End of an Age (3/3)
| End of an Age (3/3) | |
|---|---|
| Date of Cutscene: | 20 April 2013 |
| Location: | Malfeas, Earth-776 |
| Synopsis: | Hope reflects on her new friends and decides how to reshape her world. |
| Cast of Characters: | 288 |
| Tinyplot: | End of an Age |
I am no one.
My Name is not important, for the time is here. The world is winding down, everything is ending. Corruption, destruction, consumption surround me, while my friends, my family defy it. Desperation and Hope combine to do the impossible, and for a moment I see the Triat laid out before me, I feel the roar of the unbound Wyrm cleansing the world. I see Creation torn apart by the attempt to restore it.
I touch the Infinite.
I could end it here. Make it undone, wipe the slate clean, and let the Triat make a new universe. Billions would die, but they would be at peace. They would die without torment, to become one with their maker. So much misery and pain, who could blame me? It would be easy, much easier than rebuilding everything from the ground up. Easier than trusting that a flawed humanity would not repeat the mistakes of the past. Far too risky. Far simpler to let everything start over, making the world as perfect as it was meant to be.
Memories flash before me again. People I have known. Met. Befriended.
The Eternal Warrior. "...I admit that I still don't understand most of it. But from what I do understand... more than simply doing it, it's important that we do it /right/. That we find the solution with the most positive effect on what comes after. When something is inevitable, you can at least decide whether its consequences are better or worse."
The Repentant Mother. "We know it's scary. A lot of weight on your shoulders. We promised we would watch you. So we will follow you wherever, to do whatever. Mother taught us what it means to be a hero, that doing what's right isn't always the easiest thing to do. But it has to be done. We will help you any way we can. And we will be a hero for you."
The Stoic Guardian. "It... would be nice, if no one had to die. I've never actually been so idealistic as to think it a real possibility. It was never, honestly, something I was even trying for. I'd probably have died long before my world's unification, if I had. That's the sort of place I lived in. Laine... helped us. I wanted to repay that. Though I think... that may have... been an excuse."
The Broken Bird. "Sometimes you can't save everyone, and sometimes you have to make ugly choices. All that's important is that you do your best, and maybe things will work out from there."
The Budding Heroine. "There's a time to laugh, a time to tease. Always keep a little of that with you, that's what I try to do. But then, one day... you have to face the job that only you can do. You can keep running, keep laughing... or you can stand and fight, so you and all the ones you care about can laugh together.
The Loyal Hunter. "We've come this far, no sense finishing the job half-assed."
I understand now. My purpose here, the catalyst to guide the awakening. The one who must choose the fate of the Tellurian. To save myself as I am and destroy the world, remaking it anew, a perfect world without evil...
Or to sacrifice what I am into the Triat, as a template for the reshaping of reality itself, and grant this world another chance.
Creation is flawed.
And in that flaw, it is perfect.
I am no one. I am unique. I am powerless. I can do anything.
I am Mortal.
The Spark inside me ignites. The Triat comes into balance for a perfect moment.
One word comes to mind.
Trust.
I Choose.
The Fifth Age Ends.
