Chapter 1: Battle's End

In the depths of the swamps, Zaroff and his armies kept prisoners of war. All were held in a large well-protected and well-guarded fortress. Not one prisoner was truly regarded as different from another, and all received the same cruel treatment. Each had to reside within a cell barely large enough to contain them.

However, from this recent war with Rintu, the desert city-state west of their borders, a new prisoner came. They found this ray alone, separated from his unit. He was still young, at the age of fourteen years. More importantly, he carried an ability seen in no being other than the fairies: an elemental ability to control fire.

Zaroff was desperate. He needed some kind of edge for defeating Rintu. They treated him with even more torturous and cruel punishment than his fellow prisoners and built complex contraptions to continually drain his energy with water.

“Those fire elemental powers of yours – how did you get them!?” Zaroff asked, time and time again.

“I don't know! I've had them for as long as I could remember!” the prisoner would answer back. That was always his answer. He simply didn't know. Zaroff found it to be nothing but lies. No ray could be born with powers of their own. It was impossible!

After many hours, days, and weeks, Zaroff grew more and more angered by the prisoner's persistence. His answer did not change, and Zaroff was losing the war. Eventually, out of sheer anger and impatience, and not out of mercy, he killed the prisoner and left his body to rot in one of the fortress' cells.

This wasn't truly the end for the prisoner. After receiving his final blow, he found himself walking freely in a long, narrow tunnel. He couldn't remember who he was or what just happened. All he knew was that there was a light ahead, and he had to step towards it.

“Phoenixan!” a deep voice suddenly called out to him from behind. The voice echoed off the walls of the tunnel. That was his name, wasn't it?

The prisoner turned around and looked behind him. He couldn't see anything except for a dark, endless void. “Wha-who's there?”

“A friend,” the mysterious voice answered. A figure stepped out from the darkness. It was a man dressed in a full suit of glossy black armor. A dark blue cape flowed behind him. His face was completely hidden in darkness, except for two glowing, blue, almost cat-like eyes.

“Who are you?” Phoenixan took a slightly aggressive stance.

“You have nothing to fear from me,” the dark creature replied. “We both have something in common. We meet seeming ends with our enemies not knowing any the better, but you're not going to be leave without fighting back, are you..?” The creature looked back towards the light at the opposite end of the tunnel, and then his eyes glared at Phoenixan.

Phoenixan was about to ask what the creature meant, but his memories were coming back to him now. He was left behind by his own brethren; he was left to be captured, tortured, and then killed. Phoenixan felt betrayed, abandoned, and helpless, but he at least wanted to do something to get back at them. He wanted an eye for an eye. He wanted exact revenge.

“I knew you weren't the type to go out without a fight,” the creature said to Phoenixan. His eyes were almost smiling, but they were an almost evil smile. Somehow though, Phoenixan knew that he could possibly trust this creature to help him.

“Can you feel my thoughts?” Phoenixan asked. “And how can you bring me back? I'm dead, right?”

“I am one who was banished to stay here by the fairies of your world; I am stuck in the void between living and dead. I know your thoughts and feelings because I have the power to control shadow, and if you want to go back, I can grant you with the same powers. With my help, you can step back into the world of the living and avenge yourself and others like you or me.”

Phoenixan thought for a moment about the shadowed being's proposal. Not only will he be able to claim revenge for himself, but he can help others. He can become part of something bigger; it'd be a new order of sorts against the way the world is today. Too many lands fall under the absolute control of warlords or masters of magic. Maybe he would be doing something right, though he'd have to kill others in the process; however, sacrifices were necessary. “I'll do it, but what do I have to do for you in return? And why did you come to me out of the many people do die in this war..?”

“You are born different, are you not? Others seem to hate you because you are, and they are afraid of the changes you might bring as part of your destiny,” the creature replied. “In return for being brought back into the living world, you have to free me from my place of exile, and I will let you know when the time is right for it.”

Is it my destiny to be a killer? Maybe; it's something I've always been forced to do. I've always had to in war or for survival. Phoenixan looked at the creature and nodded. He was prepared to go back. Sacrifices are needed for a greater cause. His own eyes were fixed on the creature's. The shadowed being lifted up his hand from his cape, which was covered in metal plating with numerous flexible joints. Phoenixan's vision was fixed on the creature's eyes, and his vision was beginning to blur slightly as he felt almost surrounded by the glowing blue masses. Out of sudden fear, he tried looking away, but couldn't. He couldn't move a muscle now. His vision continued to blur as he began to fell into the glowing blue masses.

The world got darker and darker, and then very suddenly, after the world around Phoenixan was pitch black, the falling sensation stopped. He didn't feel any hard blows as he hit the ground, but he did feel extremely dizzy. Phoenixan didn't even hit the ground at all. He simply stopped falling. The world was still pitch black, but soon, he realized that he wasn't seeing darkness anymore, but really, the inside of his eyelids. He wasn't breathing either.

Phoenixan's eyes shot open as he gasped for air. He can breath again. He can see again, though it was all a blurry image right now. The air he found was foul, but it felt good to be alive again. As his vision slowly came back to normal, he could make out the bars of the prison cell he was left in. The door was open. Another ray was just outside, facing the wall, crying. He could almost make out the form, and he almost couldn't believe who it was. Phoenixan tried speaking to him, but simply coughed. He couldn't make out any words yet.

It still caused the other ray to turn around and look towards him. “Brother, you're alive!” His navy blue eyes were slightly puffy from his own tears, and his light blond hair hung over his face slightly. The ray was also wearing a purple robe, which was covered in mud from the swamp. “Hey! He's alive!” he yelled down the hallways. He rushed to Phoenixan's side.

“Rayman?” Phoenixan questioned, with his voice sounding weak. “What happened..?”

“The war's over,” Rayman answered calmly, smiling. Two more rays came with a stretcher, and Rayman stepped out of the way as they loaded Phoenixan onto it. He was still too weak to move, but he felt better than he was before. As they carted him outside, Rayman walked along by his side. “I thought I lost you...”

“Don't worry, Rayman. I'm back for good, and I refuse to leave,” Phoenixan comforted, smiling happily towards his little brother.