.
.
.
Behold, I am coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Arceus. The grace of Arceus be with His people. Amen.
.
.
.
Within the next few weeks, the gods began to set up their dominion over the regions of the world, as it had been in old days. The Association had perished from the Earth; only Arceus remained to administer governance.
The Legendary Birds once again had their rule over Kanto, and Ho-Oh was enthroned at a rebuilt Tin Tower. Xerneas and Zygarde ruled as two in the wasteland of Kalos, while Zekrom and Unova rebuilt Unova from Relic Castle. Dialga and Palkia departed for Spear Pillar, and Rayquaza Windlord made his abode in Sky Pillar. The Tapu had rule over their islands as in the ancient days, and Roria was lorded over by Arceus Himself.
Bronze had given his power to the gods, and moved the capital of Roria from Anthien City to the ruins of Atun-Kaah. Regigigas aided in the rebuilding efforts of the great City of Caves, and many Pokemon helped to construct the Temple of Arceus that the Original One would dwell in for the entirety of the Ten Century reign. Arceus said that Roria would no longer be called its old name; only the titles Logaria and Ozaze, the Land The Lord Loves, would be permissible.
"The Pokemon will become sane as the Ten Century Kingdom comes to full growth," Kyogre decreed from the open sea. "It will be so that Man is no longer isolated. We will be as we ought to be, between the gods that are your elder brothers and the Pokemon who are your siblings and the animals who are your jesters, servants, and play-fellows."
Zacian and Zamazenta were crowned Lords Over Galar, and made King and Queen. They ordered that the ruins of Rose Tower be cleared away and a fane built where the ancient House of the Two Princes had been in ancient Galar, the place that Ismael and Penlod and Theon had contested with the captive Logathrim and King Wulfhere. It was built as it had been before, but it had higher walls, and the glory and power of Arceus entered it so that no one could go into the temple unless the Two Princes permitted it.
With the world's sea life killed by the blood oceans, Bronze released populations of clones into the sea, hoping to eventually repopulate the Earth. And while most of the world was a blackened husk, there existed green places, and the Pokemon in those lands maintained them and spread the growths again and removed poison and corruption from the ground. The disposal of the corpses of the billions of fish and other animals that had washed onto the beaches took months to even clear away the major coastal cities. Nessa was grieved to learn that the Captain's Table in Hulbury had been spared from the disasters, but could no longer serve fresh fish to eat.
Poke Balls were thrown away, Mega Evolution Rings scrapped, Z-Crystals used as jewelry, and Dynamax Bands melted down for Wishing Stars; Pokemon no longer needed such tools to work with their human brethren. In Kalos the Pokemon that could Mega Evolve did so without aid, and there was no more need for Z-Moves without battles. Entire industries that had once specialized in such products failed, only to be replaced by new ones more adept at dealing with the problems that the Ten Century Kingdom would bring.
Pokemon and species once thought extinct began to return over the whole world. Surviving fossil restoration specialists hung up their coats and left their machines to rust as Aerodactyl and Shieldon made their way back into the world ecosystem. It seemed that one could not walk more than a mile without seeing the ancient Hisuian Pokemon roaming the ruins of towns and the wild.
"Sneasler has returned to me," Ego-Rei said to Bronze on the eastern shores of Sinnoh-turned-Hisui. "One of the greatest sorrows of the modern era is that the Pokemon I knew as a boy were gone, never to return. And now Arceus had brought them back for His reign."
"Perhaps they were never gone at all," Bronze said. "There were wild places yet in the world before now. It has been considered before that the Pokemon you Hisuians mentioned in the old lore texts never went extinct at all; rather they went into hiding. And there are new creatures on the Earth as well that none of us have seen."
Bronze had gestured toward a lumbering beast with tusks that curved like a herald's horn, covered in a hide of darkest violet studded by dull pink spikes. Platinum had identified it as an ancient relative of the Donphan, one so ancient that not even the proto-Hisuians had ever heard tidings of it. Without an Arcean name to give these new Pokemon, Dialga and Palkia had called it Great Tusk.
"We will consult with the Original One at a later date," the gods had said from their judgment seats. "But even we have not seen these beings. Perhaps they lived in the Time Before Time, in the Dawn of Earth and the Wars of Deep Heaven before the world was made firm."
The Humanity Medical Recovery Effort (HuMed), formed out of the remnants of the Association and Pokemon Center administration, had taken a great effort to moving these so-called Paradox Pokemon to a dry, albeit habitable, desert land that had appeared far north of Galar. It was a new land that none of the gods had even seen in the Great Dance, and thus two new Elohim were sent from Deep Heaven to rule over the new region.
"I name this land Paldea," the god named Miradon had said. "For that means "unexpected." It was unexpected that I and my brother would descend from the Third Heaven into the Little Kingdom."
There were a few who resisted the change in world government, mostly due to complaints about the prohibition of the Pokemon League, but the rebels were dealt with, violent actions paid back by the gods, and wrath came from Arceus against the most serious offenders.
"This is what Arceus says: There will be no rain in any land that refuses to say that Arceus is Lord," Celebi had said from her throne in the Ilex Forest. "Any who deceive others and lead them away from the Lord will be burnt to nothing by fire from heaven. To repent, the nations must go to the Holy Temple and offer a burnt offering to the Original One and His Son."
The Scattering began a month after the Typhoon Struggle. Tess and Casey assisted in the development of a new spacefolder engine, and soon thousands and thousands of pioneers flew into the heavens to make a new home. Some remained in the Solar System, others went to other stars, and some went beyond the galaxy and into the darkest depths of the unknown.
Sun constructed a great frigate for Lillie and Lusamine, and with all their advisors and supplies, folded space, vanished into the Firmament, and were never seen again. Bronze did not understand what had compelled the Pokedex Holder to leave for new worlds, but he assumed that Sun felt that everything he could accomplish on Earth had already been done.
"It is done," Bronze had said once the first wave of colonists left the Solar System. "They are beyond the control of Earth. Their children will become wonderous creatures, more fair than we ever could be. Men will call them gods, for they will seem more like Elohim in the form of Men than a higher race that sprouted from the seed of Adam-Tor."
"Different," Moon said. "Changed. That's what this new era is about. There will be new stories and adventures, and once the Thousand Years are over, we'll finally get to the beginning of the real book. This is in itself only a new part of the prologue. When the concept of Hisui overcomes the concept of Sinnoh, when the goddess Reason is truly enthroned in Kalos, when the Order of Heaven is really followed in Johto, why, then it will be spring."
Bronze looked out into the sea, and shuddered. In that semi-darkness of dusk he felt a sharp longing in his chest. There was a constant shivering in the crystal veil of the sky that seemed to pulse from the crowds and wrack his frame with every burst.
"The time is close, my love. Very close."
"So I have heard," Moon said. "Magnolia told me yesterday that the seas are calmer than they have ever been in three hundred years. The planets are nearer to Earth than any astronomer has known."
"The ship is coming, the ship into the East," Bronze whispered. "When the seas spray into the heavens I will be traveling with them. I am nearly halfway in Beulah already. The time is so close that I feel as though the world is growing faint."
"I'll bet Bede thinks that he's in Beulah now," Moon said with a laugh. "Peony has allowed him to court his daughter. And perhaps you will let Rose out on parole?"
"Good for that boy, but he'll have to visit Rose himself. Still, I doubt that the gods will have the prisons be kept running for long; Rose will have to come out eventually. I'd rather learn how Hop feels about every Pokemon suddenly becoming vegetarian. I heard he swore off meat after the battle of the Three-Point-Pass."
"He's living with Calyrex right now," Moon replied. "The tribesmen said that they were glad to receive such company! Imagine! There might be conceivably something in his love of the fantastic."
The world was changing in every way. The new waters seemed sweeter, the grass greener. The very presence of the Original One seemed to have thickened like a cloth over the nations. Music became more wonderous, Pokemon more wise, and Men less wicked. Celebi ran through the skies as a merry comet, announcing the fall of the Dark Powers to the universe. And everything in heaven and earth gave glory to Arceus.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Henry and Casey came to Zacian and Zamazenta one day, two months after the Typhoon Struggle. Across the hall, there were two thrones where they rested in their glorified forms, the Crowned Shield and the Crowned Sword with their weapons hanging before them like glowing pendants. The two children (in age, not mind) bowed, and had Bronze and Moon come behind them. The meeting had been arranged to discuss the matter at hand: the journey to the East.
The four stood before the gods and made a counsel. "Greater spirits than we have descended in this time," Zacian began. "We are in Arceus's hands for now. There is no promise we can make that is sure to be fulfilled, although we are quite certain that Bronze and Moon will be going to Avalon. Is that what you came here to speak of?"
"Yes, and I would actually quite like to stay and see how the Ten Century Kingdom unfolds," Bronze said. "But I have already made my decision with the Original One. I may not know how to look into the faces of those I will leave, but if I do not go, I will not know how to look into the face of Arceus if I refuse this noble enterprise."
"It is a privilege," Zacian said. "Only two souls in the history of the Multiverse have been taken to Deep Heaven without dying, and they are Enoch and Elijah. Only a few others have come to Heaven On Earth, and they are the Dwellers in Valinor and Ransom. Too few have received such an honor as passing into Eden before the mending of the world."
"You mean that Bronze and Moon and Red are going where they went?" Henry said.
"More or less," Zacian said. "And few things in the Multiverse are more or less the same."
"We understand that you have played quite fair with us," Casey said. "Obviously we are too young to go East of East, or we haven't properly done anything to enter that land. But there is a silly thing that I wonder about: why are you called King and Queen? I feel both Zamazenta's maleness and Zacian's femaleness, but are you wed?"
"Not wed," Zamazenta said. "We have no children and cannot beget any. The Mbelekoro once attempted that, and that was one of the things that pulled Deep Heaven out of his head. Therefore he fell. But the problem of King and Queen is not so simple as you might think."
"Why?" Casey asked. "You are called the Two Princes, or the Two Lords, but not Lady."
"That is ephemera," Zamazenta said. "Take for instance my masculinity. The male both you and I have escaped, for that is biology, and I am above that. But the masculine none can escape. What Lord who is beyond and above all things is so masculine that we are all feminine in comparison to it. You had better drop this matter quickly before I fill the places in your mind that can understand it."
"Right, of course," Henry said. "What time do the others into the East?"
"September the twenty-first, five days from now," Zacian said. "On the shores of Hisui you will find a dock and boat with your steersman. Glastrier and Spectrier will bear you to the port."
"So soon!" Moon said. "I still think that Platinum would prefer another six months of waiting. And Wilhem will have to do without his aunt and godfather for so long...even the thought of a deathless land outside of Deep Heaven seems to be a direct violation of natural law."
"If we will be going soon there is no need for more direct goodbyes than those we have already made," Bronze said. "We aren't living forever. Seeing people off in that attitude is always folly. It's neither good mirth nor good sorrow."
"But we should at least see you sail off, sir?" Casey pleaded.
"Yes, my dear friends. You may go to the shore," Bronze said. "I would think that the vessel I must ride in is already in the Circles of the World; it feels so very near that this all begins to feel like a dream. It is almost like I would be dissolved if I moved too quickly or talked too much."
Henry noticed that one of Bronze's shoes had a red stain on the heel, and realized that the last time he had seen the man the stain had not been there. "Sir, is something wrong with your shoes? They are dyed crimson."
"How pert, young master," Bronze said. "I have found that my heel has not stopped bleeding aftermy struggle with the Anti-Arceus. I have been forced to change my bandages daily to stop the flow."
"Does this mean that you will die?" Casey asked, worried.
"No, not any sooner than he would without the wound," Zamazenta said. "Any of your race that would expect the breath the air of Beulah and drink the waters that come down from the snowmelt of the Holy Mountain will not find it easy to die in this world. There is no natural death to look forward to you in the land of Mortals. The wound will only be healed in the land where all is healed."
"Even more so for those who have already touched Beulah," Zacian added. "After Paradise was lost in this world, the Men who came from Beulah did not learn to die quickly. It is written in the Good Book: "Embla and Tor lived nine-hundred and fifty-two years before they died."
"I had heard that the first generations were long-livers," Moon said. "But I always assumed that it was Story or Poetry or a different way of measuring Time and I had not thought of the cause."
"All of this has the disadvantage of being clean contrary to the laws of nature," Henry said.
"Not so," Bronze replied. "You are right in insinuating that the laws of the Multiverse are never broken, but your mistake is to think that the magic we see, little 'irregularities' in the fabric of our own universe, which we have observed for only a few hundred years, are somehow in violation of the real unbreakable laws. They might be the results of the true laws interfering with the help of Arceus more often than not."
"You are wise!" Zamazenta said. "Master Bronze is mostly correct, but being human, he could not get closer to the correct answer. Because of this nothing in nature is quite the same; there are similarities, of course, but not a complete average uniformity."
"I heard Cobalion say a while ago that not many exceptions to the Law of Death came his way," Moon said. "What about all those miracles in the Coda, where Arceus and His prophets raised the dead?"
"Arceus always has His will done," Zacian said. "I can't answer for the Why. There are people in the Multiverse that have never died. We do not yet know Why, but even then we know a little more about that than the How. There are many places in this very universe, this same physical universe, where an organism can last forever. That is where King Arthur is, I think. Not in Beulah, but in Lur."
"King Arthur?" Henry asked. "Who's that?"
"Magnolia or Sonia probably would know," Bronze said. "But I have heard that he is sleeping in Avalon, not Lur. Is there a true difference? I know not. Perhaps I will meet Arthur, even if it is in ten thousand centuries."
"I would also like to speak of the High Elder of Hisui," Moon said with a grin. "If Ego-Rei was here, he would surely bow down before Bronze and call him king."
"Go on," Casey said. "It's not as if we have five more days to wait. Tell us about this Hisuian buisness."
"Alright," Moon began. "Here is how this suprise went. It was a little time after the Typhoon Struggle when Bronze summoned me back to Hisui to meet a relative of Cynthia, the poor woman. It would mean nothing to you if I told you this man's name. I came to the bedside of that man as he lay dying in the ruins of Jubilife City, and there I learned that he was the High Elder, the successor of Elwin, Kamado, and Cyllene. Then we learned the truth. There had been a secret Hisui in Sinnoh all along, an unbroken succession of High Elders."
"So, the ancient rulers of Hisui?" Henry said. "They remained through the ages?"
"Yes, and this man was the twenty-second from Kamado," Moon continued. "Although two thousand years had passed, the men of Hisui have great lifespans, I among them. Bronze received from him the title and the blessings. Once he leaves for Beulah, we will know who is to be the twenty-fourth High Elder. Some of these secret High Elders have been well known to history, but not under that name. Others you have not heard of."
"This new history of yours," Casey said, "is a wee bit lacking in documents."
"It has plenty," Zamazenta said with a smile, an oddly human expression, like a man refusing to be drawn in. "But they are not written in any language you know. The history of Hisui is swaying between its true spirit and the ugly secular face of Sinnoh, Gar-Dena with Galar, and with Ozaze, Logaria and Roria. Bronze is the prophet appointed by Arceus in preparation for the End Times, or the first stirrings of the beginning; he kept Roria and Sinnoh at bay enough so that the Ten Century Kingdom could come in. The whole work of healing Earth depends on keeping Logaria and Hisui and Gar-Dena and rejecting Roria and Sinnoh and Galar."
"Alright, I think I'm getting this," Henry said. "But even so, we've defeated Sinnoh and Roria and Gar-Dena and the Evil One, but they'll bounce back, even during the Ten Century Kingdom. And wasn't Arceus a trifle wholesale with the hail, horsemen, and earthquakes? Did He really need to kill two-thirds of the world population?"
"You know the answer to your own question," Zacian said. "Either you wish to keep pressing the matters of the Original One with us, or you do not understand enough of His character. I am afraid that not one of us is innocent and not deserving of what Arceus let upon the world. And yes, we can't keep Roria and Sinnoh and Galar down forever. They have lost a sparring match, but they will rise again. Arceus will have to deal with them permanently in the Last Battle."
"Not one is innocent?" Casey said. "That sound like nonsense."
"Have you forgotten that our answers are never Nonsense?" Zamazenta said. "Nearly everyone who was killed by the judgments were the very good, ripe for fair dismissal from service, and the very bad. I agree with my sister. Those who forget Hisui sink into Sinnoh. Those who call for evil things find that they come."
"How this conversation has wandered far afield!" Bronze marveled. "In any way, I think we've explained who and what will go to Beulah well enough. But I wonder if Zacian and Zamazenta will be in attendance."
"Of course, High Elder."
"Not that again!" Bronze cried. "I've had enough with Grand Bashar! The first thing tomorrow I am appointing Wilhem as the twenty-fourth lord over Hisui. He'll manage the privilege better than I could."
"And then?" Henry said.
"After that, I will sit at a long table with my friends and family, in a place of sweet smells and bright fires, with food, wine, and a comfortable bed!"
After a few more final pleasantries, the four left the great hall. And what Bronze spoke of was so.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The next five days were golden. Travelers cut a great dash through Hisui to exchange songs and gifts, and their wonderful parties. There was good sunshine all over the world and pure rain in perfect measure, but there seemed something more: an air of richness and growth filled the air, and a gleam of beauty beyond that of mortal summers. And no one was ill, and everyone was pleased, except those that were in charge of mowing grass.
By the Berlitz Manor, now rebuilt, the trees were laden with berries, and the yield of fruit was astonishing to those in Sandgem Town. Hisui had overtaken the old Sinnoh, and the land was now blessed and hallowed as it had been in old days. There was so much corn and wheat, better tasting than any other crop in years past, that the year became a generational byword for culinary enthusiasts. "Ah! That was a proper hundred-fifty-five, that beer was."
Henry and Casey stayed with Bronze at the manor, putting things in order with their friends before the departure. Leon also came, and one the day before the trip to Avalon, Bronze found him pacing in the manor's study. He was clutching a white crystal that hung about his neck and seemed as in the midst of a dream.
"He is gone," Leon said. "He is gone and never coming back."
Earlier, the poison of Eternatus had been drawn out of his body, and a new body for Rei was made in Anthien City. The ancient hero, with Akari and Adaman, resembled the forms that the ancient artists once painted into parchment. The three had walked the remainder of the time in the fields of Hisui, and were heading to the docks at that very moment.
Once the fit passed, Bronze asked: "When are you going to marry Sonia, Leon?"
Leon blinked, looking a bit sheepish.
"There is no reason to conceal it from me. I will be going to a place where nothing can pursue me, not terrible purpose or fate. Of course, there is no use in marrying if I have misjudged and you don't want to, but you know that I would rather see you commit to it before I go."
"Oh, it's not that I don't want to, sir," Leon said, and he went very red. "Sonia didn't like me going abroad from Galar anymore. She wants me to help with the recovery efforts in Galar. But there is much to do over the green Earth. I feel torn in two, if you understand."
"I see," Bronze said. "You want to get married, and yet you also want to travel about? But my dear Leon, how easy! Get married as soon as you can, and then live in the Magnolia RV! There's still room enough in Berlitz Manor for a large family, if you wish."
Leon and Bronze burst into laughter. Although Bronze had been joking, Leon considered the matter settled. He went on the back of his Charizard, and flew southward to deliver the news. Considering himself enormously lucky, Leon proposed to Sonia the next week, and then they had an argument as he knelt before her about where their children would live, and then they married so that they could argue more.
That evening, Pearl came to Bronze as he looked out of a window that faced the east. He was pale, and his eyes seemed to see things far away. "Is something the matter?" Pearl asked.
"I am wounded," Bronze said. "Wounded; it will never really heal."
But then the next morning the bad turn seemed to pass, and he was quite himself in preparation for the ride. It was not until later that Pearl remembered that the date was the same day that Bronze had become the Chairman of the Pokemon Association eighteen years before.
.
.
.
.
.
It was a fair golden morning. Red, Ruby, and Sapphire set out with Bronze and the others. The scent of flowers was heavy upon the winds, and a strong wind blew from the Eastern Sea of Hisui. Glastrier and Spectrier allowed Bronze and Moon to ride them, trotting at their leisure. They rested near Veilstone City at noon, heading northeast to the sea. Two more hours passed until they saw the beginnings of the ocean.
"If these aren't the very woods where Rei Berlitz once eluded the Miss Fortune sisters," Moon said. "And where I once walked with you when we were still young. It all feels like a dream."
Soon it was evening, and the stars were glimmering in the eastern sky as they passed through the forest, and went on down the sandy path to the shore, which came through a line of nesting Carnivine. Henry was silent, deep in his memories. Soon he became aware that Bronze was singly softly to himself, singing an old song used for walking, but the words were not quite the same.
...
Day is ended, dim my eyes,
But journey long before me lies.
Farewell, friends! I hear the call.
The ship's beside the harbor wall.
Foam is white and waves are grey;
beyond the sunrise leads my way.
Foam is salt, the wind is free;
I hear the rising of the sea.
Guided by the Thousand Stars,
beyond the utmost harbor-bar,
I'll find the havens, fair and free,
and beaches of the Starlit Sea.
Ship my ship! I seek the East,
and fields and mountains and forever peace.
Farewell to this Earth at last.
I see the star above my mast!
...
As if in answer, from down below the road in the twilight, coming up from the dunes, rose another song.
...
A! Lunala Gilthoniel!
Ssilivren penna miriel,
o gilbeth aglar elenar,
Gilthoniel, A! Lunala!
We still remember, we who dwell
In this far land beneath the trees
The starlight on the Eastern Seas.
...
Glastier and Spectireir halted and stood silent as a new company came from the soft shadows, shimmering as they came toward the party. There were Zacian and Zamazenta and many fair Pokemon, and also Dialga and Palkia. Dialga wore a mantle of pale blue and had a star of adamant upon his pale forehead, a silver harp was in his hand, and on his finger was a ring of diamond, flickering like a frosty star. Palkia was all robed in glittering coral, and on his hand was a ring of pearl that seemed to shine with soft light.
Diagla greeted them gravely, but Palkia seemed to smile at them. "Well, Master Pearl," he said. "I hear and see that you have used the gift of Space well. Your family line has become more than merely blessed and beloved."
"Hullo, friends," Red said as he stood with his wife. "Two weeks ago, I passed the age Blue would be if he were still on Earth. So that's settled, and now I think I am prepared for another journey. Are you all coming?"
"Yes, we will," Zacian said. "It would be a good thing if we saw the Pokedex Holders traveling together. Henry and Casey cannot go, of course."
"What?" the two cried, believing that the Princes had made a bad deal.
"We are sorry," Zacian said. "We meant not any further than the havens. Your time may come, though. Do not be too sad. You cannot always be torn in two. Both of you have so much to enjoy, to be, to do. Have children, not dreams."
"I once thought that I would not want to leave this world," Bronze said. "But then I realized that I was wounded too deeply. I tried to save the world, and it has been saved, but not because of me. It must often be so, friends, when things are in danger; someone has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them. The future no longer needs my physical presence. There is no other way, you understand?"
"We understand," Henry said. A touch of foresight came over him then. The people of the future would speak of Bronze in terms of heroics. espite a life soaked in blood, glory would follow him. "His flesh left," they would say, "but he went on."
"For the love of Arceus," Diamond whispered. "I still can hardly beleive this is happening. but Bronze's entire life was a struggle to escape his Jihad and its deification. At least he'll be free of it."
Now Bronze turned to his left, speaking to Wilhem. "Godson you are the new lord and heir of both Logaria and Hisui. I pass the titles of Tar-Emperor and High Elder to you, with all their blessings, and whatever else I have or might have I give to you. And you also have Platinum and Pearl, and children will come. You are the successor to both the North and South-kingdoms. Your hands and wits will be needed everywhere."
"A new Reunited Kingdom of Notherland and Southernesse," Wilhem said. "I do not like the thought of ruling both New Hisui and New Logaria very much, but if I must, it will be done. The other Elohim will help me."
"Keep alive the memory of this age and past ones," Bronze said. "So that people might remember the Typhoon Struggle and the Great Danger and so love their beloved Earth and the Original One all the more. That will keep you and everyone else as busy and happy as can be, as long as your part in the Story and Plan goes on. Come now, ride with me!"
Then they went on, for the Younger Days were gone, and the Days of Men had passed, and an end had come to the battles and adventures of those times. With them went many Elohim of a high kindred who would depart from Earth, and among them, filled with a sadness yet blessed and filled with bitterness, came Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion, and the others were delighted to have their company.
...
At last they came and looked down on the sea, and so they rode at last to the haven, where a white dock and ship were waiting, beside a long coast in Hisui. As they came to the shore, it was none other than Yellow who came out to greet them, and her hair was long and blond, save that her eyes gleamed like stars. She looked at them and bowed, saying: "All is ready."
By the quay the white ship rested, the Foam-flower, and it glowed with the light of Deep Heaven. It had been fashioned of white birchwoods from Beulah, with oars of gold, sails of silver, and its prow was shaped like a Swanna. Dialga and Palkia came forth and stood beside the narrow plank that led to the Foam-flower's deck, and Bronze and Moon went to stand upon the stone.
"Well, here are last," Bronze said. "On the shores of the sea will be when we part. Go in peace! Your tears are not unwelcome."
Amid her tears Platinum said: "Well, Moon! I warned you about that boy, and I failed to keep you from marrying him. Now he will take you off to place that I cannot follow."
"Well," Red said, heading up to the ship with his wife. "Mourn as much as you want, if it pleases you. I think I am quite ready for one last adventure."
With Pika beside him, the old hero, veteran of many battles, Fighter, lance in the hand of the Pokedex Holders, set his feet on the white planks. Bronze waved a final goodbye, and went aboard. Ruby and Sapphire came next, to the surprise of some. The Swords of Justice came aboard last, and then Bronze stood by the stern of the boat, facing those still on the shore. Yellow went with the ship as well, knowing that her time on Earth was over.
Three grey-robed figures, Rei, Akari, and Adaman, went aboard last. They remained silent and had no weapons, and their faces looked toward the East. All three seemed content, knowing that their labors were fulfilled, the long night ended, and now they might rest at last. There was a certain attitude about their faces that suggested knowledge of the continuation of the title of High Elder and Tar-Emperor into another age.
"I ask that you remember me," he said. "What awaits me in Beulah I cannot say for certain. Govern this new era alongside the gods with nobility. Continue the heritage of all that is good. Friends, family, this is goodbye. The glory of Arceus be with you. Amen."
He turned to Moon again, and then took the Crown of Life that he had kept in one of his robe's pockets, and put it around her head to complement her white stone gifted by Dialga. "Now you may be a queen in the eyes of the gods."
"So you have finally learned how to treat your wife!" she laughed.
"I have loved since I first saw you," Bronze said. "Now it is done. We are free."
With that, the sails were drawn up, the wind blew from the west, and slowly the ship slipped away down the long sea, and the light of it glimmered and was lost for a moment. But then the Eastern Sea curved away from the boat, and it sprouted two wings, and then the curtain of the Heavens peeled away. The vessel was taken up into Beulah in a whirlwind of fire, and Zacian and Zamazenta cried out: "My lord! My lord! The wings and ships of Deep Heaven!"
But then the skies closed, and those on the beach saw the ship no more.
Henry and Casey sat and watched, seeing the night deepen, looking out to only a shadow on the waters of still glass. Only the sighing of the waves could be heard. Beside them sat Wilhem and Platinum, silent.
Soon both fell asleep. When the sun rose again, the company on the shore went westwards, finding comfort in the company of their friends and love ones. Henry and Casey tarried for a long time, until they were the last on the shore. Even Zacian and Zamazenta had returned to their temple, leaving the two in that solitary place for what seemed to be the longest while.
"I think I need you now, Henry," Casey said. "Would you love me?"
"Yes, I will," he said, remembering the words of the water, wind, and sun.
She lifted her head, looking at the sunlit way back to the mainland. "I know, Henry. Love knows love."
Her words sent a shudder through him, a feeling of final sundering from his old self. He had come out here seeking to watch one thing and finding another. It was as though he had come into a room full of familiar people only to realize, too late, that he truly knew none of them.
She took his hand. "Will you walk back with me, Henry?"
"Wherever you lead."
Making tracks in the white sand, she led him back across the shore, over the ridge, and into the forest at the crown of the hill and its cool pines.
.
.
.
Hymn to Bronze Tercano
.
No cold grave or tomb for the Grand Bashar.
No funeral or solemn rite to free his mind.
He is the fool prophet,
Blind messiah,
The golden saint living forever
On the edge of Knowledge.
Let your guard fall and he is there!
His red peace and royal purpose
Strike the hearts of men on prophetic waves
To the verge of a quiet glance: he is there!'
Out of bristling sparks of destiny.
Mysterious, lethal, Son of Man,
Right hand of fate, whose voice never dies!
Original One, he awaits thee upon a winged keel
Where couples walk and feel, eye to eye
The wonderous oblivion of Love.
He strides through the long cavern of time,
Scattering the vision of his dreams
His voices rises up beyond the sea
"Now I am free."
.
.
.
Legends Of Pokemon: Sword And Shield
Fin