Years would pass, The Universal War would start. As conflicts between Peace and Chaos intensified, so did the rift between Hanabi and Eira. As Hanabi sunk more and more of his time into his work with Peace, he and Eira had less and less time to spend with one another. It didn’t help that Peace harbored a dislike for Eira which spread to the rest of Peace’s court. Eira’s strength and appearance contributed to their perception as a “monstrous” individual. That plus their close relationship with Hanabi, who was clearly Peace’s favorite, was the perfect recipe for jealousy and resentment. You could even theorize that part of this dislike stemmed from Eira’s resemblance to Chaos. Whatever the true reason, Eira was alone again.

From this dislike came the moniker of “The Beast”. Rumors say that Eira alone was strong enough to take down a hundred men in one fell swoop. While you’d expect strength like this to be respected, for Eira it was constantly met with back-handed compliments and snide. When you are so deeply feared by the general populace, it makes it hard to develop any real connections. How could anyone find safety in them if all they were meant to do was cause harm? To everyone else, Eira was Peace’s “Beast” and that’s all they would ever be.

The time Eira tried to spend with Hanabi was continuously snubbed from them. Even though Hanabi tried at first to continue making room for them in their life, as they ranked up it became apparent that work was Hanabi’s new purpose. Eira began to become self-conscious, was it something they’d done to have pushed Hanabi away? The only solution they could find for their complicated cocktail of emotions would be to repress them entirely or focus them all into their training. If everyone insisted they were a beast, fine, so be it. Let them be one. But they were taking that name on their own terms. Eira was perfectly fine with letting things slip and erode, until Hanabi confronted them.

Hanabi, who had caught on by now the change in Eira’s demeanor towards him, questioned why they were so upset. Hanabi believed he was just doing what he had already promised he’d do, and he didn’t understand why Eira was pushing them away. Ironic, considering Hanabi’s neglect is part of what forced Eira’s hand in the first place. This resentful sentiment snowballed into a larger argument. The topic went from their distance, to their views on Peace, and of course from there the blame game started. Hanabi called Eira selfish, this was Hanabi’s whole life, they couldn’t just put away their work for them. Eira spat back that Hanabi had abandoned them, Hanabi was their only friend, and they had essentially forgotten all about them.

As the fight intensified however, some residents of Peace’s court caught wind of it. Informing Peace of the dispute, she became furious at what Eira had said about her and what the two had done. Of course, with all of her court watching, she had to make an example. She maintains the force of Order, after all. What else to prove that than to snub out a signifier of the enemy they were doing everything to oppose.

Peace exiled Eira. A decision made as quickly as it was administered. The biggest tragedy of all? Hanabi sat there and watched. His fear took over his judgement, and just like that, “companions forever” became but a naive pipe dream.

Now the two were truly alone. Forever.

“Never again.” Eira told themselves. Never would they trust anyone, ever again.

…Unfortunately for them, when fate leads to a group of “Warriors” to show up at their literal doorstep, they might have to reconsider that.

Eira is introduced later in the story, so they don’t have any major role in Act 1. Eira’s life post-Hanabi was, as expected, isolating. After being exiled, Eira was not allowed to step foot on any Peace-aligned planets ever again. It’s admittedly hard to find a new start when you’ve been abandoned by one of the people who keeps the universe going, but Eira eventually found one on a planet known as “Koriama”. An icy, sketchy planet that would soon become a bustling source of trade and more under-the-table deals. One of Omne’s founders, Anastasia, was an active visitor to the planet. It’s through her visitations that Eira was able to catch any wind of what was going on in the outer universe.

The Universal War would end, Omne would form. Eira rebuilt a life for themselves. They built their own home, hunted their own food, and became comfortable living in complete isolation. However, that didn’t stop them from preparing for potential visitors one day. Some part of them still held onto the hope that maybe, somewhere out there, they’d find someone to connect with at last. With the way they keep shutting people out though, any hopes of this seem impossible.

Even on Koriama, the rumors of their past life as “The Beast” followed them. Even thousands of miles away, Eira couldn’t escape Peace’s grip on them and their life. Worst of all, they couldn’t escape hearing Hanabi’s name being whispered in the same sentence as theirs. No matter how far they ran, their notoriety always caught up to bring fear towards people’s perception of them. At least being alone here meant things couldn’t get any worse though, right?

Eira’s first hint of what was to come was rumors of another riftening. That wasn’t a huge tip-off though, those came practically every year now. However, the more obvious indicator was when one day, while they were doing their regular chores inside their home, a ship landed outside. Initially, they didn’t think much of it. Probably just some people coming to visit Koriama’s Central Market. Not too unusual. They went back to cleaning.

Then they hear a knock on their door.

When they open it, they are convinced the universe is playing a joke on them.

Seven, no eight teenagers stood in front of them. One of them they recognized as Anastasia’s prodigy, but the rest were new faces to them. However, that’s not what captured their attention most. No, the thing that shook them to their core was the person leading it all.

“EIRA?”

Hanabi.

Hanabi was there, at their doorstep.

Finally, after all this time, the two reunite.

…

“No.”

Eira shut the door.

…However, something tells me they’d be quick to change their mind. Those teenagers didn’t have anything to do with Hanabi after all. Eira’s too empathetic to let them freeze over something they never had any stake in. They wouldn’t survive Koriama’s harsh weather alone. Ok, only for one night they could stay. Just one…

…Just one. Totally. Well, at the very least they weren’t as alone anymore. And hey, that prepping for visitors comes in handy when you’ve got to deal with 7 of them. Maybe they could teach these “Warriors” a few things, given their experience in combat it sure wouldn’t hurt to try…

…And maybe, if they let them, they could be more than a beast, and finally begin to trust again at last.

All it takes is a little bit of faith.