Epilogue

Age 61

With the Geas broken, Castiel no longer owed Dean an act of magic, but the prince had a greater wish that the Wizard was eager to fulfill: to remain with him until the end of days. Here now ends the tale of the breaking of the Geas, but not of the entire story.

You all know of the Lightning War and the Fall of Harvelle and the coronation of our King, but no one speaks of the other side of the coin. It started with a boy who was unhappy with the state of the kingdom and he set out to change what he could. His plan required patience and planning and perseverance, and many see him as the villain of this story, but without him, the Geas stone would still stand today. The ending of his story goes like this.

Lucifer escaped his cell the day before his execution. No one saw him leave. He was simply there one moment and gone the next. There were rumors that Michael had let him go, that he couldn't bear to see Lucifer die like a common criminal, just as he'd never been able to bring himself to kill his brother.

The search for the fugitive was cursory. No one expected to simply find a Wizard who could travel hundreds of leagues at a moment's notice, and Lucifer did not show his face again for years. The next time he appeared was during the Lightning War. He fought for neither side, but a Wizard was sighted several times on the battlefields once the fighting was over. After that, he became somewhat of a legend, a travelling mage who granted wishes, but whether or not the outcome was what you wanted was always uncertain.

There were hundreds of theories about what happened to him. Some say he threw himself into the depths of Mage Peak. Others say he died fighting the ice dragons. Some say he's still alive, meditating in the wilderness. But what really happened was that he grew old and he went home. My grandfather, Michael, told me the story himself. Fifteen years ago, when he stepped down as High Wizard, succeeded by my uncle, Raphael, he returned to his family home atop Mage Peak, which had remained empty since his family moved to the capital. When he arrived with only a small retinue of servants, they found the manor not as barren as they expected. There was a fire going in the hearth in the great hall, and the shutters had been opened on the first floor. The kitchen was stocked with fresh root vegetables and a few chickens even ran around the yard.

They were wary, of course, expecting intruders who had taken advantage of an empty home, but it was not a stranger that greeted them. Michael found his brother lying on the bed in his childhood rooms. Though he was the older sibling, Michael was in far better health. Lucifer was thin and pale, almost skeletal. His breaths wheezed and his eyes were dark circles sunk into his head. He was dying.

Michael sat down on the edge of the bed and looked his brother in the eye.

"Hello Lucifer," he said wearily, for he was old and had long outgrown the anger of his youth.

"Michael," Lucifer wheezed. "Do you see now what I have done?"

Michael nodded. "I do."

"And was it not good?"

At this, Michael didn't answer. He didn't have words that could fully encompass all the consequences of his brother's actions.

"I don't blame you, but I don't thank you either," he said simply. "But I am glad to see you one last time." Lucifer nodded. They both knew that he was not long for this earth.

Lucifer died two days later, and Michael stayed on the mountain for the remainder of his days. Today, on the fortieth anniversary of the breaking of the Geas, we also gather to mourn my grandfather. Michael Argenet was both High Wizard and Royal Wizard through one of the most tumultuous times in the history of the magefolk. And here today we gather to grant unto him the name of Loyal, for standing by the idea behind the Geas even after it had broken: striving for peace amongst all the peoples.