She stood in the cave beneath the hill, within the tomb of souls. She sighed, reading the markings on the stone sarcophagus that once held the last remains of Arzingoth. His sarcophagus had been broken and cracked at some point, it looked a lot like the others in this room. Calestia’s sarcophagus was on the shelf above Arzingoth’s and was in much the same condition; broken with the lid and side wall having been cracked in half. The wall opposite held the sarcophagi of Kalestia and Alzacastar placed similarly with the female above the male. The room itself was a dirt cave, and otherwise unmarked and uninteresting. A single rotting torch hung in the center of the room on the wall opposite the entrance, providing only dismal light. These sarcophagi were now all empty; the contents were never the bodies of these exiled, but rather their souls.

“Arzi…” She said in a soft voice. “I miss you…”
She stayed a moment touching the engraving on Arzingoth’s sarcophagus, feeling the symbols that made up her mate’s name. He was gone, she had come here to underneath of Spirit Hill as a final chance to see if the souls of the thousand dragons knew where he was, but they told her nothing. Her heart heavy, she turned and left the room. She walked out of the cave and closed the secret entrance, carefully locking it back into place. She didn’t know where to go, perhaps her parents? Her sisters? Maybe she could head to earth and see if she could track down a certain human… But as she thought this, she sensed someone watching her. She looked around, listening in the night air, but heard nothing. A black smoke approached her, as it drew closer, it took the form of a woman, with long black hair and cold gold eyes.

“Hello, sister…” She said.
Jae studied Phage for a moment with her eyes. Looking at the dagger on her hip, her black dress, her silver hair and amethyst purple eyes, and finally her Mother’s sword.

Phage: What is it you want? Jae?
Jae: What do I want? I want what’s rightfully mine.
Phage: What do you mean?
Jae: You’ve taken a lot from me, Mother’s sword, which is rightfully mine as her eldest daughter, and not to mention Rezi.
Phage: Rezi? You can have him. He’s not Arzi; he doesn’t want anything to do with me. And I don’t want anything more to do with him either.
Jae: You think it’s that easy, do you… Just leave? He promised me, and now he doesn’t even remember me. The sword, hand it over.
Phage: Father gave it to me. I have reaper experience. The realm and powers of death are right at home with me. Why should I give it to you?
Jae: That sword is meant for me. It always has been. Why Father gave it to you doesn’t make any sense, Mother isn’t dead yet, and I am the eldest.
Phage: The eldest… See this is where I wonder who you really are… How is it that you say you’re the eldest, how is it you knew Rezi from the past, he’s been gone for as long as the creation core has been a thing? How old are you exactly? I’m pretty sure Mother hasn’t been around that long.
Jae: That’s the problem I have with you, Sarah and Scroul. You don’t know our family’s true history like Azrin and me. Now hand over the sword.
Phage: No.
Jae: Don’t make me do this sister; you aren’t ready for the sword yet. There is too much you-
Phage: Father gave me the sword; he must have known I was ready. Maybe it’s you who’s not ready; if you want something like this so much, then it won’t have a good end.
Jae: Fine. I see there is no convincing you.

Jae outstretches her hand, and a sword of black and gold light appears. Her eyes shine an onyx black. “If you won’t give me the sword willingly, then I will take it from you by force.”

Phage: I don’t want to fight you… There is no reason.
Jae: Then prove to me your worthy of our Mother’s sword!

In a flash of black lightning, Jae lunged at Phage sword in hand. Phage dodged to the side, but Jae expected the move and, at the right moment, adjusted her footing and threw an onyx scaled dagger with her free hand at her sister.
Phage drew her amethyst dagger and parried Jae’s projectile as it nearly hit her chest. Phage didn’t want to fight her sister, but it seems Jae was determined to test her, maybe this fight could help get her mind off things she thought. Phage put her dagger back in its sheath and drew her Mothers’ sword. The air becomes cold, and the smell of death began to fill the area; whispers of souls could be heard around them. The hill knew this sword, the sword of the dead. The sword resembled that of a katana, with a gold squared guard and an onyx and amethyst grip. The blade itself appeared to reflect everything around it, almost like a mirror. Phage held the sword high, looking into the blade, watching Jae’s reflection.

Jae: Mother’s style, I see. Very good.
Phage: Are you sure you still want to fight me?

Jae came at Phage in a flurry of movements, swinging her sword almost as though it was a dance, coming at her from multiple angles. Phage parried and countered each move, each moment that the sword of the dead was exposed to the air, the air grew colder, the coldness of death embraced the two sisters as they fought. Jae’s sword of black and gold light would meet their Mother’s sword and vice versa, again and again, the sound of blades crossing filled the area. The whispers changed into that of a chant; the souls of the dead began to gather in higher numbers. The sisters continued to fight, each managing to parry and counter each other, each managing to cut the other only a few times with their daggers. A sudden flash of gold light blinded them both, and they realized they were no longer alone.

A dragon of golden orange scales appeared before them, holding a golden shard of Animas. Jae’s eyes widened, and she jumped back, breaking out of the interlocking duel with her sister. Phage sheathed her Mother’s sword but kept her dagger ready.

Phage: Who are you then?
Jae: Put that stone away, don’t you know how dangerous a fragment of time is?

The dragon waved the stone in the air, and the energy of the dead seemed to crystalize and be pulled into the Animas. He spoke. “Good, almost ready…” He looked at the two sisters with his red eyes.

Dragon: Hello, daughters of Saralis. I am Ghalastarr, the Orange Gold.
Phage: Never heard of you… Where, and why do you have one of those?
Ghal: My lord gave this to me, and it was he who guided me here to find you.
Jae: That name sounds familiar. Who’s your lord, let me guess, Zero? Ugilus?
Ghal: No. The Reclaimer.
Phage: The what?

Ghalastarr points the shard towards Phage. “You’re an exile, just like those in the tomb below. But you’ve never found the tomb for yourself, have you? I know where it is.”

Phage: Impossible, I was exiled as a chaos reaper, I didn’t get sealed like Arzi and his brother.
Ghal: You also went to earth, did you not. Paige Keisner.
Phage: Who the hell are you? I don’t like this. Jae, can you call someone?
Ghal: I am a part of the guardians of the cycle, and you two are going to come with me. The Reclaimer wishes to speak with you both.
Phage: Like hell, we’re not going anywhere with you.
Jae: Ghalastarr… That name… no… Your one of them! How is it your still around after all this time… Didn’t Father kill you after what you did to Mother?
Ghal: Don’t you want to know what happened to the rest of your souls? Why were you merged together? What your parents have hidden from you for so many years… Don’t you have questions?
Jae: Don’t listen to him Phage. He’s part of the ones who exi-

An explosion of gold light from the Animas shard fills the area, and with it, a vortex of ancient and dark energy swirls through the area, and with that, Phage and Jae are pulled into the shard.

Ghal: And now, we shall see the truth of your path.

---

Ghalastarr stood at the silver altar and kneeled, holding the shard forward in one paw.
The altar was at the foot of 3 stone steps engraved in markings and symbols of many ancient languages, at the top of the stairs was a large ring made from what appeared to be the skulls of a long-dead ancient hydra. The neck bones still attached, holding the ring in place. The ground beneath the ring was bones, countless bones.

Ghal: My lord and master, I have brought the ones you requested.

An inky blackness rose from the bones and seemed to fill the ring of skulls. From the black came many many giant tentacles with razor teeth and suction cups they came out in a fury and slithered and wiggled towards Ghal. The tentacles seemed to caress the shard then return back into gently the inky blackness, disappearing behind a woman who now walked out of the black. She had long black and silver hair and dark grey eyes. Black curled horns like that of a ram upon her head, and long pointed fingernails as black as night on her hands. Several silver nails appeared to run along both of her arms from the just below the back of the wrist to the top of her shoulder. She spoke in a voice like a snake; her tongue forked and pierced with another silver nail. “Good, It’sssss about time that Paige meetssss her mother.”

---

She took the shard from Ghalastarr’s paw, and held it between her fingers, raising it to her eyes. Grabbing it with one hand and pulling with the other, a flash of light and Phage and Jae emerge back out of the shard. They gasped for air and looked around frantically. An ocean of bones before them, atop it a single ring and the horned woman, and Ghalastarr standing to the side of them.

Phage: This place…
Horned Woman: It seemsss familiar to you, doesn’t it. Perhapsss you’ve been here before, or maybe in a dream.
Jae: Don’t listen to them… They are the ones who destroyed our family years ago, the ones responsible for exiling us.
Horned Woman: All thingss in life have a purposssse, a reason. You would not be here as you are today if it were not for your past. Some thingss must happen the way they are meant to, to make you ready for what you will become.
Phage: Is that some kind of “get stronger from your past suffering” bullshit?
Ghalastarr: It’s the truth though, isn’t it.
Jae: What the hell do you want with us?
Horned Woman: I want to make you who you are meant to be, daughter.
Jae: Daughter? Make us who we are meant to be? What lies are you here to tell us
Phage: Who are you exactly?
Horned Woman: I have many namesss, many faces, I am Sin. You may call me Peccatum, Pycala, The Reclaimer of soulsss.
Phage: Pycala?
Ghalastarr: The original ancient sin of all. Creation itself.
Jae: It’s a sin to exist now, is it?
Pycala: No, but your’sss has been twissted. The one you call mother, Saralis. She has lied to you. You are not her daughtersss. You are my daughter. Paigelia Keisner.
Jae: Your the one who lies…
Pycala: All souls eventually return to their place of origin. The cycle of death and rebirth. You can delay it, fight it, you can even try to subvert the cycle. But all souls eventually succumb. Your soul is that of one being, the true owner of that sword.
Jae: The sword was made from Adrian’s scales. His power over death.
Pycala: This sword has existed much longer… It takes many formsss and returns through the agesss. But it always findsss it’s way back to me, and mine. There is a reason you have the sword now, Paige. It’ss time you learn how to use it, itss true name, and itss true power.
Phage: I hate that name, Paige.
Ghalastarr: It was once your name, on earth, yes, but it’s much older.
Phage: if your saying Saralis isn’t my mother… then is she Sarah’s? What about Scroul?
Ghalastarr: Your soul found her to be your best match for rebirth this cycle. You are Saralis’s daughter, but your true self is much much more…
Phage: What about father?
Ghalastarr: Azrikara is your father in this life. But before…
Pycala: Your father is dead. His bones are here.

Pycala gives the shard back to Ghalastarr, and then puts one hand on one of the hydra skulls that makes up the ring. She outstretches her other hand towards Phage and Jae.

Pycala: Come with me, and I shall make you right. You shall learn to use that sword, and we can work to ensure the cycle continues as it alwaysss has.
Jae: I don’t think so. These two can’t be trusted, Sister.
Phage: She hasn’t lied to us. My truth-seeking tells me she’s right.
Jae: Truth-seeking is an improper art; it can be false; it can be tricked.
Phage: Why is it, Jae… How is it that you knew Rezi from before… You told me I don’t know our family’s true history. Sarah and I have always been in the dark on these things. Maybe this is the truth here before us.
Jae: No… Him, he is the one who exiled mother.
Phage: … Mother was exiled? I know she was shattered and that they had some fake of her for a while… but…
Jae: Where do you think father went all those years?
Phage: Why…
Ghalastarr: That was a very different time. Your sister Ruby killed Saralis.
Phage: Ruby? Right… She is one of the ones in Sarah… Ruby and Emerald.
Pycala: I can tell you everything. The truth beneath the roses of Amethyst and Onyx.
Jae: The truth won’t set you, free sister, it is only another burden to carry.
Phage: What’s one more burden? I’ve already lost everything else…

Phage takes Pycala’s hand.

---

He walked into the room and put his paw gently on his wife’s shoulder.

Azrikara: Phage and Jae have met her.
Saralis: It’s finally time then. Now, all we can do is hope.
Saralis: Are you sure Phage was ready?
Azrikara: She has to be. You said so yourself.
Saralis: The darkness within must be faced. Otherwise, it will overtake her.

Azrikara and Saralis hug each other.