Epilogue

[lesmodsalouette]

EPILOGUE

Your stopped time has restarted. Whether you were in the grassy field or fighting for your life on the castle grounds, you'll suddenly find yourself in an untouched area of the gardens. Ish is back, and so are the items, and the dead.

You return to Chateau Ambregris with the certain knowledge that come Monday, you will greet a new week, in a home of your own choosing. No longer will the chime of the clocks hunt you down, no longer will the oppressive scent of roses haunt your senses, no longer will you be forced to watch the death of those you've come to love and hate.

Parting is such a bittersweet sorrow, isn't it?

Make merry one last time, in this castle of illusions. Ironically, your memories of this stolen time that never existed are the one thing that will truly remain to you.

END NOTES

🔮 All dead are revived as tsukumogami! Congrats on your immortality(?)
🔮 Any other contracts made with Ish will be honored
🔮 Characters may choose to leave for any world they desire.
🔮 Time has not passed while you were stuck in this loop!
🔮 There will be no cross-dimensional world travel, except for on Samhain (Witches New Year October 31st/November 1st). On these dates, Ish will enable everyone to visit each other's world freely.
🔮 Universal Communication will be possible, courtesy of Manba and Ish. Everyone who wants one will be given a small fox that can communicate with other foxes through voice and video; the foxes can talk and are fairly simple creatures, enjoy them and give them fried tofu once in a while.
🔮 Powers are on for the finale, but Ish will step in and yeet anyone who gets too out of hand back to their homeworld, so play nice! (or relatively nice. )

[OOC: Welcome to your epilogue! The timeloop is ended, the evil has been defeated, and you have some time to catch your breath in the castle before the rest of your life begins! ]

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[baebladie]

[ There is a storm that brews in Blade's heart. Deep within himself, something rankles - it rattles within him like worn chains that still bind. Hwylyrn's words like a knife that's settled in; and regardless of it all, he sees fit to ensure that at least one interaction will be unpleasant.

And with it, he will sever the final chain.

The dragon he lays his eyes upon is indeed smaller - though he already knows Long the Permanence would have dwarfed him with ease. Whatever size he is, Blade doesn't blink. ]

Enjoying yourself?

Having spit so thoroughly on the outstretched hands of others.

[ Shard Sword, heavier in anyone else's hand here, feels to him as always as light as a feather. ]

[coldseep]

( Hwylryn gazes at Blade, his palpable intent - it cuts sharp as his sword across the gulf between them, though he would not count on that gulf existing for long.

Hwylryn exists as an element of nature, but, even so, Blade hardly feels weak to him.

It's really too bad. He would have liked to fight him like this, with the same viciousness, but on better terms.

Still, Hwylryn does not move. The floating fruit, mid air, simply seems to hang there, bobbing in place. )

Hello, again. I see you've found your resolve.

( Gently, the fruit float aside, as if tucked away for a future snack, and the wind blows - still sunny; still soft. But it does shift. )

I did as I needed to do to keep the promises I made to live.

( But he thinks Blade understands this about him already. )

I see you've chosen to live, too. I hope your heart can bear it, when others come for you, just as you come for me.

( They're not so different, he feels. There will come a day - if that day has not come already - where Blade will trample upon others to hold fast to what makes him happy.

Such is the cost of living. It's only that Hwylryn has chosen to learn how to make peace with it. )

[baebladie]

[ Blade doesn't exactly fear anything these days when it comes to his state of being - or harm coming to him. It helps that with the return of those powers, he feels he can weather any storm - and the sharp gaze that's leveled upon his person speaks loudly to the fact that Hwylyrn takes his approach with severity.

There are, perhaps, a list of reasons even if everything seems to narrow in focus on his resolution. In the end, Blade doesn't even properly seek Hwylyrn's corpse to bloody the ground (it's impossible, but he can make it hurt, even if it doesn't matter in the end.) Though, no one would certainly know that, would they? ]

We've chosen to live, for our reasons. Separate as they are.

[ All the same...he may perhaps surprisingly focuses his attention on the last half of his words, recalling the day where he wasn't feeling all too great necessarily when he was asked of how many people he's killed. By now, he's forgotten the count. ]

I once lived purely for vengeance. And, for one other reason alone.

[ Hwylyrn knows the other he speaks of, because he shared that with Hwylyrn - regardless, he performs a slice in the air with his blade, before pointing Shard Sword at the dragon. ]

I can bear all the hatred thrown at me. I've committed numerous wrongs, in my pursuits, and more, because of who I have become. Enough sins to live a life as someone who shouldn't be forgiven. Who deserves to be slain where I stand.

But, I live.

Until the day someone cuts my life short.

[ Blade throws the admission out there. He has already trampled on the lives of others, for being a catalyst in that upheavel he mentioned earlier on. His memories are damaged from that time, but he knows he conspired with Dan Feng. He considers himself just as much as a sinner (so what right does he have to stand before Hwylyrn and speak words condemning him of such things?)

Whatever the case, the only thing that can settle this is in a fight, rather than with mere words.

In one moment, he is standing in place, and in another, he's in mid-air to bring down that sword, aiming to try to stab downwards upon Hwylrn's head. ]

[coldseep]

( Though Hwylryn's expression is hard to read, but there is something that blows in the breeze as Blade makes his proclamations - though the air itself has cooled (not harshly, no: more the way the summer cools as the sun sinks low, is all), something sweet drifts through the air; the scent of the fruit just sent away, perhaps - the scent of roses - herbs?

A pleasant scent. A sweet breeze, even as Blade points his weapon to him.

And Hwylryn, despite the pain of loss, seems satisfied with Blade's answer.

(Though it is not his place to take satisfaction in it - though he has no right to place himself as judge. But, cruelly, he does so anyway, and he decides he is happy for Blade, and he decides that he hopes that his and Dan Heng's journey is filled with luck.)

Still, if he had to choose a send-off, it would be this! These soulful conversations have worn on him. Fewer things parse better in his mind than feelings conveyed through a proper fight - and so a storm shall brew within the sky, sure, but as his gaze darts up to meet the sword coming for him, he grins with all his sharp, sharp teeth, eyes glittering in delight.

As Blade comes down, his long body whips around with a quick snap, attempting to slam Blade into the ground (or into the castle's front wall, if Blade is unlucky). This may not cause him to dodge an actual slice, but he doesn't mind if Blade gets a good hit on him! Regardless, he kicks up and flows into the air as easy as swimming, not bothering change his size - it's much easier to navigate this space if he's of a manageable scale. )

Blade! ( He hasn't gone too far up yet - but he's above the height of the hedges, at least. ) Can you fly? Should I keep low to the ground?

( A genuine question, or a taunt? (Maybe both?) - He doesn't intend to fight Blade too seriously, because he wouldn't like to send Blade off to his honeymoon (?) (it's a honeymoon to Hwyl!) with Dan Heng with injuries, but it feels a little rude to Blade and wholly inaccurate to his own feelings to just lie down and take it. )

[baebladie]

[ Blade certainly searches not for this accursed dragon of the sky and water's satisfaction - what matters to him first and foremost is his own. What can he take from this still even if in the end he knows it will not truly bring him much relief? Even if in his heart he will curse him, believing Hwylyrn will not even grace G'raha or Sariel with anything resembling apology or having taken responsibility for his actions? But even if he knows that...would he have decided to approach him with a less harsh gait?

Between the personal betrayal and guilt, Blade will have come to this the very same way.

As for the slice, Hwylyrn's movement is quick, but somehow anticipated, with the man changing the trajectory mid-air into a stronger slash right at the same time that movement is made. His own movement will make it hard to miss the dragon being sliced into or against that tough skin, with a powerful slice, though...

In regards to Blade's ability to dodge the attack as a result? Null and void - he is hit into the ground nearby the castle wall. Though, he begins to stand right after, because it isn't really the worst he's been hit with. It smarts, but this is just the opening shot.

It doesn't matter to him if he even ends up dying in this battle, because he can always just come back due to the curse. Not many people know this, though, and Dan Heng probably still won't like it. But, whatever the case, he's not stopping now.

He feels that dreadful excitement, though it isn't enough to edge him into insanity. ]

Doesn't matter.

[ He has demonstrated partly why it doesn't, the rest will out soon enough. He'll fight with a dragon who floats up in the air. He doesn't really care. This time he'll come at Hwylyrn once more, using his speed to try to ambush the draconic being from the other side in a blink of an eye, a more traditional swing towards the dragon's neck with an attempt to hit. ]