A/N: This is the third and final arc of the Gift of the Protector Series. Please feel free to visit my profile if you would like to know the pronunciation of some of the fictional words and names created in this original storyline.

Timeline:

Arc 1: Fractured Unity, Arc 2: Pristine Embrace, Arc 3: Radiant Heart (You are here), Finale: Snow Angels

RADIANT HEART

Darkness. It is the necessary opposite of light. Without one, the other cannot exist. Such a concept is eternal, unchanging throughout the eons as the stars and galaxies abide by these fundamental principles of reality. And yet there is something primal existing in the world that dares to challenge this universal dichotomy. It is a creature. A being. In its very existence it defies the cosmic struggle and renders darkness separate from light. Not as a contrast, but different in its very essence. It is a breath of uncertainty, a fleeting moment of doubt, the lingering anticipation of things unknown. Darkness and light may endlessly dance in the sky high above, but only darkness finds a home in the heart.

Chapter 1: Nightmare in the Broken Mirror

The late twilight hour grew ever more sinister with each passing moment. Resting against the marble faced clock tower in the silent city's eastern square, she stopped to catch her breath. In her quivering palms, she held a small timepiece of her own. Made of silver, it was once a pocket watch but had since lost its chain. The two hands had just overlapped indicating it was midnight.

White as a patch of fluffy snow, the shifting moonlight bore a full moon's face while black rainclouds passed over Slateport's misty harbor. Like abstract designs etched into a frothy canvas, gloomy clouds concealed most of the night sky. Only the moon could shimmer through the thick blanket of amorphous sky above the port city.

Shivering specks of moonlight tickled her pale skin, her décolletage slightly exposed from the white collared shirt she wore under her short woolen dress-coat. There was a slight bluish-grey trim running along the base of her open neck collar, which appeared quite wide compared to her slender neck. A single rounded pocket adorned her top, on her left breast. She had a narrow red necktie that danced in front of her average-sized chest, worn loosely and somewhat lazily wrapped around her collar. Her short black coat was worn over her top covering up her arms with its warmth, but the jacket's skirt-like base just barely covered the bottom of her perky derriere. Her svelte legs were covered by stockings and she wore two-toned white and black spatterdashes on her feet. The footwear's base and raised heels were liquid obsidian as were the diamond shaped buttons running up the side of the otherwise bleached leather that rode well above her narrow ankles, protecting all the way up to the base of her calves.

She knew she was alone. She felt alone. And yet she was unquestionably afraid. A sudden chill ran up her spine. Her pace hastened as she walked along the uneven cement of the park on her way home. Rising and falling, her lungs took in quick breaths of the icy moonlit air. Substantial yet effeminate exhalations were the only noises save for the wind.

As she dashed on her way at this late hour, she quickly turned to face the sound of a branch rustling in one of the nearby trees in the park. Though it was the dead of night in the city, she could not be too careful. Not after what she had seen. After she had scanned the low foliage for any further movement, she gradually proceeded again.

Not a shadow, not another noise. Wild Pokemon, she thought, breaking into a brisk jog in fright. The persistent sounds of her heels clapping against the cement soon stopped as she darted into the tall grass adjacent to the path. I shouldn't have taken this shortcut back, she thought mired in frustration. Then she followed that thought by justifying her actions. I only just moved here.

She approached a large stone statute. Hesitating, her pace slowed. Amid all of the desire she had to continue on her journey home, she could not help but slow as she approached the large granite figure. Sparkling with midnight dew in the hoary light of the moon, the enigmatic figure drew her attention. Like a magnet of shelter, she stepped against the chiseled stone, rubbing her trembling hands against its coarse façade. Oddly shaped and in the filtering light from the only source above, she couldn't tell what it was or what it represented, only that it offered a degree of comfort to someone who had lost her way.

Wet, overgrown grass bit at her slender legs as the wind picked up. Perturbed, she pressed her back against the statue and looked back. Her breathing quickened. The entire park was empty, and the supposedly "energy efficient" solar-powered lights lining the pathway had long since expended their meager collection on account of all the rain.

"Okay," she whispered aloud to herself trying to build up her nerve. "You can do this. You're not lost."

But as she ran her dainty nails nervously against the figure she leaned against, the creeping sensation returned. It was an inescapable dread. She felt as if she as being watched. Cruelly enough, she could not discern nor ascertain the source of the foreign feeling. Like a tightly wound music box, her heart fluttered in the midnight air, each note of silent searching trying desperately to stabilize the ill atmosphere.

Panting, she fathomed what she could do. She had no Pokemon on her. The city park was not normally patrolled by guards at night. A co-worker had told her that the path through Central Park would get her to the block she lived on in half the time. Well didn't that work out great, she thought sarcastically.

Should have taken a bus back from work. It was a foolish sentiment. Not even the bus-line ran past eleven. Working well past normal business hours on a busy day at her new job, she was stuck taking the streets no matter what. Still, even this was better than what she had been doing before.

She shook her head, trying to reorient where she was. I came in through the western gate; Michael told me the path to Savon's Ferry curved north and then east…

"Ahhh!" She ducked instinctually, hearing the flapping of Zubat wings overhead. Falling into a squat, she tucked her head between her knees, covering her neck with both her arms, lest they bite her. Luckily, the sound soon passed, as did the Supersonic hums emitted from the blind creatures' mouths.

"I just want to go home…!" she whimpered. "Back to the Johto countryside. Before all this happened. Before… No, I promised myself not to think about it."Troublesomely, she rose to her feet again, darting straight ahead into the inky blackness. She dared not look behind her. Running in a straight line through bushes and trees of all varieties, she eventually found her way to a metal gate. "Phew…! Thank heavens!" she said, grasping the icy bars with her delicate hands.

But the gate would not budge. Worse still, she could see the promise of civilization up ahead in the form of tall grey buildings, which stood fast, denying the night sky from touching the horizon.

"Ughhh! O-P-E-N!" She shook the bars, her flimsy gold armlet jingling loudly in the otherwise quiet park. Seeing no way to scale herself over the pronged fence, she gradually turned around, only to find the way back had grown pitch black as the sky continued to darken with the promise of rainfall.

"Dammit!" she swore, shaking the bars again in futile anguish. "…Let me out!" she said loudly, hoping a friendly ear would hear her pleading. "Please, somebody! I'm trapped in the park!"

However, there was no such listener on that dark night. Gradually, she walked parallel to the grated fence, keeping an eye on the park where she had come from. She longed to see that mysterious statue to point her in the right direction, but the inky blackness from the canopy of trees had long since consumed the beacon of hopeful respite.

The sound of a twig snapping from behind caused her to jump in terror and break into a dash. As she continued to run, her lush red hair bounced over her narrow shoulders with increasing recoil as the tie she wore loosened. Soon she felt the ribbon slip off, as if it were tugged right away from her. With a jolt, she felt her soft hair tingle against her sensitive back. Even in the dark night while she ran adjacent to the cast iron bars, the pasty seashell color of her top could be seen from beneath her dress overcoat. The snug undergarment she wore loosened with her hasty sprint. A leathery belt kept her grey dress skirt in place. With each less-than-graceful stride, her light skirt fluttered up higher into the blank night air.

Eventually, she reached a large gate with a padlock. She grappled clumsily in the dark, trying to locate the locking mechanism and escape to the dimly lit street ahead of her. Yet the lock would not give.

"Oh no! It's locked…!" she whispered, afraid to admit that she might have to follow the path she had found back through the eerie park. The wind had died down. There wasn't a sound in the park. Not even a Pokemon in the air. Only the rustling and tinkering with each of her panicked stirrings could be heard.

"Perhaps I can help you with that," said a man's voice.

"AHHH!" she shrieked. She spun around, grasping her wet palms tightly against the metal bars behind her. "W–who are you…?!" she asked the darkness.

Slowly a shadowy figure emerged, his posture lean and trimmed. Masculine and steady, he gradually walked along the path towards her.

"Stay back…!" she ordered, blindly fumbling with her sweating hands on the gate's lock.

"Don't worry," said the man calmly. "I only want to help you."

She breathed out in hushed sigh, but did not trust him. "W–who are you?" she demanded.

"Me?" The faint tapping from his jet-black boots signaled his continued approach. "Nobody in particular. I'm here to help you. Think of me as…your guardian angel." He suddenly paused, breathing out quickly. "Yes. That'll do nicely."

"Guardian…angel…?" she repeated, confused, and unsure of what the mysterious voice meant by that. "Umm…great…whatever." Warily, she inched away from the lock as his shadowed visage drew near. Stumbling, she fell off the path, rear first. "Ahhh!"

Breaking her fall, an invisible arm grabbed her, stalling her untimely plummet. His hand, gloved in a suede fabric, guided her wrist back up until she stood almost beside him. Though he was taller, his twisted ebony hair danced in front of his face, only revealing a faint pair of tight lips not far removed from a narrow nose. "Careful now…" he said. "Don't want to hurt yourself."

"T–thank you," she said to the stranger. Should I tell him I'm lost? she wondered silently. No. I need to be on my way.

"It's okay," said the man's steady voice.

"Well, I need to be on my way then," she said to him.

"You took the wrong way home, didn't you?" he said craftily. "*Tsk, tsk*. Like a little Lostelle."

"How did you…?" She pulled away from his grasp.

Surprisingly, he let her go immediately. "I told you already who I am. I'm here to protect something important."

"Protect me?" she asked cautiously. "From what exactly?"

"There are plenty of things that could turn foul for a lost lady late at night," he said with strange charisma.

"So," she hesitated, "you knew I was lost here?"

"Of course I did," he said. "You wouldn't be wandering out here all by yourself at this hour."

Feeling almost guilty, she replied, "I…I know. I'm sorry for troubling you. I thought this way would take me there faster. A –"

"– A co–worker told you that?" he said with a shake of his head, made obvious by the swaying of his bangs obscuring both his eyes.

"W-Wah! How did you…?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked her.

"Nothing's obvious!" she said fretfully.

"Fine. Here. Your exit." Pushing her gently aside with an extended arm, he approached the lock. With a sharp "click!" the padlock snapped open. Then the unoiled gate squeaked loudly as it was forced opened by the man's shoulder.

"Okay…" she looked beyond his long sleeve and at the street ahead of her. "Thank you."

However, he said mysteriously, "Don't thank me yet."

What…? she thought. But the prospect of being freed from the spooky park had her head coiled in a knot of emotion. "Okay, I appreciate it."

"You do?" he asked, his thin frame gradually retreating back into the invisible embrace of the shadows. "Good."

"Wait!" she exclaimed. "You haven't told me your name!"

She saw his teeth reflected briefly in the hazy moonlight. "Who has time for names at this hour?" he asked. "I'm just a visitor here in Hoenn. Like yourself, I came here from far, far away on a ship."

"Right…" she admitted. "I have to get to Devon's Ferry."

"Hah. You're in for a rough time if that's where you're heading." She wasn't sure how, but she could tell he was smiling beneath the wooly scarf entangling his narrow neck. "Of course… I know where Devon's Ferry is," he said rather slowly. "How would you like me to show you the way?"

Shrugging, she thought, He's really weird and creepy. But he says he knows the way and was capable with that padlock. "Um… If it's not too much trouble. I haven't found the best way around the city yet."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all," he said with a prolonged sigh. Again, the haunting air seemed to dance slowly around her as he stepped out of the park through the open gate. "Follow me. We're a lot closer than you'd think."

"Okay," she said trialing closely behind him. "And listen: don't you try anything suspicious or I'll scream and wake up the entire city!"

"Oh ho. Don't you worry," he replied with a faint laugh. Sinisterly, his slender fingers clutched tightly onto something well hidden in his overcoat's breast pocket. "Don't you worry at all, my dear… I'll get you there safely."

Once the shady individual had guided her down a series of empty blocks, she began to recognize some of the structures around her. Silently, she heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank heavens…" she thought as they approached the light rose brick of her familiar apartment building. "Thank you for leading me here safely," she said. Yet the gratitude she gave him did not appear to resonate upon his sallow expression.

His pace slowed as he reached the steep stairs leading up to her apartment complex. Cloaked behind a mask of thick, ebony hair, he showed very few features. He only nodded while she hastily searched her small purse for her keys in the dim overhead street light.

Ah ha! Grasping the boney key, she walked up the first step. Feeling relieved, she turned around to thank the stranger again. "Thanks for–" But no one was there. "Huh?" She stood alone under the eaves of her building, the swaying streetlight overhead squeaking in the hallow wind. "–everything…?" Where'd he go…?"she wondered. I could have sworn he was right behind me…

Again she looked up and down the desolate avenue, not seeing a soul in sight. The deafening sound of distant thunder from above caused her to all but forget her mysterious escort. Quickly sprinting, she rushed under the cover of the structure just as the rain began to pour down the dark eaves and onto the steep stairs. She slipped her key into the door's knob and turned. With a satisfying sound it opened revealing the warm lobby's interior.

It was a cozy environment. A bit musty, yet certainly homey. The scent of a recently cooked pasta dish from her neighbor caught her attention. "Mmm…" Walking down the hallway of the lobby, her eyes darted about at the various pictures faintly illuminated by the receded incandescent bulbs in the ceiling. "What a strange night…"

Not wanting to take the lift at this hour, since all she wanted was to get into her soft bed. The fresh sheets she had washed would feel so nice on her exhausted body especially after taking a warm shower. She still felt the uncomfortable sweat from before under her bra, and she hastily climbed up the spiral stairwell to reach her unit on the third floor.

Fumbling again with the bronze keys, she undid the lock with a quick turn and click. Opening the wooden door gave forth a scent of her perfume, a mixture of young Roselia petals and sweet Bellossom honey-dew mixed with delightful coconut oil. "Home at last…!" she thought as her preferred scent wafted through the air.

Eagerly, she dashed to the mirror, taking her high-strapped footwear off along the way. Stumbling slightly, the thunderous storm outside persisted with belts of lightning that arched across the sky, illuminating her flushed room with a flash of powerful light.

Getting to the bathroom, she peered into the full sized mirror, sighing in relief. The mirror itself was fine but it was on a broken stand and she had leaned against the wall for the time being. Some of her eye makeup had run off onto her pallid face, giving her the appearance of having two small bowls of charcoal beneath her azure eyes. Batting her long lashed eyelids, she played with her cheeks, removing their rosy flush and revealing more of the pale skin underneath. "Phew…"

Hearing a loud noise, she turned only to be confused by the sound of her door slamming shut. That was impossible. She had already closed it on her way in. What…? The echoing thunder eased her worries. "That was probably just the thunderstorm," she whispered to herself. "I need to get around to calling maintenance. They should really check my door's hinges…"

Turning back to face the broken mirror, a strange sight greeted her. She was still there, her slender build and beautiful visage an undeniable sight. But she was more than merely a sight to herself, for over her left shoulder stood a shadowy figure. The same figure from before. A murky visage of a man!

"Eep!" she yelped as the torrents of rain splashed outside the fogged window. Such raw terror overtook her, she could barely manage to cry out. "HELP!"

Another loud crackle of thunder separated the numbing sensation she soon felt and the slowed fall to the tiled floor. Everything had decelerated to a sluggish pace around her. As her body collapsed onto the hard floor, she barely felt any of the impact. Sharp tingling came from her neck. From the ground, she attempted to raise her hand up to her neck, only to feel the harsh grasp of the stranger's gloved hand once more upon her wrist!

AHH! Get off me! she tried to scream, but her lips had frozen shut. Locked in a paralyzed vulnerability, she could only watch as the figure from the park approached her.

"Well, it seems were here," said a familiar voice.

"*Huff! Huff!*" she twisted and screamed as loud as she could, but no air would come out, no sound could be made.

"You're trying too hard," whispered the man. "Don't try to resist!"

"…!" Helplessly, she peered up into his mysterious eyes. Like two twinkling amber olives they drew in her gaze as he knelt down next to her collapsed frame. She tried to kick him, but he was too powerful as his body pressed down on hers.

"It's okay…" he said, twirling her delicate red hair around one of his slender fingers. "I promise it'll be over soon." Oddly, she could not feel the familiar strain of concentrated pain as he tugged on her hair in a tight knot round his wrist. "There's no pain, right?" he asked her.

She could only gasp in horror as he straddled her in an unprecedented act of advance. "Please…! No!" Nevertheless, all of her earnest pleas felt upon silent ears. "Don't! NOOOOOO!" she hollered from beneath the crushing terror against her chest.

The man, reached into his inner vest pocket, removing a thin set of square spectacles. Calmly adjusting the glasses on his narrow nose bridge so that they shielded his piercing eyes, he said faintly, "Don't worry. To worry is to be weak. And to run is to let fear overwhelm you." Resting his hand on her exposed shoulder blade, he smiled. "You chose to run from me. That was your mistake."

"You— You're— …! No! It can't be you!"

"It'll be over. It'll all be over soon…" he said methodically. "Soon, you'll be better…soon…for the sake of the research we swore to undertake and see through to the end."

"…!" Without a voice, she squirmed and twisted, desperate to break free from the mysterious paralysis. "Let me go!" she desperately tried to call for , her earnest struggle became soon futile, as her limbs seemingly traveled far away from the control of her mind. AHH! NOO! The distant outcry to those fading limbs soon became lost amid a new, comforting sensation. "Haaaahh…!" A sensation of warmth, culminating in her heart. A flutter of excitement jolted her chest. Tingling, beckoning, it urged her to coo gently as the wonderful sensation continued to overtake. Mmm…! …N–no! Her eyes felt frozen, and she could not avert her fixated gaze at the spinning ceiling. Trapped, she was imprisoned in a wellspring of ecstasy that was not her own. Countless beams of spectacular neon color and light danced around her living room. And yet as these brilliant lines of light she had never seen before continued to fill her room and her body with inexplicable warmth, she could not take her fearful eyes off of the man, wearing a broad grin, stroked the ridge of her neck in a tender motion. The delicate touch of his fingertips tickled at first, but as they rose along her neckline, the sensation soon became overwhelming.

"Estenina!" boomed a terrifying voice, resounding from deep within her center. With wicked shrills that seemed to capture the trembling pain of countless generations seemed able to shatter all remaining control she held over herself. "The soul…the spirit…!" She sensed her body heaving below in desperate breaths, yet felt completely detached. "—ARE OURS!"

All was suddenly quiet. Someone was speaking to her. She couldn't understand his voice. She watched his lips closely. Had she seen that face before? She could not remember. She watched his mouth open and close, ejecting strange sounds into the air. Was this some sort of language he was using to communicate with her? She peered downwards, utterly confused by the feeling of being embodied once more. Something was incredibly odd about this vessel. It lacked the capability for power that she once held before her body was ravaged by the wicked deeds of the Cult of Ascension. Yet exactly what they did to her was not memorable; all she could do was recall the name, not the deeds. In fact, she experienced a mix of memories. It was growing with each second. Every breath seemed to be filled with a flood of memories that were not her own, that never belonged to her, and yet somehow always hers.

There were conflicts everywhere. Places she had never seen. Smells she had never felt emotional about. Rhythmic sounds she had never heard played on beautiful instruments. All of these came flooding into her consciousness. And one feeling trumped them all. It was a desire. It felt like something she had lost. Something special. Something precious. A longing for something, someone, but she could not remember who.

Though she could not determine the progenitor of the emotions stirring all these strange and foreign memories, it was clear that she now was no longer in her former body. If this being she inhabited could share her emotions, then perhaps it could also project and receive telepathic thought. She tried to focus her mind on linking a strong bond with her heart to do this. Instantly upon resorting to telepathy, she was thrust into the middle of the mysterious man's sentence. "When memories fade… seek to carve them in their hearts… it's not as though thoughts travel through time … consciousness is eternal … the key is so long as … remembers a name. …What is your name?"

"Celesta…" she whispered softly in her newfound voice. She gasped at how the cool air felt warm against her chest, how the slightest inhalation filled her with unparalleled cordiality. Bringing her quivering hands to her lips, she marveled at the tenderness of her fingertips against her glowing red lips. Feeling their plump redness racketed a series of cascading vibrations, all of which shook her core with an urgent rush.

"Celesta?" asked the man's voice. She could not recognize his voice; clearly she had never met the mysterious stranger before, as all forms of prior recollection had been suppressed by the searing scar on her chest. The handle appeared to be made of the same organic material that had cut through her cleavage. A collection of crimson shards held together by a silvery veins of liquid metal had penetrated deep within her. Its radiant glow seemed to pulse with the exact consistency of her internal heartbeat. She exhaled as ecstatic chills ran along her spine as the two mounds on either side brushed against the core. The tingling sensation around her lips and other sensitive organs had subsided from the initial climax, but their mysterious echoes seemed to endlessly resound through this new body. Her eyes batted convulsively as she began to cough, and her lungs felt the rush of precious oxygen she had been long deprived of. Looking to her side, for a brief moment thought she remembered the man beside her, but it was too fragmented of a memory. Where… where do we know him from…? she wondered. Who is he…? He can't be the goddess we meet after death! He must be Senarmius, the animator.

"…There, there…" he said to her as heavy lids slid over her vision, fading her sight into a balmy warmth, "there, there, Celesta. You're awake, again. Safely within a suitable vessel I might add."

…This? Hearing that made her heart jump with excitement, and yet she felt incredibly tired physically. We're here…? Where did the light go…? she wondered in twisted curiosity. You…! She could not remember his name, or anything at all about his mysterious appearance – as he seemingly arrived out of the blinding white light she saw after experiencing death.

"Hmm?"

She could barely see him. But she could feel his retreating touch. You can really hear us…? We're really real…? Awake? Alive?

"Of course you are," replied the man's somber voice. By now, she could barely distinguish the lines of his angular face through the growing haze of misty colors. "You've been excellently preserved."

Pre–served…? she pondered, the emptiness of the skin she inhabited feeling strange and delightful. What…what does that mean?

"Your consciousness was kept alive as I predicted from my research. And beautifully so," marveled the man's voice. By now, his speech was only a faint static of syllables, dragged so distantly away from her by the anesthetic, she could no longer distinguish where the end of her horizon of perception was. "Angelus… The research was all correct. But… I never dreamed this would be possible," he whispered.

Neither could she. From the rising pressure of her chest, to the delicately sensitive skin she felt so intimately connected to, everything had grown substantially closer to her. Save for vision, all of her senses felt heightened, as if on the edge of some miraculous new frontier of experience itself. What is this?

"Celesta…" said the invisible stranger. "This is your new life. This is humanity's gift to you. This experience, this everything, is all thanks to me."

"Thanks…to you?" she repeated softly.

"Your life goes on beyond the veiled shadow of death because of me, Celesta. I freed you from death itself; in saecula saeculorum. …This life is yours now."

"This life…?!" she exclaimed, as if hearing the phrase for the first time. Indeed, the range of the man's voice sounded rather shallow, and echoed far above where she had drowned deep into a vast pool of sinking consciousness. "But we are no longer one singular soul. No…not any longer."

"Do not dwell on the imprisonment of your host… Despite the challenges of your disiecta membra, those scattered fragments, I gave this life back to you… brought you back from the prison of the so called 'Dagger of Life'. And did you not experience an eternal moment in your death? Gnawing on your soul along with the souls of countless other creatures like yourself…Gardevoir. But now, you again inhabit the physical reality of the world. You must do something for me in return. Quid pro quo, my dear Celesta – a favor for a favor."

"What…what is it?" The urge to guard and protect took her by surprised, and she squinted in an attempt to see who it was that requested her aid. However, the air was still thick with a strange burgundy miasma of swirling clouds and traveling lakes of tears. She reached her hands up to try and find his voice, desperately looking for the source of that promised purpose. That promise. That duty to protect. That task to save what mattered in this finite existence. That mission to guard that which was most treasured to her heart. That goal to unify two hearts into one. What must I do for you…? she thought with urgency.

Though she could not see it, she felt his smile. The way his narrow cheeks retreated in pleasure. "All that I want, Celesta, is to be together with you. …Forever."

"…!" The surge of ecstatic pleasure was nearly unbearable. The sheer thought of sharing her life with that of another made it impossible to resist the sweeping fantasizing. "You… you want that?"

She felt something tickle her ear. The dangling cartilage felt less warm than she was used to. But the sound was as crisp as ever. And as he spoke she retreated into her own shocked trance. "You, that's all I want Celesta! That's all I need!"

The broiling warmth in her chest had tightly surrounded her entire body, everywhere she felt the delicate pins of wonderful sensation. From the silky fine tips of her hair, to the tiniest of her toes, everything about her body roared with excitement. On the verge of losing control, her knuckles tensed into tight fists, which soon exploded into open hands which she threw high into the air in an exotic yearning. "Take me!" she gasped as the world around her began to collapse into smaller pieces. "Please, take me with you!"

Settling his cool hand on her fevered forehead, he rubbed the palm of his hand against her face, now flushed with uncontrollable and restless scarlet. "I can't unless…"

His tempered refrain drove her into a flux of delirium. "…UNLESS…?!"

"I want you to take me back," he said. "I need you to take me to the Garden. To the forest of your origin. To the Old Forest. It is the only way for us to be together as you wish."

At this her heart leapt. "A way to be together…!"

"Yes." She sensed his nod. "A way for us to be together permanently."

But…how….? she initially wondered, but the growing sense of an indomitable spirit soon overtook her. It no longer mattered how slim the odds were, just that there was a chance. Indeed a second chance was enough for her. Can this be happening…? She knew better than to question it, for the experience itself was immaculate.

"I want you to remember one thing, and one thing only. If you want to be whole again, if you want to experience your life with all of its newfound pleasures, then you must bind your will to mine! You must join your heart with my will! You must become my avatar, together; we must take back this wretched world!" She squeaked involuntarily at the sound of the mysterious man's passion. Her excited eyes, longing for a taste of his zeal, glowed a bright crimson with a blend of awe and curiosity. Little by little, her vision began to glisten with shapes and colors, forming tiny kaleidoscopic patterns at first, and then morphing into discernible shapes. She felt herself slipping into a reality stranger than fiction.