The darkness gave way to the dim glow of the elevator's interior once more. Leaning against the polished steel walls, his body slumped down from exhaustion. Whereas Dieselle's portion had given him a renewed sense of hope at being whole once more, Poepayne's contribution felt heavy as if the weight of the world rested upon his shoulders. Wearily looking to the wall, he found his features had changed yet again; he had a nose now, his hair was much longer and sported a shock of black among its former solidarity of white, and with a closer inspection found those previously blood-red eyes were now maroon in color. Satisfied with noting all of his physical changes, he was simply content to rest his head against the wall, his mind trying to digest these jaded feelings of guilt and self-loathing, and hatred. He could only wonder how the old man had managed to keep his will to live with those feelings, and these were only the fragments of his shadow. It took some time, much longer than he would have liked to admit to getting over wallowing in his irrational self-pity, but eventually, it all subsided.
The scent of flowers greeted him and he found himself in the middle of a grand field of flora.
Rising to his feet, he couldn't help but find his surroundings eery as there was something otherworldly about this place. A thin fog filled the air, yet he could see sparkles from where the sun struck unknown particles amongst it. Trees surrounded the field yet they were too uninformed in their placement to be completely natural. It was there in the distance, filling the horizon almost in the entirety of his field of vision that he saw it.
A mountain of living tissue, humanoid in only the barest guidelines available, seated in what could be construed as the lotus pose.
"Here lies the lonely grave for the one known as ⌈zphuun⌋, locked away in the forgotten fragment of a dead man's memory of the moon..."
The voice was soft, quiet, and familiar enough to where he almost confused it for his own inner voice. It wasn't until the man cut into his peripheral vision that he realized he was not alone. Turning to the host of this memory, the man's appearance struck him strongly; He had known this man, in some shape or fashion.
"It breaks my heart to see you like this..." The man said mournfully, his hand reaching out towards him only to reluctantly stop mid-way, "Had I been just a bit stronger, a bit faster, then none of this would have happened to you. I would still be with my beloved, I would have been see the birth of my daughter, Petra, and I would have been able to be there for you."
The man's hands clenched into fists just moments before he sprung forward, wrapping him into a tight hug, "I am sorry, my child. You shouldn't have to walk this path alone." The hug was warm and comforting; it was as if he had been waiting his entire life for this meeting, "There is nothing I can give you that could right the pain and misery you and our family have gone through from my absence, but it is not too late for me to help you as you are now."
Releasing his embrace, the man took a few steps back, a serene smile on his lips, "I once had dreams of teaching my children the Kyōryū Ryū, so I am happy I can finally fulfill them with my grandson."
They were related?
Yes, that's right. This man was his grandfather... his name... that's right, this was Phospho, his grandfather.
His revelation was disturbed as he felt a movement in the air; something that had been absent in this strange place. It was his only indicator that Phospho had begun his attack. Jerking back, he felt something pass through the locks of his bangs, just mere centimeters from touching him.
"Good, good..." Phospho said with some pride, his attacking limb replaced with a scaly arm ended in three talons.