A production by Tiger Dauthi
Epilogue
"Are you sure we should do anything at all?"
"Perhaps not... But he failed."
"He failed, broke his oath, and saved us from eternal death."
"Eternal death..."
"I think its time we let him go."
"You never used to be this soft!"
Rage.
"I have learned."
"You never used to be this weak."
Confusion.
"I cannot control what is beyond me."
"You never used to be this downcast..."
Sadness.
"I know."
"It's a lose-lose situation, isn't it? We either lose everything we'd fought for, tried to obtain, or else try to kill him, and die under his wrath."
"You're a smart girl, Menardi."
The two people sat together on the ledge, watching the sun set. Both seemed rather young and hip, blue spiked hair with a headband on one, blond hair with fire eyes on the other. No one knew how old, aged they were, how tired they felt. It was the problem of not being omnipotent... Luck had failed them by selecting the worst outcome... A simple mistake of sending the wrong assassin, and their cause was doomed...
"What will happen to our homeland?"
"It will fade away, I suppose. There's no Hell to sustain it anymore, no Tower to imprison them, and no portal to the world to bring it back."
"How do you think they're doing?"
"They must all be pretty happy, no more endless dread and boredom..."
"What about us?"
"We'll probably live for an eternity..."
"Eternity..."
The Assassin Clan was an ancient clan, hailing from a land that has been forgotten... The land was thrown into Hell of its own accord, the people in it having become too arrogant in their power to kill anything. Mortal, that is. They tried to take on Hell, with the noble idea of ridding the world of nightmares.
Yet they had no idea of the power play between the dimensions, of the souls' power, of the fear that sustained. True, they did not fear. But those were the few, the ones who had reached the top rung. The rest were either still in training, still climbing the ladder, or simply villagers. Those majority felt fear.
And so, when the Clan challenged the power of Hell, the overwhelming fear of the people created chaos in the ranks. The land succumbed easily to Hell. Only two of the top warriors escaped. The rest died fighting.
These two, they recreated the Clan, training assassins to murder and steal. And during that period, they searched. Searched for a person, one who could surpass even them, one who would take on the Sanctum, one who would find the way to Hell and back...
They found him. He was the Perfect Shadow. But only for himself. They didn't count on the outside circumstances, the emotions that could not be destroyed. And so he failed. And saved the world in the process.
They realized that even had he suceeded, bringing their homeland back, the inhabitants would've long been encased somewhere, or else just shadows of their former selves. They didn't even want to think of what had become of the Assassins. Their homeland would've been destroyed shortly after anyway.
Bitter. That only after all these years, these centuries that ticked by, did they realize that their cause was a futile one. Bitter.
"Well, you guys certainly must've had a good adventure."
"You actually seem envious..."
"But the origin of Alchemy! The chance to see the powers! And all those Adepts assembled there! Those Unknown, manipulating the light and dark! Hamma in leather!"
"What?"
"Er, I mean ham! If it exists in Heaven!"
"I think we have a pervert here..."
"What are you talking about? Ohh, had I the chance to go to Heaven! Even Hell would be fine!"
"You seem to forget the fact that you have no psyenergy or even physical strength, and would be burned to cinders in a second."
"Huh? Oh, that doesn't matter. Just the chance to see-"
"Up Hamma's skirt?"
"Yes! I mean, what? Those, er, what were those things you were fighting against?"
"Angels. Demons. Kraden, you need to read up on some religion, even if it should be the exact opposite of science."
"I do!"
"With a porn magazine on top of the pages."
"How do you kn-"
At this point, Kraden just stopped speaking, finally realizing he'd save himself a lot of face if he just stopped talking.
Silence reigned, rare in the household of the brilliant Alchemist known as Kraden.
"All things are tied to psyenergy. It is what creates us. Binds us. The realm after psyenergy, or death, is an empty vacuum. Those souls, who drift away, recycle their psyenergy unto us, and then leave this place forever."
"They are happy, I suppose. Heaven and Hell would've saved them for awhile, but eventually, the two dimensions would've assimilated all psyenergy in the world in their savage need. They are creatures too, who take and give, but their giving was stopped due to immortality."
"Light psyenergy has existed for centuries, dark as well. It wasn't always this way. When there wasn't Heaven and Hell, when there was only man. Light and dark were concepts that were imagined into being."
"In a way, psyenergy is imagined too. You drain yourself of psyenergy, you take the action, and you die. You imagine that no trees are there, you take the action to get rid of them; the psyenergy dissappears, it is gone, it is dead. You imagine life, you take the action, and it is there."
"It is funny how man is able to control the very thing that binds it. Not to say that it does- we haven't reached that level of intelligence yet. But we have something so unique to us; we can THINK. That was not something that was contained in the package of psyenergy, but somehow wriggled its way in."
"I believe that when we can manage to think outside of psyenergy, we are finally omnipotent."
This was the reason why Kraden was so acclaimed. Just looking at him you wouldn't have thought this old kooky guy was so important, Isaac thought.
"I'm confused..." Garet was whining. "How did Heaven and Hell get there then?"
"Heaven and Hell were thought into existence." Kraden's eyes gleamed. "The person that did so, he had learned the great secret."
"But Heaven and Hell were a bad thing." Stated plainly and obviously by Jenna.
"Anything can be used for good or evil purposes." Kraden admonished. "And something like this, to wish things into existence, must be thought out very carefully. Heaven went terribly wrong, in that while it was supposed to counteract Hell, it became bloodthirsty for Hell."
"But how amazing it is! Just think, there is also something else outside of psyenergy, that can penetrate it! There is so much that may be lying outside that we haven't yet discovered! Ohh, the possibilities!"
"Kraden's gone into his insane mode again..."
Laughter from all around. Isaac leaned back against the sofa and looked contentedly around the room, then at the blue-haired girl snuggled up against him. He stroked her hair softly, humming a tune to himself.
I am the dark. Thinking to himself. Correction. I used to be the dark. And I helped destroy it, and the light. The blinding light. I learned in the process.
The Key. The Key to the psyenergy, out of the psyenergy, was... love. Feelings. Kraden was wrong. It wasn't only about thought. Because without Raphael, without his feelings, they wouldn't have suceeded either. Because without Mia, without her love, he wouldn't have gotten anywhere.
Very few people in the world are able to reach this love, this deep bond. Those that do, they may learn the way out of this world.
This world, which one does not want to leave. Because of the feelings, the warmth that the world showers on one who loves with all heart.
We may escape the psyenergy through love, but we do not want to, because of love. It was all very funny.
It was better that way.
I realized, that too many things were left untied in my story, even the main characters. Their thoughts. Their changes. Some of them change visibly, but how, why? Menardi and Saturos don't get a reason why they suddenly help Isaac instead of beat him. Just fear and because he's the Key doesn't cut it if you want a good story. Instead, I had to try to give a good explanation.
That was when I realized that I can't cover it in just one Epilogue. This series wasn't even close to being done. I'd need more than double the chapters I have on now to fully complete the story. From the ancient land of Prox, to the time in between, to Hamma, Jenna, Kraden, all the other characters' background, to the origin of Heaven and Hell, to that mysterious disgusting figure who tries to kill Isaac, to how the Sol Sanctum got there; too many untied ends, too many.
The background of the characters I really should do, and may add on at a later date, but as for the past of this story, it is lacking in motivation, devotion, and time. The only word I can give is perhaps. Perhaps.
This epilogue will probably not seem full either, as it still has quite a few plotholes. Considering the fact that the story has gone stale and has almost flown out of my mind, and that I'm keeping this to one chapter, I think I did an acceptable attempt at tying up a lot of the ends, if loosely.
I thank everyone who ever chanced upon this story and took their time to read it. And now, I say the real, final: