18. Epilogue
We stood at the edge. Watching. Waiting.
I had never seen so many of us gathered at one time, in one place. Our ranks had emptied, poised here on this field of battle. My eyes swept across the scattered forms of our kind, standing solitary, faces I”d never seen before but recognized as my brothers, my sisters.
Some of us had been here since the first settlers of Gartaden appeared on Nia and perished. Others joined as the capricious false gods instigated their blood-stained battles; heroic sacrifices surpassed our needs, and our ranks increased.
We could know all that was to be known, yet none knew when the world would end. When our labors would cease and we would finally be reunited with our loved ones among the elect. It was hidden from our sight. It could be today, or the end might not find us for another millennium. But this battle had fashioned itself to be epic in its scope regardless of its place in history”s timeline.
”Do you believe this will be the last, the great battle that brings the end?” I looked over at my Eth.
”I do not. There are a great many here to fight and die, fodder for the gods” whims. But their powers are diminished. We will take many from here this day, but there will be those who remain to keep this sphere flourishing with life.”
I looked over the field, wondering if any of Gingel and Arit”s descendants stood ready to fight. I hoped they did not. I hoped they had better sense.
”Do you think we will finally guide these ”gods” from this sphere? Or will they cheat time yet again?”
”I believe several will finally gain their own threads. Their reckoning is at hand. It is close. I can feel it.”
I stood near Eth, sliding my hand into his. No other guides had this, our bond. Our thread remained between us, eternally beautiful. I wondered at it, but I didn”t take it for granted. He turned to me, his smile perfected in its subtlety. His gift of a simple kiss robbed me of any other questions I might have had.
A crackling of power surged through the air, and both sides of the conflict pulsed and flashed with the elemental forces of the universe.
”Look. It begins.”