Xenoblade Chronicles 2: The Fourth Driver

Book III Finale Part 1

Chapter XXII

Azurda took us as far up the World Tree as he could, but even titans like himself need oxygen. After thanking him, we exited and went towards the Megrez Elevator. Where Jin had died. Before we entered, I stopped everyone.

"If we go in there, Cereza will be waiting for us. There's no guarantee she doesn't already have Malos' Monado, but I don't think that's the case. Once we enter, there's no turning back. Are you guys sure you want to do this?"

"I'm with your dumbass til the end. No one's allowed to kick your ass except for me!" Mythra chimed in.

"And I'm getting Pyra back! I won't let you do this alone!" Rex added.

Tora looked thoughtfully. "Tora have beaten many monsters, Tora will keep fighting!"

"As will Poppi!" Poppi said cheerfully.

"And someone's gotta keep you guys from going belly-up," Nia teased.

I acknowledged this. "Thanks, now let's go clean up my mess."

And with that, I opened the door, the elevator ride was particularly long, and quiet. Everyone was nervous. I gave Mythra a weak smile, which she returned. This could be all of our last days here.

One thing was for sure, I no longer feared death. When I had first arrived, I was scared, confused, I didn't know who I was or why all of this had happened to me. But as I had grown with everyone here, I finally knew my place. And whether I lived or died was just another way of saying whether I could keep fighting or not.

The elevator came to a stop. We exited and marveled at the world below for awhile.

"First time to space?" Mythra laughed.

"Yeah, do you come here often?" I laughed back.

"I would love to but apparently humans need oxygen or something," Mythra responded.

We stood side by side and just watched the world below for a little bit longer. Eventually I sighed.

"We done stalling yet?" I asked.

"Hold on, just a bit longer," she answered.

"Mythra," I chided.

"Fine, fine! Let's get going!" she laughed.

As we arrived to the land that was once Elysium, we noticed something strange. It was dark. Like it was night time. There were two lighted areas, one in the center of Elysium, and one inside the church. As we approached the hill overlooking Elysium, we noticed someone underneath the tree. It was a girl, she seemed scared. She was in a small maid outfit and seemed to be shivering, but it wasn't even cold.

"Are you alright little girl?" Rex asked out of concern.

"You are all going to die," she said before disappearing.

"That voice!" Mythra exclaimed.

"It was definitely Mòrag's. Something isn't right," I concluded.

We walked into the lighted area at the center, and Zaccharias walked into it.

"Hello, Waylon," he said, sounding as haunted as Mòrag did.

"Zaccharias? Are you still in there?" I asked.

"I must... I must save my family, Waylon," he continued.

"Zacc, we can help you! You just need to—"

"It's so cold, Waylon...," his form began to twist in front of me as he shape-shifted into a monster, a blade eater.