'Til The End of Time

"...A-Am I dead? I... I can't feel anything."

"Heh. You survived that. You really are strong, Gigus."

Xiranth sat her flank upon a bench floating aimlessly through nothingness. There was nothing left, save for the stars, a rock, and the aforementioned bench. The world was gone.

Gigus was almost dead; it was a miracle he was still breathing, having been sliced in two. His lifeblood pooled in the air, green, a constant stream twisting and turning behind them both. Xiranth wanted to pity him, but after the work he'd put her through, she refused to do so.

"Ha... This is really how it ends," he muttered. "I thought I couldn't be beaten, but... you were too strong, Xiranth. Too strong..."

Gigus spluttered. Xiranth looked to the stars and wondered how she was speaking in the vacuum of space... Not like it mattered at this point, but still. It confused her.

"I never asked to be this strong, you know." He turned his head to her, and she quickly gazed back. "The pain of living with just so much power... It became a joke. You must know how that feels."

She nodded sadly. "Yeah, totally."

"You've... satisfied my lust for battle, however," he continued. "But I... had doubts you were trying. You were hardly trying to actually best me."

She remained silent. After all this, he could finally tell.

"You were holding back, weren't you?"

Xiranth scrutinised the stars around her. They shone down upon her, an endless ocean of dark reds and luminous blues. It was as if the Ancestors themselves were peering down on her, deeply disappointed in her actions... She was ashamed to admit it, but she regretted doing what she'd done. Where was she supposed to go now? What was she supposed to do now?

"Eh, I... I guess I got what I wanted in the end, anyway. It doesn't matter." He seemed to read her mind. She sighed. "But now that it is done, I can't help but look back upon myself and... and feel foolish. What was I supposed to do after this?"

There was no answer to that. Blowing up the world... What a silly thing to pursue.

"Oh well." He closed his eyes and seemed to sink into the asteroid a little. "There is... no point fretting about it anymore. Thank you, Xiranth. You... You've helped me in more ways than you can possibly imagine."

"...You're not gonna just die on me now, are you?" she blurted out, feeling just slightly worried about him. "You don't want to ride this asteroid forever with me?"

"I think I'll sit that one out," he breathed. "Again, thank you... Thank you, Xirthant."

His quavering breaths came to a sudden halt. It took her a moment to realise he was actually gone, yet only because of the insult to her name. Something told her a bit of that mole had still been left inside of his newer, twisted form. Not Gigus, but the mole who'd loved stealing her apples.

Oh, the memories. Despite how unpleasant they'd been at the time, they felt the complete opposite now. Those had been good times...

How she wanted to go back to the Dragons Realms.

How she wanted to go back home.

But here she was, forced to ride the currents of space until the end of time itself. It was all her doing, and there was nothing she could do to rectify it.

She only felt a cold emptiness in her heart.

Wow, it's over. That got too depressing for a trollfic. XD

There's really not much I can say. I mean, it was a blast to write this thing. I had so much fun concocting this train wreck of a story. It felt good to sit down and not have to worry about anything at all.

If you're reading this, though, you might be wondering, "What comes after this?" Well, you can expect something just a little more serious out of me next time. At the time of writing this author's note, I've already finished up six chapters of something new, an adventure story I've had great pleasure writing the lore and characters for. It's no sequel to Dragon's Ruin (because that story is dead and is terrible XD) but I hope it's something all my lovely readers will enjoy. I hate everything I write, but I dunno. Maybe this will be decent. XD

I hope you've enjoyed COX as much as I did writing it. I didn't put all that much time into it, and I was already starting the plan for the new book while I was writing it, but eh.

Perhaps I'll see you in the next book. Until then.