One Degree from the Impossible

Nino ran across the Colossus's shoulder and launched himself toward its head, Pulse flooding his legs as he landed hard enough to fracture the ancient stone beneath him.

The creature reacted immediately.

Its enormous head began to turn as one arm rose through the clouds, the hand opening toward its own face. Each finger was larger than a tower, and Nino understood the moment he saw it.

It knew what he was trying to do. It was protecting the Heart.

Nino accelerated.

The colossal hand moved into his path, but he didn't slow. Deep violet Pulse flooded his sword until the black blade nearly disappeared inside the light, and when the first finger descended before him, Nino swung.

Stone exploded.

The first finger shattered, followed by the second as the strike traveled across the enormous palm, carving a glowing violet line through ancient rock. Fractures raced toward the wrist while the Colossus continued bringing its hand down.

Nino roared and pushed farther. The wrist broke. An entire section of the forearm tore free, sending thousands of tons of stone tumbling through the clouds toward the forest below.

Nino was already through. He plunged into the opening beneath the creature's head, leaving the daylight behind as darkness swallowed him.

The Heart was waiting.

Its violet light filled the chamber in violent pulses, illuminating walls that trembled with every movement of the Colossus.

THUMP.

Number Two remained where he had fallen, unconscious beside the enormous crystal. Nino looked at him, then at the Heart.

THUMP.

Another tremor passed through the chamber. Arvendel was running out of time. Nino raised his sword as Pulse gathered along the blade and struck.

A crack split across the Heart. The entire chamber screamed.

THUMP.

He struck again, widening the fracture across the crystal as violet light poured through it. Nino tightened both hands around the hilt.

"Enough."

The third strike shattered the Heart of Noctrium. Violet light consumed everything. Outside, the Colossus stopped.

For a fraction of a second, its raised foot remained suspended above the earth as the glow running through the ancient veins of its body flickered and began to disappear. Then its knee buckled, and the mountain itself started to fall, tilting the entire chamber violently beneath Nino's feet. His eyes widened.

"Two."

He ran through the falling debris, grabbed his former mentor and threw him over his shoulder just as the world turned sideways around them. Stone collapsed from every direction while the Colossus began its final descent, forcing Nino to sprint through the crumbling interior and leap across fractures opening beneath his feet.

Light appeared ahead. Nino leaped toward it and burst from the Colossus with Two over his shoulder.

The gigantic body was falling directly toward Arvendel. The first person screamed. Then everyone did. The Colossus was no longer walking toward them.

It was falling.

People who had stopped running moments earlier scattered again, but there was nowhere left to go. The shadow raced across Arvendel faster than anyone could escape it, swallowing fields, streets, and houses until the entire village disappeared beneath the descending mountain.

The pregnant woman who had dropped her basket earlier stood frozen beside the wall, one hand covering her stomach. Nearby, a mother fell to her knees and covered her son with her own body.

The bells continued to ring. Some prayed. Some cried. Others simply looked upward.

At the gates of Solvar, the Hero moved.

Golden Pulse erupted around his body as he leaped from the wall and landed on the outer fortification, cracking the stone beneath his boots. The soldiers behind him recoiled as the pressure intensified, his heavy coat snapping violently in the mountain wind.

"Get everyone away from the walls!" he shouted. "Open every passage into the mountain and keep them moving!"

The captain stared toward Arvendel.

"What about the village?"

The Hero didn't answer. Golden Pulse continued gathering around him. More. The stone beneath his feet fractured.

He raised one arm toward the falling Colossus and narrowed his amber eyes, searching desperately for something he could use. A weak point. A direction in which the creature could be broken. Anything.

The captain saw what he was preparing to do.

"Hero..."

"Get back."

For a moment, the mountain walls themselves seemed to glow beneath its light. Then the Hero hesitated. His eyes moved across the falling body.

If he shattered the chest, the pieces would still fall on Arvendel. If he destroyed an arm, thousands of tons of stone would rain over the village. Even if he could tear the entire Colossus apart, gravity would finish what the creature had started.

His raised hand began to tremble. The captain stepped closer.

"Can you stop it?"

The Hero remained silent. Golden Pulse still burned around his body, but slowly, his arm lowered. That silence was answer enough.

Several miles away, violet light struck the earth.

Three landed hard and slid across the ground, digging both heels into the soil until she finally came to a stop. The moment she released the children, Cael turned toward Arvendel.

His face went pale.

"No..."

Darien followed his gaze. The Colossus filled the horizon. Their village had disappeared beneath its shadow.

"No. No, no, no..."

Cael started running. Three caught his arm.

"Where are you going?"

"Let me go!"

"You can't go back!"

"MY FAMILY IS THERE!"

Cael pulled against her grip with everything he had, tears already streaming down his face.

"LET ME GO!"

Three tightened her hold.

"You'll die!"

"I DON'T CARE!"

"Cael!"

"My mom is there! My dad is there! LET ME GO!"

Three pulled him back as he fought against her, but there was nowhere for him to go. Even from miles away, the falling Colossus seemed large enough to cover the world in front of them.

Darien hadn't moved. His eyes remained fixed on Arvendel. Lahna began to cry beside him while Rentarou stood trembling, unable to look away. Darien's lips moved.

"My house..."

Cael stopped struggling for only a second. Darien swallowed.

"We just got out."

Three looked at him. The boy's eyes filled with tears.

"We got out of that nest..."

His voice broke.

"We were supposed to go home."

Three had no answer. Alicia listened. She couldn't see the Colossus falling toward Arvendel. She couldn't see the enormous shadow consuming the village or the terrified faces of the children around her.

But she could hear Cael crying. Darien's broken voice. The distant bells. She could feel the earth trembling beneath her feet and hear the roar of millions of tons of stone tearing through the sky. And beneath all of it… Something else. Alicia slowly turned her head.

"Where's Nino?"

Three looked toward the falling Colossus. For several seconds, she couldn't find him among the fractures, debris and enormous sections of stone breaking away from its body. Then she saw him: A tiny figure moving against the side of the falling mountain.

"He's still there."

Alicia fell silent.

Nino landed against the collapsing side of the Colossus and drove both feet into the stone, remaining almost horizontal against the falling mountain.

He lowered Two onto a rocky ledge and looked down. Arvendel had disappeared beneath the shadow.

“..."

The Colossus was already dead. There was no stopping its fall. But he didn't need to stop it. He needed to move it.

Nino raised his sword. Pulse answered weakly, a thin violet glow crawling across the blade before flickering out. He stared at it for a moment before trying again, only for pain to tear through his veins.

The poison was still there, interfering with every channel through which his Pulse moved, and after everything he had forced through his body against the Shadows and the Heart, there was almost nothing left to give.

Still, he forced more, and violet light returned for a moment before fading once again. The Colossus continued to fall.

"Come on..."

Nino tightened his grip and tried again, but his arms had begun to tremble. Below him, Arvendel grew larger.

He could distinguish the streets now, the houses and even the people — hundreds of tiny figures standing beneath him. Nino's eyes widened.

Move.

A faint line of Pulse appeared along his sword.

Just a little.

It disappeared. The mountain continued to fall.

"MOVE!"

Violet light burst from his body only to collapse again, sending Nino down to one knee as his sword struck the stone. When he tried to rise, his leg gave beneath him.

For the first time since leaving Mezi, Nino reached inside himself and found nothing left to force out.

Miles away, Cael stopped struggling. Three felt his arm go limp in her hand. The Colossus was almost there.

“You don’t need to look.”

"My mom..." His voice broke.

Three looked away, knowing there was nothing she could say to him and no promise she could make. Beside her, Alicia suddenly pressed a hand against her chest as her heartbeat changed, carrying with it a strange sensation that didn't seem to come from within her own body, but from somewhere far away — something struggling, something strangely familiar.

"Nino..."

Three turned toward her. Alicia slowly brought her other hand up until both rested together over her heart. Her fingers trembled.

"Kid?"

She didn't answer. A faint violet glow appeared between her hands. Three's ruby-red eyes widened.

"What...?"

The light slowly crawled between Alicia's fingers, gentle and warm, nothing like the violent Pulse Three had watched tear across the Colossus moments earlier.

Alicia didn't understand what was happening. She didn't know where that warmth came from or why she could feel something so impossibly far away. She only knew that Nino was there. And that he needed her.

Alicia lowered her head.

"Nino..."

At that very moment, struggling against the side of the falling Colossus, Nino gasped as his heart suddenly slammed against his chest.

THUMP.

His eyes widened as he felt the Pulse surge inside him, but something about it was different — warm, familiar, as though something had reached him from far away. Nino slowly turned his head toward the distant hills.

“This is… Alicia?!”

THUMP.

Deep violet light exploded beneath his skin.

Nino's breath caught as the Pulse that had refused to answer seconds earlier surged through his body with enough force to make every vein burn. Then more came.

THUMP.

The stone beneath him cracked. Nino gripped his sword as his coat snapped violently behind him and the air began to distort around his body. Pieces of the Colossus tore free from the surface and rose around him.

The Pulse continued growing. More than he had left. More than his poisoned body should have been capable of producing. Nino didn't understand it. There was no time to.

The violet light spread across his arms, his chest and his neck before pouring into the sword until the blade disappeared completely within it.

The poison fought against the Pulse, but Nino forced it through anyway. Blood ran from his nose and mouth as his wounds opened beneath the pressure, yet the power continued to rise. Slowly, Nino stood.

At the gates of Solvar, the Hero saw it. A tiny violet light against the falling mountain. At first, he thought it was debris burning through the air. Then it grew. His amber eyes narrowed.

"What is that?"

The captain followed his gaze. The light grew brighter, until even beneath the enormous shadow of the Colossus, that single point of violet could be seen from the walls.

The Hero's expression changed. He could feel it from there.

“This is him!”

His golden aura flickered around him as the pressure reached the gates. The captain took a step back.

"What...?"

The Hero glanced at him. "Don't you recognize that power?"

The captain's eyes widened. "The Hero of Mezi... But why is he here?" He turned back toward the distant violet light. "Do you think he can stop it?"

The Hero didn't answer. Only moments earlier, he had gathered everything he could summon and realized it wouldn't be enough. Yet the power he felt now continued to grow.

Deep in the forest, Number One opened his eyes.

"No way..."

Every part of his body screamed. He tried to move and couldn't. Then violet light passed through the branches above him. One slowly looked toward the sky. The arrogance disappeared from his face.

"...Zero."

In the distance, Three stared toward the Colossus. The children did the same. Alicia remained with both hands pressed against her chest.

The Shadow looked at the girl, then back toward the distant violet light burning against the falling mountain. Her expression changed.

"What are you...?"

Alicia's fingers tightened.

"Nino."

Three held Cael as he cried for his family. Darien waited to lose everything he had only just escaped death to return to. And high above all of them, one man stood against a falling mountain.

Nino planted both feet into the Colossus. His fingers tightened around the hilt until blood ran between them. Every muscle in his body screamed. Every wound reopened. The poison burned through his veins.

He pulled the sword back as the Colossus fell closer, gaining speed with every passing second.

Nino roared. It wasn't an attack or a command, just a raw scream torn from somewhere deeper than pain as every fragment of strength left in his body poured into the sword.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

He swung. The sky turned violet.

The strike buried itself into the side of the Colossus and ripped through miles of ancient stone. A shock wave exploded across the valley, tearing clouds apart and flattening entire stretches of forest.

The people of Arvendel screamed as Three covered Cael's eyes with one hand and soldiers threw themselves against the walls. And then... nothing.

The mountain didn't move. Nino's eyes widened.

"No..."

His boots sank deeper into the stone. The Colossus kept falling.

"No!"

Nino pushed. Every muscle in his arms tightened as the sword sank farther into the ancient body and fractures spread outward from the impact. Still, the mountain refused to move.

"MOVE!"

Pulse exploded from him. Nothing. The houses below grew larger. The bells continued ringing. Nino's arms shook violently. Blood poured from his wounds. His vision blurred. He could feel that strange warmth inside his Pulse.

Alicia.

He could feel her. Nino tightened his grip.

"COME ON!"

He pushed harder. The Colossus resisted. Nino screamed until his throat burned. Still it fell.

As the shadow consumed everything, Cael lowered his head. Three held him tighter while Darien closed his eyes. Alicia pressed her hands harder against her chest and whispered:

“You can do it, Nino... You’re...”

Far above them, Nino's knees began to buckle.

"No..."

The Pulse flickered. Still not enough. His teeth clenched until blood filled his mouth as the Colossus fell closer. Nino looked down at Arvendel one last time. Then, through the roar of the falling mountain and the Pulse raging inside him, he heard something that shouldn't have been possible.

You can do it, Nino… You’re… my hero!

His eyes widened. Then he screamed:

"MOOOOOOOOOOOVE!"

The world turned violet as Pulse erupted through Nino's body with such violence that the stone beneath him ceased to exist. His sword sank deeper into the Colossus, sending one crack across its ancient body, then another, until hundreds became thousands.

Nino kept screaming as his arms shook and his wounds tore wider, the violet light swelling around him until the entire valley disappeared beneath it. Still, he pushed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

At the gates of Solvar, the Hero stopped breathing. Three's eyes widened, Cael stared through his tears, and One watched from beneath the trees while Alicia's lips slowly curved into a smile.

And then, the mountain moved.

Only a fraction at first, so little that no one in Arvendel understood what had happened. Then the shadow began to shift, and a thin blade of sunlight appeared between two houses.

The mother opened her eyes as another line of sunlight crossed the street. The old man looked up, the pregnant woman slowly raised her head, and all around them, people turned toward the sky as daylight began crawling back across Arvendel.

The darkness was moving.

"No way..." someone whispered.

More sunlight spilled across the rooftops. Then across the streets. The enormous body drifted away from the center of the village as its trajectory changed by only a few degrees.

Almost nothing. But for a mountain falling from the sky, a few degrees changed everything. The mother began to cry. Someone laughed. Another person screamed. This time, it wasn't from fear.

The bells were still ringing, but now voices rose beneath them as people who had already accepted their deaths realized they were still alive.

At the gates of Solvar, the Hero slowly lowered his arm. He had seen armies wield Pulse. He had stood beside Heroes. He had spent years being the man people looked toward when something impossible stood before them. He knew what a human being was capable of. This wasn't one of those things. His amber eyes remained fixed on the man standing against the side of a falling mountain.

Far away, Cael stared toward Arvendel. His legs gave beneath him. Three released his arm as he dropped to his knees, tears streaming down his face.

"He..."

He tried to speak and couldn't. Darien stared beside him. Cael laughed through his tears.

"He moved it."

Three said nothing. Her ruby-red eyes remained fixed on the distant violet figure. Alicia slowly lowered her hands. The violet glow was gone. Three looked at her. Alicia smiled.

"I knew he would."

Nino's arms fell. His sword nearly slipped from his fingers as the last of the Pulse disappeared from his body. For a moment, he could do nothing but breathe.

Below him, sunlight covered Arvendel again. People were alive. Nino closed his eyes. He had done it. Then something caught his attention. His eyes opened.

Beyond the village, between the mountains, stood the ancient gates of Solvar. The Colossus was still falling. Nino's expression changed.

His strike had moved the dead giant away from Arvendel, but it had not stopped its momentum. The force of its final step was still carrying millions of tons of stone forward.

Straight toward the mountain passage. At the gates, the Hero of Solvar noticed it at almost the same moment.

His eyes slowly widened.

"...Wait."

The Colossus's enormous arm broke through the clouds. Its lifeless hand stretched ahead of the collapsing body, large enough to bury the outer fortifications beneath it. The soldiers who had begun staring toward Arvendel in disbelief suddenly turned.

Someone screamed. The Hero spun around.

"EVERYONE, GET BACK!"

The dead Colossus descended toward the gates of Solvar.