Nolan climbed Mount Toic with Ashia sitting on a familiar that looked like a green transparent deer.

Wind buffeted Nolan as his jacket fended of the wind, and the leaves. On this path he could see the view of the landscape, stretching as far as he could, rolling hills, and buildings dotting the land.

 The silence was with them until they reached the top of the mountain. The top of the mountain was strange in a way that it was bigger than the city they had passed by. There were cabins built on the side, and there was a river stream that acted like a roar. On the far side far from the entrance there was a spire that seem to glow.

Nolan followed the path, hovering above the river, and landing in front of the Spire. Various animals in the form of phantoms lined up on the side, watching the both of them. A door opened in front of the spire where they found a C-curved gateway leading up. On the corner of the eyes he saw Ashia stopped.

“Good luck.”

“Not coming?”

“I have to stay.”

Nolan nodded. He entered the gateway, hand first. He was transported on top of a warm rounded ground. Everywhere he look he saw a blue sky that seems so endless. In front of Nolan there was a figure that seem like he was made of light. He had no face. He didn’t wear clothes, and he was certainly a person made of light.

SON OF GAIA.

The figure spoke.

YOU HAVE COME FAR TO MEET US. YOU DO NOT BELONG HERE

Nolan squeezed his eyes.

“Do you intend to seek me out then?” Nolan squared his shoulders, summoning the sword of Zachariah in his hands. A sword made of lightning and thunder, a sword that seem to rupture and divide space. “I fear that won’t be easy.”

SON OF GAIA. YOU ARE A WANDERER, ARE YOU NOT?

“Yes,” Nolan nodded, he glared. “Do you intend to test me?”

YOU POWER SUITES YOU WELL. A POWER BORN OUT OF EXPERIENCE AND SUFFERING. I DO NOT INTEND TO ROB YOU OF THIS POWER, FOLLOWER OF THE MERCIFUL GOD. FOR EVEN I HAVE NO POWER. TO END YOU HERE WOULD MEAN DEATH.

“Ashia, my wife, she said that I was called here,” Nolan placed bot of his hands on the sword of Zachariah. “What do you want from me?”

HELP US. A PLANET COMES. TO BRING FORTH CHAOS TO THIS WORLD OF PEACE.

“What is this world?” he asked.

A WORLD FREE FROM THE BRANCHES. AN ERRANT THAT HAS WENT ASTRAY. THERE ARE MANY WORLDS SUCH AS THIS, SON OF GAIA. AS MANY AS THERE ARE WORLD TREES. THEY ALL BELONG TO THE GREATER WORLD. THE LAST WORLD WHERE ALL MUST REST.

“You know something,” Nolan took a step forward. “You have power, strong enough to keep this world intact. I don’t know why, but I can feel your hold, no, you are this plane itself. A personification of the planet itself”

SON OF GAIA. DO YOU WISH TO SAVE THIS WORLD?

“I do,” Nolan said. “But I am no hero. I’ve not save any world. But if I can help then I would do it.”

YOU ARE NO HERO. BUT YOU ARE A VARIABLE THAT MUST NOT BE IGNORED. THAT IS WHY I ASK YOU. WHY DO YOU NOT PULL ON THE SOURCE OF POWER?

Nolan stared, his lips sealed. “What do you mean?”

DO YOU TRULY NOT KNOW?

“I don’t,” he said.

YOU HAVE DEFEATED THEM. YOU ARE WORTHY TO BE OFFERED AS GUARDIAN.

Nolan blinked,  and then he laughed. “Hah, I am glad that I am ‘worthy’ after all the millennia of hardship that I faced.”

EVERYONE HAS A ROLE TO PLAY, BLEAK WALKER. YOU ARE NO EXCEPTION. I SHALL REMOVE YOUR CURSE. FREE YOU FROM THE SCREAMS. DO YOU WISH TO BE FREED?

“How?” his eyes grew cold. “Do not lie to me.”

I DO NOT LIE.

“Then what do you mean you can remove my curse?”

ONE OF YOU STILL EXISTS. HE SHALL BE GIVEN YOUR CURSE.

“You mean to give my curse to him?”

SO YOU KNOW OF HIM.

“Because I am HIM. He is me. I do not forget who I am.”

THEN WILL YOU GIVE IT TO HIM?

Nolan stared blankly. He held the sword of Zachariah on his hand.

“Where is he?”

IMPRISONED.

“If you give him my curses. What he will become?”

BACK TO A BLEAK WALKER. ONE HAS BECOME A REVENANT WHY YOU HAVE STAYED THE SAME. YOU ARE FORTUNATE SON OF GAIA. YOU FOUND SOMETHING IN YOUR WOES THAT HAS KEPT YOU ALIVE.

“Then I want you to give him this sword,” Nolan solidified the sword on his hand. A sword made of Obsidian, with a cross hilt. “I don’t know how long will my peace be here. But if he is somewhere then he must be in pain. I don’t know what became of me when the Eon-Father tried to send me home.”

SO YOU AGREE, SON OF GAIA.

The figure became a wall of light that covered a part of the sky. A smoke of light streamed on Nolan as he felt power invigorate him. He had no connection to this world, and now he felt that he was one with the world. He no longer used his own internal reserves and converted the power around him into something he could use.

The sword that he handed flew and was covered in a spiral of hatred manifested into a form energy, piercing space, vanishing from Nolan’s sight. Nolan’s vision cleared. The voices that accompanied him and his eyes that were red from the sigil turned silvery. Power remained yet he felt like a big thorn was pulled out of his soul.

He tried to summon the sword of Zachariah from the depths of his souls.  It did not came. It was free from his grasps. Free from the knotted and twisted curses.

The figure returned into a humanoid made of light. He carried a basket with him, filled with pearl-fruits.

“You are free, Son of Gaia. I hope that you can help us four years from now.”

Nolan took the basket.

For the first time in many years. He felt no weight on his back. No screams. Just the silence of the peace that he yearned for. Turning around, he saw the sun on the other side of the ocean. He recalled the day where he stood on top of the building. This was a mountain yet there was something so similar that made him want to cry.

He could weep without worry now.

Nolan knew that he found his oasis.

And he would protect it.