Chapter 14 – Epilogue
Knuckles drifted back to consciousness with his head resting upon something warm and soft. Julie-Su's face was above him, speaking with Mighty. Moving his head, he saw the other Chaotix in the room. He swung his feet over the side of the couch (someone had taken his shoes) to stand, embarrassed at Julie-Su's lap.
"Well, I'm back."
"Knux!" cried the Chaotix, and they were around him, slapping his back, holding his paws and laughing. He turned, and Julie-Su was sitting on the couch, grinning and holding out her paw. He took it and sat down.
"We're in Echidnapolis?"
"Yeah. Charmy found you fast asleep in Marble Gardens. Oh, the island floats again. You should have felt the earthquake when the Emeralds came back. They re-joined the island."
"Thank you, Walkers," he whispered.
"So man, is it over or what?" asked Vector, "You know, will he sleep for a thousand years and return?"
"He is dead. He cannot return."
Thus, Knuckles related the tale, of climbing the mountains, of the two mystery warriors and of the struggle with Thanatos. When it was over he got up and looked out a window at the city. It was unchanged and was pleased that life had resumed its normal pace.
"Where Mobius goes from here, I cannot say. The Walkers did not go beyond the events of yesterday."
"Yesterday?" laughed Espio, "You were asleep three days."
"I was? No wonder my stomach feels like it's going to implode."
"Got that covered," said Mighty, and opened a door to the dining room. It was where a veritable fruit festival, artfully arranged, lay upon a table of banquet proportions. Mighty had to grin.
"Someone get a bib, he's drooling."
Julie-Su held his paw, and he was happy.
"Welcome home, Naki."
***
She lay with him, her read resting on the inside of his arm. It was cold in the temple and outside but here, with him, there was wonderful warmth.
"So you carved that thing out of a marble pillar all by yourself?"
"Yep. Did the finishing touches with my quills. I didn't know it took all day until the sun went down."
She slipped an arm under the blanket and around his shoulders. He was aware of her distended belly and the child within.
"What do you think, a he or a she?"
"I hope it's a boy. I don't think I'd be able to live in a household with three women telling me what to do."
"Will our child have riches? Will our child have fame?"
She had asked the same before Paula was born.
"He'll have us, and Knothole."
"In a free Mobius. Thank you, Sonic."
Just as they were getting comfortable, they heard voices outside.
"This is the Western Temple, built in the year 1389 by the natives of Marble Gardens. Walk this way."
Sally and Sonic propped themselves on their elbows as a large tour group entered, cameras a-flashing, led by Althair.
"Here is a fine example of modern sculpture."
Althair bent his grizzled brows at the young couple lying beneath the statue.
"This is a particularly interesting specimen, because the model and sculptor are in this very room. Hello, Sonic and Sally."
"Hi," they replied. The tour group would not stop clicking their cameras at them. Children were herded to the rear where they would not see.
"These tourists were stranded on the island after it began floating again. Air transport is being arranged, and I agreed to occupy them until then. Did you know they pay to be led around?"
He lifted his arms and started to herd the group outside.
"Well, that's all for the Western Temple. Run down kind of place, but I suppose some people still enjoy it. Now walk this way. Hey you, save some film for Lava Reef. Good. Walk this way, people."
***
Knothole library had seen more of Tails since he returned. All day long, books littered the table he sat behind. The human warrior had vindicated the existence of other worlds. Now he was poring over every book of astrology and history he could find. Had aliens visited Mobius before? Did anyone know where the planets were?
"Shugah, you'll go blind from reading too much."
Bunnie took a seat opposite him. Tails flopped another book closed with a sigh. There were myths and rumours here and there, none confirmed. But that dying warrior had been real. There must be some book or person he could get the answer from…
"Shugah?"
"Oh, Bunnie. Hi."
"What are y'all searching for?"
"There was a man we met on the mountain…"
"Oh, the metal man, I heard."
"He came from another planet."
Tails leaned across the table.
"There are other worlds out there, Bunnie, and I'm going to find them. And visit them."
"What about y'all inventions? With Rotor at some university, y'all helping lots of people just by being here."
His eyes sparkled.
"When I find them, I'm going to build a rocket ship and fly there."
She did not laugh. She could tell how serious he was. Never let it be said that Bunnie can't read people, half robot or no.
"I hope you find them, Tails."
"I will."
***
"You're impatient."
"Oh, shut up, old man."
Kootan crouched beside the sorceress on the pinnacle of Mubia Peak. Here, the magic of Wind was at its height, its formless energies dancing around them.
"How can you hope to be of Light without mastering Wind?"
"The purest elements are closest to light, and they are wind and water," she recited. Kootan was her Elder now, her instructor.
"Do not force your will. No element is mastered by force. There must be mutual agreement."
Hannah had forsaken her pendant of platinum and blue diamond. Its power was the darkness, something she regretted ever learning. Wearing light cotton robes dyed sky blue (for such was the garb of a Wind sorceress) and a sapphire jewel in her ear, she stood again to face the untamed air currents.
Kootan watched her arms spread into the diagonal posture, the one that controls the flow of air. A high hope indeed; the wind didn't obey just anyone.
"Stop," Kootan said after awhile. She blinked and turned.
"What? What? Don't tell me…"
"No, no. It's not that."
"Then tell me, you foolish…"
"You've just caused the North Wind to head south for the winter."
He smiled. It was another miracle. She would be a very interesting student indeed.
***
Emess hacked into the tree with an ax. With the snows coming in, he'd have to reinforce all the huts in the village with firewood. Other village folk were felling trees around him, anticipating the long cold. He rested for a moment, his breath coming out in snowy wisps. There was sudden warmth behind and around him as another body pressed close.
"I thought you were giving Vivian the flu medicine."
"She's resting. It's warmer inside, why don't you rest?"
He would enjoy a hot helping of Jubel's homemade broth, he thought. The crude moccasins on his feet were beginning to freeze and his toes were pestering him again. Leaving the ax with a fresh worker he followed Jubel to their hut. It had become their hut when the first winter arrived, those many years ago. She could have found a warm cave then, but she preferred to move in with him. Their beds of fir needles were carefully placed on opposite ends of the room. She went to the fireplace where the pot was simmering. He took a chair at the table, both made by his own hands.
"George gave you the last of the peppers, I smell."
"Yes," she replied, her voice quieter than usual. He watched her go through the motions of ladling the broth into clay bowls and offering one to him. A chair slid smoothly out beside him and she glided into it, sniffing her own broth before drinking. He sipped in silence and was thinking of something to talk about until she spoke.
"Emess."
He put down his bowl. Her large paw rested on his arm.
"I've never been good with words, but can you feel this?"
"Yes." Her touch was gentle and reassuring as candlelight.
"I'm holding you now, but if you go away, I have to let go. I didn't stop you from leaving, to fight for us, because you told me it was important."
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"You are important to me."
His clear, brown eyes found hers, the colour of warm honey. Emotions raged within him but he had to be in control for both their sakes.
"The thought of losing you is unbearable. But there are tasks God gives me, and I must carry them out."
"Does that mean I'm unfaithful?"
So very, very gentle was his hand upon her face, as her tears trickled over his rough flesh.
"It means you care. And I thank you for it."
She held his hand, feeling its life pulsing within her paws, and said not a word.
***
Snow patterns frosted the glass of their hut. Rebecca had to keep inside and keep warm for the winter, during which Ashlar would come into the world. With Lazer at her side, warmth was the least of her worries.
"Why do you keep that bladed sun inside the house?"
R'Thrys kept the eastern corner warm and bright, where the crib lay in anticipation of the baby.
"It's safe."
"I'm constantly afraid it's going to burn the house down."
"Now you tell me? How foolish your fears are. This sword made Xadra livable again."
"I know, but it makes me uneasy."
Lazer held out his paw (Firey's leather gloves were safe upon the mantelpiece) and R'Thrys came. Rebecca leaned back to take in its size.
"You swing that thing around?"
"Touch it."
"What?"
But she thought, with Lazer here, she had no reason to fear this… sword. It was he who had brought it into their hut after all.
A fingertip reached out and touched the hilt. When nothing happened, she breathed again. She stopped breathing after what happened next, though. A clean, thin sound of perfect pitch and crystalline delicacy filled the world. Its source was R'Thrys. Sonic and Sally heard it in the Western Temple. Tails jerked awake from sleep in the library. Kootan and Hannah, high atop Mubia Peak, heard it clearly. Emess and Jubel, watching the snow fall on the trees, heard it. Every living creature upon Mobius, even the ones incapable of hearing, heard this incredible sound. This resembled the non-sound that healed Xadra, but this tone spoke of eternity. It was the sound of completion.
Ashlar kicked within Rebecca's womb. R'Thrys rippled with red flame… its long blade withdrew into the hilt, the dull edge bled out its colour and the translucent gold turned black. The handle was the next one to go, receding into the star-shaped metal. As the blade and handle disappeared, the pommel stone, the pyramidal red gem, melted out of its place and into the larger gem of the hilt. R'Thrys morphed, folding into itself, hiding the flame of its gem within darkness.
As a flawless black sphere, R'Thrys moved through the air to rest upon the womb of Rebecca. She remembered to breathe.
"What did you do?"
Lazer was stunned by the inexplicable behaviour of the sword (sphere?). He touched R'Thrys but it did not change or respond. To his bare paws, it was very warm to the touch, perfectly smooth, but also throbbing with hidden energy.
"Uh… Lazer?"
"I don't know."
What happened after this event is, of course, another story.
"Did you hear that?"
"We all did."
"What can it be?"
Destiny and Fate joined the Walkers to view the small planet they called their own.
"I am troubled," admitted Destiny, "I do not know what this means for Mobius."
"The great Destiny does not know!" remarked Fate, "Yet I, too, have no inkling of what the sound can mean."
Ancient Walkers spoke their minds.
"We must investigate this."
"We know it responded to the child and its mother."
"We must be watchful."
Destiny and Fate were one voice.
"Yes, be watchful."
They departed from their fellow beings to where none could hear, their place of solitude. The voice of Destiny became sad, filled with all the concern of a mother.
"Is what we did wrong, Fate?"
"Yes. Our future will be determined by our actions. We shall be judged."
"Our son… we allowed him to die."
"He would have exiled us."
"But I feel, it is better that we were exiled than he… die."
They spoke as one voice. Together, their pathos caused galaxies to tremble.
"Did he not know we loved him?"
***END***
Author's comments:
Thank you for reading my story of gods and mortals. I love this story above any other I have written, for it brings my heart's concerns to light. Please review and tell me, gentle reader, what you think of it.
