“Why?”

Silence.

“I thought, I-I did everything for you.”

Silence.

“And yet you cast me aside. What I would do for just another taste of your power.”

A speck of light was visible in the distance, the being watched it. It’s confusion turning to anger and hatred.

“I gave you something far more astounding than that abomination you treasure so much.”

The void rippled, it surrounded everything. Encased it in darkness, but it also cradled it from the hordes that would consume them outside of its body.

“What more could I have possibly given you.”

The void shuddered, jealousy filling its every facet. The glowing speck was no more than a seedling, yet to truly discover its purpose as a plaything for a force far greater than itself.

***

The face sat alone in its shrine, mulling over its newest attempt to fix its own mistake. Those it had sent seemed capable enough, but not too competent that they would not fit the parameters. The Infant had been very specific about what it gave its power to, that which rose from nothing.

The face stretched its influence, feeling every inch of Ystera. Its beauty was hard to see when the full puzzle had been smashed to bits, like putting a sledgehammer through an artwork and asking someone to tell you what it was.

The deep cracks on its surface ran to its core which leaked its raw essence, now corrupted by the face’s previous actions. The world’s core groaned and black wisps were spewed out of the cracks, they settled on the land adjacent to the cracks which had already been warped beyond recognition. As it stood, the region near the cracks was a desolate and cursed place.

The face’s motherly instincts kicked in and it began to sing to Ystera’s core, hoping to calm its endless nightmare. It began by humming a simple tune, a mere imitation of what the Infant used to sing to it. The song held power, resonating with the world and causing the groaning to cease. This would not be enough however, the corruption would continue to eat at the world until there was nothing left of it. So a portion of the face’s strength would need to be used in order to calm Ystera itself.

The face tugged on the link that it had between Kestel and itself, drawing on the remaining perfection left there by the Infant. The power filled the being and it began to weave lyrics into its song, the ballad told the story of the Betrayer but not in its darkest hour but instead in its sudden change of heart.

“♪ In yonder times when the world was new

Came a being of sorrow through and through

It cast its ire on this land we know

But its regret burned the seed it painfully sowed~

It begged for forgiveness

It yelled it screamed

The Betrayer’s tears ran

Over shattered~ dreams. ♪”

The song was carried by the wind and the world seemed to stop moving, it perked its ears as its kin sang to it. The warmth of family eased its burden, the black wisps stopped erupting from the cracks in the world and everything seemed peaceful. The inhabitants of the surrounding area felt lighter as the power that had been given to the world trickled out through the cracks. The peace would not last long.

It never did.