The rewrite has been done and taken effect! In addition to remaking Sahra into an OC and creating reborn Rose (Aline) as a wind seraph, Lucine has been given a more complete character arc, and earlier interactions with Niko have been altered to better reflect what I'd like them to be. Also, Eizen's design has changed slightly; his Shepherd outfit is black and red, now, not black and gold (more on that in part 5). Major and/or multiple changes have been made to parts 5, 6, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 21; medium and/or multiple small changes have been made to parts 8, 18, 19, 20, 23, and 24; small changes and/or multiple minor tweaks have been made to parts 3, 4, 10, 12, 22, and 25; individual minor tweaks have been made to parts 9, 13, and 26; parts 1, 2, 7, and 27 are entirely unchanged, aside from the removal of some of the footnotes in part 27. The title of the trophy earned in part 9 has been changed to something much better (shoutout to penname RosyMiranto18 for the idea!), and the entirety of the trophy earned in part 14 has also been changed.
TL;DR on the changes of this rewrite, if you didn't want to go hunting for the differences:
1) Sahra is now an OC. Her true name is Vuswos Kakwa, which translates to Sahra of Inner Truth, but she was still human once. Specifically, she was a little girl in Stonebury when Rokurou went around searching for students to pass on the ways of his ancestors to, and she was his best student from day one; she identified the body he disguised as his own when he faked his death, and out of devotion to her fallen master, she founded the Windriders. After her rebirth, she kept an eye on the guild, but was never really involved with them (hence her not being in Dezel's memories); when they disbanded and reformed into the Scattered Bones, she exiled herself to the north in shame for the desecration of her master's teachings. Upon learning that Rokurou is alive, she's upset, and confronts him about their past when Niko sics him on the team; he says that he remembers her, but isn't sorry, and she gets mad; however, when Eizen defeats his father, she realizes that the malevolent creature Rokurou became is an empty husk, not worth killing. After the scene with Rokurou and his family following his purification, she expresses that she was glad she didn't kill him, and looks forward to getting to know the person he really is. Other important notes about Sahra: she has a history with Zaveid, he's hit on her every time they've crossed paths since her rebirth yet never remembers that she's rejected him by the time he sees her again, so he utterly disgusts her; and though she was interested in men in her human life, as of her rebirth as a seraph, she is gay.
2) Lucine now has a full character arc - instead of Zaveid just losing his temper at Sadie's funeral, he starts yelling, and then she steps up and joins him; after hesitating for a moment, she reveals that she was Alisha in her previous life, not just to the Halloways but to the entire crowd, and ultimately accepts that she should be proud of her human life instead of ashamed. Her condemnation of Donald Halloway holds almost more weight than the Prime Lord's wrath, and Eizen tells Edna to ask Lucine to speak to the royal family of Hyland so the Halloways don't get completely blacklisted and starve on the streets.
3) Rose was still reborn as a seraph; she is now a wind seraph named Aline, though she still kept her true name. If this was a game, there would be a whole set of sidequests involving her and Sahra, as Sahra hates Rose for turning the Windriders into the Scattered Bones, but I couldn't figure out how to organically include that side story here; instead, we just meet her in part 11, she's the one who leads everyone out of Pendrago after Eizen gets lost, and everything that used to be important about the plotline of Sahra having been Rose is gone over in brief during that scene. Aline is on a quest to find Arma Dylan for Lailah, who knew that she has been reborn; Edna and Zaveid haven't met Aline before, but Edna knew about her from Lailah. When she learns that Lailah is a dragon, she decides to continue hunting for the armadillo seraph, if only to tell him he once had a huge fan in the former Prime Lord.
4) Some things are revealed earlier on in the story than originally: the moment we first see Niko's dragons, Zaveid identifies which is Lailah at a glance, so their identities are known from the start; and between the fight with the rock golems and the fight with Celica at the start of Niko's quest, Niko herself comes down and uses her domain to show Eizen that he's truly helpless as he is, then backs off because she still has hope that she can convince him to join her, expressing her goal to 'teach' him, resulting in him understanding firsthand that he needs to complete the trials of the elemental Great Lords.
5) There is an added scene with Celica right after Eizen recovers from Edna's Sub Lord pact, before he sets out and gets a Squire. It is cute.
6) Zaveid is a black sheep among seraphim, and they generally don't like him - after all, he would produce malevolence without the oath he took, and yet he has no intention of ever changing his ways. In particular, he's not welcome in Elysia; he is not banned, per se (obviously, as he was allowed in in Zestiria), but he's not welcome there, and most seraphim don't think very highly of him.
7) When Kuksedra entreats Zaveid to embrace malevolence, other members of the team actively try to argue against the primal deity's proposition. Just a bit more involvement in that scene than Zaveid and Kuksedra being virtually one-on-one during that exchange.
8) A minor tweak was made to the words spoken by the decapitated head of General Donovan, to better match the lore behind that event.
As for this chapter, this epi-epilogue…I realized some things were left unfinished, some assumptions can still be made that aren't what I'd like them to be. So, I'm writing this as a sort of "true ending" - if this was a game, you'd unlock it by completing the postgame dungeon AND a special sidequest I'd implement involving uncovering the identities of the 13 souls who helped Eizen draw the Sacred Blade and why and how they were able to help him, then defeating Niko a second time; do all that, and this would be the post-credits scene in place of the previous chapter (which would be fine, since you'd have to see the previous chapter's version of the post-credits scene to unlock the postgame dungeon in the first place). But since this isn't a game, you can just read it. Enjoy the end of calamity!
"Are you sure about this, baby brother?"
Eizen tore his eyes away from the distant planet to look at Edna. "Yes," he replied, "I'm sure. It's time."
[I SHARE HEPHSIN YULIND'S CONCERNS,] Kuksedra said from behind them; the primal deity, too, was looking down on the world, radiating with uncertainty.
"It's time," Eizen repeated firmly. "Go on, Edna."
"If you say so," Edna shrugged. Malevolence wrapped around her, and she transformed into a dragon, though Eizen knew she was allowed to keep her sanity, and the transformation was temporary, as it had been when she'd descended more than ten thousand years ago to tell Zaveid he needed to let go. The dragon took flight and plunged through the barrier around the skypulse, diving for the land below.
While she went, Eizen turned to Kuksedra. "You have nothing to be afraid of," he told the primal deity gently.
[I…AM NOT WHO I WAS WHEN YOU CAME HERE,] Kuksedra conceded. [MUCH HAS CHANGED; YOU HAVE SHOWN ME A NEW LIGHT, A NEW PERSPECTIVE, AND I AM GRATEFUL TO YOU FOR THAT. BUT IT IS ONE THING TO SAY I AM READY TO RETURN TO MY DUTIES WHILE I LANGUISH HERE, SEALED AWAY FROM LIGHT AND ALL I'M MEANT TO DO; IT IS QUITE ANOTHER FOR ME TO RETURN TO THE WORLD AND MAINTAIN MY CONVICTION. WHEN I FEEL MY SISTER'S LIGHT ONCE MORE, I MAY WELL RETURN TO MADNESS.]
"You won't," Eizen said confidently. "I wouldn't take that risk. You're not a monster, Kuksedra."
[I WAS NOT BORN ONE,] Kuksedra said sadly, [BUT A MONSTER IS EXACTLY WHAT I BECAME.]
"Yes," Eizen agreed, "you did. But you've overcome that now. It's time for you to watch over our world again."
Doubt poured off the dark god in waves, but in a way, that just made Eizen all the more confident.
"It's okay to doubt," he told the draconic deity. "If you're doubting yourself, you're not conceited. It's good that you recognize the risks, the fact that things might go wrong, because that means you'll recognize the warning signs and be able to change things before something happens."
[WHY DO YOU BELIEVE IN ME, PACT KEEPER?] Kuksedra asked. [WHY HAVE YOU ALWAYS BELIEVED IN ME, ALWAYS BELIEVED THAT SOMEDAY I COULD MAKE UP FOR MY MISDEEDS, MY FALL TO SIN?]
"Because anyone can be corrupted, especially by heartbreak," Eizen replied. "But anyone can be healed, too. You just needed someone to show you the way."
Time being less stable in the skypulse, Edna's return was abrupt, and ended the conversation. As the malevolence released her from her binds, Eizen stepped closer to her.
"Is it done?" he asked.
"Yup," Edna replied. "Maotelus and the other Great Lords are going to combine their strengths to break open the skypulse, and all of humanity is being informed that the big change is coming, so they can add their prayers to the arte. It'll be a while before it happens, though."
"How come?" Eizen asked.
"Because people want to be present to see us return," Edna answered, rolling her eyes. "They want to throw a big welcome party for us, and plenty of families on the far continent have been saving up for generations for the means to travel to the Land of the Gods so they can witness the return of the guardian deity." She shrugged. "It's stupid, but what can you do?"
Eizen laughed, even as a skitter of uncertainty ran down his own spine. It had been so long since he'd been around people; Kuksedra had kept them informed of all the changes that happened in the mortal world over the course of the thousands and thousands of years they'd spent up here with him, even shown them visions of new technology becoming commonplace, new societies being born. But it was one thing to see from afar, and another to become immersed in all that, to return to a world that had grown so much since he'd last set foot there. No sense being scared, he reminded himself. I knew what I was signing up for when I chose to stay here.
More time passed, while anxiety crackled between the three residents of the skypulse. They passed the time together as they always had, but laughter was strained, smiles were forced. Even Edna seemed nervous.
Then, at last, during another round of the game they'd invented to play with the metal fragments of Stormhowl, Kuksedra looked up from the pieces abruptly, his glowing white eyes fixed on the distant planet. [IT IS TIME,] he told them.
Edna leapt to her feet; Eizen scooped up the metal fragments and pocketed them, then ran to the edge of the skypulse just behind her. Kuksedra summoned every piece of him that was him, the primal deity without his wicked creation; his malevolence would stay sealed here forever, but he would soon be free.
As Eizen watched, from the patch of green and brown on the distant planet that he knew was the entire continent of Glenwood, the land known to the rest of the world as the "Land of the Gods", five lights began to shine, big and bright enough to be seen even from so high up: red, blue, yellow, and green surrounding a central white. The domains of the Five Lords expanded, slowly merging; and then, from all five, beams of energy shot into the sky, headed straight for the pocket dimension that the primal deity of darkness had been exiled to. The blast as the combined wills of the Great Lords hit the seal was enough to shake the black crystal Eizen stood on, and he stumbled…and yet, the barrier was not quite penetrated.
"It's not enough?" Eizen gasped, alarmed.
"Give it time," Edna told him, though she sounded far from confident.
Five powers united as one kept assaulting the wall between dimensions, struggling to break through it, but even joined together, it seemed like they wouldn't succeed. Then, far below, all across the distant mortal world, light began to glow and rise from the surface, like wisps of luminescent smoke. It coated the entire world, then was sucked into the beam that shot into the sky, lending it more power. Prayers, Eizen realized. Everyone's prayers, that the curse will end.
CRACK!
A split began to open in the skypulse. Edna transformed into a dragon, and Eizen vaulted onto her back as she took to the air; they dove at the fracture, and Edna speared her claws through and pulled.
CRASH!
The wall ripped apart, admitting Edna, Eizen, and most importantly, Kuksedra himself into the mortal world. The primal deity's presence whooshed past the dragon and her rider in a seemingly-endless gust of darkness, and Edna dove for the planet they'd left behind, Eizen clinging to her back.
Immediately, Eizen felt a sensation of cold and jolted - there was no temperature in the skypulse, just as there was no air, no weather, no time or space. It didn't shock his flesh - as far as his body was concerned, no time at all had passed since he'd first entered the skypulse - but to his mind, the sensation was invigorating in its near-foreignness. Then there were clouds, then wind, then air in his lungs, and for a minute he just reveled in all the sensations he'd gone without for so many eons. Light didn't burn his eyes, but it was incredible to see, to feel…
Too soon, the ground came up to meet them, and Edna flapped her wings, slowing her descent to a gentle glide. When Eizen looked down, he saw that she was aiming for a large clearing in the middle of an enormous crowd of people. People…There were people here, other people; people he didn't know, but who knew him from the stories that had become legends. They wouldn't see him as a person, but as a mythical hero. But that was something to deal with another day.
Edna landed, and Eizen slid down from her back, hit the ground, and immediately crumpled, eagerly embracing the grass, the dirt, the softness and the scents of the land he stood on, the way he could touch it with the bare fingers of his left hand without it burning him. When Kuksedra's power released Edna for the last time, he knew she was tempted to do the same, to embrace her element, but she had more poise than him, even now.
"Stand up, baby brother," she murmured instead, walking over to him. "You're embarrassing us."
Reluctantly, Eizen took a deep breath and stood. Looking around, there were plenty of eyes on him, but plenty of other people were muttering to each other in alarm, some rubbing their arms as though chilled. It took Eizen a moment, but he realized they were reacting to the presence of Kuksedra - it was familiar to him, even comforting given all the sensations he was surrounded by and had forgotten, but to feel the primal deity imbuing everything was foreign to these people.
Light arose from within the earth, and took the shape of the Dragon of Light - a feeble shadow of what Kuksedra's sister must have once been, Eizen knew, but a welcome sight all the same.
"Eizen," the Great Lord of Purification intoned. "Edna. You have returned at last."
"We have," Eizen nodded, stepping closer to his deific cousin across time. "And Kuksedra is with us. He is here, now, all around us, within everything this world is."
"And the curse?" Maotelus asked. "Is the curse broken?"
Eizen winced, and Edna stepped up.
"It's complicated," she informed Maotelus. "You should probably take that up with His Royal Darkness himself. Hey, Kuksedra, get out here!" she called to the air. "You need to have a talk with your new partner!"
From all around, the land and the sky, darkness came forth; the onlookers surrounding them gasped in alarm, but Eizen just smiled. It was only a tiny, tiny piece of the primal deity that manifested, taking the form of a black dragon no bigger than Maotelus, but that was all he needed to be.
"You are Kuksedra, the primal deity of darkness?" Maotelus asked the entity.
[INDEED,] Kuksedra replied. [AND YOU ARE THE GREAT LORD MAOTELUS, THE PURIFIER, LEADER OF THE FIVE LORDS WHO HAVE PASSED AS GODS IN MY ABSENCE.]
"Yes…" Maotelus said slowly. "Yes, I am."
[I MUST OFFER YOU MY MOST HUMBLE APOLOGIES,] Kuksedra told the Great Lord. [FOR MANY CENTURIES, I FOUGHT AGAINST YOU WITH ALL MY POWER; AND FOR TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS BEFORE THAT, I STRUGGLED ALMOST AS MUCH WITH YOUR PREDECESSOR, THE NAMELESS ONE. I HAVE DEDICATED COUNTLESS MILLENNIA TO THE CORRUPTION OF THIS WORLD FROM AFAR, AND SOUGHT TO SMOTHER ALL LIGHT, THAT I ALONE MAY HOLD DOMINION OVER ALL CREATION. I…AM ASHAMED OF THIS, AND WOULD HUMBLY ASK YOUR FORGIVENESS.]
"I know the story," Maotelus responded. "I know it wasn't that simple, and…a lot of bad things happened to you. Now that you've apologized, I forgive you, we all do - just as long as you end this curse on our world now."
Kuksedra dipped his head. [I AM AFRAID…THAT IS NOT ENTIRELY POSSIBLE,] he said.
Everyone around them, who had been murmuring grunts of discomfort at having to process the primal deity's words, now gasped in alarm and terror.
"Hear him out!" Eizen shouted over the crowd. "Please, everyone, let him explain before you panic!"
[MANKIND WAS CREATED FLAWED,] Kuksedra said, [AND I ALONE CANNOT FIX THE FUNDAMENTAL FLAW IN THEIR DESIGN; WERE MY SISTER STILL LIVING, WE COULD FIX THEM TOGETHER, BUT SHE GAVE HER LIFE LONG AGO. THUS, MALEVOLENCE SHALL ALWAYS BE PRODUCED OF THEIR FALLIBLE FACULTIES. NOR CAN I UNDO THE CURSE CAST BY THE HEAVENLY REALM - THE HEAVENLY REALM IS A POWER HIGH ABOVE ME, AND THOUGH THE CURSE WAS ENACTED BY LESSER BEINGS, THE POWER THEY USED TO DO SO IS ONE I AM UNABLE TO OPPOSE.]
"Then…is there nothing that can be done?" Maotelus asked. "We've all worked so hard to create peaceful coexistence, but the curse makes it truly impossible - hellions still spawn, seraphim are still poisoned, and even my power isn't enough to prevent it entirely. We were all counting on you, primal deity Kuksedra."
[MY FRIENDS AND I HAVE DISCUSSED THIS PROBLEM,] Kuksedra answered. [THOUGH I CANNOT END THE CURSE, NOR CAN I PREVENT MALEVOLENCE FROM BEING GENERATED, I AM ABLE TO CHANGE THE NATURE OF THE CURSE, AS I DID WHEN IT WAS FIRST CAST.]
"Here's what we were thinking," Eizen said, speaking up at last. "Originally, what the seraphim of the Heavenly Realm wanted to do was make it so that anyone too tainted by malevolence would be marked, right? Just marked, not made into a vicious monster capable of destroying entire towns. We could do that, or we could take it a step further."
[YOUR PACT KEEPER SUGGESTED THAT HUMANS, LIKE SERAPHIM, WOULD BECOME SICKENED AND WEAKENED BY THEIR OWN MALEVOLENCE, IN ADDITION TO BEING BRANDED,] Kuksedra went on. [THIS, I THINK, WOULD MAKE THE MOST SENSE - RATHER THAN BEING ABLE TO GO OUT AND SPREAD THEIR IMPURITY, THOSE WHO FALL TO THEIR OWN FALLIBILITY WILL BE RENDERED UNABLE TO ACT ON IT. THIS BEING THE CASE, HOWEVER, YOUR POWER WILL NOT BE BEST UTILIZED BY PURIFYING EVERY BIT OF CORRUPTION THAT COMES TO BE; IT WOULD PERHAPS BE WISER TO SAVE IT FOR THOSE WHO ASK TO BE CLEANSED, AND LEAVE THOSE UNWILLING TO RELINQUISH THEIR INNER FAILINGS TO BEAR THE CONSEQUENCES.]
"On top of that," Eizen added, "Kuksedra can keep malevolence from spreading to other plants, and animals, and even people, enough to keep them from becoming sick and weak too - he can make it so that the innocent don't suffer from the curse anymore. Only the guilty will fall."
[MALEVOLENCE IS A POISON, AND WILL STILL SICKEN THOSE WHO COME IN CONTACT WITH IT, ESPECIALLY SERAPHIM,] Kuksedra elaborated. [HOWEVER, AS GUARDIAN DEITY OF THE VEIL BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH, I WILL SEE TO IT THAT NO UNDESERVING SOUL SUFFERS AN UNJUST END FROM EXPOSURE TO EXTERNAL MALEVOLENCE.]
"But what all that means is that your role is gonna be pretty redundant," Edna concluded. "Purification won't be so useful when Kuksedra can just undo corruption. It'll just…help the world keep going, help Kuksedra with keeping the spread of malevolence under control. You won't need Prime Lords or Sub Lords anymore, or even Shepherds, not even to heal people who end up under the influence of the curse and ask for help."
[IF YOU AND I WORK TOGETHER, SALVATION CAN COME TO ANYONE WHO ASKS FOR IT, AT ANY TIME,] Kuksedra confirmed. [THERE WILL BE NO NEED FOR YOUR ACTIVE PRESENCE IN THIS WORLD, FOR ANYONE TO TAKE ON YOUR POWER AND ACT ON YOUR BEHALF. YOU AND THE OTHER GREAT LORDS WILL MAINLY BE RESPONSIBLE FOR HELPING TO MAINTAIN THE BALANCE OF NATURE, THE BALANCE BETWEEN LIGHT AND DARK; BEYOND THAT, YOU WILL SERVE LITTLE PURPOSE.]
"Is that supposed to be a bad thing?" Maotelus asked, and, incredibly, he laughed. "A world that doesn't need Shepherds is what I've been fighting for all along! I don't mind taking a more passive role in things." The glowing behemoth bowed his head. "Please, primal deity Kuksedra, this solution you've proposed would benefit all the world, in every way - with this in place, it will only be a matter of time before the Heavenly Gate opens. On behalf of the world, I ask you, please, make it so!"
Shouts of agreement arose from the crowd, deafening Eizen with everyone's elation that at last, a compromise, an end to the nightmare, was in hand.
[VERY WELL!] Kuksedra trumpeted in everyone's minds. [FROM THIS DAY FORTH, LET THE CURSE NO LONGER PLAUGE THIS WORLD!]
An unfathomable power washed over the world, filling everyone and everything and altering the very foundation of the planet's energy; Eizen felt it, and he knew everyone and everything else felt it too, from the people and seraphim all around the globe to the worms in the dirt below their feet; whether they were capable of truly understanding it or not, everything in the world knew that existence itself had been changed by a higher power. Never again would a hellion or dragon ever come to be.
[I LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH YOU, GREAT LORD MAOTELUS,] Kuksedra declared.
"And I you," Maotelus replied. "Thank you for saving us, Kuksedra."
[IT IS MY SACRED DUTY TO GUARD THIS WORLD AND ITS BALANCE,] Kuksedra replied proudly. [NO THANKS ARE NEEDED. INDEED, IT IS I WHO THANKS YOU, FOR OFFERING YOUR FORGIVENESS TO THE ONE WHO TRIED FOR SO LONG TO END ALL THAT WAS RIGHT. I VOW TO NEVER ACT AGAINST THE WORLD AGAIN.]
The primal deity's manifested presence dispersed, returning to where all of the unknowable rest of him permeated all things; always present, never seen. Maotelus turned to Eizen.
"You've saved us," he told Eizen. "Through your determination and commitment, you've given us a brighter future, the one I could never make reality no matter what I did."
"I…I did what I thought was right," Eizen stammered. "I'm just glad it worked out for everyone."
"The world you knew is gone," Maotelus went on.
"Yeah, I know," Eizen said quickly. "Don't worry, Kuksedra's made sure Edna and I know everything that's gone on while we were away. I know…" He sighed. "I know there's not much left of the world I knew. But I have Edna, and she has me, and we'll figure it out. It was worth it."
"Definitely worth it," Edna agreed.
"I…" Maotelus shifted uncomfortably. "I wish I could help you. But I have to go."
"Go," Eizen smiled. "Start figuring out how you and the other Great Lords and Kuksedra are going to work together."
The Dragon of Light leaned forward, lowering his snout to bump lightly against Eizen's forehead; Eizen felt mana pass over him, and wondered what exactly he'd just been blessed with. The Great Lord did the same to Edna, then dissolved back into the ground, to work with the dark god who had returned to protect them all.
Then they were alone, Eizen and his sister, surrounded by an enormous crowd of people who stared at them with stars in their eyes. Lights flashed, and Eizen knew these were cameras, people capturing an image of this moment so that they could forever prove that they had been here to see this all take place. It was extremely awkward.
A sudden disturbance in the crowd caught Eizen's attention, as two people started forcing their way through the thick wall of bodies that kept Eizen and Edna entrapped. Then, at last, Lucine burst free into the clearing where Eizen and Edna stood, accompanied by Aline, surprisingly enough; they were both beaming as they ran for their old comrades.
"Edna!" Aline cried joyously. "Eizen!"
Not even hesitating, the wind seraph ran to Edna and hugged her. Surprisingly, the earth seraph didn't recoil. Lucine was more reserved, standing back just a step, but beaming all the same as they exchanged greetings.
As the four reunited happily, Eizen relaxed in the presence of more people he knew. The rest of his family had carried on down the line, there were descendants of his parents in this world yet today, but they were so far removed from them that most of them didn't even know they shared his blood; and Zaveid, Lailah, and Sahra had long since died. Aline and Lucine were here, though, and they were familiar, even if Aline was only really familiar to Edna. So little here was familiar…
"Where's Isan?" Edna asked them, sounding disappointed.
"He's still standing as Lord of the Land a little ways south of here," Lucine replied. "He's afraid he might die if he leaves his post, but he's waiting for you, don't you worry."
"Can you take me to him?" Edna asked. "I…I know the land has changed a lot…"
"Of course!" Lucine said brightly. Then she frowned and asked, "You mean now?"
"Yes, now!" Edna snapped. "I've been waiting to see him for over eleven thousand years, I'm not gonna wait any longer!"
"Yeah, you go meet up with Isan, big sis," Eizen said, and he suddenly yawned.
Everyone turned to him.
"I…I haven't slept in over eleven thousand years," Eizen said, realizing it even as he said it. "I'm…tired." His knees started to shake, his head got hot and fuzzy, and he didn't fight the urge to just collapse right there in the grass - it was a lot softer than any surface in the skypulse.
"Are you gonna fall asleep right here?!" Aline laughed.
"Mm-hmm," he mumbled.
"Baby brother," Edna began.
"Go meet up with Isan," Aline told the earth seraph. "I'll stay here and make sure Eizen sleeps well. Heck, he's earned it, just like you have."
"Thanks," Edna nodded at the fire seraph, and she and Lucine walked away.
Not even a moment later, Eizen fell at last into a state of unconsciousness, not caring that he was surrounded by people who hailed him as a hero, not caring that he had no real place in this world he'd finally returned to. All he knew was that, at long last, he had fulfilled the promise he'd made to his beloved Sadie at her funeral: the curse, for all intents and purposes was over, and the world was safe at last.
~THE (true) END~
Trophy earned for this chapter: [image of a black dragon curled around half the globe, the other half covered by a line of five circles, one red, one blue, one yellow, one green, one white] "The End of Calamity" - Proof that you have witnessed the dawn of a new world, in which hellions and dragons will never be born of Heaven's curse again. Peaceful coexistence, and the union of Heaven and Earth, is now inevitable, as the primal deity has returned to guard the balance at last.
Well, here we are! I finally rewrote this tale to better suit what I realized too late it should have been; it took me months and I had to force myself to finish while my brain wanted to move on to other things, but I am proud of this work, even if no one ever sees the effort I put in. In any case, I hope this project was more satisfying for its readers than what Bamco pulled with this universe! At the very least, I hope you feel it was worth your time to read all this; thank you to everyone who has talked with me during the project's progression, and anyone who's chosen to read any of the fics set in this world that I've written (which are all canon for each other unless otherwise stated, remember, all part of this massive project), and to anyone who read the original version of this fic and still decided to read the entire rewrite - I know a lot of it stayed the same, but enough changed that it can be called a rewrite, yes? Either way, thank you, everyone. Cheers to all!