Chapter 13

Hours later, we still sat before what had been our world. I was still cradling Vi's still form in my arms.

"I can't believe that after all that we went through, all that we sacrificed, we still failed." Radian confided.

"No." I shook my head. "We did not come this far, just to lie down and die. There has to be a purpose. Nothing is accidental in this. We cannot just give up and say 'oh, we tried, but it wasn't enough'. We still have things to do. There must be a reason. We have come too far to fail." I turned to my brother. "Even if we couldn't save our world, maybe we can do something to stop this from occurring again."

"You're right." He drew Vi's sword Rainer and laid it at her side. "What I want to know is where that demon went to!"

"Yeah." I said, still lying in front of the grave marker that had been our world. It had been hours since we had arrived, and the shock was still wearing off.

"You know what we are going to do, right?" Radian spat. "We're going to hunt the demon down. I don't care if we have to search all the worlds."

"Your right." I said. "You know, when we were arguing at first, about light and darkness, and the Dreadlord said that the world is not a world unless it has both light and darkness?"

"Yes, what about it?"

"You and me," I said, "We make a little world of our own: light and darkness."

"Yes. We're a world of our own."

"And we'll do this together."

"Just like old times?"

"Exactly." I had a sudden thought. "Hey, weren't we supposed to die?"

"We were, but… that's a good question… If our world died…" He seemed thoughtful. "We have just defied fate. We will be hunted down by the Guardian of the Timeline, and he will try to kill us, eventually."

"Who is the Guardian of the Timeline?" I asked.

"That's not the story for right now. Let's focus on one thing at a time."

"Yes. You are right. Later we'll find out, I suppose." I sighed in sorrow for all of the people who had suffered at the hands of Arquis, the demon lord. I looked at Vi, who was beautiful even in death. Sleep well, Vi. Your journey is at its end. I picked up the thin chain that Vi had always worn looped into her belt and put it around my neck. A small cylinder with a single rune on it hung at the bottom, against my chest. I'll wear this so that I will never forget that fate is never final. I was supposed to die but I didn't. Although we couldn't save Masolium, maybe we can save others from going through what we did. I cut my hand and let the drops of my blood fall into the cylinder, then did the same thing to Vi: our blood mixed together, a symbol of what might have been, of what would have been. Then I bent over my dead love and gave her cold lips one, final kiss of farewell.

My brother stood. "Well this world won't have its revenge unless we start moving." He paused. "I've always hated my dark powers, but now I'm grateful for them. Since a world is made up of light and darkness: I'll be the darkness."

"And I will be the light." We both shouldered our blades: Shear and Dark Shear, Light and Darkness.

We turned together and stretched out our hands. Immediately a portal made up of both intertwining light and darkness materialized.

"Where does this portal lead to?" I asked.

"A world called Destiny Islands." He responded. "I thought it would be a good place to look: its time as an existing world will be up soon; maybe we can do something about its destruction… If not, then at least we can check if that's the world that Arquis went after next."

"Then let's go."

I nodded at Radian. He nodded back.

We turned towards our oscillating portal of light and darkness, and stepped through.

Epilogue

A few days later, a man dressed in a white robe stood in front of a stone slab in The End of The World, facing a still female form. Due to the properties in the air of the End of The World, the body had not decayed, or even changed from the state that it had been while it had been alive.

The man held out a small vial of shining blue fluid, and he let a single drop fall on the dead woman. Immediately, the lungs of the dead woman began to pump air, and her heart began to beat.

The man spoke. "Your task is not completed. You have so much more left to do."

Then he vanished, and the woman sat up, amazed that she had been brought back to life.

A portal made of light and darkness stood before her, beckoning with a glow of promise.

Vi strapped her sword Rainer to her back, and stepped through.