It was time.

Alphonse had avoided it long enough and he knew now, that no matter what, this was a part of him. This was him. And he must meet this other side of himself sooner or later.

“Erytheia. My name and my wonder.”

The boy knelt down in the light of the stars as if praying. His magical token appeared before him with the soft reverberation of a bell. The gilded incense burner shined bright as it reacted to his wish. It would lend its power to him and take him past the stars.

To Erytheia.

But he wasn't prepared for what he saw there. Far from it.

The planet was barren!

Fields and fields of nothing. Nothing more than dust for as far as the eye could see. All that hinted of life was a massive, branching, petrified tree.

In its greying bark, a message was craved:

We’re just like fallen angels
Those sad, pathetic things
We’re sent to traverse this world of ours
With bruised and broken wings

And when we’ve found ourselves here
Lost and all alone
We come to find we can’t recall
The place we once called home

There is a sadness in our memory
For a place of long ago
A castle in the sky that we
Never again shall go

So we take these broken wings of ours
And set out to repair
The very thing that separates us
From what only mortals dare

And when we’ve gained the strength
To force our wings to fly
We gather up all of our pride
And take up to the sky

But something strange begets us
Like a word that can't be undone
We know we’ll never reach it
No one can reach the sun

Because once you’ve been sent here
There’s only one way out
It’s that whispered word that haunts us
And fills us up with doubt

Once you’ve passed the gate
That broad, forgotten fen
They say no one that goes that way
Ever comes back again

The only thing that’s left here
The one act left to do
Is to live a mortal life here
And die like mortals too

For in mortality we must
Search until we find
The very thing that sets us free
And the very thing that binds

For in this life we have three dreams
Three hidden, secret tasks
That we must complete for
Our creator that asks

And once we complete all three
Then and only then
Will we see the shinning place that is
Our long-lost home again

So mortals though we are
With wings graying and old
One day we will find them
Brightly lined with gold

But until the final day doth come
When our last task is complete
We’re sentenced to never fly again
Lost to wander on our feet

But what did it mean? And who had written it?

As Erytheia traced a strange mark that ended the rhyme, like a signature, a vision appeared before him with a sense of familiarity that left him in shock.

The world was covered in bright daylight now. The tree was restored and its leaves golden. The words were now freshly carved and the smoke still fresh from the burn of the brand.

A man who looked just like Erytheia stood holding a signet ring that shined with the symbol of a multi-pointed star, much like the emblem of Cosmos.

For a moment, Erytheia thought the man was looking into his eyes with a knowing smile, but realized the man was looking up at the stars and, as he turned to look too, the vision faded.

On the once again dead ground before his feet, there laid the signet ring as it had been for a thousand years.

Holding the signet ring to his chest, Erytheia left the planet to be once more in its lonely silence.

✪