Ave, readers of the Echoverse!
It's with a heavy heart that i announce we've reached the conclusion of Echos Between Worlds. It's been a crazy ride, with many bumps in the road, but I couldn't have been happier with the results. I have enjoyed every moment of this, from the many friends i've made along the journey, to the people who inspired me to write this story in the first place. There's not enough words to express my gratitude to everyone who've been there for me in these past three months; i'm so honored to have gotten to know you all personally.
Not to mention the reviews i've been so lucky to receive. The support has far exceeded my wildest expectations, and thinking about how nice everyone has been makes me too emo to cope. So special thanks to josephm611, my-mental-mind, averyrandomauthor, alexcias and contemporarydancer2 (as well as all of the people who've taken the time to review earlier chapters) for your kind words. I say this a lot in my responses, i'm sure it's been beaten to death by now, but you truly mean the world to me! I love you all.
Before i get too sappy, let's delve into this epilogue. No trigger warnings this time around.
Enjoy!
"Crack's in the earth, holes through dimensions - the end has come."
From his home atop the clouds, at the peak of the world's highest mountain, Jupiter stood watching the mortal realm.
This had been millennia in the making. Since the gods had first created Panem, before there were any Patricians or Plebeians, before war tore the lands and rebellion gave way to the Hunger Games, outer forces had been threatening the pantheon. Otherworldly beings, living between dimensions, causing chaos in the multiverse. The only difference this time was that a substantial rift had been opened, one the sent two realities crashing together, and allowed for things to crawl through. Things that should not have existed on this plane of existence. That had caused Jupiter to leave Olympus in search of help.
As he saw Romulus come bursting into his father's solar, and fall to his knees at the sight of Echo's body laying sprawled on the floor, Jupiter hoped he had made the right choices. His human followers were no longer subject to his whims alone. The headaches, the nausea, the earthquakes - they came from something. Though their origins were still not wholly clear to him, Jupiter had done his best to understand them. He monitored New Rome constantly, as a deity and eagle both. Trying to control what was going on.
The sad truth was that he could not save them all. Some things were beyond even his reach, and he'd had no choice but to let them slip through his fingers. Heron. Drusilla. The names sent a painful wave through him. They were lost, falling though time and space without the promise of rescue. Gone forever from this domain.
Still, Jupiter had succeeded in other regards. He had used his wits to predict his enemy's moves, and had played against them to the best of his ability. It was an uphill battle, but he had put the right pieces where they needed to be.
He had kept Bartholomew from fainting so that he could save Romulus from falling debris.
He had helped Echo see the error in her ways by showing her Romulus' abuse and then sent her to the Fates lair to learn of her destiny.
He had driven Echo to kill the boy's father, and now made sure he came bursting onto the scene, crumbling next to her and crying into her stola.
Romulus would be her safety whilst her spirit slipped into the abyss. He would preserve her body.
And as Jupiter had manipulated his domain like a gamemaker, he'd used the rift himself, traveling through its bottomless pit in his quest for answers. He found them in a dimension parallel to his own, by locating the timekeeper and observing her fateful encounter with whom he eventually decided to contact.
Echo Epithet was a fitting pawn. Subject to the same symptoms as his herald, they had been enraptured the moment he'd approached. They eagerly received the whispers and visions Jupiter sent their way, communicating with the beacon of ethereal light he used as a disguise in their sleep, and doing so more eagerly than the occupants of his own universe had ever done. They seemed hungry for a solution. And finally it seemed that they might get one.
As his gaze traveled past Romulus, bent over the empty shell of his herald's body, Jupiter peered into the abyss. There, deep down, in the interim between dimensions, they stood. Echo Sabellus, athame clutched tightly in her hand as she squared off against Echo Epithet.
Echos between worlds.
Before any sort of exchange could be enacted, however, Jupiter felt a presence. Normally, he would've lashed out at whomever dared disturb his personal space. Knowing who it was, however, he took a calming breath.
"Husband." A hand on his shoulder.
Lightning crackled in the cloud-cover beneath as Jupiter spun around.
Juno was clad in a shoulderless gown, its billowing gold fabric matching the chain tied around her forehead. Dark chocolate curls sprung from the circlet, framing her face in tight curls. There was a frown across his sister-wife's lower face; her think pink lips were dipped into a decline at both ends. Had it not been her default expression for centuries, Jupiter would have thought her disappointed.
"Yes?" was Jupiter's gruff answer. He'd been so engrossed in this destined meeting, that he had been orchestrating so meticulously over the last few weeks, that he knew little of what else went on. Olympus was a sprawling place. It could have been assaulted, it could have been sieged - he would not have noticed.
As the ground shook, and the foundation of his home swayed once, he realized his mistake. "What—?" He hooked his eyes in Juno's, searching her dark irises for clues. She gave away nothing.
Only one word left her lips. "Hearthstone."
Struck with panic, Jupiter turned back to the mortal realm, ignoring the dual Echos for a moment as his eyes sought out the thirteenth district. Last time he'd checked on it, there had been an auction going on, slave traders arriving from all corners of Panem to sell their latest catch to keen masters and mistresses.
Presently, large parts of the lands were in ruin. Agoras had been ripped asunder, estates had been set aflame. Amongst the wrecked marble and totaled stone, shades moved. Astral flickers not of this world.
In the center of Hearthstone, there was a hole in the ground. And from the cracked earth, a starry, clawed limb emerged.
Rapture was here. The end had come.
And with that, Echos Between Worlds is complete. It's very sad to take farewell of this project, as it's the first story i've ever written to completion in any shape or form. It might not seem like the most impressive feat, having only 8 chapters and being less than 20k words, but it has meant a lot to me, and i have learned so so much. EBW will always be near and dear to my heart.
The conclusion of EBW will not be the end of the Echoverse, though. As many of you know, there's a lot of exciting stuff still ahead, first and foremost among them being my first SYOT: Into The Abyss. ITA will not only have a subplot that continues the storyline of Echo, Rom and the other gamemakers (see, plural Linds!), but it will also be my first time writing other people's characters, which is a very daunting task to think about. It's one i've been wanting to try my hand at for a very long time, though, so whilst i'm scared i'm also thrilled to see what you guys come up with!
I also want to give one more shoutout to Ben (my-mental-mind) and Haile (optimisms) for being such fabulous collab partners. You are both part of why i've made it this far, and frankly you both deserve more praise than the world has to offer. Go over to their profiles to read Borrowed Time and A Proportional Response - i beg of you! Give them the support and love they deserve!
See you over in ITA. And don't forget - #coremus supremacy!
(oh and one more thing. i had planned on waiting a bit longer with this, but i'm simply too eager to see what you guys come up with. Alongside the posting of this chapter, submissions for ITA have opened. Go over to my profile to find the blog, the form, and guidelines)
Bye :)