Darkness.
No sound. No body. No breath.
Solar's mind spun.
Am I not dead? …Why do I still feel? Why is it so cold?
He tried to move, but his arms weren't his. His legs weren't his. He could sense himself and yet… not touch, not see, not even be.
Is this death? he whispered into the void. Will this be my eternity?
Memories poured in, his daughter's laugh, the villagers sweating under the sun, rainsoaked nights, their smiles, their pain. Everything was too fast. Too sharp. Every joy, every loss, everything he had ever felt, pressing down on him at once.
Are these here to comfort me? Or to break me forever?
The emotions tore at him. Fear. Anger. Joy. Disgust. Hope. All at once. Caged. Freed. Empty. Full.
Then.
Voom.
A flicker of blue light sparked before him. A flame. Small at first. Then swelling, burning until it painted the endless dark in blue fire.
Solar staggered upright, or at least thought he did. For the first time since he died, he could move.
From the flame came a voice. Low. Majestic. Heavy as the earth.
"This is the barrier that seperates life and death."
Solar froze. The words rolled through him like thunder.
Then the voice roared.
"Why? Why do you choose death over revenge?!"
Solar blinked at the fire, bewildered. A flame that talks? After all this, was this really the strangest thing? The urge to answer answer gnawed at him,till he did.
"My family's gone," he whispered, falling to his knees. "Killing whoever did this… it won't bring them back. They're dead. And so am I."
Silence. Then the flame's voice cracked like a whip.
"Does that mean the guilty walk free? That they go unpunished?!"
Solar clenched his fists, but his voice was steady. "Even if I wanted revenge… I'm just one man."
The flame's voice lowered, cold and sharp.
"One man raises his sword for those he loves, and he does not cower even before multitudes. If he must be the only shield against the world, then he stands. A man must be… stern."
Solar lifted his head. His kind heart, once gentle, felt crushed under the weight of loss.
"My loved ones are gone," he said, voice breaking. "And so am I. Revenge… it's no longer mine to seek."
The flame pulsed. "But it can be, if you desire it."
Solar rose to his feet, trembling, something burned in his chest. "Then yes… I desire it now."
The blue flame flared gold, brighter, hotter.
Solar squinted into it. "What are you?"
"Let me show you."
Images flashed before his eyes. A warrior struck down by brothers, a sword buried for centuries, a general, a king, a shield, a slave. Then, a young soldier, refusing to kill a child. Refusing even when his own comrades turned on him. He let himself die rather than spill innocent blood.
Solar's breath caught. The child that soldier had protected… was Lara.
Tears blurred his vision.
The flame spoke again.
"For a thousand years I have been many things. Oppressed and oppressor, killed and killer, king and servant. But four hundred years ago, humans started becoming intriguing to me, so I became bored of being, bored of wielding my own power,
Since then, I grant it to those whose resolve is stern. The last warrior was stern but also naive. But you… Solar…"
The fire roared high, it's golden light burning higher than mountains.
"…though you were named for the sun, you have never burned bright. You lived your whole life as barely a flick of light, in the end. You died a husk, empty, without a soul, I have come to fill that void."
"I will be your soul."
The flames engulfed him, devouring him whole.
"From this moment on, you are Solar Stern. The Soulless."
The void blazed gold, then snuffed to black.
Solar awoke. The sword he'd plunged into his chest lay in his hand. No wound marked his body. No sorrow filled his heart, no love. Only rage, only fire, only revenge and unknown power.
He rose from the ashes, looked once at his daughter's face, then turned south, toward Nox, Ren, and Soren.
Nox couldn't sleep.
Ren and Kirian had dozed off easily, even Soren was snoring, but Nox lay restless on the mat they all shared. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw images of charred corpses and Lara. Their face kept him awake.
He slipped outside, needing air. Dawn was just breaking, the sky painted in pale blue and gold. From the porch he could see the village laid bare before him, a sea of wheat glowing in the early light.
Villagers were bustling in anticipation of what was coming, gripping hoes, machetes, rakes, whatever they had. Tools turned to weapons. None of them had slept, but determination burned in their eyes.
Nox looked past the fields. His stomach tightened.
An army was coming. Hundreds of them, marching without pause, the thunder of their boots shaking the earth. He counted quickly, at least eight hundred, maybe more. Behind them, children stumbled in chains, dragged like cattle.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
A boy banged iron against a pot, voice breaking as he screamed. "They're here! They're hereee!"
Nox stood tall, stretching his arms as Ren, Soren, and Kirian emerged from the house. The old village chief walked with them, sorrow carved deep into his face.
Kirian took the old man's hands in his own, his voice steady. "I promise you, not a single life will be lost in your village today."
Ren rubbed his nose and smirked, though his eyes carried a fire. Soren tested his leg against the ground, stomping once, readying himself.
Nox's pulse surged. Power crackled in his veins just looking at the three of them.
Together, the four of them stepped forward, standing between the villagers and the approaching army.
Almost three hundred farmers with makeshift weapons lined up behind them.
The enemy drew closer, and Nox felt something wrong. Something twisted.
Then he saw it.
Every soldier wore a silver binding ring, fourth generation. But the energy radiating from those rings was no human power. It was darker, heavier. It reeked of something else.
Something Demonic.