Rise

Dust settled.

Light began to peek through each rugged crack.

The greatest monument in Asterrad history had been reduced to a memory. At the center, only two remain.

Ti could only look as Lex stood atop everything, holding the Dae. Ti, stuck in a mental fog, couldn't get a word out. Lex's mind was clear. "There is only destruction within me."

Ti snapped back to reality. He tensed up before taking a deep breath out. "You must break free." his voice echoed throughout the chamber remnants.

Snickering escaped Lex, slowly growing into laughter. Did words fall on deaf ears or did he choose not to acknowledge it? "I've already broken free." Lex lifts the Dae up into the light, admiring its elegance. "To break free once more would be to conform."

"No." Ti trudged through the rubble, carefully choosing his steps. "This is too extreme. What Glia did . . . I understand, but we must stay true. We can choose the right path."

Crimson eyes gleamed coldly at Ti. "You're stuck in the past." Lex began to close the distance, approaching Ti. "There is no right or wrong path, only mine."

Ti continued on, blood marking his path. "You're wrong." Ti looked into the eyes of a broken man, wondering what reflected within them. "I don't believe you're too far gone, there's still time for you to come back."

Lex pushed down on the red gem at the center of the Dae. It lets out a single shriek before quickly conforming to the shape of Lex's arm. His smile exuded power. "I've felt the divines smile upon me, the freedom the suns have given me! Can you say the same?"

Ti's breathing becomes quick and intense. "What do-"

"There are only two roles in this world: dog and man. I've chosen to live as man."

A muffled thud reaches Lex's ears.

Lex's focus quickly shifts downwards. Ti lays heaving on the ground. His body is falling apart, but he can't fall now. He rises, strung together by anger. "That warmth you feel? It's a lie." His walk continues, each step made his body question if it could make it to Lex. "The suns are at your back, as you are facing towards Hell. The flame of destruction has blinded you."

Ever so slowly, Ti closed the gap.

"Dog or man? From what I see, wrath has made you its dog."

Lex jumped towards Ti, crashing down but remaining seemingly poised.

"We've all been deterred from the true glory of freedom,"

Lex's hand shot out, lifting Ti up by the throat.

"Yet you dogs will do anything to keep everyone away from it. You just love living life by the chain, don't you?"

Ti struggled to rasp for breath as Lex's grip tightened.

"Glia? Len? Where are they? The captain? No one is here for us now. Only the suns' bright gaze . . . things beyond our comprehension. That's what can save us."

Blood rose from the ground, forming streams that hugged each rugged surface. They made their way back to Ti, like a flock of sheep returning to their pasture. Cuts and gashes opened up to receive their blood back, before sealing shut. Cracks repaired erratically, reforming intricate artwork that was once ruined. Dust gathered back into the ground as the sound of Ti's heartbeat seemed to beat the other way around. Wounds were erased. Energy was restored. In this moment, the very flow of time itself had been rewritten to run backwards.

Lex's face was overjoyed, grinning unnaturally wide.

Ti had been fully healed by the unnatural power of the Dae, but these powers always come with a cost.

Lex released his grip and Ti dropped back to the ground, hectic coughing erupting as he tried to recover.

Lex resets with a breath. "I know of those who have reached it. Their worth has been judged and they now live in eternal bliss. It awaits us, Ti. I will not be stopped. I will reach that bliss. I will do what I must to reach it."

Lex turns his back to Ti.

"Now, no dog has the merit of being entertained. Leave."

Lex forges a new path, looking back not once.

" . . . delusion . . ."

Ti's eyes glaze over in disbelief, the light fading. Yet, his spirit still disagreed. His fists clenched increasingly tightly, drawing blood. His entire body trembling. Once more, his eyes revived with renewed fire.

"Delusion? What sane man would seek to experience your false grandeur?"

Lex's eyes glint over his shoulder as Ti stands firmly, whose demeanor now radiates composure.

"This . . . We could've avoided this. Everything that happened to you- to us! We could've left it behind. You had the choice to close it shut, but by your hand, you brought it to life."

Ti looks longingly at his old friend. In front of him wasn't a cold warrior, but his closest friend. His eyes reminded him of the forest where they grew up.

"I only seek to help you, but it seems like you wish to stay in the dark. So be it. Hopi's flame is no longer within your soul. You've become something far beyond unrecognizable."

Before Ti could continue, suddenly he was looking straight at the eye of the Dae. It was ready to strike him and shut his mouth for good.

Lex's cool demeanor has shifted to annoyance. "To accept the hand from the likes of someone like you would be to return back to the pain. To indulge in conformity. To be a lifeless, little puppet."

Lex lowers his hand, reluctant.

"I can't do it again. I have to go. I must look down on you all as I ascend furthermore, feeling nothing more than pure pity."

The Dae begins to glow.

Radiant light emanates from the seams and the eye brightens.

The ground begins to tremble around them.

The air is sharp.

Ti speaks up, compelled to get the last word in.

"Then go, be free unto your own illusion."

The ground cracks once again.

Sparks begin firing around them.

"There is no longer any remorse for a creature that has ripped out his own heart."

The very space around them had begun to distort.

The air sizzles.

"I will leave you to your demons, but I tell you this, so I shall feel no guilt later on."

A rip began to tear between them, slowly swallowing Lex.

"Don't fly too close to the sun-"

Blink. Everything returned to normal. The only difference was the space where Lex once stood.

"-old friend."

As Ti lingered in the sting of a broken brotherhood, he reminisced on the moments of the past.

The rough recruitment days. Standing back to back in the middle of battle. They earned promotion after promotion. The Honor Corps was a big part of their history.

But it was the small moments that meant a lot to Ti. Singing childhood songs on the rides back from the field. That one time he had to wingman for Lex at the bar because that Segalian woman was quite charming.

Friends was too light of a term, their bond had reached blood.

Just two young boys who met in Asterrad.