EPILOGUE

The Clearing At The End Of The Path

The first thing Louise grew aware of, in the confused and pain filled haze that wrapped her mind, was the sound of rushing water. It took her a few more moments to notice the cold-or, more like, remember it- and that her clothes, whatever they were, were drenched and dripping wet. A river. It sounded like that, at least. She was laying in a river, for some reason. She slowly opened her eyes, feeling rather drowsy. The sky was free of any clouds, and from this angle it looked oddly beautiful, in a way she had never thought of before. She sat up, and looked down at herself.

She was wearing her school uniform. It was transparent, clinging to her skin and a bit tattered too, but it was still recognizable as her uniform. For some reason, that gave her a sudden sense of dislocation and just being outside of herself that nearly made her puke. She grabbed a rock, and used it as support to stand up. Her legs wobbled a little. She took a deep breath, tried to calm herself down and let go of the rock. She staggered forward, but she didn´t fell. Then she raised her head.

She saw a Dark Tower in the distance, imposing and huge enough to reach the sky. Chains that dug deep into the ground hug from several crevices on the tower. The ground was covered with red roses. All of it gave her the sensation that the tower was alive. It sounded like stupid kid´s stuff, but inside of her she knew it to be true. It didn´t matter that she didn´t have a real reason, she simply knew. She took a step forward, her right arm raised towards it as if to grasp it, and suddenly stopped.

What is this?, she though. She had the feeling she was forgetting something... something important. No, not just that. Panicked, she realized that she couldn´t remember her surname, who was she, nor the meaning of all her uneasiness. She only knew that there was something there because she could felt it at the edge of her mind, even though every time she reached for that all that came into her mind -painfully clear like a vivid nightmare- was

(Maturin)

And she had the sense than that word had once held meaning to her too, but now even that escaped her. She felt like her existence itself would crumble away, any second now. With how she was right now, she may as well be dead. All that made her a human being had ceased to exist. She breathed out the air in her lugs. She didn´t know what she was anymore, what made her human, but she knew there was no meaning in worrying about things she couldn´t change. If she didn´t know nothing else, then she at least knew that.

Louise started walking towards the tower, not hurrying, not loafing. The answers were definitively there. She had that feeling, that the tower was important, really important, to her and to the world itself. And besides, there was nothing else around as far as she could see. It had to be it, or she would really die. She came to a stop in front of the humongous gate, wondering how to get inside. There were no windows, or anything else she could use to enter the tower.

(wand)

That word crossed through her mind, but it was gone just as fast. While she tried to get it back, a deafening crack broke the silence. She looked up, startled, and the gate parted open before her very eyes. She stepped inside. The door closed behind her, but she wasn´t left in darkness. Light came from several windows. In front of him, there were stone stairs leading to tight passage, just big enough for one person.

She ascended the tower surely, her own heart beat mixing with something else, a pulsating life force that send shivers running through her body even at this distance. She was only vaguely aware than that sensation, that energy, was familiar to her but even now she couldn´t pinpoint exactly what it was. Didn´t matter. She continued advancing through the tower, paying no more that a single glace to the oddities of the architecture. As she advance, that something in the distance didn´t appear before her, no grand secret revealed herself to her, and what she was didn´t become any clearer, but still she didn´t hesitate. It had too be there. On the top. Something which she could use to lay all this fear to rest.

There were a lot of rooms, but she ignored them all. What she yearned for wasn't there. She continued on walking without looking back, not even once doubting her instincts. Soon enough, she reached the top of the tower, and entered the last door. From outside, the Dark Tower had looked to be six hundred feet high, but she felt like it had been less, much less. The room behind that last door was vast, dark and empty.

Here you are, Maturin. My Guardian, once again, she winced at that voiced. It sounded inside of her own head, but it hadn´t been her internal voice at all.

"W-what do you meant?" her voice sounded thin and indecisive. "I... I don´t understand."

So is not Maturin who stands before me, inside of me, but the child with it´s fragment. You are surprisingly resilient. Your whole self should have erode away by now, your soul erased and replaced by Maturin´s soul, and yet...

Louise opened her mouth, and closed it immediately. That this thing could so casually speak about erasing her pissing her off, but there was nothing she could do. No matter how disturbing those words were.

Uh. Well, it doesn´t matter. I have something to ask of you, but I am not particular hurry. As thanks for your efforts, I will allow you to ask me anything.

"Who I am? What exactly do you meant by Maturin?"

Remember.

It curly said, like it was so easy, like it could just order her around.. It pissing her off, really pissed her off, and she would surely have done something foolish. But then the memories came back to her, like the waves of the sea in storm. Her childhood spend metaphorically running behind her mother, and keeping on getting ridiculed; the academy, from those beginning days where she still had the hope of having meet people who could understand her and of finding her talent, to the last days; coming back to the Valliere state with It, and everything that happened the next morning because of that. And her fight with It, too. Her death. Oh, founder. She clamped down on the nausea that almost made her puke by force. Her eyes stung with unshed tears, but by this point she didn´t really care. Not anymore.

Maturin The Turtle was one of the Guardians of The Beam, what holds me, the Dark Tower at the center of the multiverse, together. He died a long, long time ago. A millennium or two.

Louise looked down. Bill and the others were long since dead. Versions of them would still be alive in other universes, but the horrible, inescapable truth was that none of them would be those she had grew to know. The people who had changed and had changed each other during that horrible summer of the year nineteen fifty eight, forging a bond that went beyond mere friendship, beyond even death, were gone. It was silly. It wasn´t like she had planned to meet them and, anyway, she was dead. She couldn´t have seen them even if she wanted to. And yet... her heart clenched at those thoughts.

With its death, your planet came into existence. Magic as you know it was born out of the energy released by Maturin´s death. A human named Brimir managed to harness the scattered fragments of its soul, and developed what he called Void Magic. In reality, Void Magic is nothing divine or something like that. Just uses parts of Maturin´s soul-which was divided in four by Brimir to be passed down between his descendants- instead of the released energy. You understand, child?

"I..." it was too much information in too little time, but at least she understood the gist of it. "I think so, yes... Can I ask one more thing? What happened after my d-death? Did It die? Were my countrymen safe?"

It died, in the same sense that It died against those children, back then. It will come back eventually. And yes, your countrymen are safe, but few of them are happy. You see, It´s battle in It´s real form caused the windstones buried deep beneath Tristania to react, and break their way towards the surface and beyond, taking the whole continent with it. It should have lasted more, and affect the whole of Halkagenia once it happened, but since they didn´t reach critical match yet the Continent dropped back in a few days. Henrietta married the Emperor of Germania, and what was left of Tristania was adsorbed by Germania. Now Tristania doesn´t even exist anymore.

"So it was meaningless, after all. My death..."

Thanks to what happened to Tristania, the whole world knows about the windstone crisis. Because of that, they have made peace between themselves and banded together to study and try to make a method to stop it for happening.

Louise closed her eyes, and let the tears fall. Everybody she ever gave a dam about was surely death, except for Henrietta, but at least it possibly was not going to happen to the rest of her world. Cold comfort maybe, but better that no comfort at all. She opened them again, and blinked back her tears.

"I understand, Gan. What exactly do you have to...?" she trailed off. Maybe there was something more to what it wanted to say, but there was one thing pretty clear for her: Maturin had been one of the Guardians of Gan, and it was going to ask her if she wanted to take Maturin´s place. What would she answer? Assuming, of course, that she had any choice at all. She couldn´t be sure. Despite that so far it had done nothing but help her, it had also expressed a clear disregard for her. And it was not like she could completely trust its words, either.

It looks like you get it. That´s right: I want you to take Maturin´s place. Joseph of Gallia and Tiffania Westwood are already dead, and the current Pope doesn´t have much time, so soon enough I will be capable of completely reconstructing Maturin´s soul. But it has already served me faithfully for long, so I can lay it to rest without trouble. If you chose to take a place among the Guardians of The Beam, then I will reconstruct its soul and if you don´t, I won´t. Is your choice. You must know I assisted those children in their second fight against It instead of Maturin, so don´t worry. You don´t need to feel pressured into it.

"What would happen to me?"

I don´t know. You may be erased once that happens, but you could survive. One way or the other, I can´t give you any guarantees.

"Thats... Well." she sighs. If she said no, all that would await her would be oblivion or worse. This wouldn´t be any different. She had nothing to lose. "I guess it doesn´t matter. I will do it."

Very well.

Louise closed her eyes stolidly, and waited for it to start, waited to see how everything would end, if she would live or die.

Ka.

FIN