Eos and Astraeus stood side by side atop a cliff overlooking the ocean. In ages past, the water before them had been dry land. Miles out to sea, buried beneath the ocean, was the place that had been their first home. Back when they were simply Dawn and Spike, the strangest of star-crossed lovers, trying to hold the powers of darkness at bay.

Years passed…names changed. This century, ancient Greece was once again popular, and so they were Eos and Astraeus, Dawn and Dusk, heralds of the light.

Eos closed her eyes and allowed herself to remember those earliest days of her life on this world. The days of love and laughter. The years of sorrow as one by one those she called family succumbed to the ravages of time. Eventually, Dawn had drifted from the descendants of her earthly family. They were too frail…too fleeting. To stay by their side meant explaining why she alone of all their family did not age. And to explain the fullness of what she was opened her family to danger they were not prepared for. It was simpler to merely walk away.

They had traveled the entire world then, her and her lover (her Guardian, her mate). And everywhere they went, they attempted to restore balance, to bring light to the dark corners of the earth.

Time begins to lose meaning to one who is immortal, and it is because of this that Eos could not quite say when things began to change…when people began to change. One second, the world was filled with ignorant chattel, cowering behind their self-made delusions of safety. And then, in the blink of an eye, it seemed that people were rising up. Others, of their own free will, began to fight the darkness. In schools, children were educated about the evil things that lurk in the night (and about the evil things that lurk in the day as well).

One day, Eos realized that she was obsolete. This world no longer needed a champion…the people were their own champions. And so it was that she had brought her mate back to the place where it had all began.

"Are you ready, my love?" Eos asked with a sad (relieved) smile.

"It is time," Astraeus replied. He gave his love one final kiss before sliding a knife across her wrist.

As her blood fell to the ground, a portal opened before them. Hand-in-hand, they stepped through to take their place next to the Powers That Be.