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A Hero Tale {Complete}

Bill reeled back and watched Jenso as he began to walk off. "W...Well now..."

Jenso could see it all, just as before. It was Arcadia. The people seemed so real. The houses, the marketplace, the kids, and the statue- Was this really a copycat dimension? If so, why? Something tugged at Jenso's pants as he walked by a few children. It was the little boy that Prisma had slain back in Arcadia, at the start of his adventure.

"Um, Jenso? Could you help me?"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

"I cannot say anymore," Nexus grunted, standing up. He looked around and sighed. "She will be here soon. That little wraith likes to play, and has no intent to kill, but if you are not careful, she will kill you." Nexus' body began to disappear from his feet upwards, fading into a blue dust. "I will contact your friends. If you are able to free yourselves from these wretched dimensions somehow, I wish you the best of luck. If nothing else, I am happy you gave it your all." His voice echoed and his body faded completely, whispering his final words with a tinge of hope.

"Farewell"

Jenso's miniature universe began to work into motion again. Bill's sandwich landed on his head and he chuckled to himself. "Nice catch, Jenso," He mocked.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Nexus remained quiet. After a short pause, he spoke again.

"It was only Rajaka, back then. He'd picked him up from another world he'd visited. That morning, I awoke to a startling noise. My door was kicked down by that lumbering oaf. Yzeira walked in to my single-room apartment with an air of superiority about him. He called himself something else, some stupid name that he'd picked up from Rajaka's universe. Worst of all, he was wearing the arcane lab-coat that Alexis had given him..." He summoned the disk of blue energy one last time, and revealed the image of Rajaka, standing behind Yzeira. His hair was the orange hue it appeared as now, he wore a black mask alongside the mighty muscle-head, and his coat was stained blood-red. "The arcane lab coat exists to..." Nexus stopped and clutched his head lightly. "...This wasn't the same coat. This wasn't the same man." The disk disappeared.

"I joined him, and he spared my home, our home, from destruction. Now I wonder if it still stands. But through the years, we've travelled so far through the void. The likelihood of finding my way back has long since passed, just like the likelihood of bringing back Teshra has disappeared, entirely."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Nexus closed his eyes tightly and tightened his hands, lowering them back into his lap.

"He went off on his own and tried doing things his way when Alexis sided with me. She knew better. He didn't. He was stubborn, and he still is. All this wisdom and knowledge didn't fix that." Nexus rose his hands again, and summoned his mirror. Inside, now sat an image of him and Alexis in the same tiled room. "We looked for a mage as skilled as Teshra. But, there was nobody like him. Just as we thought, our research was going nowhere without his hands in the mix. We couldn't see atoms as clearly as he could, we couldn't manipulate electrons, and we couldn't shape the portal. In a year, our experiments went nowhere. With no progress, and very little money left, we were forced to retire the project altogether. Alexis was disheartened, but not because of the experiment's failure. For that entire year, Teshra had been missing." He sighed, and showed Jenso an image of Yzeira. His hair was longer, about the same length it was now, and he had a tattoo underneath his right eye, similar to the one that Zelriane had. "He approached us like this. 'I've done it' he spat in our faces. Alexis was furious. I was confused. The way he spoke, his mannerisms- everything about him has changed. His usual arrogance had redoubled. Instead of spouting claims without any backing, everything he said... We couldn't argue with it. He was more willing to put himself, and the people around him in danger. And his attachment to things, like the tower he'd met Alexis in, had become distant memories. It was like he was gone for much longer than a year." The picture shifted again, back to Nexus, alone in his home. "We didn't want anything to do with his research. I had my own reasons, Alexis had hers. So, Teshra went back to wherever he'd been working. We didn't hear from him again for the next decade." Nexus' eyes closed again, and his disk disappeared. "Then it happened. The Tower disappeared. Gone, overnight. Alexis told me about it, nearly broke my damned door down. We both went to the base of the old library, and it was just as she said. The entire thing- Gone, like it was never there to begin with. No rubble, no signs of destruction, just a circular crater where it once stood." Nexus' hands trembled. "I was 70 when he came back. I'd never married, but I continued my studies. I learned more, and I improved my skills. I became one of the most acclaimed names of my generation. Alexis would have been there, right next to me, if she hadn't taken her own life after that tower disappeared."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Nexus was quiet. He couldn't answer.

"A very long time ago, perhaps something like... Ten thousand years to you, I was part of a proud race of magically talented beings. We hailed from a Terra, known as Primeira. Yzeira, much like myself, was born their as well." Nexus formed a small circular frame between his hands that projected images of the two of them, standing with a short woman with long blue hair, wrapped into a pony-tail. "Nexus, Teshra, and Alexis, those were the only names I cared about back then." The mirrors imaged glinted, and shifted to something different. It showed Yzeira, standing alone in a white tiled room, all alone. The edges were sealed shut, and lined with large windows. "We worked together for some time, working on dimensional theory. The basis of a magic that could possibly tear a hole in the fabric of space time. A magic that we- Or rather, Teshra excelled at." The picture changed again. Yzeira's face was unmasked, and displayed next to the young woman's. His hair was short and blue, much like Nexus', and his eyes shined with the same docile aquatic light, a light of creation. He smiled, sincerely, in the image that Nexus showed Jenso. "These two had been studying together long before they even knew about me, researching the possibilities of atoms, and arcane energy. Testing the limits of the only magic we could see, with our Primeirian eyes." The picture shifted again, to the two standing in front of a massive, ivy-covered tower. It was at least 100 floors high, and had a familiar theme to it. Of course. "Teshra's initial theory was incomplete, and ineligible for testing. But he did so, anyways. Alexis supported the idea. She knew it could work, and she believed in his natural talent with arcane energy... But the results were a disaster, and the faculty of arcane study forbid further practice of such an unstable magic. They lost investment, they lost their laboratory, and they lost all of their reputation." The picture changed again. Yzeira was standing inside of a tiled chamber like before, only it was much smaller. "Without the approval of anyone, they two of them funded their own private studies. It was here where I met them, and added my own research to the mix. The theories, they were perfected. It might have taken 20 years, but with the proper love and care, we would have been able to open a gate between worlds." Nexus let the disk disappear, and felt his mind go foggy.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Nexus looked at Jenso and blinked. His pale blue, shimmering eyes flickered for a moment. "I cannot speak of it," Nexus insisted. A great pain filled his gut, and his mind went foggy, but he snapped out of it, quickly. "I cannot share anything that he does not want me to. I'm fortunate enough to have the freedom that I do." Nexus picked at the tightly fitting fabric slightly. There was no tattoo under his left eye. Was it under his right? Or somewhere else? The mystery behind them wasn't something that Nexus could help with, at any rate. "As far as plans go, there is little that I can actually do. Of the order members, my understanding of Shaidra's abilities are the least developed. What I do understand, will make very little sense to you." He stopped and patted the ground in front of him. "Shaidra will be preoccupied with one of your friends, for a short while. She is not present in here, or the Tower. Thankfully, the flow of time in her Voil dimensions is inconsistent." He sighed again, and took a deep, calm breath. "I wanted to use this time to tell you part of a story."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

"Don't waste time worrying about me," Nexus grunted, "Yzeira has already figured out that I've helped you in the past." He sighed and scratched at the rip in his mask, under his left eye. "And he doesn't care. I shouldn't have been surprised. You, on the other hand, are in a situation from which there is no turning back." Nexus narrowed his eyes and looked at Bill. "While you're in here, you won't be able to communicate with your friends. But, I will, and I intend on doing so." He looked back to Jenso and sat down on the ground, crossing his legs. "But, I cannot harm anyone in the order. My powers do not affect any of them... If this situation becomes a serious threat to Yzeira, he will acknowledge it." Nexus shook his head. "You do not want his acknowledgement."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Nexus nodded and looked to Bill, who was now frozen in place. In fact, it was like the entire realm was frozen. "I can't stay long. Shaidra will figure out that I'm not here to kill you soon. But while she's distracted, I'll use what little time we have." Nexus looked around and sighed. "You and your friend are trapped in Shaidra's Voil Dimension. The moment you left the first floor, she was prepared for you."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Nexus rose his hands upwards as if to say hold on, this is a misunderstanding, before taking a step backwards. As Jenso's fist neared the blue man, who'd been wearing a light fitting robe, his fist slowed down, and Nexus moved it aside with the palm of his right hand. "Calm down, Jenso," Nexus huffed, fanning his hands submissively, "This realm wouldn't be able to replicate Prisma."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

~ Chapter 186 ~

_{Nostalgia, Part One: Where You Are, Where Are You?}

As the portal behind Jenso closed, it became very clear that he wasn't inside the tower anymore. Well, he was, but it didn't look the same. The walls faded, and the sky was clear. Beneath his feet was cobblestone, and throughout the room, or the dimension that he'd found himself in, there were houses. He was on a street, surrounded by familiar faces. They all greeted him with a smile.

"Hey, Jenso!" A man called out to him from a run down storefront. It was bill, a local merchant, and brother to the governor of Arcadia. "Catch!" Bill tossed Jenso a small plastic bag with a tightly packed baloney sandwich inside of it, aiming to have it caught by Jenso as he ran by. "My wife made ya somethin' this morning!" All the while, a masked man appeared behind Jenso. Some people in the crowd pointed and whispered in confusion. "Who's your friend?" Bill shouted, pointing behind Jenso.

This had all happened before. What was going on?