Author's Notes: I'm kind of sad to present this, the end. It's very short, but wrapping it up chapters have always been a weakness of mine. But this is it, after 57 chapters, 213 pages, 164256 words (half of which I'm sure is author's notes) and over two months of writing a chapter a day (with a few failures), this is the end. I'm actually going to save any notes on how it's the end until afterwards, so this is to address just a couple of reviews about the ending.

I'm very glad to see people found the last chapter powerful, and not too over the top or ridiculous. In regards to the baby being killed instead of a main character, I was careful in my decision there. The characters people are attached to it would be very sad to kill off, but from Olose's perspective, and Abaj's, instead of the audience, it's much more sadistic and cruel to kill the baby. That's why I overplayed the emphasis on the whole 'never given a chance at life' thing, every other character had a life, and Abaj could argue for why they should die (Arcadia for example, she may have been kind, but she was also a member of the upper class and not exactly giving her money to the poor). I felt killing a week old baby was just as sadistic as it could get, and snapping their spine in two in front of the father…

Well, you can see why I wanted to rate it mature. I mean, in a lot of other stories characters get put through a lot, as TheFrogKiller points out, but this was a baby. One version I was going to write, if it didn't make me feel sick thinking about it (which is actually true, and why I didn't write it) Abaj didn't just kill her, he ate her. I was really trying to make everybody hate Abaj at the end to make the final battle have so much more meaning. I'm not sure if it worked, but it certainly gave Olose the motivation to really despise him. I'm actually quite proud of the emotion in the final battle, even if the style it's in could be perceived as very over the top, and it might feel a bit corny.

Anyway, I'll shut up and save my long notes for after the chapter. Read on!

CHAPTER 58

THE END

Silence filled the room for a moment. Olose had a grim look on his face as he remembered that battle with Abaj. He managed to hold back his own tears, unlike Vivli, sat opposite him, who was crying.

"I had no idea." She said softly. Ever since she had heard Olose's story about marriage she had been wondering about Olose's past life. He had finally agreed to sit down and tell it to her. He had told her everything he could remember about those days. His first lifetime, as he called it. "What happened next?" Vivli croaked. Olose stood up.

"Some things are stories for other times, Viv." Olose said quietly, standing up. "We never had another child. Arcadia was never really the same after that. She was kind of distant, separated. I was the same."

"What about Nadia?" Vivli asked. "Did you forgive her?"

"Yes, of course I did." Olose smirked slightly. "She didn't exactly have an easy life after that."

"And Jeren and Trevia? Did they actually get married?" Vivli was getting carried away with questions.

"Viv, another time." Olose stated. Vivli could see that he was finding it painful to talk on the subject anymore.

"Sorry." She muttered. "I had no idea you had gone through so much."

"You know, I visited that grave every day. Then every week. Then every month. Then every year." He shook his head. "But I never stopped. I was there, you know, when the beastmen hoard tore through Tavnazia and destroyed it. I fought them back, but in the end, I failed to protect her again."

"It was an army at Tavnazia." Vivli pointed out. "You couldn't have done anything."

"No. I couldn't." Olose admitted. "I kind of thought that the pain would have stopped, but it's still there. It has almost been six centuries now. Six centuries and I still feel the pain." Vivli looked at him tearfully, and placed her tiny hand on his shoulder.

"It's alright." She told him softly.

"I know, Viv. I've learnt to live with it. You have to, when you're immortal." Olose explained. "You now know more about me than anybody on this planet. I've never told anybody about my old life before."

"Thank you." Vivli said quietly.

"No, thank you, Viv." Olose told her. "It's about time I talked about it."

The sun was beginning to rise, still below the horizon, but casting a faint glow. Twilight. Olose stood alone, looking down. He heard footsteps behind him, and he smiled. He had smelt her coming, but had remained silent.

"I thought you might be here." Vivli said. Olose looked down at the stone. 'Talia Sampson' inscribed upon it, still readable, despite being faded and eroded.
"Funny the graves survived." Olose laughed, the ruins of Tavnazia all around him. Vivli walked up beside him, looking at them. 'Arcadia Sampson' was inscribed on the one next to it. Vivli wrapped her arms around Olose.

"She died too?" Vivli asked.

"Of course." Olose answered grimly. "She wasn't immortal. Everybody died. Except me of course. Never me." Vivli looked down at the graves. "You know, I can't even picture their faces. Six hundred years and I can barely remember what they look like. Arcadia, I can just about see her. Her eyes, her lips, her nose, but it's faded. Blurry. Memory was never supposed to last this long."

"Olose-" Vivli began.

"But I can still see her. I can see her in Abaj's arms. I can hear that crack, and see her be tossed aside. I've never forgotten, Vivli." This time Olose did not hold back his tears. "I-I lost my daughter." He croaked. "Before she even had a chance to live." Vivli said nothing, but held him quietly. "And nothing I say or do will ever bring her back. Give her that chance that was stolen from her. And it never stops hurting." Vivli kept a hold of him, which wasn't easy, since he was much taller than she was. Her arms were instead wrapped around his stomach and her head pressed against his chest. She was trying to be comforting all the same. "I lost a lot of people." Olose continued. "Everybody I've ever know has died. But this is the one that always hurts. Even Arcadia, the woman I loved, I can move on from. But not my daughter."

"It hurts." Vivli admitted. "It'll always hurt. Nothing's going to make you feel better."

"Viv, I'm over six hundred years old. I've heard all of the 'comfort speak'." Olose joked, but Vivli let him go and fell silent. Clearly she was hurt by the comment.

"I was only trying to help." She said sadly.

"Thanks Viv." Olose told her gently. "I appreciate it. It's nice to be open for a change."

"This mean your going to tell me the rest of the story?" Vivli asked. "What happened afterwards?"

"One day I might." Olose laughed.

"Aw, please?" Vivli begged.

"It's long. And gets fairly complicated." Olose admitted. "You know Queen Astra is famous right. You ever find out what for?" Vivli paused while Olose smirked. "I was involved in that." He paused. "And do you remember how Abaj said that it was the dawn of the immortal?"

"Yeah." Vivli answered curiously.

"He was more right than he knew."

Elsewhere, amongst the ruins of Tavnazia, a figure watched the two speak. He smirked slightly.

"The past is gone, but never forgotten." He said to himself.

Final Notes: Now, I know I tend to blather in my notes, and am worried readers have given up reading them by this point, so I'll get this out of the way right away in gigantic capitals: THANK YOU. If you've read this far, then you've sat through 58 chapters, you've put up with my whining, which has sometimes left chapters as small bits of dialogue encased in two massive author's notes in which I generally feel sorry for myself, and you've read the entire thing. And that means a lot to me. I can't thank you enough.

But I'm incredibly selfish, so I still need to ask a favour. If you've read this far, then you've invested a lot of time. And I mean a lot. Reading this many chapters, putting up with all my crap, it can't have been easy. That means, all I ask is you take just a minute or two to leave me a review and tell me what you thought. You can slam it if you want, tell me I suck, if that's what you think. I just love receiving opinions, and after reading this far, what's two minutes to leave me a review? Remain anonymous if you don't like me knowing who you are, I don't mind! I just really want to hear from everybody. Plus I know how many people have read and not reviewed with the new hit counter now!

Speaking of reviews, I can't thank my current reviewers enough. They're great, and always encouraging. I mean, they really make me feel good about myself. Even criticism is helpful and I love receiving it, so I really appreciate everybody. This includes reviewers who may not have reviewed yet, but review later! I want to go by name, and say thanks individually, but I'm worried I'll forget somebody and they'll feel really bad. Suffice to say I've had lots of reviewers who had stuck with me, not just for this story, but all the other ones too. Phabrizoe even made it into the story, and he helped me decide to even write this one, and not another chronicles story. So thanks a million guys. I mean, I can't thank the people who take the time to read this story enough, so the people who review/have reviewed and made me feel really good about myself, well, there's very little I can say to make you understand how much I appreciate you.

And yes, I've ignored TheFrogKiller until now, 'coz he deserves his own special thanks. You see, I ran into a lot of trouble on this story, and he really helped me with it, a lot. The plot line in Kazham was mostly his creation, Trevia, Jeren and Jacob were his characters (although Jacob was named something else and I got the name wrong stupidly) and he's been helping me along at all points. Not to mention he's the one who has always reviewed for me from the start, reviewing every chapter since the FFXI Chronicles was first posted. I don't think I'd of gone beyond the first story without his constant encouragement, so this is a really huge thank you to him (and a reminder, give him credit, he came up with some of the characters and plot and really helped me). I don't dedicate stories, least I never have, but if I did, it would be to him.

Now, this is the difficult bit. Because this is goodbye, of a sorts. I haven't played FFXI in months, and the chances of me writing another FFXI story is very slim. Which makes me really sad, because its great writing FFXI fiction, the community is nice and small and easy to keep track of, nothing just gets lost into the bowels of a thousand or so stories, and I've come to really appreciate my readers. But, considering I've grown so distant from FFXI I couldn't write fan fiction that really fits in anymore (this story strayed by miles, you may have noticed) and the impending doom of university where my time will be eaten up, this is probably my last story. Or at least, my last very long one. I'll still be here, reviewing everybody else's the best I can, but I doubt I'll write much more.

But don't worry! If you like my writing, I have a month before I go to uni, and I have an idea to write a Guild Wars fan fiction in that time. Now, I'm guessing you'll be thinking 'but I don't play Guild Wars!' which is why what I'll do if I do write it is put 'explanatory notes' at the start, so people who haven't played the game can read it if they so wish. I dunno if it's arrogant of me to assume people will want to read another story from me, but I feel kind of guilty leaving loyal readers behind, so I'll try and write one that's nice and readable for anybody.

Also, it's possible that there will be 'bonus' chapters of a type to this, possibly even another short story based on Twilight of the Immortal. TheFrogKiller and myself are working on ideas for a story that resolves Jeren and Trevia's plot, since we never really found out what happened to them, and I may even do a series of epilogues, revealing what happened to Nadia now she has no hands and Phabrizoe and his problems with Windurst. But I'm not sure yet.

Oh, and I guess you're pretty curious about the ending. That's ideas from the sequel which I'm almost definitely not going to write. I'll tell you the ideas though, so you're not left confused. The title, as implied, would have been The Dawn Of The Immortal. I haven't really decided if I'd set it in the same timeline as this one, or Olose's 'second lifetime', but it would probably be a bit of both. The main plot line would have revolved around the werewolves turning out to be less dead than Olose thought, and returning to try and take over Vana'diel, leaving only Olose to oppose them. Other adventures would have included Astra and her power turning a little sinister, and other mini adventures like this one did, but I haven't really thought of those yet.

So who was that figure at the end? Good question. Dawn of the Immortal would have had lots of werewolves still alive, some good, some bad, so maybe it's a surviving immortal friend of Olose. Alternatively, you have to consider that the werewolves can regenerate, and Abaj was ripped apart. Was that enough to kill him? (Funnily enough, the plot to FFXI Chronicles 4 which I never wrote had Abaj revealed as the villain, having survived).

Anyway, I think that's all I have to say. Stay tuned for epilogue chapters/short stories/something coming at some point hopefully, but I can't be sure when, or watch my profile for when I do that Guild Wars story (if you're interested), and once again, if you're reading this right now, all I can say is THANK YOU so much for reading this. I really appreciate it.

Well then, I guess this is goodbye from me (for now). Thanks everybody!