Epilogue: Mortals

Apay sat out in the Garden reading. Above her, Akane's night dreams played out in the sky, but it was a rerun about Ranma (and a rather "naughty" rerun at that). The book was a fantasy novel that Akane had borrowed from Yuka for her "inner self." The World Elemental was using a Viewing Sphere to see the book from where it lay on Akane's desk. "Downtime also applies to me," she thought smugly. The book was by a Westerner named Terry Pratchett and featured a young woman named Susan and her grandfather, Death, who was taking a vacation. Apay could relate to the young woman growing into her power (and dealing with Rules) and found the perspective fascinating. "I'm going to recommend it to the next Angel of Death I run across. Those guys could use a little perspective themselves," she mused. Recommending a book to Rera was useless – the King of the Seasons only read Manga these days, thanks to Ranma. "Oh well, he'll grow out of it in a couple thousand years," she thought wryly. She wasn't recommending anything to Suma right now. If fact, she was making a point of not talking to him, something that was making the Earth Spirit very nervous. "He'll break first," she reflected. "He needs me more than I need him right now, and he knows it."

It had been a week since the Equinox and Nerima was mostly back to normal (or as much as it ever got back to normal) with the exception that there were a lot of happy couples still about. Since Apay didn't see this as a problem, she didn't worry about it. The fact that the birth rate was going to increase nine months from now was also not her problem. She did check to see if Akane, Kasumi, or Yuka had "caught" (none of them had), but that was from personal curiosity rather than professional concern. Overall, the Summer Soul (she was no longer strictly a Sprite) felt the world could use a few more children – it was adults that were often the problem.

"All right, can we get this over with?" Suma announced with an annoyed voice, materializing without warning. Without a word, Apay got up, turned her back on him, and walked towards Akane's Museum. Suma tried again: "I needed the Power. They were the perfect celebrants. They never noticed." He never saw her jaw clenched as she reached for the doors. She opened it and walked inside. Suma grabbed the door before it closed and strode after his Sister.

Apay stopped for a moment, shocked by the breach of protocol and the immense invasion of Akane's privacy. Immediately, the foyer vanished to be replaced by a stone stairway walled with darkness, leading down into darkness. The only light visible was Apay's aura lighting up the immediate stairs. "What just happened?" Suma asked. Apay didn't answer him; instead she walked forward down the stairs. Suma had two choices then: turn around and leave, or follow Apay before she got too far ahead of him. He chose the foolish one and followed her. "You being unreasonable," he told her. Again, she made no answer. He tried again: "You don't understand. Look, Henna has done a lot of damage to me. It's a wonder I didn't unravel completely. The blood rituals are the surest means for me to raise Power." Apay walked on silently.

"Fine," he huffed. "You don't want to talk about it, I'm leaving." He turned to find only blackness. "Oh crap," he whispered. "This is not Akane's Soul." He spun back and hurried after Apay. "Wait. I'm sorry – really. I just want you to understand." Still Apay said nothing. Suma opened his mouth and then shut it again. He fell silently into step behind Apay.

No one could say how far they descended. After some point, Suma pled quietly: "Please Apay, where are we going?" Still she said nothing. Suma began counting the stairs out loud hoping to evoke a response, but it didn't work. He continued following his Sister and counting the steps.

When Suma hit ten thousand, three hundred, and thirty-seven, the stairs ended in a large platform of some sort. At least, that was the impression Suma got from the little he could see. "Are you done now? Will you talk to me?" he asked testily.

Apay walked forward for about 100 meters until she hit a brass wall. The wall rose out of sight of her light and stretched to the left and the right. "What's that?" Suma asked. In response, Apay touched the wall and it began glowing. As Suma watched, the glow began growing horizontally and showing curvature. As the glow spread, it picked up speed, showing that the wall was actually the base of a large object – a very large object. Suma could not tell its exact proportions from his viewpoint, but it had to be a least a kilometer wide. Once as far as he could see was lit up, the glow expanded upwards and the brass wall quickly became a glass wall stretching out of sight. "I don't understand," Suma said in confusion.

Apay turned and looked severely at him. "No, you don't. But you're going too." She made a gesture and light appeared around her highlighting the stone floor. The light expanded away in all directions, exposing more and more of the floor until Apay and Suma were standing on an endless expanse of rock under a black sky with the brass and glass wall in front of them. Apay made another gesture and she and Suma began to grow – or the object in front of them began to shrink; it was hard to tell.

When the object was about 100 meters across, Suma figured out what he was looking at. "It's an hourglass," Suma said in confusion. He noted that about half the sand was in the lower chamber.

"No, you're wrong," Apay told him somewhat acidly. "It's a lifetimer." The timer was now about 10 meters across.

"A what?"

"It measures one mortal's life. Every mortal has a limited time to live, whether they know it or not. This shows one lifespan," she stated sharply. The object was now about a meter tall.

"That's nonsense. Mortals live until they die – no one knows their duration," he shot back.

"Not true; everyone knows when they will die – the question is how much notice they get. Some know months ahead of the time – some only have nanoseconds," she corrected.

"How did you get that? For gods' sake, don't tell Akane you have hers!" he exclaimed.

"It's not Akane's," she said coolly. The lifetimer was now about 30 cm tall and had stopped shrinking. Apay picked it up and set it on her left hand. Then she spun it until some engraving near the bottom was visible. "It's yours," she stated. On the base, Suma could see very clearly, the word "EARTH".

"Bullshit!" Suma burst out. "You're just trying to rattle me; I'm an immortal."

Apay's eyes narrowed, but she lectured calmly: "The humans know that the sun converts hydrogen into helium at its core. When it burns all the hydrogen at the core, it begins to burn the rest of the interior. Then the sun will expand. What they don't know is exactly when this will occur or how far it will expand. They have reasonable guesses, but they are missing some precise information just out of their reach." With that Apay's hand shot out and grabbed Suma's shirt up by the collar and pulled him in close so she could look directly into his eyes. Suma had no escape. "The sun is a ball of fire – my realm. It's part of me. I can look at it and know exactly how much hydrogen is left and where it is. I don't have to figure out the rate of consumption – it's in my blood. When the core hydrogen is gone, the sun will expand. It will consume the planets Mercury and Venus and continue onward. It will get bigger and bigger, crossing the distance. The earth's surface will seethe and burn as it gets closer. The star's atmosphere will engulf you, blowing away your own atmosphere. Fire will be everywhere. Finally, the planet's orbital speed will drop until it crashes into the sun and is blown apart by the tidal forces and nuclear currents." She held up the lifetimer between them. "In 186 quadrillion, 2 trillion, 587 billion, 622 million, 941 thousand, 6 hundred and 75 seconds, you will be dead. No resurrection possible. Congratulations, you're officially middle-age."

"NO!" Suma screamed.

Apay released him. "186 quadrillion, 2 trillion, 587 billion, 622 million, 941 thousand, 6 hundred and 55 seconds until I kill you," she declared. It was hard to believe a spirit of fire could sound so cold.

"We live forever!"

"In 186 quadrillion, 2 trillion, 587 billion, 622 million, 941 thousand, 6 hundred and 35 seconds and you will know differently."

"NO!" Suma screamed again.

"186 quadrillion, 2 trillion, 587 billion, 622 million, 941 thousand, 6 hundred and 15 seconds," she continued relentlessly. "186 quadrillion, 2 trillion, 587 billion, 622 million, 941 thousand, and 6 hundred seconds." She paused a proper moment. "186 quadrillion, 2 trillion, 587 billion, 622 million, 941 thousand, 5 hundred and 85 seconds."

"STOP!" Suma cried at her as he reached to grab her shoulders.

The lifetimer vanished and Apay punched Suma hard in the gut. Then her left fist smashed him in the jaw. Suma tumbled to the ground. Apay half dragged him up by the front of his shirt collar. Again she stared into his eyes. "You hold humans in distain because they are mortal, and you think you're above that. But now you know differently. You…are…mortal. Just like them. Just like me, just like Rera, just like Sister. Every time you cross me, I'm going to tell you your time left." She held him nose-to-nose. "And if you *ever* hurt Akane again, I'm going to beat the crap out of you and recite the number for an hour." With that, she punched him in the jaw again and threw him back. Suma promptly vanished.

Apay gestured and was back in the Garden again. She stood there looking at the ground for quite some time. When she looked up, she saw Akane kneeling down a little ways away, dressed in a gi watching her. Wordlessly, Akane lifted her arms and held them out. Bursting into tears, Apay ran to the young woman's embrace.