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This is the first chapter of the new writing style, I hope you enjoy!

Also starting from this point forth, I'll be tagging the music I write to with chapters:

Late Evening - Late Winter - Year 24 : Acardi Wreckage Island

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- Krystallo Ragnarok ~

*WOWOWOWOOOM* Hearing the thick iron plate beneath my paws vibrate as I pushed it across the sand, controlling the vast electric current surging through it, my mind raced.

With my senses heightened to their absolute peak, I was creating a mental map with the tug of the magnet on my scales to find where people were buried before shoving the hunk of iron to the side, and pumping an enormous amount of energy into the ground.

*Pop-WOOSH* A beam of light, backed by a powerful gust of air from the steam plume above, instantly liquefied the sand beneath me—the same cursed mix that had initially trapped everyone, but this time, it was to drag them out of the depths. "Found another!"

*VWOOM* Feeling Hera's aura rip past me, weaving through the sand, following the flow of steam, I started easing my spells before suddenly jumping to the side.

*WOOOOSH* Rocketing through the surface of the sand, another panicked researcher was graced by the sight of sunlight.

So far, we had pulled out three people, but there were many still to go.

-I need to be quick!- Returning to the oversized electromagnet, I pumped a lightning bolt's energy into it, drawing out all the iron from the surrounding sand before rapidly melting, cooling, and polarizing it to strengthen the magnet further.

If things simply continued as they were, I was confident I would be able to get out everyone, but just as I started preparing another vent to free someone else, Hera's aura flinched. -Huh?- It was never a good sign.

But I couldn't lose focus.

Trying to ignore my urges to look up, I continued pushing the magnet over the sand, searching for the next person. I finally had the opportunity to pull my weight and prove to myself that I wasn't just a burden, so I needed to focus.

I had a mission, and I was going to accomplish it.

Unfortunately though, in the eyes of beings akin to gods, my efforts were next to meaningless.

*VWOOM* -HUH?!- Feeling Hera's aura clamp around me, I was ripped away from the slab of iron in an instant, being yanked through a thick layer of water before a familiar blend of hot and cold filled the air. -W..What.. the...-

Going wide-eyed as the ground beneath me steadily became more distant, I watched the sandy wall of the island grow molten before solidifying into glass, while the wall of ocean water on the opposite sides glistened and crystallized.

It was a level and scale of magic I simply couldn't fathom, a work of art mind-bending enough to distract me from my inner thoughts...

Even if it only lasted a moment.

*Wooouuumm* Hearing the sound of space warping, the light beneath us bent, and the sensation of gravity blurred before the entire, vast mass of sand and water beneath us turned fluid and drained into nothingness.

"Sorry for just grabbing you..." Speaking softly, Hera glanced down at me as if the sight beneath us was nothing to behold. "Vasilias is going to vaporize all the water and sand to get everyone out. In the meantime, we're going to deal with that rat from earlier."

-Ah...- Finally having reality set in, and watching as my work to pull my weight vanished in the blink of an eye, my mind fell into a vast abyss of anxiety.

I was, once again, riding on Brother's shoulder, and could do nothing but watch as I was dragged along.

But with that almost trauma-induced anxiety came yet another wave of determination to carve my own steps into the mountain.

Eventually getting up and out of the vast sinkhole and following a short line of shattered trees and disturbed snow, we quickly found our way to the spy, trying to crawl away despite his mangled body.

"Now, where do you think you're going?" *WOOSH-CRUNCH* Landing on his tail, Hera's gaze turned frigid in an instant. "Do you perhaps think someone is going to save you?" *CRRRRUUNCH* Pressing down harder, her colossal paw sank further into the sand, reducing the man's tail to mush.

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But all he let out was a muffled groan.

"So you want to play tough, huh?" Pulling her paw off him to reveal the bloody mess left of his tail, she pulled me back with her aura so I couldn't see anything before surrounding me in silencing magic.

Once again, I was being reduced to a burden.. but I wasn't having it.

Warming up my body, the air around me cracked with a blend of snow and steam, disrupting the silencing magic before I forced myself through Hera's aura and peeked over her shoulder with a determined, cold, and calculative look.

I couldn't let another opportunity pass. I needed to start carving my own steps instead of just being carried by Hera or Brother.

Or at least.. I needed to learn how to do it.

Hopping off Hera's back, she immediately shot me a glance look, but after thinking for a moment, simply sat down in silence.

She was going to let me learn.

And learn, I did...

Over the following minutes, I did what I could to torture the man, forcing myself through the disgust to inflict pain in hopes of getting information out of him.

But.. all I did was torture myself...

"Huuff.. hufff..." Looking down at my claws, trembling and dripping red that wasn't mine, I stared down at the mangled corpse, unable to breathe.

I kept telling myself it was necessary, that this was the only way I could be useful.. that if I carved out a piece of responsibility, maybe I wouldn't feel like an anchor being dragged through the sand anymore.

But it didn't stop the shaking.

The cold numbness in my paws endlessly crept through me as my mind replayed every agonizing moment of the mans screams, his silence, and his never-wavering smile...

He never broke. Despite everything I did, all the pain I subjected him to, he died with his secrets still locked behind that dreaded smile and deranged gleam in his eye that made my stomach twist.

*Puff* Setting my paws down into the snow, I felt my mind screaming, begging to forget everything I had done, but it wasn't possible.

This was the life I had set myself on.. the path I was determined to trek...

I just needed to learn.. even if I needed to teach myself a lesson, and recognize my own naivety first.

"Krystallo..." During the entire thing, Hera spoke to me, asking me to stop, starting stern and serious before slowly becoming softer and more worried the longer I ignored her.

But even after it was done, I didn't look up at her... I couldn't...

Again and again, she tried stopping me, wanting to protect me from the eventual reality my childishness would force me to face, but I never did.

I had to do it.. if not for the information, then for myself.

. to stoke the flame that had been ignited in my chest, driving me to climb and see the stars.

I couldn't simply wait for the perfect foothold to appear on the side of the cliff... Sometimes, you just need to grip a loose rock and pray it holds your weight.. even if you are too naive to comprehend the cost of the rock slipping.

"I know what you're feeling..." Speaking softly, as if trying not to break glass, Hera wrapped her aura around me like a blanket. "I'm proud to see you pushing yourself to face stuff like this head-on, but you don't have to prove anything to me.. or anyone else, for that matter..."

Her words, meant to hit me on the head with a cushion, felt like needles digging into my scales.

She was wrong. I did have to prove something, just not to her...

"I'm not going to stop..." My voice cracked as I spoke, keeping my eyes aimed at the crimson blood seeping into the snow around my paws. "Even if I hate it.. even if I despise it.. I'm not going to stop..."

"Vasilias wouldn't want you to force yourself like this, you know..."

Hearing his name, I felt my chest tighten.

She was right.. but somehow I couldn't bring myself to agree. "He wouldn't want me to be a burden either-"

But Hera didn't let me finish my bout. "He doesn't care, Krystallo."

My gaze instantly softened to tears as my chest started burning.

"Your brother can make any future you wish to live happen. You don't have to push yourself like that..."

Gripping the snow with a wince as my tailed curled up under my paws, I couldn't pull my mind off the time we spoke at the arena. "But I do... The future I want isn't one he can simply grant me without me playing my part..."

Pausing, the wind brushed over the island, carrying with it the deep hum of reverberating glass.

“He doesn’t think that way...” Breaking the silence, Hera spoke under her breath. “He just wanted to discourage you from taking such a hard path...”

I instantly flinched.

"Your flame burns brighter when you see his.

.." Stepping beside me, her paw cast its familiar, looming shadow over me.

"You don't want to lose sight of it no matter what, and because you're afraid you will, you want to chase after it.

.." Pausing, she looked up and out toward the plume of frigid white gas escaping the sinkhole.

"But his flame burns too bright to lose sight of. .. Especially for you..."

Her words were gentle, yet they cut like a blade.

-Especially for me...- The thought repeated endlessly in my mind like a haunting reminder. "But I'm unworthy of it..."

Falling silent again, her gaze dulled with thought.

She knew how I felt, even if I couldn't fully recognize it myself...

*VWOOOOM* Feeling the intense fluctuations of mana that could only come from Brother, I looked over to see the ocean pushed back and lifted into the air as a thick metal dam materialized to block it off.

It was a miracle made so mundane it was almost sickening.. even to the eyes of Hera...

"Worthiness isn't something you yourself can decide.

.. Sometimes, you simply need to set aside things like pride and use the light given to you to find an easier path.

.." Speaking with a hint of pain in her voice, her gaze softened.

"The higher you climb, the more likely you are to feel that worthiness, but you need to acknowledge that using the light to take more cautious steps isn't a bad thing in order to get there in the first place.

.." Looking back at me, her gaze turned warm.

. like Mother's. "Stop closing your eyes thinking you need to climb in the dark, Krystallo. "

Momentarily catching her gaze, I felt my eyes turn glossy with tears before turning down to look at my bloody paws once more. -Stop trying to climb in the dark...-

Her words echoed louder than a deafening blast.

For a moment, I just sat there, basking in the whirlpool of thoughts stirring in my mind.. until eventually, Hera stepped back, letting the warm embrace of the sun land on my scales.

I was young and naive.. and just as Brother had warned me, my arrogance was getting in the way.

I was only just now recognizing it...

"Look, Krystallo... I'm not saying you should take the easiest path.. just don't take ones that leave scars..." Curling her tail around me, she pulled me into her side and turned me to face the ocean, and look into the sunrise. "Use the light to temper yourself like a smith hammers iron..."

Watching as the figure of Brother's fenririan form flew up in front of the orange sun, my cold gaze warmed with a faint glow.

"Just make sure you aren't trying to copy the way someone else swings their hammer..."