Axel collapsed almost immediately on the rock platform from the nausea of traveling to the Dimensional Link.
"I thought you said we could beat it," Riselus grumbled at Dracoa, struggling to rise to his feet.
"We definitely could have," Dracoa said, "but it got to its gem at the end."
"That was my fault," Aavern said in a strained voice, shaking his sweat-soaked fur. "I should have thought of that when I made the strategy."
"You shouldn't have attacked it first," Dracoa hissed at Axel. Her furious eyes were especially highlighted in the dim light of a light-filled crack in the air nearby. "We could've waited until it left the area before attacking."
Axel closed his eyes and struggled to control his heaving stomach. "I have no excuse for that."
"Aavern?" Qassot interrupted.
"Yes?"
"You made a new orb since the old one was running out, right?"
"Why?"
"Look around."
Aavern snapped up and looked around. There were more and larger cracks in the ethereal air, with some resembling the branching paths of a lightning bolt. The rock platforms were scattered around even further, and some were halfway inside some of the larger cracks. The toroid a little ways away was visibly shaking, the sights shown through it rapidly twitching and suddenly spinning around.
Aavern's eyes widened.
"I was meaning to put it in after we ate."
Qassot groaned and put her claw to her forehead.
"Let's go put a new orb in," Dracoa said.
"Sure," Aavern said. The two flew off.
"Wait for me!" Cyil said, following quickly.
Axel got up. His legs were still shaky from the backlash of traveling into an unstable Dimensional Link. A sudden tremor resounded through the empty space around them.
"What was that?" Axel asked.
There was another, more violent tremor. The cracks in the ethereal air began to widen, reaching out to each other in some places and joining together in other places.
"That doesn't look good," Qassot said.
A tremor that sent a resounding ring through Axel's ears forced all of the cracks to connect to each other with a blinding flash. The rock platforms began to rapidly orbit the toroid, gradually being dragged towards it. In the center, the toroid began to shift, growing larger and larger. Something knocked Axel off of his feet. He struggled to right himself, but the rock platform he was standing on suddenly collided with the one Riselus was standing on. Both shattered, throwing them in different directions.
Axel felt a pull behind him. The blinding light from the cracks was rapidly spreading through the Dimensional Link. The ethereal air was almost completely covered by the spreading white cracks, connected together such that they could not be called cracks anymore. It was just a blank white void that was already merging with the toroid. The Dimensional Link was collapsing.
The crashing and shattering of rock platforms rang in Axel's ears as he fell, helplessly, into nothingness.
-
When the intense pounding ache in Axel's head and the uncomfortable jutting of something into his back finally forced him to open his eyes, he was staring up at a dark, cloudy sky shrouded in thick, cold mist. He groaned as he rolled over, sitting up sharply when a sharp rock dug into his side.
He was on a rocky mountain slope, looking down at a rocky desert far below that ran into the ocean. He glanced around. The mist enveloped everything, and the cold wind clawed at Axel's face, whistling through the jagged mountains with an eerie howl.
Axel stared around at the scenery. Tall, jagged mountains stretched on away from the heavily shrouded setting sun, reaching higher and higher. In the other direction, the mountains gradually slid downwards towards the mouth of a massive river, a river that flowed so slowly that felt more like a finger the ocean extended into the island. With the sun to Axel's right, he gazed down at a cold desert, with windblown sand arranged like frozen waves around the small brown boulders and rocks that peppered the ground. The desert ran down and met the ocean, barely visible in the fog, gradually thinning out as it approached the tip of the mountain range. In the other direction, the desert gradually widened and stretched onwards into the mist, which was thin enough for Axel to see the shoreline.
Axel suddenly got the urge to go down the mountain and look around at the desert.
"Wait, no," he muttered to himself. "What am I even doing here?"
Axel glanced around at the surroundings, feeling the fog wrap around him in its chilly, damp embrace.
I was just in the Dimensional Link, right? Then what?
The memory of the bright flash of light that consumed the entire void returned to him.
What even was that?
Even as Axel struggled to piece together what happened, his mind drifted elsewhere. The mountains around him seemed familiar, yet his memory simply refused to tell him where he had seen this place before. The tall peaks standing guard on either side of the river, splitting the land in half. Something about that seemed familiar to Axel.
Axel glanced down at the desert, his mind kicking into overdrive as he stared down through the fog, blow into thin strands by the gentle sea breeze.
This… I know this place.
Axel watched as his eyes slowly replaced the scene before his eyes. The mist disappeared, replaced by a bright yellow sun framed in a bright blue sky, glaring down on a small crowd of humans. Shining steel plate armor covered the vanguard, and the metal tips of their various weapons glinted in the light. A banner bearing a green field illuminated by a setting sun stood proudly in the middle of the group. The army shouted in unison, readying their weapons as a mass of unidentifiable blackness rushed towards them and crashed against them.
The fight unfolded in Axel's eyes even as the images faded before him. Axel was too surprised to be confused.
Axel blinked, and in an instant, the clashing armies disappeared, replaced by just sand stretching onwards, accompanied by several tall spires of rock that reached up into the heavens, pulling the thin low-flying clouds apart as they were blown inland by the wind.
What even was that?
Movement caught Axel's eye. Far off, deeper into the desert where Axel could barely see due to the mist, there was movement. Reaching black shadows moved slowly, hypnotically, through the desert. Axel squinted through the fog, struggling to distinguish any tangible shape through the low visibility.
What?
Even as the black mass moved closer, the fog blew in again, shrouding Axel's vision once more and wrapping the desert in an eerie white mist that he felt like would become solid ground if he stepped on it and walked, bringing him to a rich kingdom in the sky.
Axel shook the loose memories out of his head.
I should meet up with the other Gem Keepers.
Axel paused, looking around.
Should I?
He seemed to recognize this desert, this place.
Should I explore first?
The rocks shifted under his feet as he carefully slid down the mountain slope. The knocking of falling rocks against the ground sounded dull and hollow in the claustrophobic air.
Axel thought to himself as he descended slowly through the thick mist.
The others will be fine. They're just using me to get to the Beyond, anyways.
His sword lay bare against his hip, thrust haphazardly into his belt where it felt most comfortable. His weathered clothes, blackened and faded by constant wear and tear, clung to his battle-hardened body.
Axel's body ached with a veiled fury as the clash between the black mass and the army returned right before his eyes, a distant feeling of vengeance, accompanied by a resigned sigh that had long since given up.
What am I even doing here? Did I have some sort of goal?
The metal pauldron strapped to his right shoulder was evidence of a suit of armor that had long since been broken and worn down, to the point where only a single, scarred shoulder guard remained. His hand swept down to his sword, and his fingertips brushed against the cold, bare metal.
I've been here before. There's something here that I left unfinished. Something that I need to do.
Even as Axel's resolve rose up through his body, his the fog returned once more, and blankness returned to Axel's mind.
I… don't know why I'm here. It's like I'm just along for the ride.
Something was missing.
Axel carefully made his way down the mountain, sliding down the final slopes and stumbling over a few rocks at the foot of the mountain. He gazed out at the desert, feeling the dense air wash over the sands.
What are these visions that I keep seeing?
His vision shifted again. The blue sky and fighting soldiers returned. Axel walked closer. He passed among them quietly, watching soldiers with blurred movements and indistinguishable faces fight what looked like a living black tide. Inexplicable rage rose up from deep within him, overpowering his forgetful mind and rising to the forefront.
What are these things?
Axel walked forwards and looked closer at the black mass.
Do these things have something to do with my past?
Upon closer inspection, the black squirming menagerie was made up of black creatures of various sizes and shapes, with glinting red eyes, rushing forwards in a frenzy. Axel's quiet mind whirred to life. Colors began to merge with them. Unfamiliar images layered on top of unfamiliar images as Axel's brain added colors, fur, scales, feathers, claws, teeth, beaks, and talons in a cascade of nostalgic yet foreign beasts.
Axel lifted his shirt and looked at the pulsing black growth on his side, comparing it with the creatures.
The color and shape were eerily similar.
"Mindless creatures created by magic," Axel murmured, his mouth moving against his will. "Cursed beings who live and die at the whim of their creator."
A group of especially large creatures rushed past Axel.
Axel squinted at them. Their faded shapes that melded into each other seemed familiar. Creatures that did not exist back on Falnear were rushing past him in a desperate attempt to maul the soldiers standing proud under their banner behind him. He could just begin to hear the roar of thousands of feet and cacophony of sounds coming from the rushing black army that, in a strange twist of fate, never left behind any corpse to speak of, vanishing then they had been slain in a burst of black dust and smoke as if they were never there in the first place. Axel closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The images in front of his eyes disappeared.
The sounds did not.
Axel opened his eyes again. The black creatures were still there. They had stepped out of his recovered memory and were now standing warily in front of him.
"I guess that black mass I saw earlier was real," Axel muttered.
Axel drew his sword. White fire coursed out of his hand and covered the blade. The creatures recoiled slightly at the sudden light, hissing and roaring at the flames. An especially bold creature with a tapered snout and a thin tail crept up and lunged at him.
"I hate rats," Axel muttered involuntarily. He grabbed it by the neck with his left hand and burnt it to ashes in an instant.
He didn't even have time to wonder what a rat was before the creatures roared in anger and charged. Axel quickly sharpened his attention, letting white fire pour over his sword and swinging it in a wide arc. The blazing sword threw the fire on it outwards, creating a burning wall that melted the sand it stood upon. The wave of creatures stopped as suddenly as it started. The few dozen unlucky creatures at the forefront couldn't stop in time and were pushed into the flames by their panicked companions behind them.
Axel let fire run down his sword again. Rage poured through his veins like boiling water, driving him forwards even as he wondered why he was fighting in a long-forgotten quest for revenge that began and ended long ago, but which the deepest part of Axel's mind just could not let go of.
"Disgusting creatures," he said under his breath.
His focus sharpened and the world slowed around him as he lunged towards the frightened black mass.