Ark woke up with a scream of terror. The image of the girl that talked to him in his dream had not left his thoughts. It was Elle, who said those things. What kind of dream was that?

He noticed that he was not in his bed anymore, that was softer then the stone he was now lying on. He was unable to see where he was, it was too dark. He stood up, tried to walk, but he nearly fell, something was on the floor, and then waited until his eyes got used to the darkness.

Later on, he saw where he was. Astarica. But how could that be. Was he not supposed to be dead? And if he wasn’t, how could he be here, and not in Crysta? He tried to remember some things, but couldn’t.

He did remember this place. This is where he found his first Starstone, one of the five stones which were necessary to summon the long lost hero, only to find out that it he who was the hero. How much time had passed since his last visit to this place? He would say that it had been for about seven months, but how much time had really passed?

‘Twenty years, seven months and five days have passed since your last visit to Astarica, the altar that is dedicated to the gods of the Incas,’ a voice said, as if it read Ark’s thoughts. ‘Mama Pacha, if I’m not mistaken. Mother Earth. Gaya for the ancient Greek.’ Ark looked back. It was Royd.

Was it? Did he not die in an aeroplane crash? Did he really survive the crash, or was this an impostor, a clone or even one of Meilin’s mirages? ‘I am Roy, god of death. I better introduce myself, because I know that I have a resemblance of a person that goes by the name ‘Royd’. I am not that person. He is dead.’

Royd. Roy. A dream… A ritual made a girl by the name of Elle immortal, and the priests Roy and Fyla were surprised. But Fyla was killed, and Roy was made a god, like Elle became.

‘What am I doing here? I’m supposed to be dead.’

‘Not dead, no, far worse then that. When one is dead, their soul lives on in my empire. But when one disappears, the soul dies. Though it is difficult to resurrect such a person, it is not necessary to break rules, a big difference when you’re supposed to resurrect the dead. You are no longer nothing, Ark. I restored you to your original shape. You should be grateful, but don’t you dare to thank anyone. I only did it because of my mistakes, and I cannot clean up my mess. You must do that.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I will tell you what you don’t know. After you defeated Dark Gaia, you met your clone. He went back to Storkolm, the village he came from. But he was never allowed to do that. You see, he was dead. You know that, you met him at the graves at the South Pole. But he did not want to be dead. He wants to live. He lived for about five minutes, and in that time, he gave his body it’s live back. By doing that, he tore himself apart from fate, making the Loop of Fate to break.

He existed inside the loop of fate, a big difference between you and him. By being alive again, he started to exist outside the loop of fate, because his fate was to die and only live again after Light and Shadow were brought together. You stopped that process. Therefore, he should not be alive, and yet he was. Catastrophe. Disaster.’

'Why was it such a big deal? I mean, I’m alive again, aren’t I.’

‘But you did not exist anymore. He did. I never met his soul, now I know why, and I tell you later. However, the problem was that, without a fate, people are unable to live properly. There is one thing that keeps a person together. That is the person’s soul. Souls are hold together by to forces. Fate and Hope. Fate keeps the lives together; the Hope keeps them to their senses. With the disappearing of Fate, people’s lives changed into chaos. Look at it as a road. Without the map, you have no idea where you have to go. You get lost; you can only hope to find your way back. Without Fate, people have no final destination; there is nothing to control their lives. You live eternally, yes, hoping that it all will turn out right. When is doesn’t turn out right, they loose all hope. That means that they die. That is what happened. People hoped that it would be OK again, but it didn’t. If I weren’t the god of death, the human race would probably be extinct.

I had no idea what to do, to many dead persons at the same time. That’s a lot of paperwork, you know. And I loose my job if all humans die. So that is why I broke all rules. I figured that it was virtually impossible that it would get any worse. I was so wrong.

People lost their souls, but the body did not die. My plan was that the souls would never enter my empire, but that they would float around doing nothing. The bodies would then changes into living zombies, because the soul was still at the Earth. When it was all over, when fate was restored, the people would have their soul back and return in their normal lives.

I already said that I thought it couldn’t get any worse. A major mistake. There were actually two persons who still had their souls.’

‘Who was the other one? One was my opponent, but the other one?’

‘Meilin. She had created a world after the breaking of fate, that was nothing more but a mirage. That kept her to her senses. She still hopes for better times, and he hasn’t aged. She has no fate as well. Your opponent found her.

She had a crush on you Ark. She still had back then. She got pregnant, and gave birth to a boy. The incarnate was born, the creator of the night. Existing outside the loop of fate, he had a soul, because his father had one. He aged, and now has the same age as you.’

‘How is that possible?’

‘Your opponent was no longer a dependant of fate, because he changed his fate by himself. And his child does as well, but only because his father does. When the father dies, he will loose everything he got from him. But you may never kill his father. You will die with him, and we will need you. You must kill the child; kill it, because he will bring darkness upon humanity. If that’s a proper name for the soulless zombies. It is my entire fault. I know that. But I cannot kill people. Fate does that. Living creatures can do that. You are the only one able to kill the Child. I cannot take over bodies of animals or force them to kill someone. Diseases are no longer able to make people sick. Not even the living ones. I’m stuck, and I’m asking you to save the world. Again.

One more thing. You are not Dark side. You are Light side. You are the true Ark, Ark. A Light Knight. You will find out soon enough.

The last thing. Before I forget, read that inscription.’ Ark read it.

‘What does it mean?’ Ark asked. He already read it before, the first time he was here.

‘It tells the story of you. A prophecy. The end of all hope comes when the Child is lost, gone. You are that child. The birth of all hope is the resurrection of the Child. The end of all hope will end with a birth. I don’t know what it really means, but I know it’s true. I have to go. Good luck. We will meet again. Good bye.’

With the disappearance of Roy, a white light filled the temple, and Ark was blinded by it. When he was able to see again, he was no longer in Astarica, but in Storkolm.

He knew Elle probably left the house, but the lights were on. He knocked on the door. After a long time of waiting, a man opened the door. It was Ark.

‘I have not seen you for a very long time. Come on in. we have a lot to talk about.’ Ark walked inside.