He was the variable, and all were constant. That what his death felt like, that what he believed.

At least he would die in peace and calm with no sounds or annoyance to bother him.

Not even the eagerness of Dora to be free. She was really something, even after her mother's betrayal she was yet in control of herself. That was admiring, as if he was in her shoes, he would be desperate right now.

And yet she was eager to be free and live her life, that strong desire of being alive made him wonder, why didn't he have such a desire right now? Why was he embracing death like welcoming an old friend?

His gaze shifted to fall upon his three enemies. their faces showed how desperate they were, like they were facing death like him, however they were fighting, fighting with all their powers against it.

That was weird, if death was coming, why not accept it? Why this rejection? Were their lives that perfect for them to be this attached to it?

He remembered their fight over the scepter not long ago, however right now they seemed not to be interested in that. They were trying to escape and live, escape and start over, escape and continue their lives.

They might have life, but he didn't. his life was empty, his soul was hollow like black hole. As he was feeling these negativity, he felt a tremor in his soul.

That tremor was minute, but he noticed it. that tremor happened when his gaze fell upon Rigo. Rigo's face was apparent to him clearly expressing his concerns and pain.

Regret, frustration, pain, and loss were evident over Rigo's face. As James started to focus on Rigo's features, the tremor appeared once again. this time it began to appear in sequence, one after another with stable intervals and a fixed rhythm.

It was a heartbeat, strong heartbeat that made his soul even tremble with it. Before he could even think about anything, a soft yet audible calm voice came from far, far away like it wasn't coming from this time and place.

"If you want, I can show you the way."

James heard it, but he didn't understand what it meant. He didn't notice he wasn't surprised from the appearance of this voice, like he knew it from before.

In fact he was, as he heard it a lot in his dreams, long forgotten dreams of childhood were always mystery, and like each mystery they were linked to the soul and were rapidly forgotten.

"The way to what?" he muttered with a weak tone and no will at all.

"The way to be stronger, strong enough to gather and protect friends, this is the way you need," the sound came again softly from far, but this time it felt like it was getting closer to him.

"What is the point? I'm all alone right now," he muttered with a weaker tone, a tone of someone who was about to die.

"Alone? It's just your illusions who were trying to control you. You aren't alone, let me show you whom you will lose if you surrendered now," the voice said softly as it was getting closer and closer to him.

James felt a ray of light coming from far, from the horizon. It was moving fast, like a lightning bolt targeting him, however something deep inside his soul reverberated with it.

This wasn't a threat to him, instead it was something he yearned for, or at least part of him did.

As he was there not knowing what was happening, multiple faces began to show up one after another. The first face he saw wasn't Rigo as he expected, instead she was Eli.

Once her face appeared there, a big tremor occurred inside his soul. It was like his soul was refreshed upon seeing her face.

"I'm not alone," he muttered as Rigo's picture appeared followed by the pictures of other droids and the sleepy boys and girls inside his small cruiser. at the end of the line, the face of Dora also appeared there.

He wasn't alone, he was finally getting to know friends. He entered this fight and accepted this impossible task of saving everyone involuntary as he knew deep in his soul he wanted to be friends with them.

Yes his life before was empty, however just in no time after leaving that planet he gained multiple friends.

Friends who depended upon him, friends who needed his help. He wasn't alone, and yet he chose to die like this, all alone.

"What do you want me to do?" James asked with a stronger voice that emerged from his rising will to live. He suddenly became like anyone else, a soul who was eager to fight for life.

A survivor, that what he ended up to be.

"Hold me, and you will be above all."

Suddenly this soft calm voice changed to a strong feminine tone that appeared loudly like thunder in his ears. A flash of light appeared out of nowhere followed by the appearance of a majestic looking metallic rod with two crystals in the middle of it.

There was a small space left for his hand to wield this rod, which he felt they were made specifically for him.

"Hold me and I promise you no harm will even happen to you or your friends."

The sound came abruptly again, intimidating and yet James didn't feel so. He felt strange intimacy and closeness with this rod, after all this was the final result of merging the two scepters together.

This was the final rod, the final scepter, the one who was asking James to hold and lead his way towards his utmost desire…

To not be alone.

With slow motion, James moved his hand to hold that scepter. When his hand touched it, a sudden violent tremor occurred in every single part of his soul like an earthquake.

An earthquake that was so mighty even melted his soul, to form a mighty wave that fell from that height like an avalanche to pour back into his body. a shell that was about to die right now was shocked vigorously with his soul, his new soul, his new power.

James was reborn again, was reborn like an infant, however with a youth body and a legendary power that no one had ever seen in this cosmos.

His path to write his own legend had just started.