Final Sacrifice of the Swordsman

Darkness. Darkness everywhere. He didn’t know how much time had passed, it felt like an eternity, but at the same time it felt like a single second. His body vanished completely at the hands of a new but dear friend. Still, Galen had no hard feelings, no remorse, no anger for neither Cambia nor Jie. No. In fact, his last thoughts were hopeful ones; he hoped that this would stop the fight, that Arion would be able to help them with the senzu he left and, if that was the case, then there would be no regret in his soul; he could die in peace. He was sad, which was something natural and normal, because he truly hoped he could protect the Earth from the many dangers that lingered in the shadows, but he could not. Now his faith was placed entirely on his friends. At least there was a good side to it: he would maybe see his parents, his brothers and sisters, his friends from Goddodin who died over ten years ago, when he failed to protect them from the bandit leader.

”I just hope this time I didn’t fail. Cambia… Jie… Please don’t fight anymore! I want you to get along. I want you to join forces as the X Fighters and make sure no one else has to die or suffer! Please, my friends. Protect my beloved Earth… Please take care of the member of the Korin Tribe. They have always been so nice to me. And, if you can, tell Chris it’s alright. I don’t mind dying if that’s for the greater good.” and those were his sincere thoughts. On the final moment, he also thought about his Flying Nimbus, the one who had saved his life on his previous battle. ”Nimbus… Sorry for worrying you so much. You saved my life back then and I still died today… I’m a troublemaker… I hope you can forgive me, I truly do… Be well, my beloved friend…” and after that his consciousness vanished into oblivion.

But that too was short lived. Galen regained his consciousness and when he looked around, he saw himself in a line. That scene confused him quite a lot. ”What is this place?” he asked mostly himself. When he spoke, though, he was surprised: his voice echoed oddly, almost like Cleo’s telepathy, but as far as he knew, he was incapable of such a feat. That was when he realized he wasn’t breathing, or even needing to do so for that matter. In front of him there were plenty of little white clouds that resembled the Flying Nimbus. When he looked backwards, he saw the same thing and then he realized that he too was a cloud. ”Oh… That’s… Sad. I guess I will miss my body, but… I will need to grow used to this… If that’s the afterlife…” an ogre was there, telling the clouds to move and he just silently obliged, behaving rather well despite the torrent of emotions and doubts filling his heart. ”Mom, dad… Will I find you now?” he hoped and, if he still had a heart, it would be racing like crazy.

Anyway, after a few more minutes, he finally entered a great palace and, once he reached there, he saw a gigantic Ogre in a very large table. The ogre nearby said that the person was King Yemma, the judge of the dead and Galen quickly bowed respectfully to him. ”King Yemma! I’m sorry my bad manners, I’m still getting used to this whole… Being dead thing! I’m sorry! I won’t say another word!” he said, bowing a couple more times as he stared at the ogre with respect, awaiting his words regarding Galen’s destiny.