So sorry! Eeep! I just went on a long holiday. But yup, I did a few fanfics, and this one took longer than usual, so it SHOULD be better!
Athos-centric. FINALLY! I've been dying to do this.
Gazing Homewards
Ah, how many countless images flit by me now, as I gaze up to the sky.
Three faces. Marquess Pherae, Marquess Ostia, Lady Caelin. Is that fear on your faces? But do not fear for me, my children. Death is something that must befall everyone, something that has been delayed too long now for me—a rest I will be grateful for.
I have seen so much, so much it staggers even I. I see the pathways in snow of the Bern mountains, the sands of Nabata whirling before my steps—the oceans roaring on Badon's edge. I see an overcast sky of no end, a blue sky over a still lake, a shining gate set in stone—all at once.
People too, I recall. A gathering of thousands, all in search of my advice; a frightened soldier before me in battle—ah, I remember sparing his life. A druid, my equal, my very best friend—how suddenly things change…
I see dragon kind, brothers and sisters running to safety, for whom I feel a deepening sorrow. And I see seven great men and women, high over the world, on he same tier as the one on which I stand.
Oh, so many memories—this is what a thousand years brings. How do I choose what to keep? There are volumes in my memory. But to write them all down would take another lifetime…
Hm…when I die, where will all these volumes of information and experience go? Will my every remembrance vanish like a fleeting wind, or does it go somewhere, perhaps turn into a flower somewhere in Elibe? It'd be quite a large flower then, hm?
Again I slip out of my memories, returning to the present. The three are tearful, except for that blue-haired one, who has always been so, anyway. They mustn't cry for me! Death is inevitable. They know it so. They must not make it unbearable for themselves, when I finally depart…
Ah—here is another flash from the past—but I am not familiar with it? Then this…it must be the future…
No. I must tell them. It is full of flame and darkness, so lost…a dark star…a world of monsters…
And I say it in a whisper—how could my voice have grown so weak?
No, my children…do not let this divination darken your eyes so…for in every darkness, there is always a light of hope…
My breath—it grows so painful—
How fitting, I suddenly see. How fitting, that I end my life killing a dragon—the species that brought my friend and I together, then tore us apart. Without the dragons, would he have gained so much dark power? Without the dragons, there would have been no argument. There would have been no friendship. Would that have been for better or for worse?
Looks like I'll never know. For no man, not even a thousand-year-old archsage like I, can turn back time. I mustn't keep that regret in my heart—I must let go now…
Everything is so unclear. One by one, I can feel my memories vanishing, like sparrows taking to the sky, slowly lightening the branch on which they stand. But one memory is growing brighter as I gently close my eyes, in the arms of my comrades in battle. I can see seven figures, waiting on the pedestals of cloud, waiting for me to come home.
Ah…how long ago did they leave? One by one, I look at them, all smiling at me, and with each face flood a thousand memories, thousands of pages long…
Smiling slightly myself, I know that my time has come. I wish my companions best of luck as they weather a future that seems so dark, a future I will never get to see.
Never looking back, I gaze longingly at the sky, at the place where my old friends now wait to welcome me home. How late I am! I mustn't keep them waiting any longer. It is time for me to join them where they are, so all eight of us will finally be reunited, and I can ask them how they have been, tell them of the world now. How long I have wanted to do that…
It is time for me to join them, as these memories finally flutter away, petals on a gale. Time to take my place in that world of light, among my companions, far above…