After what Ryu had done, he was too weak to move he believed he died, he was it was over for him but It wasn't.
Ryu was still alive but was in a temporal coma, he somehow woke up but not where he normally was but instead a strange white room and what appeared to be a spirit with white eyes and hair.
she called out for him, Ryu decided to go with it because he wasn't sure on what was going on, if seemed as if he's in his consciousness but who is he to believed.
"Where am I? Who are you? What is this place? And why the f*ck do I always ask so many questions? My parents were right, I need to take a break from curious things".
She laughed as she looked at Ryu being so clueless. Ryu could see in her eyes that she was happy as if she was excited to meet him, Ryu decided to calm down and looked around to see if there's anything that can make him recognise it but nothing.
"I know what you thinking, it's quite empty right? but actually it isn't, if you look carefully, you can see it can you?"
Ryu took her advice and looked around as slowly as he could be. Strangely finding weird orbs that looked different in colour, 6 orbs were placed around but only five were active, but for the last one it looked as if it hasn't been touched for centuries.
"You can see them can you? Let me explain. What you see are you. your brother Ryuji, Heath as and Mizuki but also a mysterious orb, I could not find it, I was too busy looking for those who activated theirs but this user has figured it out but has not used it".
What she was saying was confusing Ryu but what he learned is that she could've been the one that gifted them their powers but it also meant that she was the one that led to the death of his parents.
"Before you get the wrong idea, I should tell you the truth, I am Aelita, I am the guardian who is responsible of protecting these powers but many centuries ago, a good friend now turned to enemy, stole them and gifted them to people so that they can grow stronger but what he'll do after growing stronger, kill them and retrieve them to make HIM stronger, but everytime he gets the chance he always fails, and that's because of me, I steal their powers, leaving them to live and suck up all the power that they have recieved, leaving them with nothing but what they began with and hide them from him".
Ryu felt a little tired of how much she spoke but was listening to her story.
"But no matter how much I hide them, he always finds a way to steal them and gift them to new participants. 2 years ago, he was the one that caused that huge fire to erupt and kill your parents, and I knew how you felt just from your anger, you became powerful already from those 2 incidents, the first from 2 years ago and the one from earlier. You became the first target of being murdered by them and having your power stolen so protect it from them and make sure that you can end this for good.
Not only did Ryu have a goal that he promised Heath and Mizuki but he had a reason to fight and that was to stop him, whoever he was.