After he was slain, Guinere immediately opened his eyes and beheld a bonfire before him.
"Where am I? Am I yet alive? Nay, I am dead already... Sir Gilles, why didst thou save me? Forgive me, my lord..." Guinere questioned all this and lamented, gazing into the bonfire.
"Where do I abide? Is this the afterlife?" Guinere continued to question, rising and looking around.
Guinere walked alone, circling the dark place lit only by the bonfire. He walked, looking about, until at last he found a very dark corridor.
Guinere seemed most uncertain, for he was presently unarmed and possessed no light.
He returned to the bonfire and looked into it; he realized there was a sword plunged into the bonfire.
Without a second thought, Guinere attempted to seize the sword embedded in the midst of the bonfire. As he tried to grasp it, Guinere felt an intense burning heat in his right hand and swiftly drew back his arm.
Guinere hesitated, then sought to dispel the doubt in his heart by recalling Sir Gilles's sacrifice. He tried again to take the embedded sword; his hand felt a scorching heat, but he was now resolute.
He grasped the hilt of the sword, and forthwith a kind of flame enveloped his right hand. He pondered not what manner of flame it was; his sole thought now was to seize this sword and escape this place.
He held the sword's hilt with great firmness, striving to draw the sword with the strength of his arm.
ZRAK
The sword Guinere successfully drew forth. Instantly, the bonfire extinguished, and the chamber became utterly dark.
"AARGGG!" Guinere suddenly groaned in pain; his head was filled with a burning heat. He fell, dropping the sword to the floor. What he felt now was a burning sensation in his head, spreading throughout his entire body.
After a moment of feeling the heat, Guinere tried to rise and retrieve his sword, saying, "I must depart from hence."
Guinere sensed something had changed within his body. He unsheathed the sword and slashed the air before him.
And indeed, the sword emitted a most brilliant flame. Guinere gazed at the sword and immediately walked on, thinking nothing further.
He walked straight into the dark corridor, guided by the fiery light emanating from the sword.
Guinere continued to walk until he saw four knights, already transformed into undead, fighting each other. Guinere looked at these four knights and immediately realized they were Skolandian and Axalonian knights.
"Even after death, ye still wage war, do ye?" Guinere spoke thus and forthwith cleaved the bellies of the four undead knights, then Guinere said, "May ye rest in peace."
Guinere continued his journey, seeking egress from this unknown place.
Guinere surveyed the place as he walked and then said, "This is like the ruins of a kingdom."
Guinere found someone to his right, wearing a hood and bound by rusty chains.
"Who art thou? Why art thou bound?" Guinere asked the person.
"..." The person remained silent.
Guinere immediately removed the person's hood, thinking that something might be covering their mouth, preventing them from speaking.
To Guinere's shock, the person was a woman, nearly undead, for her mouth and left side of her face were already rotting and covered in blood.
The woman looked at Guinere, weeping, as if saying, "Pray, kill me, release me from my suffering."
Guinere fell silent and granted the woman's plea. He drew his sword and forthwith decapitated the woman.
"A truly unfortunate woman," Guinere spoke thus after slaying the woman, and without delay, he continued his journey.
His journey was ever disturbed by undead Skolandian and Axalonian knights; he slew all these knights with but a single strike.
As he began to feel as though this corridor had no end, he saw a light in a room to his left.
He entered the room and found a bonfire, identical to the one at the beginning, with a knight seated beside it.
"Thou, thou seemest not yet to be undead, thank goodness; let not thou become undead, hahaha," the knight spoke.
"Who art thou?" Guinere asked the knight.
"I am Sir Catarina, and I was formerly a knight of the Kingdom of Wallace, but now I am dead, and I have no purpose left, hahaha," the knight replied.
"Greetings, I am Sir Guinere, an elite knight of the Kingdom of Axalon," Guinere greeted.
"Axalon? What kingdom is that?" Sir Catarina asked in wonder.
Guinere was astonished, disbelieving, and immediately inquired, "Forgive me, my lord, in what year didst thou perish?"
Sir Catarina was surprised and answered the question with a tone of regret, "I perished in the year 850, when the Kingdom of Wallace was at war with the Kingdom of Sanglo to the south of the Britta archipelago."
"I was slain because I made a mistake by sending my troops into a trap; I failed as a leader, hahaha," Sir Catarina continued, weeping slightly.
"The Kingdom of Sanglo is now part of Axalon, after King Oswald I of Saxi called for the unification of all southern kingdoms of the Britta archipelago and became King Oswald I, the King of Axalon from the southern Britta archipelago, in the year 863," Guinere continued to Sir Catarina.
"So... thou art a knight of the new kingdom, then. Very well, if thou wishest to proceed forth from this place, pray take this." Sir Catarina took Guinere's hand and presented him with a bottle bearing the writing of the Wallace kingdom.
"Pray take this forth and cast it into the ocean; these are the ashes of my departed comrades. Pray set them free. I shall remain here until the end, hahaha."
Guinere accepted it and nodded his head, then immediately departed the warm room.
A faint sound of swords clashing with iron and a man weeping was heard from the room, but Guinere continued his journey without looking back, for he had set his heart.
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Corridor after corridor, and room after room, Guinere did pass, until at last he emerged from that seemingly endless passage. It transpired that the passage had been the remains of a destroyed underground defense and bunker, though it still made no sense, as the place seemed to loop back upon itself.
A warm light greeted Guinere, but Guinere perceived that this was yet another realm. The sun and its clouds appeared most unnatural.
He walked about for a while, circling the place, which was filled with ruins. He ascended a hill and beheld a structure, a sort of temple or shrine.
Yet, its distance was somewhat great from where Guinere stood. Suddenly, a wild horse emerged from behind Guinere. Guinere was startled and approached the wild horse.
Strangely, the wild horse did not flee, but rather seemed to welcome Guinere. Guinere gave it no second thought and immediately mounted the horse.
The horse galloped furiously towards the temple. When Guinere reached the temple, the horse immediately galloped towards the hill. Guinere witnessed this and forthwith gazed upon this great temple.
Guinere ventured to enter, placing himself on guard. He came before the great door of the temple and immediately attempted to push it open.
The great door was exceedingly heavy, overwhelming Guinere, yet his effort was not in vain. The great door opened, and a cold air assailed Guinere's body.
Guinere bravely entered the temple. The candles on the temple pillars immediately ignited, and a hooded figure emerged from a small room within the temple.
"Who art thou, nameless knight?" inquired the hooded figure.
"My name is Guinere, Guinere of Axalon. Who art thou, hooded one?" Guinere spoke.
"Heheheh, Guinere, eh? Thou needst not know who I am. For soon thou too shalt depart from this realm," the hooded figure replied.
Feeling vexed that his question went unanswered, Guinere merely lowered his gaze and then looked at the figure with disappointment.
"No need to be wroth with me; thou simply needst not know my name, but thou mayest call me Zillea," the figure continued.
"Very well, Zillea, how knowest thou that I shall depart from this realm?" Guinere inquired.
"The sword thou wieldest is the key. Thou hast but to pierce the heart of one who is still alive to ignite the flame at the rear door, as thy way out of here, heheheh," the figure replied.
"Someone? What if that someone is thyself?" Guinere threatened.
"Heheheh, I did expect thou wouldst say so; alas, it cannot be, for I whom thou seest now am not my true body, heheheh, I am but a puppet," the figure spoke.
"Hahahaha, a puppet, sayest thou? Thou art indeed quite talkative for a mere puppet, eh?" Guinere spoke with vexation.
"Heheheh, thank thee," the figure said.
"Very well, I shall sacrifice myself as I am now; I wish to forget all my past," Guinere stated seriously.
The figure was surprised and said, "Heheheh, very well, thou wilt forget me too in any case, but thou wilt not forget that sword and that person's plea to thee," the figure continued.
"Meanest thou Sir Catarina?" Guinere asked.
The figure merely fell silent and immediately said, "Very well, give thy heart to that sword."
Guinere took his burning sword and immediately plunged it into his heart.
Guinere felt his heart ablaze. His entire body immediately ignited with a brilliant light. Guinere cried out from the heat and pain.
The blood that issued from Guinere's chest turned into liquid fire.
The hooded figure merely observed the process.
Guinere withdrew his sword and immediately plunged it into the temple floor. The embedded sword forthwith emitted waves of fire throughout the entire temple, and the great back door of the temple ignited. In the midst of the temple door, an inscription appeared:
"Fato destinatus natus est. Hoc est qui insulam redimet. Flamma caelestis eum inest."
Guinere read the inscription and immediately entered through the door. The fiery blood he shed burned the floor upon which he trod.
Whither Guinere would emerge, none could say, but surely he who was destined had been born to redeem the island with his divine flame.