EPILOGUE

 

One month later

Ætherday, first day of the year 1000 of the Restoration Era

 

Airo turned this way and that, inspecting his reflection with a critical eye. The room had been altered into a much more sunlit design and light poured through the arched window, showing the clear purple-tinged sky outside. Airo remembered he was in the far future and reached out for the free-floating HHI, adjusting the mirrored variform surface of the wardrobe to show him the angle he wanted. He wore no actual clothes, his current garments wholly virtual; this way he didn't need to wait for the nanofabricator to print each set individually before finding the ideal match. It was a strange setup to him, as many other things had been, yet he was quickly getting used to the speed and convenience it offered.

He chose the next outfit, his mind wandering. The days had flown by, and he had barely noticed them. They had won. The price had been terrible and the death toll nightmarish, yet they had won and had survived. And at the very end, the dead had known peace. Even Ferrtau. Every reaved soul had returned once more to the Fire Eternal, to begin its Way anew, and to shine forever among the countless stars of the Great Cosmos.

And those who had lived on, they grieved and they rejoiced.

Airo lowered his head, sparkles in his vision blurring momentarily the brightness radiating from the window.

"Are you ready yet?" Veralla called, coming to stand beside him. "I am surprised you can spend so much attention to these details."

Airo swiftly wiped the evidence of his weakness, and turned to face her. "It is easy for you," he said. "You wear no clothes."

"Well, why do you not do the same? You look rather nice this way," Veralla hrrr–ed playfully, looking him up and down. He tried to stay relaxed, resisting the impulse to cover himself.

"Thank you for the compliment, but you have to take the others into consideration," he replied. Why he felt shy standing naked in front of Veralla? She did it all the time and he never even took note of that fact until now. He wondered what opinion dragons had on the matter in general.

"But we are getting late for the ceremony," she said. "And it will probably take very long, and you still have not given me a present!"

He stopped mid-turn toward the wardrobe. "What? Ah, right, today is your hatchday."

"Yes!" she piped brightly. "And I want a present!"

"I gave you one already," he said with mock sternness, pointing at the aethertech gridcaster on her foreleg.

"Well, I want another one."

"But... I do not have any more presents prepared."

"Oh, I think I have an idea..." she hrrr–ed, stepping closer.

Airo took in her void-black, magenta-striped form. Already she was twice larger than Glawlrhain and her growth showed no signs of stopping soon. He looked at her thick, sharp claws, her vast wings, her scaled bulk, her magnificent set of horns and crests upon her head. He sensed she was looming eagerly. He lifted his brows in awkward confusion. What is going on here?

Let me show you, she replied, smiling in her fierce draconic way. She bent lower, taking another step, and her massive chest pressed into him. He could feel an ocean of emotions pouring through the mindlink, smothering in their intensity and fiery in their nature. Emotions dominated by...

Oh, no.

"Veralla, are you sure about this?!" Airo said, distressed at both her advance and his failing voice.

"Oh, yes, I am," she rawr–ed, a note in her tone he hadn't heard before. Lust.

"Are you not... too young... I mean..." He was forced to step back as she kept pressing into him.

Veralla let out a hrrr–ing giggle. "Do not worry, I have spoken with Glawlrhain. He says it takes only a year or so for dragons to reach mating age. And I already have started to experience... urges..." she crooned, leaning further to lick him with her forked tongue.

"Urges?!" Airo gasped, making another three steps back to avoid falling over.

"Yes~ And I need help to overcome them~ Or I may turn into a very naughty dragon~"

"But the ceremony!..."

"They should either wait, or make another one. I want you now, Airo," she said, showing rows of gleaming teeth as she smiled wider, her amethyst eyes bright with glee and passion.

"Veralla, wait... Wait!" Airo cried, tripping over what he realized was their shared floor bed. "Veralla!"

She giggled again, and then everything he perceived was all dragon.

 

***

 

Magus Dei leaned on the window sill, gazing at the memorial ceremony. The arctic wind blew from the open aperture, daring his heightened senses.

Out there, Ilsorin's slopes shone with pristine snow under the bright sky. The central courtyard was full of people. A pure golden bonfire blazed against the horizon in a magnificent crystal basin. Terlokhi Stamat, his shoulders straight, stood proudly before the bonfire, Lylana Darkovitz and Glawlrhain on either side of him, and his clarion voice carried across the whole courtyard.

"...Yet today is also a day of mourning. We have gathered here to honor those who are no longer among us. We are here to say our farewells to our brothers and sisters, to all of them, no matter their origin.

"Today we return our beloved back into the warm, everpresent embrace of the Fire Eternal, and as we guide our gazes toward the Great Cosmos, we let our tears flow freely. We mourn, yet we accept our pain and sadness, for those who have died have never done so in vain – and they shall find infinite enlightenment and joy as they become One..."

"Sir, won't you attend the ceremony?" a voice queried behind Magus.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw Lylana. Down there, she continued to stand at parade rest on the courtyard, and nothing gave indication her awareness – indeed, merely part of it – was elsewhere. Her astral projection wore a simple white tunic.

"Is my presence that much needed?" he asked, turning back to the open window, his mind distant. "Airo and Veralla are also absent, and they are the ones we should heap praise over."

"Theirs is easy to figure," Lylana said with a grunted half-chuckle. "It was a matter of time before her forwardness overcame his blindness... And now their absence provides the conclusion to that story.

"You, sir, on the other hand, are a greater enigma."

"I have never been one for ceremonies," Magus said.

"Neither was Aethernalis," Lylana replied. He could sense her folding her arms. "Yet I knew him and you, sir – both of you liked viewing them from afar."

"Indeed," Magus said distantly, the memories rising unbidden. His gaze fell, yet he stopped before his head moved even a fraction. The freezing gusts of Terra Para blew relentlessly. He felt tired.

"But there is something else here," Lylana insisted, her voice coming closer. "Something weighs heavily upon you, sir. Your guardedness, your aged appearance, your failing light... You never overcame his death, sir. Am I right?"

"...today is also a day of joy. For we commemorate life as well as death.

"We sing, praising the Great Cosmos for having blessed us with another dawn. We dance, walking illuminated the brilliant, transcendent path of the Celestial Way. We thank those who have stood by us, and we thank ourselves for standing by them. We share this moment, bound together..."

"I tried to bring him back, Lylana," Magus said in a hushed voice, so low the words lost themselves in the waves of sound and wind coming from the window. Yet he knew she heard him perfectly clear. She said nothing. He felt a faint touch upon his shoulder, where she placed her large immaterial hand. Her projection came to stand next to him.

"I tried to bring Aethernalis back," he repeated. "Many times. Via many ways. Resurrection. Time travel. Bending the Cosmos itself. For long, endless years, I toiled away, wasted away my power, my life, and my sanity. I never gave up. Until one day I succeeded. Horribly." He lifted his altered eyes to meet her amber gaze. "The Starblaze happened because of me."

"... Raise your light for those who have fallen!

"Raise your light for those who live!

"Raise your light for those you have saved!

"Raise your light for those who have saved you!

"Raise your light in honor, virtue, and love! Raise your light, and become awakened..."

"We all have forgiven you, sir," Lylana spoke softly. "Even if we didn't know the truth. We have been taught to keep our hearts open and our souls always alight, and so we have done, sir. The truth does not change that."

Magus nodded, a single, brief gesture. He knew her words were true. He knew all his crimes were absolved. He knew he was free from judgment and given nothing but kindness and compassion.

What remained was he to forgive himself.

"...We are all people under one sky. We are all rays of light within the everbright flames of the Fire Eternal. We live among the stars, and the stars live in our hearts. Each of us is a shining beacon in the night. Each of us is an exemplar, an undying champion who wards All That Is. Each of us dreams, and we all shall Awaken.

"We are Knights hallowed in Radiance! And we bestow our flames, our hearts, and our souls to any and all..."

Magus gazed through the window again, his eyes seeking the horizon. He thought about the road so far. Terra Para had endured destruction, defilement, and loss – and had carried on. The galaxy had been brought down by devastation again and again, yet it always persevered, its stars forever brilliant. The Radiant Knights, his and his soulkin's legacy, had faced extinction, yet their spirit lived on.

Perhaps... it was time he did the same.

"What do you intend to do now, sir?" Lylana asked hesitantly. "Will you stay with us, or will you... return to your exile?"

He lived on borrowed time. For many years now, each dawn brought him one step closer to the end of his Way. Each effort, each strain, each invocation was one less drop in his cup of life. He was no longer immortal, and it scared him.

"...And may the stars always shine upon our souls."

He smiled to himself. He had lived for so long, he had forgotten that nothing ever lasted forever. Everyone sooner or later returned to the Fire Eternal. And one day, he too would have to complete his journey, and return Home.

Until that time came, he was free to choose his Way.

"I think I will stay," Magus told Lylana. "There is something here I missed during my exile."

"And what is that, sir?" Lylana asked, her voice full of joy and hope.

"Future," Magus said, leaning on the window sill, looking at the world beyond. "The future we all can build together."

 

 

This is an End, yet the Celestial Way continues ever onward...