A sun red as blood, wheat fields turning to dust, and in the heart of it all, a village aflame-
In that moment, Phainon stood at what felt like the end of existence itself.
Monsters were everywhere amid the sea of flames, roaring unintelligible sounds that sent chills down his spine.
Phainon was already a battered mess. The clothes covering his body had been scorched by the flames, reduced to tatters.
His exposed skin was almost entirely covered in wounds. Golden blood flowed from them, spreading across his body.
He was utterly exhausted. Only his eyes remained bright. And so, Phainon stumbled through the sea of flames, searching in vain for anyone still alive.
Yet everywhere he looked, there was nothing but fire and monsters.
There was not a single survivor in sight.
"These creatures... they're everywhere..."
"Someone... anyone... where are you..."
Before he knew it. A grotesquely twisted monster appeared before him.
Panting heavily, Phainon struggled to raise his weapon.
But the monster before him merely roared and writhed, its body indescribable. It did not immediately attack.
"■■■■"
"■■"
Phainon could not understand those unrecognizable syllables at all. He raised his weapon, intending to finish off the monster before him.
But just then. He suddenly understood those indistinct syllables.
"Phai█ ███ █non █ ███ █"
"█Why █did██ █you█ ██ █?"
A familiar voice emerged amid the distorted syllables. That voice froze Phainon in place.
"You... Are you... talking to me?"
He had already fought these monsters. It had never occurred to him that they could communicate.
"I█ █don't██ want to██ ███ die█... ██...█ █ █"
This time, Phainon heard it more clearly. He could even hear the fear and terror in those roars.
How... ridiculous... Could the monsters that destroyed the village feel fear too?
Phainon found it utterly absurd.
But the next moment. The monster actually pleaded with him:
"I█ █don't██ want to██ ███ die█... ██...█ █ █"
"Weren't█ we███ █best█ ██ friends█ ███ forever██ █?"
As the monster struggled violently, its flesh began to break apart, a large fissure opening across it.
From within that fissure, the corner of a bloodstained scarf emerged. The moment he saw the scarf, Phainon felt as though he had been struck by lightning.
"No... that ribbon... Livia... no..."
"I should have known..."
There was really no need to ask.
Deep down, Phainon already knew the answer. And precisely because of that, the moment he realized it, he nearly broke down.
Tears welled in Phainon's eyes, and his voice grew hoarse and shaky. An immense, indescribable grief spread from the depths of his heart, instantly overwhelming his mind.
The little girl by the docks, her face streaked with tears. The little girl who had clung to her leg, asking him to stand up for her.
That vivid face was merging with the twisted, hideous monster before him.
"Saaaaave uuuus Saaaaave █ us█ █us█ ███ ██ █ ██ ███ ████"
Perhaps she had realized how this would end. The monster Livia had become began to suffer a mental collapse.
Her instinctive will to survive made her pleas even more frantic. And in the end, even Phainon could no longer make out Livia's voice. Everything became unintelligible roars once again.
That meant. The little girl's mind might already be completely gone.
"Please... no..."
"Stop... please stop..."
"..."
"Oh, Livia... I'm so sorry..."
"And these monsters... they're all..."
"WHY... WHY IS THIS HAPPENING!?"
Phainon's choked sobs gradually became anguished howls.
Like a beast that had completely broken down, he howled in despair amid the flames and destruction.
That voice, as though weeping blood. It nearly made the audience break down alongside him.
Everything Phainon had protected was gone. But what made Phainon completely fall apart was far more than this destruction.
Those monsters... The monsters he had killed with his own hands were all villagers.
Among them might have been his teacher, his own parents, or the children who always liked to follow him around... Phainon had not merely lost them. He had killed them himself.
That truth was even more devastating than destruction alone.
On the day Aedes Elysiae was destroyed.
Phainon suffered not only physical devastation, but the destruction of his mind as well. And there was nothing he could do.
...
: I'm going insane...
: It hurts so much... Fuck...
: Phainon... Phainon's broken down...
: I can't even imagine what I'd do if something like this happened to me... I'd probably kill myself...
: This is too hopeless. So this is the destruction of Aedes Elysiae. It's so many times worse than we imagined.
: Having his hometown destroyed was already devastating enough. Why the hell can this fucking black tide assimilate the villagers too...? And make Phainon kill them himself... My God! Please, stop hurting us!
: My heart is breaking!
: So hopeless... So hopeless...
: To Phainon, he destroyed his own loved ones and his hometown with his own hands.
: Who the hell wrote this scene?! I'm going to find you and then....!!!
: This is the cruelest tragedy!
...
The comments exploded.
What the audience felt through the screen was not only despair, but also a sense of sheer cruelty.
Phainon's despair was already beyond words. Yet what they felt was not even one ten-thousandth of it.
The screen gradually faded to black amid Phainon's anguished howls.
His voice slowly faded along with it. In the darkness, Lygus's voice slowly rang out.
"When the black tide arrived, the wavering boy found resolve in his companions, and together they ran toward their first battlefield."
"In the far-off future, the land of Amphoreus would bear the marks of the heroes' footsteps: With sword in hand, he would inscribe, an eternal mark in the Golden Epic."
"And when dawn broke over scorched earth, a boy, covered in wounds, buried the dead one by one, his silence heavier than the earth he moved..."
"His home. His past. His name. All buried beneath the soil."
This was the very beginning.
As Lygus spoke, the darkened screen lit up again.
What appeared was a mural.
At its far left was a boy running with a smile. Standing perfectly straight beside the boy was the adult Phainon.
The two were engraved together on the left side of the mural.
On the right was the Flame Reaver, blending into the night. His golden mask stood out sharply against the mural's dark tones.
The Flame Reaver held his weapon, poised for battle.
Above his head was a figure with its arms spread wide and a pair of wings on its back, its head shaped like the Worldbearing Titan's divine sigil.
These two figures were engraved together on the right side of the mural.
Four figures, two on the left and two on the right. Together, they formed this deeply meaningful mural.
"His feet carried him forward. Over the Pillar of Stone. Beyond the Chalice of Plenty. Through the deadly fogs of the Hand of Shadow."
"He wandered without direction, like a withered leaf drifting in the wind. Through countless city-states, the smiling visage of the white-haired swordsman was etched into memories."
"Yet he did not walk without purpose. Deep in his heart, a voice always guided him forward to fulfill the wishes he had inherited, to brave peril, and to do all that was within his power to save those who needed saving."
"Those words his friend spoke long ago, when his journey began lingered..."
"Protect those who must be protected."
"The words were few. But they gave him all the certainty he needed."
Lygus narrated slowly like a teacher recounting history.
Yet although he was the one speaking, the central figure of this scene remained the man engraved on the mural.
The viewers were grateful that the story had not shown how Phainon walked out of Aedes Elysiae, conveying it through Lygus's narration instead.
Because the narration alone was already enough to break many viewers' hearts. Let alone seeing it depicted on screen.
...
: I seriously can't take this anymore. Just hearing these words makes me want to cry.
: [Through countless city-states, the smiling visage of the white-haired swordsman was etched into memories.] Hahaha, waaah... Damn you, miHoYo. You really deserve to die for this.
: Even after experiencing despair that no ordinary person could bear, he still shows others his smile when he faces them... Phainon... Waaah...
: Whether the one urging Phainon onward is the nameless hero or his own guilt, it's just so hopeless.
: Because he couldn't save his village, he keeps running from place to place as though he's trying to atone.
: Stop it. Please stop...
: I should've known. With how things have gone before, a character saved for last was bound to have the most painful story. But I never thought it would hurt this much.
...
The comments was filled with wails.
Meanwhile, beneath the mural on the screen, a silhouette of Phainon appeared.
His head was lowered, his left hand brushing against the mural, his right hand holding his weapon in a reverse grip as he walked forward alone.
"That's what it means to be ordinary and choose to be more." Phainon's voice rang out.
Following those words, Lygus continued his narration:
"He continued his wanderings until the call of the Flame-Chase resounded across the land."
"Onward he walked until the call of the Flame-Chase Journey thundered across the land. In the vision painted by prophecy, humanity would triumph over the gods, seize the Coreflames, and ignite a new dawn for Amphoreus."
As those words faded, Phainon's and Aglaea's voices overlapped:
"Yet losses are a constant on the Flame-Chase journey, where life, too, seems as small as a speck of dust."
"Only one who treats the world as their teacher can bear its eventual destiny. Are you prepared for such teachings?"
Aglaea's voice faded away, leaving only Phainon's monologue, along with the nameless hero's voice,
"No matter. My existence is of no consequence."
...
: Waaaaah, sob... Please stop saying that...
: Your life matters so much to us! I'm begging you to love yourself a little more.
: "The Hollow Deliverer."
: I'm really going to cry. Phainon, why are you so perfect?
: I've never hated how perfect you are so much!!
: He really! Truly! Has never spared even the slightest thought for himself!!
: Please be a little selfish!! This hurts so much!
...
People react to suffering in all sorts of ways. But those reactions generally fall into a handful of broad categories.
Even saints have selfish desires. Yet Phainon's response to suffering was something the viewers found difficult to accept.
He was too perfect. So perfect that the viewers could no longer even see his sense of self.
How could someone endure so much pain and upheaval and still keep moving forward like this? People always love beautiful things and noble qualities.
Yet when Phainon truly responded in such a way, it only made the viewers' hearts ache more. Because the viewers were also the only ones who knew that Phainon was not, in fact, "perfect."
There was no contradiction in that. His perfection as a Deliverer coexisted with the flaws in his own character.
Yet that very fact made his perfection as a Deliverer shine all the more brilliantly and flawlessly.
It also made Phainon feel more fully realized. To the viewers who had watched this far, Phainon was not some lofty Deliverer, but a living, breathing person who dwelled in their hearts.
...
On screen.
Phainon's silhouette continued walking forward, his hand brushing against the mural.
By now, he had reached its midpoint.
"When the Goldweaver called, he answered, traveling to the holy city. There, the Elders met his warrior's spirit with nothing but scorn, condemning him to the barracks in derision."
"No one saw it coming. Not the world, not even him. Yet, this nameless recruit stood at the gates of legend..."
"And there, at last, he found the ones who would walk his path right beside him."
Lygus's narration came to an end. The mural and the silhouette vanished together.
The blue curtain appeared once more. A line of large text stood at its center.
[Act II: Trial]
The opening had come to an end. Now, the story moved forward.
Light shone.
Stelle slowly opened her eyes.
The flames and destruction had disappeared. Before her was a familiar scene.
Stone... A temple... It was the Vortex of Genesis.
Stelle stood amid a crowd. Looking through the layers of people, she spotted three figures in the distance.
Mydei, Trianne, and Phainon.
Lygus' voice did not return.
But Stelle was already familiar with how this worked. She pushed through the crowd and approached.
As she drew closer to the three, she heard the whispers and doubts among the crowd.
"They're evacuating the Temple? Why now?"
"This is where we make our living!"
"Exactly! What gives them the right to make us leave just like that?"