New Storyline: Unlocked

a restart

Fire and molten rock covered every inch of Arcadia Oaks, the giant Crystalline structure of the heartstone a vivid and angry red as it inched ever closer to the outstretched arm of the fire Titan.

They had lost.

He had lost.

Strickler, Nomura, Nari, Toby, Claire, Douxie, Archie, Charlie, Blinky, AARRRGGHH!!, Aja, Krel, Vex, his mom, Everyone. Gone.

Jim sat there, watching. With every second, the fate of the world solidifying right in front of his eyes. There was nothing he could do, nothing at all as he watched the world burn. Yet the fire didn't bother him, he was already so numb to the pain, numb from his injuries and lost hope.

The green glow of the chronosphere next to him caught his attention amongst the brilliant red all around him. At that moment, he heard Nari's voice echo in his mind as an image of her appeared within the orb.

"Trollhunter make Ninth Configuration. Chronosphere will make right. Time unfolds differently, like a flower. Only Trollhunter will know."

Only trollhunter will know.

Picking up the sphere, Jim looked into the crack that exposed the bright green magic that emanated from within it. With a deep breath, he got up, dropping the chronosphere back to the ground.

Only trollhunter will know. Only I will know.

Lifting up the holy sword of Excalibur from the ground beside him, Jim looked around him one last time. Unliving stone surrounded him, Akaridion cores were cast off to the side, rubble buried the bodies of his mother and best friend, magic dust hung in the air around him as a staff and a suit of armor were broken and tossed across from him.

He had failed them, he wasn't able to summon his armor in time, wasn't able to stop Bellroc from hurting his friends. Would they ever forgive him? He didn't know. But what he did know was that there was only one way to fix this, one way to save everyone.

One last time, Jim looked up to the angered hearthstone floating towards the titan. One last time, Jim looked at the sword in his hand. And one last time, Jim would save the world from the horrors of his mistakes.

Allowing a tear to fall from his eye, Jim lifted Excalibur high into the air before swiftly bringing it back down into the Chronosphere just as the Titan made contact with the heartstone. White light filled his vision as everything around him disappeared, either in flames or to the hands of time.

Darkness...

The embrace of the shadows, the cover of the night sky. It was the trigger that set Jim's mind at peace, a warm blanket that calmed his racing nerves, and pounding heart. So he wasn't a stranger to being encased in such darkness, yet this time, it was different. Like drifting in the ocean on a cold winter night.

Seconds, minutes, hours... he didn't know how long he had been in that darkness, he didn't know what was happening around him. He couldn't see, couldn't feel, couldn't smell, couldn't taste, couldn't hear, couldn't breathe.

Was he dead? Did he fail? Again?

Jim couldn't help but wonder, was that really just it? Could he do nothing more to save them all? Was he really so useless that Bellroc ultimately decided to let his final moment be to watch as they engulfed his world in flames surrounded by the unliving bodies and remains of his friends? Of his family?

All of a sudden, he felt cold. Freezing even, yet there was a warmth that ran down the length of his cheek.

A tear?