Valkyrie
It's been quite peaceful here lately, in the Afterlife. Not that we have much to do now, in this state. At least, we can't do much for the living ones, apart from haunting them in their dreams and lending them our strength through the Elsydeon.
But nowadays, since Dark Force had been defeated, things are calm and peaceful. It doesn't mean that there's no evil in Algol, because I'd be lying, but it is proportioned for the normal people around. Meanwhile, we are slowly forging the Elsydeon, which lays at my statue's hands, secretly kept at the Esper Mansion. So, in times like this one I start to think about my actions…
Destiny had chosen me to accomplish a big task, and had no better idea than showing itself through Death, with the killing of my brother Nero. Until then, I was a regular teenager living on Camineet with her brother, who happened to play a part at the Resistance movement against Lassic, the once benevolent, yet turned evil king of Algol.
My grief was beyond words. I couldn't stay at home, with my arms folded, while Nero had taken all the risks working for a better future.
I had to do something, like Nero did. I decided to follow his last wish, even if it was more of a dead man blabbering than a serious request. Because, if Nero, who had been stronger than me, couldn't do it by himself, what could he expect from me?
But the difference was that Nero had been working along. I have to find a man called Odin, to be able to have a chance against Lassic.
Some people told me to ignore Nero's words. That things weren't so terrible with Lassic. That there was no reason for me to neglect my life for his ideals' fullfilment.
Others've tried to stop me, meaning well… so I don't have hard feelings against them. On the contrary, they've helped me lots when coming home.
Suelo… you were scared to death when I told you that I planned to avenge Nero. You were still too shocked after his surprising death, and couldn't bear to think that I could easily join him in Heaven with my course of actions. However, you decided to aid me whenever I asked. That was enough for me at that moment, and then for us, the odd group going against Lassic. You didn't share my thoughts, but decided to help me, nonetheless. You've made those dark days after Nero's death a bit more bearable, even if you were destroyed yourself. And then, you risked your security by hiding us whenever the suspicious Robotcops showed up in your house, most probably after seeing us arrive. I can't thank you enough for all your help.
Nekise… you haven't done much but given me a pot and some data on Odin, and even then, I can easily recognize the signs of your involvement with the rebels while trying to act like a bit of an air-headed fool.
I can still see you under the heavy summer sun of Camineet, when I decided to start my journey, when I still wasn't sure about how I would manage in my quest, or if I would be able to find Odin, to begin with. You've warned me and gave me your blessings, and then, after the Robotcop checked my IDs, let me leave the city. The mechanic stairways took me out, and so, I found myself in the open greenery… and giving my first steps in whatever Destiny had in store for me…
Carrying an old shield and a short sword, a pink dress under my armor, and fueled by my anger, I kept going through my mission…
Who knew what I was stepping into at that moment?
The first time he had ever seen Alis, he had been under a tough, mind-consuming training in the middle of the Motavian desert. Somewhere where he could concentrate, and he would have no one to call to him.
Until that day.
Until he saw that young girl, just a teenager, getting into his personal space, coming right through the door as she pleased, with two other beings following her.
Wearing an odd armor over a pink dress, but that still managed to protect her entire body, there she was, accompanied by a tall muscular man and a talking cat.
Quite a group.
He tried to make them leave, but the girl had a letter of the Governor for him, asking him to join them in their quest, to take care of them, and luring him into it by telling me that it would be useful for my training. Old geezer, always meddling into everyone's else business… He hadn't chosen a cave in the middle of the desert to be bothered that easily.
However, a second look at the odd group made him reflect a bit. Things had to be a bit troublesome up there, for the Governor to trust in a teenager, a macho-like soldier and a cat.
He read the letter again, and then stared at them again… he had no way out from that task that the Governor gently asked him to take, for the sake of Algol's future.
He sighed. He would need patience.
He saw into her blue eyes. Among the inner turmoil and some hatred towards Lassic –for reasons still unknown to him-, he found no evil per se on her. There was no seed of evil on her. She had her mission, but not the intention to take over the throne for herself. And among her feelings, the small flame of hope and innocence still managed to shine, after all the things she had done and seen and heard.
And with that, she had won him over, even if he still couldn't tell him.
He accepted his role, and when they shook hands, he didn't know he was pledging his allegiance to her for what was left of Eternity.
I didn't stay much as Queen, I have to admit it. The boredom that I got from doing only administrative work, after all the fighting and fresh air seemed to be too bad for my spirits. That, and a suspicious anti-monarchical group that was working in the shadows to kill me were enough to convince me that my place was somewhere else.
Much like everyone else.
Odin, after being in charge of the Military for a while, decided that he was happier being a free man, and returned to Scion.
Myau stayed for a while, too, but then, when he started growing older, thought that spending his last days in a cave in Dezoris would be like a dream come true to him.
Lutz was the closest one, but he was too busy building the Esper Mansion in Dezoris, in an attempt to bring the Esper race together. He was fearful that, someday, someone would decide to go against them, and was trying to make sure that they would be able to have a place to stay if things turned out a bit complicated.
And so, I was quite lonely at that moment, wondering if I had done the right thing.
I thanked the Governor for all his help and I apologized for all the trouble I'd done, when I thought that I had to stay as Queen to honor my killed parents.
Who would have imagined that I was the descendant of a long-line of kings of Algol? I didn't. I never searched for coincidences in the pictures shown in History books, nor felt the royalty pulse under my skin. For me, life was much simpler, that of a little girl on the Camineet streets, alongside her big brother and her adopted parents.
Nor I ever thought that the accident that took my foster parents' lives hadn't been an accident.
Too many shocking things in little time.
I thought that I wouldn't do much good dead than what I was doing alive, and so I left. Or at least I intended to.
However, the Governor gave me an Ambassador mission, rather than letting me live with a couple of good movements, and a bunch of bad ones.
It happened that, during my quest to avenge Nero's death, and my not-so-long regency, Algol got in contact with different planets close to ours. Now, I could be useful.
I've done some of my trips with Lutz, who was also eager of knowledge. Some others, I've gone on my own, being the head of different expeditions.
In one of those trips, we found a planet in a new system for us, called Copto. The crew had no better idea than naming the planet after me.
The Government seemed keen on looking a new place to colonize since they weren't too trusting in Motavia's palma-fying.
When we set foot on the planet, we could see that there were people living already on it.
I've sensed an evil energy vibe, and so, the natives told me the story of the evil Cablon.
Then, I knew that I had to be around, in some way, to protect those people. That's what I was thinking when I asked my people to clone me in Copto to be ready to battle Cablon when he was to appear.
I've been my own mother and my own child, bearing my clone, while thinking about a peaceful future for the colony that had my name.
Not so long after giving birth to Minima, my other self, I sensed that something was wrong with my body. Must have been the stress behind fighting, or maybe the exposure to the space rays, but I was starting to suffer from some health problems.
We, in Algol, now had intelligent robots and cryo-sleep, so I thought that using both of them could help me in the future.
Fearful that I wouldn't be around to wait for Cablon's return, I decided to enter into cryo-sleep, until Minima could be able to wake me in order to kill Cablon together.
I'd make a bit of a complicated plot to make everything work out, but I was sure we would all succeed.
I'd leave my loyal robot Dalos with certain instructions to look for Mina when the time came. He would easily notice it in the increasing number of monsters around towns. He would know then that he would have to look for my little self.
I've chosen to leave Minima in Tedo, where we were living, so she could be raised alongside that little gallant boy, Alec, who lived not so far away from us. Why? Because he was knightly enough to defend my little Minima in case I wouldn't be around. He had already defended her from bigger guys. If they stay close, he'll keep on protecting her, I hope.
And thankfully, my judgment had been right. Aside from a little malfunction in Dalos, everything went smoothly: Minima and Alec kept on being friends, she found the Light Pendant and my message, and so, we got reunited, at long last.
Alec had grown into a fine young man, and a great choice for a Champion. I couldn't have been happier with his growth.
And then, we managed to defeat Cablon, altogether.
Whoever, just as I had sensed an evil presence in Copto as soon as I arrived, I felt that there was trouble arising in Algol…
Minima couldn't be more upset, and I couldn't be more urgent to leave… with my already weakening body. Without much thought, because I would want to leave if I didn't do it in haste, I left.
Leaving a copy of myself in Alisaland, alongside Alec, I could feel at ease. There would be someone to look after that small planet when I wouldn't be around, and I'm sure my descendants would fulfill my role in my absence. As well as the new generations of Champions that would rise to protect them.
Since I had to leave Minima behind, I managed to write quickly another Book of Truth around, leaving some requests behind, as well. That way, she wouldn't be so lonely again, even if she has Alec by her side. She would have someone looking after her, and their kids would also have their Champions around.
I couldn't give you much, dear daughter. Not much more than what I give to myself.
And so, I left you –I left myself- back in Copto, and returned to Algol, in my last trip around the Universe…
When Alis returned to the Algol Star System, she realized that time had gone faster than expected; since Copto was the furthest system she had ever visited. Suddenly, almost 200 years have passed without her noticing. So, at her return, things were too different than when she left.
Palma had turned into a gigantic and web-connected planet. Her dear Camineet was now fused in a megacity with neighboring Parolit. The vast extensions of greenery had been greatly reduced. Plans of palma-fying Motavia were on everyone's mouths. The number of bio-monsters was regulated by the authorities, and robots were becoming more and more Palman-like.
And over everything was the shadow of a mega computer called Mother Brain.
And so, Alis fled to the Esper Mansion, looking for a friendly face that could chat with her for a while, and comfort her.
He had been really pleased of seeing her again, even after her appearance had changed much, with that purplish hair of hers instead of her natural blonde. But her hair was the least thing to worry about, when he had seen her so worried when he had greeted her.
She looked more tired. She couldn't hide much information from him, but she still managed to do so. Her youthfulness had seemed to vanish, and some waves of pain seemed to take over her at certain times.
"It's great to see a familiar face", she said, hugging him. "I felt more like a stranger here, at my arrival, than what I had felt at Copto"
"I'm delighted that you have decided to visit us", he said.
And she believed him, with all her heart.
"We are starting to get a bit worried about that Mother Brain thing. There have been some Esper kidnappings… I'm afraid that thing will start getting everyone against us", he said, eager to share his worries with someone else.
"I didn't feel well at Palma, I also felt oppressed there", Alis said, worried. "We used to have the robotcops and everything, and I still felt freer at those moments"
He started to guide the way into the Mansion, when he noticed something strange, that hadn't been there until Alis came.
"What's that big thing?", he asked her, looking at a big package that was landed on one of the corridors.
"That's something you'll be needing if we want to be able to help Algol in some way"
He stared at her, suspiciously. "What are you implying?"
"I don't have much left", she said, after a small silence. "I haven't feeling well since before my first cryo-sleep in Copto… and I haven't gotten better after getting here"
Lutz felt his world spin around. Then, it stopped.
"Are you feeling well?", Alis asked him, concerned.
"I should be the one asking you that", he said, angry with himself.
"Let's seat somewhere, so I can explain everything properly"
He guided the way, and soon arrived to a small building in the middle of the bigger one.
"Nice place", she said, smiling.
"These are my private rooms… where I keep my books and notes, and everything in my researches", he explained, telling her to take a seat with a hand. "I'll get the tea ready in no time"
She smiled, and looked through the window, noticing the snowflakes falling. For a while, she felt like a teenager again, when she had first set a foot on Dezoris, and saw the snowflakes for the first time.
"I don't tell you that I'll go outside with you because I'm fearful it will be more troublesome for you later", he said, handing her a cup of tea.
She looked down, sighing. "Your senses haven't been lost in time, dear Esper friend"
"No, they got better, but hadn't been able to tell me that you weren't feeling good", he said, criticizing himself.
"Don't worry, you hadn't seen me in a while, so this must be quite shocking to you"
"In a pleasant way", he said, smiling at her.
Alis wondered if he could relax with everyone like that, or just with her. Just then, he frowned again.
"I had chosen this secluded place, thinking that Mother Brain wouldn't be able to get us… and now I have to worry about it", he protested.
"Yes, I had to cross a crevice… you don't run out of strange ideas of places to train, do you?"
They laughed.
"Well, call me anxious, or too sharp, or whatever… but why do you think that machine that lies in my corridor will be useful?"
Alis took a deep breath before starting. "As I said, I don't have much left. And I can't complain. I've lived more than the regular Palman, seen things a regular Palman can't see, met great people during my journey… but I'm afraid that evil still remains in Algol. I even think that the evil that had possessed Lassic may be nothing in comparison to what may be lurking in the shadows of our universe… and I don't have time left!", she protested, some tears falling from her eyes. "I don't think Odin and Myau are still alive somewhere, nor their descendants… so I have to ask you this big favor, Lutz!"
No words were needed for what she was implying.
"Isn't it a bit contradictory that I have to use this, a technological thing, when I have to promote the safeguarding of magic and meditation?", he finally said, concerned.
"I know, but you won't be able to reach the thousand years by your own… and this machine is better than the ones I first used, so there's no way it'll be harmful to you"
"There's always a risk…", he said, trying to buy some time.
Of course there was a risk, but he could live a centuries more with the help of that thing, and that would allow him to preserve magic for more time, to research for more time, and to lend her a hand for the last time.
"I know it's too much what I'm asking from you…", she said, holding his hand.
Her touch was still soft, like the snowflakes outside.
"Do you have your own family now?"
How could he have another family, after all his research?
That question recalled him her own family. "But what about your family? What about that clone you left in Copto?"
"I don't fear for Minima, because she has people there to look after her, and there will be people looking after her descendants, I have already left things prepared there. I'm fearful for my descendants here… I can't show up in their doorstep and tell them "Look, I'm your supposed dead great-great-grandmother, who killed the evil king"… they'll throw me into an asylum if I were to do so!", she said, trying to joke about it.
He sighed.
"It's not just your descendants, but the entire people of Algol, the ones who worry you, aren't they?"
She blushed. He still managed to see through her as if she was made out of glass.
He chuckled. "In a way, it's your monarchical vein showing up in the strangest of times. You worry about your people as if you were their benevolent ruler, worried about their well-being until the very end"
Alis frowned. "Aren't you doing the same, hiding in an ice-tomb that would slow your internal movements to gain a couple of years to fight for your people, always burying yourself in your research for the well-being of Espers, and building a Mansion where you would all hide in the time of need? Aren't we worrying about our people?"
That had been quite sharp. Quite like him.
Lutz sighed. "Alright, you win; I'll get into that steel coffin and save your people's… souls"
She went to him, and kissed him on the cheek. "I can't thank you enough"
"I'll make you pay somehow", he teased her.
"I promise to help you however I could when I get into the other state" , she said, seriously.
And he believed her. Because whenever she made a promise or took a vow, it was meant to be for what remained of Eternity.
She looked a bit youthful again, once she had gotten a solution to what was troubling her.
He said, "I have to admit that that coffin will be useful. I've found that you may be right about Evil in Algol…"
Her eyes opened wide.
"I'll have to suspect that your family had some Esper member at some point"
She shrugged. "I can't really tell"
He stared at her, calmly. Now that he could concentrate a bit more, he could tell her physical suffering under her violet robe and soft glance.
"You could stay here… there's nothing left for us outside there", he invited her, finaly
"I know, and I'm really grateful, but I think I want to see the sky of Palma before I leave this world", she said, with a faint smile.
"Alright. I'll stay with you until the time comes"
"But what about your family? Your people?"
He shook his head, calmly. "I can manage that", he said. "As well as the installation of that coffin in the small room downstairs. I have some Espers who had been technicians at the cities before Mother Brain had started to get a bit evil against us"
Alis smiled, pure thankfulness towards him.
"We may still not know it by now, but I think I'm dragging you into an interstellar size problem", she said, weakly.
He laughed it off. "Don't worry. We've already been across the three planets of the system, and nothing wrong came of it"
She laughed, and prayed in her heart that he wouldn't be wrong.
Lutz had fulfilled most of his promises of that day. He didn't manage to be with me when I died, which I ended up doing close to where Nero had been killed (oh, the irony!). But I don't have any regrets.
I found the Afterlife… strange, to say at least. I didn't know what to do with so much time, at first. Then, I realized I could see what my descendants were doing. I wouldn't have burden Lutz with such a task if I had known it beforehand. However, in the future I was grateful that I had done that.
Sooner than later, Mother Brain's actions started taking a turn for the worse, but everyone was so happy with all the things she gave them, that they were too busy to notice that.
Motavia was now a planet that recalled Palma´s past, and Dezoris would have followed its way if it hadn't been for some surprising gas leakage and the ban of the inter-space travel after a terrorist attack.
I knew that Lutz kept his promises that day, when he managed to save my youngest descendant, Rolf, who happened to be with his parents on that spaceship. He then left him safe and sound in Motavia, and he eventually found his way in life as an agent. Meanwhile, he met a girl with strange ears, and the two were inseparable.
However, the turmoil was getting bigger and bigger, and would crush them all without knowing.
I had to do something about it.
I didn't know how to do to reach to you, Rolf… and so, I had no other choice but to haunt you in your dreams, turning them into uncomfortable nightmares.
Nightmares just like the one I had at the Governor's house in Motavia, a millennium ago.
So much time had managed to go through? If it seemed to be yesterday the day I passed away, staring at the still clear Camineet sky?
Whatever, I had to protect you, and call you into action, killing both birds with the same stone.
In your blood, there were shards of mine, too. Even if too much time had gone through between us, we were part of the same lineage, and there were things there that we would share, no matter the time.
We weren't called to chat about trivial coincidences, but had to meet our destiny under the same Galaxy-threatening circumstances.
And luckily, you heard me.
And you believed me.
Even when it took so many things and people dear to you, you kept believing on me.
Even when my name had fallen to the fairy tale category, you still trusted.
I'm so proud of you, Rolf. Of you and your companions.
Lutz tried to protect you, too. Don't hate him. He can be quite arrogant and full of himself, but he always turns out being right.
I'll be waiting for you, to join me in the Afterlife, and will talk about trivial things this time.
Lutz, too weak from his latest cryo-sleep, stared at the statue of Alis he asked a fellow Esper to make, based upon a picture of her.
It wasn't the ruler of Algol the one carved in stone, but the teenager girl who had happened to interrupt his training in the middle of nowhere. The real Alis. The one he had liked most.
And the one who had won him over for the rest of Eternity.
He still feels guilty for what he had done to her descendant, Rolf, in the battle against the Earthmen, sending him to a sure death in the name of the greater good of Algol.
Since the statue isn't frowning at him, he takes it as she isn't mad at him. Otherwise, he would have found a way, somehow, to let him known that she was pissed off.
He sighs, realizing that, this time, Alis won't be around, with her hair another color of what he had known. He just has that statue to recall her as he liked her most.
He inspects at the statue, which has no sword, but a place for it. He would ask the fellow artist, but he's surely dead long ago, because this cryo-sleep, which started after the battle with the Earthmen, took some decades.
He gets closer, and notices something odd.
He manages to see a small shard, and guesses Alis' intentions, and it's grateful for it, because he can't take it much longer. He'll leave everything disposed to be around in some way, to help Algol in its time of need, but his old body can't take it much longer, after all those cryo-sleeping stresses.
He feels as if he had grown addicted to that steel coffin he had despised at first. But luckily to him, his intellectual powers won over the technology-lent cryosleep, and he'll be able to pass his memories to someone else.
That way, he would fulfill his promises to Alis.
Who had taken him as her ally for what remained of Eternity.
Now, I'm a bit more cheerful on the Afterlife, since we got some friendly people around, like my pretty descendant Rolf and his comrades. No one can judge me and say that I'm biased, it's just that I couldn't be a regular grandma and spoil my kids, but I hand over difficult tasks for them, instead.
So, calling Rolf "pretty" is just a little gift I can give him.
Goodness, he's blushing at my statement, guess he'll hide somewhere before I say something else.
As I told Lutz before, it is strange to have an appearance and tell someone younger than you that you are older than them, and that we are blood-related. Poor Rolf got used to the idea, but it had been quite shocking to him.
But he's a good boy, and wouldn't make me feel embarrassed so easily. On the other hand, he's happy to have some family around.
Well, I'm diverting from my original thoughts…
All those that have gathered here have been fighters at some extent. So, what's a fighter to do? Fight, or aid a living fighter.
And what it would be the best way? By lending our strength in the form of a sword. Not only is a nice memento, but it turns to be useful. What else could we ask for?
So, we are slowly forging this sword with our souls, to be able to help the living ones in a time of need.
Because, with the Great Collapse –as Motavians are calling the years after Mother Brain's demise- and their lack of faith, I think that Evil will arise again. They seek for those comfortable times like a wanderer for an oasis on a desert.
Talking about desert, Motavia lost its climate control, and turned into that sand-like planet, once again. Communication between Motavia and Dezoris got lost, since there's no technology that could link both planets, and space travel is a fantasy in some weirdos minds. It's been like a punishment for being so full of themselves, that they got just like before the arrival of Mother Brain, and a bit worse.
The sword will remain in the statue that Lutz asked to be done at the Esper Mansion. That statue of myself as a teenager. Not as the grand Queen of Algol, nor as an Ambassador, but a still naïve girl.
Slowly, with the passage of the years, the blade of the sword is forming, due to our thoughts and skills remaining there.
Talking about passage of time… I wonder why Lutz isn't around, yet. He's already dead on Dezoris, but his soul didn't make it here.
Could it be that there's something strange going on?
Is that the reason why some Esper strangers remain here for a long time, looking at me with a mix of reverence and sadness?
Lutz, what did you tell them about me?
I'm starting to worry about this.
We would be really happy to have you with us…
It's been some centuries since Lutz dead, and Alis was getting used to the change of person conducting the Esper duties and paying his respects to them.
It was odd to see Lutz, her beloved comrade, under another person's eyes, but his mind inside the stranger, staring devoutly at the statue
She wasn't sure what he had done, but when the first Esper stranger arrived to Elsydeon, she asked him what was going on.
"He found a way to pass his memories from person to person… and he still needs some strength before he can pass on for real"
She felt terrible sorry at those words, because she felt as if she had pushed him directly towards that direction. She had asked him to look after her descendants, but she hadn't meant to be that literal!
What had she driven him to do?
She had thought she had asked him too much, but this was taking everything to a different level; she couldn't say she was really to blame, because he had taken that choice on his own.
She learnt to leave with that special guilt, and prayed each day for his strength to return, and for him to be able to leave behind his successors at ease and join them in the Afterlife, for once and for all.
As years passed, the sword was almost complete, but there was a part missing.
Lutz, from his Esper vessels, wondered why that sword couldn't be complete.
One day, his third incarnation was praying his respects and meditating close to the statue.
He kept staring at the statue, and his memories of her as a Lutz filled his mind. He wondered if things could have been different, if the timing hadn't been so bad, or there wouldn't be some other urgency to attend first.
Maybe because he was touched by the original Reverenth One, he asked for more copies of the statue to be made. As a way of making everyone in the mansion aware of the existence and memory of the Heroine of Legend. Some look like the girl he first met, some others resemble her appearance during her brief reigning, and others resemble her when she visited Lutz for the last time, after her cryo-sleep.
The original Lutz felt as if he was ready to leave. He had walked this path with the first three people who took over his duties and role among the Esper community, and thought that he had had enough, and couldn't give more.
He had even given his memories in his task to protect Algol.
He felt he was in the right to rest…
The Esper felt as if a heavy burden got lifted from his shoulders. It had been so heavy the weight lost, that he almost lost his balance and felt to the ground.
When he got up, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Lutz couldn't believe his eyes, too, because the next thing he saw where the bodies of his long dead companions Odin and Myau, and Rolf and his group were also there. Alis was clinging to his neck, so he couldn't really see her, but feel her arms around his neck.
"Lutz, what the Hell took you so long!?", she finally said, excited.
Those were the first words of the girl he had been missing so much.
"You'll explain things to me later, but… look at the sword!", she said, pointing outside.
He did what he was told, and, as his Esper vessel in the alive world, he couldn't believe his eyes.
Finally, the sword was complete, for the first time.
The Esper stranger looked at the sword with awe, and knew he had witnessed something special. He couldn't tell if his sudden sense of lightness in his body had anything to do with the sword being complete, but he felt that those things went by the hand.
He still had his memories as Lutz, so that couldn't be, could it?
He prayed for a while more, and left the Inner Sanctum, and the statue carrying her sword, behind him.
And so, Lutz joined the other Protectors for what was remaining of Eternity.
And when another thousand years have passed since I had to annoy Rolf in his dreams, Evil showed itself on Algol once more, revealing its true face this time.
A young blonde Hunter had made its way through the maze, and was now staring doubtful at the sword in my statue's hands.
Chaz… you've finally arrived…
I can see traces of me in you… your pain, your hatred, your doubts…
Rolf had also those, too…
We've all lost people dear and close to us… without expecting it.
Gires couldn't help Alys recover, just like Nei's DNA turned to be too unstable to repair at the Clone Labs, when several times before it could be repaired without any further asking.
And those deaths seemed to have triggered an unusual strength in us.
Rolf and I will give you our strength, as well as the rest of the Protectors here. Including Alys, who's still unsure of being here, but definitely belongs here.
Chaz, grab the sword, and we'll assist you…
Rune Walsh, fifth Generation Lutz, stares at her statue, shortly after leaving the hilt of the sword on the statue's hands.
He prayed his respects, and wondered aloud one special thing.
"How did you do to convince him?"
The statue remained speechless, her ever-present grin brighter.
Rune smirked. "Alright, I won't ask. You've always been quite perseverant when the time came"
The statue seemed brighter, as a cheerful laugh.
"I can't thank you enough for saving us out there… you sure had been awesome useful and right in time, or we would have all joined you right there", he said, comfortable.
He had been talking to that sword for ages, a habit that picked up from his direct predecessor. So, now seeing the hilt alone was quite of puzzling. He was fearful that they wouldn't be listening to him.
He would have to trust. Just what Alis had demanded to many of her warriors.
He picked that idea, and recalled that another mythology would have called her a Valkyrie, a chooser of the slain.
They were still alive, but if Chaz had decided to elope, they would have been slain in no time.
And even with Chaz around, it wasn't so certain the chance of finishing off the Darkness and leaving alive.
He smiled. "You sure have a way to convince us to join your forces… Somehow, we all fall in your side. From time to time, from person to person and from age to age, you are our special recruiter, Alis… And for some reason, we can't evade your calling"
He recalled another ancient myth, that of the sirens, that sang special songs to attract sailors, but the end wasn't as good as theirs.
Alis took them down to a good path, even if it was difficult.
He wasn't feeling guilty for following her, at all.
"One last thing… can you take care of a certain someone? I'm sure she's starting to complain that she doesn't need anyone to look after her… but just in case", he said, his back at the sword so Alis wouldn't see him blushing.
He could have sworn that he had heard a giggle, but he knew he was wrong.
He turned back and faced the statue again, for the last time.
"Alright. I'll be away for a while, improving my training… I won't leave it just because we killed the supposed evil behind everything, because every time we thought that it had been the real culprit the one slain. I still need to be more powerful, I've done many errors during this quest… I'll become more powerful, and I'll be able to carry on a stronger memory for the next Lutz, so we all will be able to fulfill his promise to you. For the time being, Kyra and the Elder will pay their respects while I'm gone"
And so, Rune left the Inner Sanctum…
We are back to the statue. Thanks for carrying us, Rune. By the way, Alys says exactly what you predicted. Guess she also wants to tell you to take care, but her pride doesn't allow her.
I can easily tell you to take care, because I'm like an aunt to you now. We've shared quite some conversations, and at this point, I could be the aunt of anybody who decided to talk to me.
My descendants… I hope you'll manage well in this new age.
Yes, Lutz had been right when he said that I had some traces of royal blood, while worrying about my descendants until the very end. But I may digress and say it's my motherly side, not my royal one.
We'll be watching over you from the shadows, ready to help if things go wrong.
As long as memories last, and even if they don't, we'll be ready to fight alongside you.
I'll always return to help you if you need it.
Slowly, this blade will regenerate, and will also welcome the latest batch of Protectors and the people who helped them.
We have no idea about what will happen from now on, but I know that we'll be able to help, somehow. Even if we return to be known just as a fairy tale, we'll aid you all the same.
But for now, I'll rest for a while. I have a lot of spoiling to do to the youngsters, and I have to chat with my comrades for a while.
Even if I have the remaining of Eternity to do that.
Thanks Lutz for keeping our promise, and thanks you, his successors, for following it, as if you had done it with myself.
But I'm a bit tired of looking for new comrades, as a Valkyrie, just like Rune had said. Right now, I'm a tired Alis, who wants to sleep for a little while.
Then, I'll keep on watching over you, my children.
Goodnight, and dream well.
The end
Notes:
.In the American version, Nekise gives you the pot and mentions Odin, and barely else. In the fan-translation, it gives the vibe that he seems to know much more than handing him a pot that Nero had given him before… It got quite shocking, since it was quite different than the "official" portrait of him I had on my head. In my fan-cannon, he had been closer to Nero, but hadn't been in touch so much since he joined the Resistance. Thought it would be nice mentioning it.
.the statues in the Esper Mansion seemed all the same, but there's one on the cutscenes that looks like alis with a robe, and so, it recalled me of gaiden… just because I had it fresh on my mind!
."A couple of pages", I thought when I decided to write this. A couple of pages became 11 in my Word version! It was supposed to be a drabble!
.I'd wanted to submit it by the date of the 30th Anniversary of Phantasy Star in Japan (December 20th) but I didn't make it. That's also why I wanted to integrate every appearance of Alis in the saga...
.Thanks for reading!