Arc III: “Return of Darkness”
Chapter III: “Fading Darkness / Tales Untold”
Episode III: “Birth of a New God”
Leo and Zane soared toward The Zenith, carrying Lian between them like a fallen banner.
Above the cloud line, the floating sanctuary waited—white stone, roaring waterfalls, gardens swaying in thin, cold wind.
And at the palace steps, the Old Guardian of Solaris stood alone, leaning on an unassuming wooden cane as if it were the only thing keeping the sky from collapsing.
“Oh… Lian…” the old Guardian breathed, and for a moment his voice sounded less like a god and more like a tired man. “This is worse than I feared.”
“You were expecting us?” Leo asked, lowering Lian carefully.
“Yes,” the Guardian replied. “I’ve been monitoring his aether signature since he left to battle. I watched his soul refuse to let go.
Zane dropped to one knee so hard the stone rang. “I’m sorry, Master. I—I couldn’t protect him.” His voice cracked, and the tears came anyway, hot against the thin air.
“Enough. Worry not, child.” The Guardian tapped his cane twice.
An emerald pulse spilled outward—not an aura meant for battle, but a frequency meant for keeping things alive. The Zenith’s runes answered with a low hum, like the sanctuary itself was holding its breath. He crouched down to Lian, who was lying on the floor, and placed his hand on his chest.
“What are you doing?” Leo demanded, because even he couldn’t ignore what Lian looked like. “He’s—”
“Not gone.” The Guardian crouched, palm hovering over Lian’s chest. “His body failed. But his soul is still braced against the dark.”
“Can you… Save him?” Zane asked, sniffling.
“Listen.” The Guardian’s eyes sharpened. “I will pour the last of my lifeforce and spirit—all of my remaining Flow—into Lian. It will wake him.”
His voice lowered into something grim. “When he rises, you will tell him this: find my other half. Not one who’s guided Solaris… the one who was made to purge it.”
“Your… other half?” Zane whispered, throat tight.
“How will we find him?” Leo asked.
“Lian will sense him once my essence settles inside his soul,” the Guardian said. “So long as we share the same realm, the pull will not fade.”
He exhaled slowly. “Now… the time has come.”
The Guardian’s emerald aura collapsed inward—compressed into a threadlike stream—and poured into Lian’s chest as if sewing life back into him.
The old man trembled. His hand lingered a heartbeat longer than it should have.
“Remember…” he rasped. “He must find… my other half…”
Then his knees buckled.
“MASTER!” Zane shouted, catching him too late.
The Guardian’s body dimmed—not like death, but like a candle finally spent—until only the cane remained on the stone, humming faintly with leftover resonance.
Zane carried Lian inside the palace to rest, while Leo went to rejoin Kyoto and Reito.
[The next day]
When Lian finally woke, it wasn’t with strength—just awareness.
Zane was there immediately, speaking too fast, eyes swollen from crying.
“Where is it…?” Lian rasped, voice like sandpaper.
“What? Where is what?”
“The cane,” Lian whispered. “I need it.”
“Why?” Zane asked, already moving.
Lian swallowed. “I… I’m not sure. I only know… it matters.”
When the cane touched his palms, Lian’s pulse spiked—like a lock clicking half-open.
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He sat up slowly, staring at the wood like it was a living thing.
[The day after]
After finally regaining his strength, Lian was able to get out of bed.
“Zane, it’s time. I’m going to find master’s other half.”
“Then I’m coming with you.”
“Alright… we’ll leave in an hour. Get your things together.”
[Intermission]
[Yield Levels]:
Leo: 10 – 5z
Zane: 50 – 3z
Lian: 12 – 5z
- Dying: 1
- Recovering: 5
- Old Guardian Absorbed (Potential): 12 – 7z
Old Guardian of Solaris: 2z
- Withered: 100
[End of Intermission]
Zane put on his Exosuit, and Lian carried the cane. Once they were both ready, the two of them began flying southwards.
“So, have you figured out where this guy is?” Zane asked.
“Yeah, I have a rough idea.”
“Then where are we going?”
“First,” Lian said, tightening his grip on the cane, “we go to Taimon’s Jungle.”
“That place is a death wish for humans,” Zane muttered.
“Good thing you’re wearing a walking fortress,” Lian replied—then turned serious. “He isn’t on Earth.”
“Then where—?”
“Mars.”
Zane blinked, then scowled. “We can’t just fly to Mars.”
“We don’t.” Lian nodded upward. “We use the Zenith.”
“The Zenith is—”
“A ship,” Lian finished. “But to make it jump that far, it needs a Chord Nexus—a ley-line convergence strong enough to power the Aetherstream Drive.”
He glanced at the cane. “And this… is the key that tells the Zenith what frequency to obey.”
That night, they descended into Taimon’s Jungle.
The air was thick with wet heat and invisible pressure—ambient aether so dense it made Zane’s Exosuit readouts flicker.
Zane planted three small runic pylons in a triangle while Lian held the cane at the center.
“I’m bridging the planet’s pulse to the Zenith’s systems,” Zane said, voice calm now—engineer mode. “If this works… the ship will hear the ley-line like a song.”
The cane hummed. The ground answered.
Far above, the Zenith’s core rumbled awake.
[The next day – Mars’ Atmosphere]
“I can feel him… and it's stronger now,” Lian said.
“Alright, let’s go get him!”
The two of them rapidly ascended into the air and flew in the direction that Lian was sensing.
Lian clenched his fists, his eyes glaring against the horizon. Will I be able to beat him?
[A Martian Wasteland]
The red planet was quiet—too quiet.
In a modest cabin half-buried against dust storms, an old Elandarian paused mid-breath as if the air itself had insulted him.
That pull… he thought. No. Not now.
He reached for his staff—then froze.
Someone was already outside.
He stepped outside and found Zane standing there like a challenge carved into metal.
“What…?” the old Elandarian hissed. “You were leagues away a moment ago.”
Zane tapped his helmet. “Trade secret.”
Wait… I don’t sense my other half in him—and it wouldn’t make sense for that venerable old man to be using a robotic suit like that. “Who are you?”
Lian arrived within a heartbeat later, cane in hand, eyes hard. “We’re here for you,” he said. “In the name of the one who raised Solaris.”
The old Elandarian’s gaze sharpened as it landed on the cane. “So… he finally broke,” he spat. “And you crawled out carrying his key.”
His eyes flicked to Lian’s chest like he was listening to something inside him. “I can smell it. He stitched his soul into yours. If he expected me to play along and work with some newbie… he was falsely mistaken.” He paused, eyes sharpening. “I’m not the same as when he first made me the Warden.”
He lifted two fingers.
The air twisted. The cane ripped from Lian’s hands as if gravity itself had chosen sides.
“Hey, give that back!” Lian shouted.
“He called himself an overseer,” the Warden sneered. “He watched the sky and mistook that for strength.”
He raised the cane, coating it in orange aether. Then he raised his staff to it as well. “I’ll show you what he was really holding back.”
His power is incredible! This won’t be an easy fight! Zane thought.
He’s unleashing an amazing amount of aether… Lian thought with sweat dripping down his face. I can’t sense his signature!
“Ha!” the Warden slammed his staff against the cane, and they exploded.
“What!? Why would you do that?!” Lian shouted.
After the smoke cleared, the old cane was nowhere to be seen.
Lian and Zane’s mouths were both hung open. “N-no way!”
The “wood” peeled away like a disguise.
Beneath it, a rune-carved staff fused from both objects revealed itself—ancient, elegant, and wrong in the way sacred things become when they’re used as weapons.
“An artifact,” the Warden said, almost reverent. “Stamped from the Forge of Crius.”
He spun the staff once, and the Martian air answered.
“It lets me draw ambient aether, refine it, and make it mine.”
He was suddenly engulfed in a dense orange aura—emanating from the staff.
“What—?!” Lian cried.
The Warden vanished forward in a burst of orange pressure.
Zane’s Exosuit shrieked as metal buckled under a staff strike.
Lian skidded back across dust, boots carving trenches. “Argh!”
He got back up and assessed the situation. He’s too powerful for Zane! But I’m not sure if I can do this alone. “Zane!”
“I know, I know… I’ll let you handle this. If there’s any support I can give you, I’ll be sure to give it,” Zane said as he flew back, sparks flying off his suit.
Lian steadied himself, breath tightening. “Then I’ll stop pretending I’m helpless.”
He closed his eyes. Focused.
“Fiendish Form.”
His skin deepened into dark gray with a sick green undertone; his eyes burned red.
“That’s not half bad…” The Warden started, “I’ll be sure to make use of that ability once I’ve absorbed you!” He said as he dashed in.
Lian parried his first punch using his right hand. Then he blocked the second punch by raising his knee. The two of them began moving faster and faster as they continued clashing.
I feel like I should have the upper hand, but his movements with that staff are impressive! Lian thought.
The Warden continuously spun the staff around his body, balancing it on his back as he moved it from hand to hand. Then, he moved forward, jabbing his staff forward with two sharp movements.
Both were aimed at Lian’s head, but he was able to dodge both. Then he dropped his body low to the ground with his arms in front of him for support, and swept his legs to knock the Warden off balance.
“You’ll have to do better than that!” He jumped into the air and quickly jabbed his staff into the ground multiple times, trying to hit Lian.
Lian rolled his body to the side, dodging the initial jabs, then jumped to his feet and gained some distance.
He’s too skilled at close-quarters combat! I’ll never beat him at this rate. “Flash Spiral: Dazzling Spiral Lash!”
A helix of aether snapped out—not a straight beam, but a coiling lash that curved midair, hunting the Warden’s centerline.
“Hmph.” The Warden rotated the staff like a turbine, and the lash split around it, scattering into spiraling fragments.
“Then take this!” Lian fired a storm of aether blasts, forcing them to arc from multiple angles like a net.
“Child’s Play!”
The Warden easily countered and deflected every aether blast despite their large quantity.
Lian Aether-Skipped behind him in a blink of pressure and air-snap. “Flash Spiral: Super Spiral Lance!”
The coil stiffened—compressed into a drilling spear of aether at point-blank range.
“What!?” When did he get behind me?
He couldn’t react in time to block the attack. The explosion created a cloud of dust, blocking visibility.
“It’s over,” Lian declared.
“Don’t get cocky, brat!”
A surge of aether pulsed out, blowing the dust.
“What… is that power?”
The smoke cleared… and the Warden was laughing.
White and violet pressure crawled across his body like crackling frost fire.
“You thought you pierced me?” he snarled. “This is what your ‘master’ refused to become.”
His aura surged.
“When an Elandarian stops whispering to Divine aether and starts commanding it… We call it Celestial Form.”
“Divine aether?” Lian asked. I think this is the power Akira was talking about!
“Lian!” Zane yelled. “You still got this! Believe in yourself!”
“Heh, thanks, Zane.” Zane is right. His power may be impressive, but I can still overcome this!
Lian gripped his fist and braced himself to continue the fight.
[Next Time on Lyte of Utopia]: “Battle on Mars!”
[Yield Levels]:
Leo: 10 – 5z
Lian: 12 – 5z
- Fiendish Form: 12 – 7z
- Flash Spiral: Dazzling Spiral Lash: x100
- Flash Spiral: Super Spiral Lance: x1000
Zane: 50 – 4z
- Exosuit: 50 – 6z
The Warden: 5z
- Suppressed: 5
- Divine Pressure: 6z
- Environmental Aether Boost: (Level 1) + DP: 7z
- EEB1 + DP + Celestial Form: 10z