"Give up, foolish child of mine."

Those were his last words to her, that he could remember anyways. Everything else was a blur after that. He could hear his daughters speak, but he never truly processed what they said. It hardly mattered. None of this ever truly mattered.

He had it all planned out. He would build power, drop out of that backwater world and find his foundation. His dear friend. All would be well after that, all had to be. She always knew how to proceed, how to survive. Surely...

Surely this would all be worth it.

Those were the thoughts that swarmed his head, numbing his vision and senses as his dragonic transformation collapsed under its own weight. Wisps of magic fell from him as he reverted to his humanoid state. Just like that the battle had concluded, he had lost.

He was too numb to process what his daughters were saying to him. Really, it was all such a waste. They ripped it all out from under him... could they not see that? Why did they insist on staying here, flapping their gums needlessly? He brushed them off, but something Alear said to him cut through the fog.

She told him to invoke it, his emblem. To utter the phrase he had repeated so many times when this ageless nightmare began so long ago. It was a foolish idea. Useless, really. Yet he entertained it. Had he the energy, he would have laughed.

"Fine," he murmured in defeat. "Burn on... Emblem of Foundations..."

The warmth he felt at those words was surreal. Even more so was looking up and seeing her. His emblem was before him once more, though he could not hear the words he could see her trying to utter. He found himself smiling. Even as the light shone over him and swallowed him up.

Yes, this was what he fought for. This was peace.

"You and I... Let us be on our way... once more..." he whispered, his body feeling lighter than a feather.

"Engage..."

Everything went black for him. He felt weightless, floating. Yet he was content. Content in the fact that he was finally free from his hell. From his loneliness. From his pain.

And then it all snapped back into focus, as a wave of pure magic washed over him. His eyes snapped open, and he saw stars.

It was... oddly beautiful. Unlike the purplish void he crossed after leaving his old prison, this void was blanketed by a sea of stars. He found himself breathless as he lost himself in the twinkling of lights, but a splotch of color shocked him from his musings. A large mass of blues and greens and browns and whites drifted from the horizon to the corner of his vision. One that looked... oddly familiar yet oh so alien.

Subconsciously, he knew the blues were the ocean. Yet the rest of it... he could not see his old home or his prison. No continent resembled Elyos, with its distinct ring-like shape and certainly no maps of his old...

He felt his chest tighten as it registered that he couldn't remember what his old home looked like. The geography could be accurate, but he couldn't know for sure. And it looked so far away...

A lone tear built up in his eye as the tornado of feelings finally broke through his facade. He traded one prison for another. And he didn't even know if the salvation he could see was really what he wanted. He had failed, utterly and wholly.

It was then that another detail stood up to him. A light brighter than any he had ever experienced flashed from behind the blue gemstone hanging above. This one being much more familiar to him. The blinding sun bore down on him, and illuminated the void he lay on to reveal a stark white surface.

Looking to his side, his dread and anguish took hold as he realised the white craters and dust seemed eerily familiar. He had always preferred the night, as his emblem was at its strongest in the dark. His only source of light was often the very moon itself. And now, he was stuck there.

He couldn't scream, he didn't have the energy. But he could cry. Part of him was grateful that nobody else could see it.

It was hours before he could bring himself to move. It was odd, he was so tired and worn moments ago thanks to that ill fated encounter with his surviving children. Yet in spite of that he felt no strain. No fatigue. He was healing, and it was at a rate he could not achieve without basking in human sacrifice. Pulling himself up and onto his feet was as effortless as could be.

He walked the surface, wanting nothing more than to find anything to distract himself from the dread crawling up his spine. His pacing was slow, and his senses were on alert. He did not fear attacks, for his skin could only be pierced with the refined weapons his spawn so foolishly turned on him, but he did not want to miss anything that could be of interest.

He wandered aimlessly for hours, and he had almost given up hope when an oddly familiar surge of magic washed over him. This time he could see it. It was a deep indigo mist, whipping up space dust as the sheer force almost knocked him from his feet.

With it came a pressure, and then a roar. Whatever it was, it was angry.

He felt a fire light beneath his feet, and despite the pressure pushing him he turned to march towards its source. There, finally. Something new, something different.

It did not take long to find the cloud of indigo and navy miasma, nor did it take long for another wave of mist and pressure to hit. Now he could see why. From the centre if the veritable maelstrom of magic came a beam of light that crashed against some kind of barrier. The barrier faded after the impact, yet it became clear to him that this wasn't a prison for him alone.

There was no roar after this blast however. As the mist gave way, he saw the creature from within collapse. It was odd. It looked like a horse with black fur, yet had wings and a horn. And it was trembling.

He couldn't hear what it was murmuring, but as it reared its head back its next words could be heard clearly.

"Damn you sister! I hate you!" The beast bellowed, its voice hoarse from overuse but loud enough to whip up moondust around her. He felt himself approaching despite his instincts screaming at him to hold his position. The creature was panting now, the faint glow around its horn fading away as it gave into sobs.

What was he doing... he had no experience with this nonsense. The closest beings to him were a long dead mage dragon and an empty ring. Both of which could handle emotions better than he could. Yet no one else was here for this... being.

No one would be its foundation, to keep it steady even in the harshest storms. It was lost and alone just like him. Bah, such sentimentality was beneath him.

Thats what he told himself as he took a seat at the edge of a crater close to the sobbing creature. The action was not as subtle as he would have liked, as its slitted feline eyes honed in on him and its whole body froze.

Their eyes met, and neither could look away. Neither could speak or move.

Author's Note

Ok. I introduce to you my current pet project. A weird crossover involving a small group of lost villains who have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I am hoping to do my vision justice with this, and I hope at least a few of yas enjoy what I am cooking up.

I have quite a bit of content planned, and along with this chapter I will be releasing two more chapters to set in motion my three main characters. There will be a shift in perspective, and my plan is to have said perspective rotate more or less in the order these chapters establish for the duration of the fic.

I hope you enjoy my project.

-Marlo