Everything was still. Cold. Empty.
Solis blinked his eyes.
He looks around. No light. No sound. Just a pitch-black void stretching endlessly in all directions. The last thing he remembered was the explosion. Phill's broken body. Then the flash from Phill's chest.
Now — nothing.
"Hello?" he called, his voice echoing strangely. "Is anyone there?"
He waited, heart pounding, straining for any possible response.
"Oh shit! Not again," he muttered to himself. "The void... like my dream. Where are you? Y.. you translucent being... Show yourself!"
No answer came. Only silence, heavier than stone.
A figure, faint at first, flickered into existence before Solis, standing at a distance in the vast, starless void. Solis blinked, his heart skipping. A strange warmth pulsed in his chest as he squinted into the darkness.
"Solis," the figure spoke softly — not with urgency, but with a strange familiarity. Calm. Assured.
The voice wasn't quite right. Deeper. Older. But the face —
"…Phill?"
Solis took a step forward, hesitantly. His voice trembled. "But… your voice — it's different. You look… the same, but also…"
The figure stepped closer, his expression free of pain or fatigue. It was unmistakably Phill — same messy hair, same boyish face — but his eyes… his eyes carried centuries. There was a quiet knowing in them.
"Yes," Phill replied. "And no."
Solis stared. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Phill let out a small chuckle. "Exactly what it sounds like."
"You're not making sense," Solis said, narrowing his eyes. "If this is some kind of trick, just say it."
Phill shook his head. "It's not a trick, Solis. You deserve the truth. I remember now… who I am. Or at least, who I was meant to be. When you carried me — when you refused to let me go, even when you were broken yourself — something stirred inside me. Something old."
Solis's mouth parted. "Stirred…? What are you talking about? What are you?"
Phill looked up — though there was no sky above, just the endless dark. "I'm not an ordinary person. I was never meant to be."
He looked back at Solis, and his tone grew solemn.
"I am — or rather, I was — a manifestation. A construct born from a union long forgotten. The ancient ones — the humans and the Aegles — created me as a failsafe, a symbol, a weapon… a protector. I was forged in the wake of their first alliance, before the bloodshed of the Thirteen Year War shattered it all."
Solis staggered back slightly. "You're… from before that war? That was over a thousand years ago! How is that even possible?"
Phill gave a small, almost apologetic smile. "It's not immortality. Not exactly. When one vessel dies, my essence transfers — reborn into another. But my memories… they don't follow. Not unless something triggers them. This time, it was you."
Solis stared at him, stunned.
"But… but you're just a kid. A mischievous, reckless, annoying kid—"
"I was," Phill interrupted gently. "That was me. And it wasn't a lie. I just didn't know until now. I thought I was just another abandoned boy, like many others. I had no idea what was buried inside. That's the danger of being a weapon that forgets itself."
Solis was breathing heavily now, thoughts colliding.
"So… what now?" he asked quietly. "You're remembering all of this — what are you going to do with it? Fight? Fix things? Or are you leaving so that no one gets your powers?"
Phill turned slightly, looking at something beyond Solis's perception. His expression darkened — not with fear, but with resolve. And sadness.
Then he looked back.
"I'm sorry, Solis."
That sentence hit harder than it should have.
Phill stepped forward, placing a hand on Solis's shoulder with uncharacteristic calm.
"I know you'll blame yourself. You'll think you failed me. But you didn't. You're the reason I remembered. You're the reason I got to see my truth before the end."
Solis's voice cracked. "Don't say that. What do you mean, 'before the end'? You're talking like.... like this is some sort of goodbye or some shit!"
Phill's hand tightened briefly.
"This is my destiny. My purpose was never to live forever. It was to protect. And that time has come again. The chaos down there — the darkness trying to rise — it's what I was meant to stop. Even if only once more."
"You don't have to do this alone," Solis said, his voice rising. "There's another way. We always find another way!"
"I know you believe that. And maybe you will. But not this time. This fight… it's mine. I was made for it. But you — you're the one who'll carry the flame forward."
Solis's hands balled into fists. "No… no, you don't get to make that choice without me. We're friends, damn it!"
Phill smiled again, and now there were tears in his eyes.
"You're my first true friend, Solis. And that means everything to me. But this — this is goodbye."
"Phill, please—"
"And I need you to live. Don't waste this, okay? Take what I was and turn it into something better. Something real."
The void around them began to glow, golden cracks forming across the blackness like dawn breaking through a starless night.
Phill's form shimmered. Solis reached out, desperate.
"Don't go—!"
But Phill was already fading, scattering like stardust into the light.
Just before the brightness consumed him, Solis heard his voice — one final time:
"You're the worthy one... after all those years later I met him."
And then came the blinding flash.
---
When Solis opened his eyes, the battlefield lay sprawled before him.
The light of fire and magic still scorched the edges of the cavernous arena. Karina clashed with Hamad in the distance, their magic shaking the ground. Further up, Captain Colins and his squad descended from Bronn's portal, faces grim with urgency.
Solis was on his knees, his breath shaky.
He felt something solid in his hands.
He looked down.
A sword — no, the sword — dual-edged and gleaming with unfamiliar power. Its hilt bore the carving of a red dragon, ancient and noble. The aura it gave off made his arms tremble, not with fear, but with responsibility.
And then — a voice, faint but unforgettable, echoed in his mind.
> "You're the worthy one."
Solis's eyes stung. His grip on the sword tightened.
"Damn you, Phill…" he whispered, his tears falling freely. "I wasn't ready to lose you…"
But now, he understood.
Phill had chosen him.
And he wouldn't let that be in vain.