AN: This is the last chapter. Although I'm actually calling it an epilogue, since the wrap-up wound up being shorter than the rest of the chapters. What's next, I have no idea. But since this fic was over a year in the making, maybe I can find new life in some of my other many unposted WIPs.

As usual, I would be thrilled to get any kind of feedback on this story or any of my stories. I do accept constructive criticism. No denying it stings, but it helps in the long run. (Plus it's way easier to make edits on this story when its all still in the Doc Manager, as opposed to my older ones. I've got to re-upload those some time to do typo fixes which have been pointed out to me.)

Epilogue- The Insector Called Buguese

"That isn't the end?" Aqune had reached the final words of the passage where Aura's life came to an end. But there were still a few pages left.

"Apparently not," said Buguese. "But if Spirit Oracle even recorded those final moments, then she must have written them after they actually occurred." At least, he didn't think she had been carrying a book the whole time they stormed Mantid's castle, and had been writing things down.

"I know," Aqune replied. "Spirit Oracle lived, even though Aura died. She could still write in this journal even now." She was curious if Spirit Oracle had written anything down about her own generation. Although there couldn't be much more in this book, and the Oracle hadn't actually participated in any of the battles, sans her intervention in the ultimate fight against Mantid. But maybe there were other volumes, that might appear some day. The journal she held now hadn't physically existed before the other day as far as she knew.

"I still have not learned a thing about my past," Buguese said. "It would be ironic if it was left on the final pages all along."

"I don't know anything more than you," replied Aqune. "But let's find out."

Years have passed, and while some things have gotten better, others have gotten worse. I wanted to write this after the matter. This journal of mine was never physical anyway.

Even if a journal's purpose isn't just to keep records, it can still serve useful to the people of the future. I wrote something like that in the beginning. I think it might be useful to my… or rather, Aura's reincarnation. She has the right to know of her origins someday.

She has actually reincarnated several times already. Each time, she died young. Be it terrible illness or death in Insector attacks, her fate was never for a long and happy life. She has reincarnated again already. This time, she has lived longer than ever before. And her fate took a unique turn.

This girl, although born and raised a human, was found by an Insector. She is living in Mantid's castle. She became their servant, and is using the meager power she has to try and sustain their lands, land which has deteriorated even further over time.

Perhaps this can serve as a catalyst. Just as when I was taken to the Insector lands and met Roanin, things started to look better, if only for a short time. Maybe this time, the Insector world will truly be saved with her arrival.

"Aqune!" Buguese exclaimed. "Aura… is you." The description was unmistakable. A girl who was found by an Insector… himself… who used her powers to sustain the Insector lands. Aqune was the only one like that.

Aqune dropped the journal onto the floor.

"That… that's impossible." Reading the description, she thought the same as Buguese. Everything lined up perfectly. But… it was overwhelming at the very least. To find she was a character in the story she just read? A character that was actually Spirit Oracle, the divine entity she'd spent her life worshiping? "Then I…"

Buguese took her hand in his. It was warm with sweat. But Aqune felt comforted just from this gesture.

"I knew that you were alike," Buguese said. "Just like Spirit Oracle, you were willing to sacrifice yourself to better the lives of everyone else. This was not the revelation I expected either, nor can I say it is an unbelievable twist."

"You're right," said Aqune. "I have no reason to believe it isn't true. I guess… it feels the same as the past I had before I met you. A strange story that I know is true, yet I'll probably never remember. Or will I?" She picked up the book once more, and opened it back to the page she was at. "Why don't we keep reading?"

Next, I should also note what became of the Spider Riders. The Hero Brade was devastated by all that went on. That man had remained for many generations, each time seeing many comrades die. This time, I think he believed everything would turn out differently. Especially with the presence of Trigger. But it didn't. Brade went into isolation after the incident. His spirit continued to exist in the world. But it finally began to age into the form of an old man.

Brade was not the sole survivor. Prince Arachna VIII also lived. However, his fate may have been the cruelest of all the Spider Riders. Now, he had lost more than his younger brother, but all his comrades, and even his own spider. Had his spider survived, he still would not have been able to remain as a Spider Rider. Complications remained from the near fatal wounds he'd suffered in that battle. His body was never the same.

Despite this, he still had a manacle. That manacle has remained in the royal family of Arachna Kingdom. While he died of old age, Prince Arachna now has a young grandson and granddaughter. They too will be Spider Riders.

The others, who died in that battle, began to reincarnate like Aura. Therma's name now is Corona. She is the biological sister to the girl who was once Aura. Diamond's name is Igneous. And Mantle's name is Magma. I should have mentioned before that the granddaughter of Prince Arachna, Princess Sparkle, is in fact his younger brother reborn.

"They became the Spider Riders today!" When it wasn't about her, Aqune was in awe.

"Excluding Hunter Steele," Buguese replied. "Because his grandfather survived as well."

"Yeah," Aqune said. "But the both of them were Earthen Spider Riders. I get the feeling Hunter even found the same manacle Trigger had."

As for Trigger, he fulfilled my wish. At times, I watched him in his world. Less and less as the years went by. At first, he tried many times to return to the Inner World. A futile path. He only stopped… temporarily, when he found a second love there. A wife who died in childbirth, leaving him with a son to raise. A son who was enchanted, at first, by his father's tales of the strange Inner World. But who stopped believing when he grew up. Trigger was left disheartened. He had hoped that he would journey to the Inner World himself one day. Both because Trigger wanted his beloved son to have great adventures of his own… and because he still wondered what became of me. His first love. It wasn't until Trigger's son had a son of his own that another child came to believe in the Inner World.

"And he did find the Inner World," Aqune said. "Hunter even got to meet Spirit Oracle… as well as me. I'm sure, if Trigger knows, he's smiling right now."

"But Hunter did not fall in love with you," Buguese replied. Fortunately. The thought irritated him even more than if Aqune ended up together with the Hero Brade.

"No," Aqune replied. "But Hunter isn't a reincarnation. I'm not sure what reincarnating is like, exactly. Even knowing I am one. Does it mean you have to love the same person you did in a past life? I might have had feelings for Hunter… in the past. But Hunter isn't Trigger. I wouldn't know if I loved Trigger… because I never met him at all." She was clearly quite flustered saying all that. "Anyway… there's still a little more to read."

Buguese narrowed his eyes. He had never thought about it before, but was suddenly very relieved Aqune never even got the chance to meet Trigger Steele. Yes, he was jealous of all the men in Aqune's life and even the ones that weren't.

Finally, there is Roanin's fate. The notes in this book might actually be more valuable to his successor than to my own. Because he's different from the rest.

Normally, one can reincarnate if they died leaving something unfulfilled in their lives. Sadly, Roanin was never a being capable of reincarnation. He was not my creation, but Mantid's.

For a long time, Mantid had been experimenting with the creation of life. It was triggered by the loss of Lorraine. He wanted more than anything to bring her back to life. However, Mantid never found a way to create perfect human life. But Insector life was a different story. It was infusing himself with Insector DNA that allowed Mantid to live for as long as he did. And he also began to create hybrids. Largely Insector, but a small part human. Many died in incubation, but some survived. Roanin was one of the survivors. These human-type Insectors were rare, but they were also quite powerful. As their bodies were fully developed at birth, Mantid used them as soldiers. There are even more Insectors today with various human-like traits due to reproducing with ordinary Insectors. They were likely capable of reproducing with humans as well, although it never happened before.

In the case of Roanin, his body died there in the castle. But Mantid took his remains and preserved them for many years. He saw the chance for another experiment, and what better than to use a traitor as the subject. That was revenge.

It wasn't until after my current reincarnation was born that a new life was created from Roanin's remains. A loyal Insector soldier, who knew nothing of a girl named Aura. Instead, he loathed Spirit Oracle. He was programmed from the very moment of his birth to serve Mantid and Mantid alone. His name was Buguese.

That was the final page.

"So I was right." There was a bitter taste to Buguese's words. "I was only one of Mantid's experiments. But I did not even have a past to erase. I was just a copy of a dead man."

"But… now you know, at least," said Aqune. It wasn't the resolution she hoped to find either. She didn't know how to comfort him, even though she had just been told her own strange origins by this same book.

"Yes, but maybe I would be better off not knowing." He didn't actually believe his own words. It was worse not knowing. Which didn't mean he was at all happy with what he found out.

"Don't say that." Aqune looked at him worriedly.

Buguese stood up from the ground.

"Well, we've wasted enough time reading this tale. You can deliver it to the Spider Riders if you'd like."

"Wait!" Aqune said. She put the journal aside and stood up too.

"I wasn't going anywhere," Buguese replied.

"I…" Aqune wasn't sure what she wanted to say, though. "You know, Buguese, I've wondered before what your past might have been like."

"That was assuming I actually had one," he answered, annoyed.

"Well… yes," Aqune answered. "Maybe it was presumptuous of me. But, since I met you, I've wanted to understand you better. I thought, maybe if I knew more about you, that would help."

"And what did you imagine?" Buguese asked. He might as well find out.

"It wasn't anything exciting," she answered. "I imagined your parents, and your siblings. Maybe, I was trying to give you the family I never knew. But I wanted to think of what people you may have cared for and wanted to protect. You always fought so hard for the Insector World, so I wondered if maybe there was someone. Sometimes I even imagined there was a girl you loved." Her face was becoming red. "I didn't imagine that a lot though. Because, I only wanted that girl to be me. Umm…" she could barely look up at him, having said all of that. "What I mean is… it doesn't matter to me who or what you were in your past, if anything at all. I fell in love with the Buguese I met. Nothing can change that."

Buguese pulled Aqune close to him.

"Umm…" she hadn't stopped blushing.

"You are exactly like Aura, my Aqune," Buguese said. He held her tightly to him. "A human who reached the heart of an Insector just by being herself. It may not have been because of you that the sunlight was finally restored. But you still managed to have a powerful impact on me. I may have been 'programmed' to serve Mantid. I can't blame that completely on the sins I have committed, but I can't say that it helped either. But despite that, I came to doubt Mantid. I came to see that there was more that really mattered. And it was through watching you, in your selfless ways and endless compassion that I'm sure I was able to change."

"Buguese… I'm really glad." Aqune wrapped her arms around him. She smiled warmly.

"You may have turned out as you are because of your origins. But having known none of this before today, I too fell in love with you, because you are Aqune." He let his chin rest atop her head for just a moment. "Yes… now, will it help you at all if we go to Nuuma?" Buguese changed the subject suddenly. "I will gladly take you, but I don't want you to find the same unfortunate answers as I did."

"Yes, I'd still like to go," Aqune replied. His confession made her happy enough that she wasn't about to be bothered by anything else. She knew it was tough for Buguese to so honestly put his affection into words, so that made it all the more powerful.

"Very well," said Buguese. "Then prepare to leave tomorrow."

"Yes," she said.

Aqune went over the journal and picked it up from the ground once again. She couldn't help but think, all of the people back then would be really glad to know how they Inner World turned out. The war was over. Light was restored. And all of the Spider Riders today were still alive. Even Roanin… if he somehow knew about his successor today, Buguese, who became the ruler of the bright Insector lands, and won over her heart as well. She was sure Roanin would be glad.