Lightning flashes upon a cloudy midnight sky. Then a gust of strong wind blew upon the tallest tower in the continent of Taika: The tower of Cygnus. Slowly, the clouds surrounding the tower had gone with the wind. The stone tower was built on top of the mountain in the kingdom of Antares and it had four branches and each was located at north, east, south, and west. The Antaresians call this tower the "compass tower".
Except the four towers, there is another tower in the middle between all the towers, called the Light Pillar Tower as it had a big crystal on top. It was only a pillar with the stairs on the side. Walking here is quite dangerous as there are no handles. It was an open area after all.
On the tallest tower, there was a woman who wore a ragged black robe. Her name was Shirohara. The robe had golden patterns on its edges. She had a dark violet pendant placed in the middle of her collarbone. Her long wavy braided white hair and barely touching the floor. Each of her eyes had a different color, her right eye was violet and her left eye was apricot. Blood drips on her left shoulder, it's bitten off, and in front of her is the remains of a huge head of a dragon.
She collapsed on the ground and took deep breaths. She looked upon the sky and saw the bright silver moon.
"Dear mother, you're always beautiful." She smiled as she tried to reach the moon with her right hand. Looking at the back of her palm, she saw how her veins slowly turned black.
She slowly tries to sit up. "Curse you, you damned dragon." She said as she kicked the snout of the dragon and its mouth opened. There, she saw her arm and she didn't know if she should laugh or cry. She couldn't feel the pain of her cut-off arm but she could feel the pain of betrayal. Slowly, she stood up.
"I hope the boys were still alive." She prayed as she slowly walked towards the stairs. She looked down and sighed when she realized how many steps she needed to take.
She had an idea on how to go down easily, it was a stupid idea but she had no time to waste. She hoped they were still alive after all. And then she did what she was thinking, she lay on the ground and rolled over. Her body shrank and slowly turned into a rock that kept on rolling until it hit the door below.
Shirohara returned to normal and wiped the dust off her coat. She opened the ten feet tall door and there she was horrified to find her companion, lying dead on the ground with a sword impaled on his chest. She rushed towards him and let out a sigh. After everything that happened to her, she had no idea how to cry now. She sat beside his dead body.
"Oh, poor Kalix. This is so brutal, I'm sorry, forgive me oh great spirit of the wind." She prayed silently as she placed her right palm on his forehead.
"To the goddess of death and rebirth, may his soul be reborn on the third rise of the silver moon." She bestows upon the name of the goddess and slowly, Kalix's body glowed as if a lot of fireflies surrounded him. And the fireflies flew towards the moon, leaving the sword struck on the ground.
"Oh gods, why did it end up this way?" She asked herself as she proceeded downstairs. She turned herself again to a rock that rolled over the stairs until it reached another gate.
Instead of bumping into a gate, she bumped into a dead body. And it was the body of her other companion.
"Oh Dens, you too? Oh, what would I tell the elf king now?" She sighed as she chanted again those words upon Dens' dead body.
"If Kalix and Dens were dead… I'm afraid… Triqo is also dead." She shook her head and gritted her teeth.
Upon reaching the third lowest gate, she wasn't wrong. Her companion named Triqo was there surrounded by bluish flames and burnt drakons. He did his best to defend yet he was defeated.
The sad Shirohara extinguished the flames and continued her chant for the late companion's rebirth. She had no time to mourn, two more companions remaining and she hoped they were both alive.
The sound of her footsteps was loud as she reached the fourth gate. There was a rustling sound which is a sign that there's someone in there. Shirohara looked at the slightly opened gate and saw a tail. She walked towards the tail that she saw and there was a faint glowing light.
"Lumiere." She said as she peeked over the door.
And there she saw her companion named Lumiere.
He was a feral— a half-human and half-animal. In Lumiere's situation, he was a feral fox. His eyes were cyan and had a dark gray side-swept bang. Shirohara first saw his foxy ears and his hair which is usually tied in a ponytail had been cut and now only reached his shoulder. His white robes had turned into dark red— he was wounded and his own blood had dyed his robe. His hands were wrapped in his abdomen. He managed to stop his wound from bleeding.
"My Lady, you were alive! Thank the gods! However, I'm sorry, I failed to defend this tower's gate. The enemies, there were too many of them and I can't believe there was Zio with them. He's a traitor. He fooled me into opening the gate. I— this is all my fault. I shouldn't have let him in… forgive me." He explained and apologized as he bowed his head.
"It's not your fault. I'm glad you're alive and that's all that matters, understood?" She asked as he patted his head.
As Lumiere looked up, he noticed that Shirohara's veins were black.
"My Lady, you were poisoned! Where's the others? Are they alright?" He was panicking as he tried to look at Shirohara's hand.
Shirohara just shook her head.
"I'm sorry, they didn't survive. However, I'm glad you did. You better heal your wounds and be careful. I'm going down and hoping Zaphkiel is still alive. There still might be enemies around." She said as he covered Lumiere with an invisible barrier.
"My lady, you were poisoned by a dragon's blood. If you keep using your alchemy, you'll end up draining your strength. I swear I will find the cure. I will stay safe as long as you promise you won't use your alchemy, okay?" Lumiere was teary-eyed as he was speaking those words.
Shirohara just smiled at him and went downstairs.
He thought she ignored what he just said but then he remembered that Shirohara never makes any promises.
As Shirohara continued downstairs, she heard some rustlings and an eerie sound in the dark room. Then after that, two huge eyes glared at her.
She tried to clap her hands but she forgot she only had one so she sighed and laughed awkwardly. She thought that it would be great to have lights so she could see but then she only had one hand. She scratched her head and closed her right eye. Her left eye glowed and suddenly she could see everything clearly in her surroundings.
In front of her was a six-foot tall black rat that hissed on her. She looked down at its feet and saw his companion unconscious. Her youngest companion— Zaphkiel lies unconsciously on the floor and the huge rat is stepping on him.
"Let him go," Shirohara ordered. The rat growled madly. "I can understand rat language so you better let him go or I will kill you." Shirohara glared at the rat but the rat launched at her.
The rat was indeed huge; however, size didn't matter to Shirohara. Right at the moment she touched the snout of the rat, it quickly shrank as tiny as a grain of corn. The rat was shocked as it saw Shirohara holding it. She just smiled and threw it. It won't definitely survive.
She then rushed towards her companion, Zaphkiel to check on him if he was alright.
Zaphkiel rolled over and groaned.
"Zaph? Can you hear me? Are you alright? You're safe now so don't worry, okay?" Shirohara checked him up for any wounds but he only had minor bruises which is a relief for her.
"Lady Iroha!? You're alive! I'm sorry, I failed. I— Zio! He was a traitor! He let all the enemies inside! I couldn't fight them all because there were too many of them!" Panic, fear, and anger could be heard from his voice. He was crying too. "He knows my weakness… and summoned that huge rat…"
Shirohara hugged him. "It's alright. What matters the most is you're safe, okay?" She smiled at him.
"Wait, where's everyone!?" he asked as he was wiping his tears as he looked at Shirohara. "Wait! What— your arm… you're injured! And your hands— your veins were black! You're poisoned with a dragon's blood!"
"Only… Lumiere survived… and don't worry about me for now, okay? " She sighed and tried to smile at him.
"This is all my fault…" He blamed himself as he was hugging Shirohara. Meanwhile, she was caressing his head.
Later, there were footsteps rushing toward them.
"There! The enemies are still alive! Destroy them!" commanded a drakon to its army.
They were coming from the eastern entrance of the tower.
"Darn, there are leftovers! Let's run!" Shirohara helped Zaphkiel to stand up.
The enemies were carrying spears and were pointed against them. As Shirohara was holding Zaphkiel, spears had rained towards them.
Shirohara blocked the first wave as she controlled the wind and the spears scattered on the floor. They continued to run yet another wave of spears went towards them.
Light flashed in front of them as Lumiere arrived and teleported the three of them in an instant.
Shirohara and Zaphkiel found themselves two kilometers away from the tower, they were near the cliff. They managed to be away from the enemies, for now.
"Lumiere! You always had the right timing, you're—" Zaphkiel was interrupted as he saw Lumiere impaled by a spear on his chest.
"I'm glad you two were alright." He smiled faintly as he collapsed on the ground.
"You… don't… don't leave us too." Zaphkiel couldn't help but cry in front of his feral friend. Meanwhile, Shirohara was quiet.
"I… apologize, I failed you… I forgot… you don't make any promises…" Lumiere said.
"I see, so this is what the great white dragon means… I'm sorry, I failed you all. Kings." Shirohara said as she sat beside the fallen feral companion.
"Zaph, you… take care of Lady Iroha, okay?" Lumiere smiled at him as he closed his eyes.
There was a moment of silence for them to mourn. The wind seemed to be mourning with them.
Later, then Shirohara chanted as she placed her hand over Lumiere's forehead.
"So many casualties tonight… oh goddess of death and rebirth, may his soul be reborn on the third rise of the silver moon." She closed her eyes as Zaphkiel watched the fireflies gather on Lumiere's body.
"What will happen to him? When is… the third silver moon's rise?" Zaphkiel asked confusedly.
"Approximately thousand years, dear Zaphling. For now, listen to what I will tell you. I cannot live longer with this body anymore… Like a Phoenix, I must die and from the dust, I shall live again. But unlike the phoenix, I can't resurrect on my own. Here, take this." Shirohara gave Zaphkiel her pendant. "This is the soul gem... this contains my soul. Take this with you… I will keep you safe." Shirohara kissed his forehead.
"Lady… where… don't leave me," Zaphling begged.
"My soul gem is in your possession; I will never leave you. And we're now surrounded by the enemies, you're the only survivor, my dear. I believe in you. You are… his descendant after all. We only delayed the Apocalypse from coming after I defeated Chaos's reincarnation, but the end is still coming. On the final rise of the silver moon, you will resurrect me on that tower, under the crystal light. And before that happens, I hope you already gathered the four kings. The gem will guide you. And I… I bless you." Shirohara smiled at him.
"There they are! Finish them!" A drakon commander shouted at them.
Spears once again rained on them. This time, Shirohara turned into a strong tornado. All the enemies turned into dust and the only one left standing was Zaphkiel, hugging Shirohara's soul gem.
Shirohara smiled and cried at the same time as her body slowly turned into dust. She closed her eyes as she recalled the past hundred years of her existence in Seiten.