fleets: told ya this update would come fast ;)
This is the final chapter. Forever.
Chapter 28: Epilogue – Stolen Relic
"Now wasn't that an extraordinary tale?"
Two men in their early thirties were sitting inside a cozy office with a Victorian theme. The storyteller sat forward with his arms spread wide along the ebony desk, and he leaned forward dramatically as though he were aiming for the glint in his sharp edged glasses. His silk purple tie was tucked neatly into his new charcoal Canali suit, and a matching black glove covered his right hand. Halstead Dugal kept his eyes pinned on the other man sitting across from him as he waited for a reaction.
William Lesko, a man who appeared slightly heavyset in front of the sticklike Dugal, cleared his throat and tilted his head. His eyebrows were shot high on his forehead as he brushed back his messy brown hair. "Well Hal, you really took the 'extra' in 'extraordinary' to a whole new level," he replied, reaching over for his coffee mug.
Dugal frowned momentarily. "You know I don't like to be called that."
Lesko leaned backwards and took a sip of coffee as he looked at Dugal's right bionic arm. "I don't really know what to think of your story. You always did have a runaway imagination…"
"Well I might've exaggerated some details to make things more interesting, but I assure you nothing was fabricated." Dugal smiled.
Lesko sighed. He fiddled with the ring on his finger. "At least you're cheerful again," he gave his friend a long look, "and not in that frightening fake cheerfulness, mind you."
Dugal grinned cheerfully. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Though he rolled his eyes, Lesko smiled. Although Dugal kept to himself most of the time, Lesko was an old friend going back since high school and he knew more about the man than most people. Therefore, he was able to pick up how Dugal had been in a period of depression some time ago, and when he asked he had learned to his shock that his friend had lost his right arm in an accident.
Of course Dugal wouldn't tell anyone how he had lost it until today.
Dugal continued, talking with a light air and waving his left arm with enthusiastic animation. "Considering my losses, my involvement with Avilux I is not one of my proudest moments. I foolishly believed I could quiet the general world squabbling by granting enormous leverage to one company who seemed capable of putting the boot down. I would make sure I had enough influence to take it down if I didn't like the direction Mr. Ganon was taking things, and everything would have been grand." He laughed jovially. "At least that had been the plan - what a fool I had been."
Lesko immediately took on a look of disapproval. "I've said it more than once ever since you gathered Talon Three, but I'll say it again: you're too reckless." He ignored Dugal waving him off and continued. "One of these days you're going to take on more than you can handle. That's your biggest fault – your fantasies are too idealistic and unreasonable, and drastic to a ridiculous extent." Lesko drummed his fingers on his desk. "You're just like a child."
"… I'm offended."
"Only because it's true." Lesko quickly changed the subject. Though he was considered to be the former Talon leader's friend, that didn't mean he could continue taking the high ground over the dangerous man for long. "At any rate, how can you expect me to believe your story? Magical flying castles and goddesses… this is too fantastical."
All of a sudden, Dugal took on a more serious note and tapped his fingers on the desk. The prosthetic moved unnaturally even though he tried to hide his difficulty in using it, and it clunked against the wood. "Too fantastical?" he mused, "Then what do you make of that unidentified fireball that had appeared over Mt. Fuji a year ago? You remember the ruckus that caused, so I know you have heard something of it."
"A ruckus? It was, and still is, a huge mess!" Lesko exclaimed. "It's only recently that the authorities have released information on the facility that had been blown up in Mt. Omuro nearby, because the US didn't want the other countries to know about their possible involvement in this. America couldn't keep it hidden anymore because the other countries had launched an investigation of their own on the mysterious fireball, and the crater had had clues of a research facility owned by a company with heavy US ties." The scruffy man sighed and shook his head, thinking of all the political turmoil over the past year. "Everyone thinks it was an unknown weapon gone haywire. North Korea is beginning to prod China to get them to think that Japan was working with us to create a super weapon to attack the mainland, and existing Japan-China rivalry as well as the close proximity of the countries are making it easy for North Korea to increase the paranoia."
"And it's not just North Korea," Dugal added. "Everyone is pointing fingers at everyone since no one knows where the fireball came from."
"Yes… everyone is pointing fingers at everyone," the other man repeated in a murmur. "And just what is that fireball? From satellite images it looked like it could have been from a nuclear explosion, but that theory goes kaput when you see the fireball is mobile."
"Not to mention no radiation traces had been detected."
"No…" Lesko's shoulders heaved with a sigh. "It's an enormous mess."
Dugal smiled and shrugged. "And I'm here to tell you that the fireball was because of the Avilux I project – an ancient deity resurrected."
The other man looked at him flatly, but with less skepticism than before. Even so, there was one thing that Dugal had left out from his story that Lesko wasn't satisfied with, and it was preventing him from believing the story completely. He leaned forward and steepled his fingers under his chin. "Fine, but there's one thing about your story that makes no sense."
Dugal tilted his head to inquire.
"How did you survive that plane crash? From the way you've described it, you should be dead."
Dugal's eyes dropped briefly and then he gazed coolly at Lesko as though he were evaluating him. It lasted for a few long seconds, and Lesko was relieved when the scrutiny was over and Dugal came to a decision on something. The man with the purple tie suddenly hunched over and dropped his voice even though they were the only ones in the room, and his left hand strayed over to the edge of his jacket. "I demand utmost secrecy in this," Dugal began. His eyes narrowed and he gave Lesko a stern look. "Though I consider you to be my friend, if word of this so much as gets around, there's no knowing what might happen to you 'accidentally.' Even Kestrel and Hawk don't know about this."
The other man wasn't fazed by this comment; he was used to such threats from Dugal and he knew he would never be so stupid as to break his friend's trust. That would literally be the death of him. What an awesome friend, he thought a little bitterly.
When Lesko nodded, Dugal reached into his jacket and pulled out an object that was about as big as a can of soda. He placed it carefully on top of the desk, revealing it to be a blue-capped hourglass with glittering yellow sand. It could have been passed off to be something unremarkable, but the sand inside it was so bright and full of magical energy that it was evident the hourglass wasn't just any old hourglass.
"I was saved by this little treasure that I found at the palace in the sky," Dugal said as his fingers traced a circle on top of the hourglass. "I believe this is called the Phantom Hourglass from the obscure things I have read. This," he explained when the other man gave him a curious look, "has the ability to briefly stop time when I tip it over."
Dugal paused for dramatic effect, and he laughed when Lesko's eyebrows looked as though they were going to shoot off of his face. He continued after giving the other man time to process the information. "When the plane came close enough to the trees, I stopped time and jumped into a tree so I could climb down. Unfortunately, I overestimated how much time I had left, and time unfroze at a really bad time. The tail of the passing plane snapped the tip of the tree downwards and it went through my right hand… It was one of the bloodiest messes I've seen on my own person. On other people, perhaps, but me? Never."
"Oh…"
"Condor and Kestrel were thankfully nearby, so I was able to call for help before I blacked out." He watched Lesko stare at the hourglass disbelievingly, and he could tell his friend wanted to take a closer look at it from the way he fidgeted in his seat. Smiling, Dugal slid the object closer to himself – no one was going to get a close look at it. "I have a feeling there are more things like this hourglass in the world that are yet to be discovered. I plan on doing a little treasure hunting of my own." He picked up the hourglass. "And I have a feeling I may need the help of Mr. Engst again."
Dugal watched the sand swirl around in the glass when he tilted it side to side. Mr. Engst… what a curious character you were. I'm positive we'll have dealings together again.
Smiling, he tipped the hourglass over on the desk.
fleets: It has been SO long since the first chapter of this story, but I would like to take a moment to say this:
The speaker in the very first paragraph of the story is none other than Dugal who is speaking to Lesko in this chapter.
Yeah... I planned waywayway ahead for that one. It also means I never intended for Dugal to die ;)
Well folks, this story is finally over. I would like to give a heartfelt thanks to everyone who has stuck with this to the end and made it this far - although I enjoy writing simply for the sake of writing, it's you guys who make me feel exceptionally happy about it when I go to my homepage and see the little hit counter (means someone somewhere is reading) :)
And all of those reviewers! Thank you sososo much for the various concrits and messages telling me what you liked about a certain chapter. Not only did they help me improve, many of them gave me smiles (yeah, I'm a sucker for reviews :P). I would really have liked to give a personalized thanks to each person like I did when I first wrote BC, but it has now become such a daunting task that I hope you forgive me when I leave you with this one general big THANK YOU. Hehe.
A few things - Avilux ends with a great setup for a sequel, but that doesn't mean I will be writing one. I'm just not feeling it, and when I don't whatever comes out of this keyboard is going to be painful to read (because it will most likely be painful to write). It kinda sucks since I can already see the intro to it (as you will see if you read the next chapter which is the "Previews" like I always do when I finish stories), and I'm fond of the intro. I'm just not too fond of the rest of it - if my feelings change, perhaps I'll write it.
Also, there are a few things I'm not too happy about for this story, most of it having to do with the amount of major characters in this story. Looking back, I don't know if I was able to do each character enough justice since I had so many of them, and several times I felt as though there were too many things going on (unlike Beyond Centuries which only focused on two major characters). This led me to forget about certain characters who I initially had grand plans for (i.e. Willits, Zelda, and even Link). I now think I know how movie directors feel when they botch up by trying to stick too many things in one story.
This isn't to say I didn't like AI 2010 ;) It's my story, of course I'm going to like it. I'm just critiquing my own kid, ya know? Tough love. :P
Which leads me to my next project - Rend! Whatever it was I was unhappy with Beyond Centuries will hopefully be smoothed over in this revamp. I'll talk more about it on the "Previews" page (click the 'next' button on the bottom of the screen when you're done reading). Well, there are three possible stories and you'll get a taste of them in the "Previews": Rend, The Ornamental Girl, and National Threat. Dunno which one I'll be doing first.
As for the Phantom Hourglass - I did change its abilities a little (as in, in the games you couldn't stop time anywhere you wanted to, but I thought it would be cool if it could. So yes, I've taken a few liberties).
Midna Hytwilian: Well it's still a happy ending. At least relatively happy compared to my other works haha. Thanks for sticking with me until the end, and sorry I'm rarely online (I don't really exist in the online world except through stories).
Sapphiet: But if Link did tell Vasheel what would happen to him in the future... well, I try not to think of all the time paradoxes that would make this story so complicated that I wouldn't be able to handle it lol. Yup, the first chapter and this chapter have the same titles except it's Vaati this time :). The disbanding of Talon Three will perhaps be mentioned in National Threat if and when I get to it (and that's a HUGE if, mind you). There is only one person in the story with a purple tie, and that is Dugal :P
Thank you so much for supporting this story - it made me happy knowing someone enjoyed reading it :D
Shadow R-B: Who knows what happened to Vasheel (though I admit it does have a good precedent for a sequel set in the past). You were right though - this chapter exists as a hook for a possible sequel, though I don't know if I'll ever write it (since I also believe it's good enough where it left off). I don't know - who knows what's going to happen in the future.
Also, thank you for sticking with me for so long - knowing people are following this story was one of the reasons why I was able to keep going with so much enjoyment!
Vaati the wind mage1: The government doesn't know the whole story, but they're becoming suspicious. And that was how Dugal lived! :P
I'm so glad you liked my story (well, at least up until this chapter anyways). Thank you for your continued support; it made me happy to know someone liked what I wrote :)
xBlackDragoonx: At first I was going to keep Dugal with a stub and no prosthetic... that is until I read online this new research they were doing where someone had a bionic arm that actually worked. Then I thought "hmm, the super rich Dugal who's not against doing a few illegal things wouldn't just sit still with an empty stub of an arm." Hence Dugal with the bionic arm.
Thank you so much for following this story! I'm thrilled to know that people enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Reily96: Dugal lives! Since he was the speaker in the very first chapter, there was no way he could have been dead at the end of it :)
And oh em gee, thank you big time for sticking with me from the beginning of not just this story, but pretty much my entire fanfic writing career. Big hugs my friend.
i-wish-799: You're right, Dugal wasn't done at all.
O.o; oops, I actually forgot about Vaati and Zelda. I didn't have a blatant coupling, per se, but you're right that it was implied and that I probably should have mentioned something on it. I think I had a little idea for those two in National Threat, and then kept thinking about it so much that I tricked myself into thinking that I'd mentioned it in AI 2010. Oopsies.
Like all my other loyal followers, thank you so much for your continued support. It made me really happy whenever I saw someone enjoy what I wrote, so I really appreciate it. :)
LilyMoonstone: Well, there would be many problems with Zelda asking Vaati for help, one of them being he's only a high school student in the eyes of the scientific community. They would have a hard time proving to other scientists what magic is, and they would also have a hard time getting any scientific theories for the scholarly community that would make sense to them (because I don't think Vaati would be able to explain magic scientifically or empirically). Another problem would be Vaati being too lazy to get involved in all of that technical stuff and getting asked questions on where he learned how to do magic in the first place. It would be very messy indeed...
I'm not sure I said this before, but thank you for all the reviews on all of my stories and I'm really happy you liked them. If you end up following any more of my works (if and when I do them), I hope you enjoy them as much as you have so far :)
SubZeroChimera: Now it closes. Finally (or does it? Even I don't know, since I don't know if there is more to this story what with the sketchy ending and all). Glad you enjoyed it, and thank you for supporting me for so long! I wouldn't have been able to work as hard as I have for the story without people like you rooting for me, so thank you for that. :D