Shadows of Atlas

17- Eto's Final Chapter

"Halt! Who goes there?," a royal guard asked. "Stand down soldier, we have come to deliver the leader of the Corans, Andrew Hawkins and his allies for their execution," Yoma said with a stern voice. "Oh ho! Finally! Those anarchists have been defeated. Lord Lucious shall be most pleased," another guard praised. "However, we have agreed to let them visit the temple so that the priestess may bless their souls for their trip to the afterlife," Licel added. "Huh? Why would you grant them that? Those animals do not deserve to be honored with the priestess's prescence," the first guard complained. "True, but we wouldn't be any different from said animals if we killed them outright, wouldn't we?," Fernando responded in a seemingly harsh tone. "You're right your lordships, you may pass on to the temple," the other guard said as they both granted them passage to the temple.

"Yes dear, they're making their way towards the temple. Should I stop them?," a woman asked through her phone as she saw the Coran gang enter the temple grounds. "No, let them. Once they enter, give them time so they let their guard down and then we strike," Lucious responded. "Okay then," she replied. "Oh and Lusmarie," he said. "Hm?," Lusmarie responded. "I love you," Lucious answered. "I love you more my dear," she replied as she hung up.

As they made their way to the temple, Eto got mesmerized by the sheer beauty of the structure. "Wow, it's amazing," he said in awe. "This... is where the Awakening was supposed to be held," Wesley said with a sad face. "Come on! We need to get in so that Giselle can tell us what she knows about the prince!," Zai reminded them and they entered the temple.

The temple's interior was exactly as it was in Eto's dream and in the far back there was a giant statue of a dragon. "So you've come," a voice said and it startled the group. "Who's there," Christian yelled as he got into a battle stance. "No need to fear for it is I, Giselle," Giselle said as she revealed herself from behind one of the columns. "You were the one who spoke to me in my dreams!," Eto realized upon seeing her. "Yes for you see, it is time that the prince would be restored," she said. "Restored?," Kevin asked in confusion.

"Let me explain, the prince is standing right beside you. Well, half of him anyways," Giselle started off as she pointed at Eto. "What?," Eto yelled in as he was at a loss when she said that. "Eto? The prince? Half? What the hell is going on here?," Raisa yelled in disbelief. "It all started a few months ago. The royal family and Lucious's family had gathered for a dinner between the two. Both families were close to each other as their sons were close friends. The king and Lucious were also friends from when they were young as they knew each other before Elvin's father had become the king. Lucious became fascinated with the Chaos force and tried unlocking its secrets in order to become the Guardian of Chaos, but was crushed when Elvin was born with said destiny. He plotted to take over the kingdom in order to gain access to the Chaos Stars and make their power his. He knew Elvin would try to stop him if he ever knew, so he formulated a plan to get rid of him. At the night of the dinner, he used a forbidden spell that separated Elvin's entire existance and then implanted fake memories within the king and queen. Glen however, somehow recovered his memories and helped Brian escape, but was caught before he could explain the events to him," Giselle explained.

"So thats why he stayed behind... to buy time for me," Brian said with sadness. "Those separated fragments formed two beings, Eto and-," Giselle was saying when a roar echoed throughout the whole temple. "The Odd Eyed Phantom!," Fernando pointed out in fear. "Oh so you've arrived. Good to be seeing both of you alive and well," Giselle said as she saw the Phantom and a child. "Fabian? I overheard the guards say you were kidnapped by some mercenaries!," Licel said upon realizing that the child was in fact the prince's godson.

"Oh? So that's what they were saying about me, Eon why are we back here?," Fabian asked the Phantom and it growled back at him. "It's time for what?," Fabian asked in confusion. "For your godfather to appear. As I was saying Eto is one of the beings and Eon or the Odd Eyed Phantom is the other one," Giselle continued. That last sentence shocked the Corans and Fabian as well. "So you're saying prince Elvin has been with us all along?," Licel asked in shock. "Yes, Eto's true name is E-two and Eon's is E-one. A few days after the separation, I was praying to Cyzar as part of my training when Eon entered the temple while carrying an unconscious Eto. We decided that it wasn't safe for both of them in the temple so I told Eon to leave Eto in an alley and try to delay StriveCo.'s progress as much as possible while I completed my training," Giselle told them.

"But what are they exactly? Are they human?," Andrew asked. "Eto is a husk, he has no real emotion whatsoever except for anger and his love for performing. The reason he can feel anger is because Elvin is the Guardian of Chaos, the Chaos force thrives on anger. His need to perform comes from the fact that he is born from Elvin's wish to make his people happy and to perform in a magic contest," Giselle started explaining. "Elvin did love magic contests, he always said that they can bring joy to the people," Brian stated as he remembered the times where he and the prince sneaked out of the castle just to watch the contests that unfolded. "Eon on the other hand contains the heart, soul, and memories of Elvin, but he is not Elvin himself. He is made of pure Chaos thus giving him his half human-half dragon form, you could call him a behemoth," Giselle said. The Phantom gave out a roar in rage and tears started to fall out of its mask's eye holes.

"Eon... please don't cry. He says these memories plague him as they are not truly his. He wanted to be his own self, not the carrier of someone else's existence," Fabian translated while comforting Eon. Suddenly a huge thud was heard from the doors of the temple. "Come out traitors! We have you surrounded!," someone said from behind the door. "Shit we've been found out!," Raisa cussed. "We must hurry! Eto and Eon, you two must enter this veil of light and clash in battle for the prince to be restored!," Giselle quickly commanded. "Wait! Why should Eto give up his existence for that someone else should live?," Christian argued. "Chris please... let me do this," Eto said calmly.

"No! Never! You are the person who saved me from those people. You helped me control my rage... I can't afford to lose my best friend," Christian said with tears in his eyes.
"Damnit Christian, can't you see this hurts me too? But if it means saving Atlas from the hands of a tyrant, then so be it. I will gladly offer my existence to save the prince! Go on Giselle summon the veil," Eto said while crying. "Very well. In the name of the divine being Cyzar, I summon the light to restore the Guardian of Chaos back to his former self!," Giselle chanted as she summoned a veil of light that started absorbing Eto and Eon.

"Hey, don't cry Christian. We had fun together and I'll cherish those moments in my heart. Zai, all those time you scolded me made me happy because you cared about me. Brian, I told you we'd find your cousin didn't I? Andrew, thank you for letting me join the Corans, I had so much fun fighting alonside with you guys. Please give my regards to Ernie and Abner will you? I really loved performing in that magic contest, it gave me the chance to bring smiles to the people. Well, I guess it's time... for my final performance!" Eto said as he was absorbed by the veil of light.