."
Agnyr's eyes fell to the ground. And before he could speak, the Dragon Lord went on:
"But I also understand that we owe you a great deal. And perhaps granting you this wish is the least I can do. So, Agnyr — I will sever that place from reality, and bind its existence to your own..."
As Agnyr's eyes opened for the final time, it had nearly been done...
And then he spoke, in a voice loud enough, though no one heard it:
"Daim... you had best prepare yourself well. Your turn is coming — there is no escaping it!!!"
And the last thing that came from him was a loud, echoing cry — followed by the place vanishing from existence entirely, as though it had never been at all!!!