Epilogue

“And here we thought we were done with anything dangerous after we beat down Garland.” Luke muttered to his three companions. “Boy, were we wrong. Guess we shoulda known better.”

“Nonsense, Luke.” Mary smiled. “This is a great honor, and a privilege to… to…” She broke down, giggling, and Drake nodded with a smirk.

“Knew you wouldn’t be able to finish that with a straight face. That’s my girl.”

“My poor sister, corrupted by darkness.” Vlad sighed.

All four Light Warriors were gathered outside Corneria’s throne room, waiting for the signal to enter after all of those inside were ready. They had been doing so for half an hour now, and after the additional time spent to make themselves as presentable and polished as possible, the four heroes were starting to grow restless.

“Yeah, yeah.” Their leader sighed. “It’s all well and good for you guys. You’re not hooked up with somebody who’s in there right now, and who coincidentally also hates what’s going on with a burning passion. I’m never going to hear the end of this.”

“Why? It’s not your fault.” Vlad blinked, confused.

“Oh, brother, where have you been?” Drake rolled his eyes. “Advice to keep in mind, Vlad. It’s always the guy’s fault. Regardless of motivation, participation, or even geographical location. Always.”

“Be nice.” Mary murmured. “You could always crash the party in the Icarus, Luke. You’d be on the run from the entire free world for the rest of your life, but Sara would forgive you.”

“Tempting offer.” Luke grunted. “Too bad it ain’t happening. Bikke and the guys are all in there too, remember?”

“Oh Fire, thanks for reminding me.” Vlad slapped his forehead. “I can only pray that they at least have the sense to keep all alcohol out of the room until after the ceremonies are completed.”

“Bahamut’s in there too. He can keep a lid on Bikke, even if nobody else can.” Drake shook his head. “Do any of you know why those two have been so chummy recently? If I didn’t know better I’d think Big B was joining the crew.”

There were a few moments of stunned silence as all four envisioned that, diplomatic repercussions in imagined surround sound. Four involuntary mental blocks slid into place.

“Something about killing that clanking abomination, I think.” Mary was the first to recover. “Warmech. The way I heard it, they did it together.”

“Shoulda figured.” Luke nodded sagely. “Nothing says ‘male bonding’ like killing something.”

“This is why all groups of heroes need at least one female.” The White Wizard sighed.

Further discussion was cut off as the doors to the grand hall finally swung open. Immediately lining up, the Light Warriors walked through, and were greeted by an ear-shattering cavalcade of cheers.

“My glorious champions!” King Mark of Corneria greeted them theatrically. Lined up on his sides were the seven Kings, one high priestess, one Elder, and one Grand Foreman that made up the rulership of the rest of the world. Through a newly opened window, Bahamut’s head loomed over them, completing the tableau. “Enter, Light Warriors, and be welcome. All who have gathered here owe you beyond all imagining. Thanks to your efforts, the world is safe from the Fiends and the Chaos Knight both, now and forever.”

“It was our job, and our honor.” Luke bowed modestly, and the other three followed suit. “We are not worthy.”

“Such humility, but worthiness is one thing you have in spades.” King Mark smiled. “That, and rewards. We have all conferred, and decided that nothing shall be denied to you, throughout all the kingdoms of the world. Ask for it, and it shall be yours.”

“Well.” Drake coughed. “It seems to me that we’ve got quite an opportunity here, with everybody gathered in one place. An opportunity we shouldn’t waste. It’s one thing to put a stop to what’s tearing the world apart. To actually put it back together, though; that’s a lot harder.”

“What Drake’s trying to say, sirs, is that we’d like this spirit of unity to continue, if possible.” Luke clarified. “Without the Fiends, there are elements in all of our cultures who’ve gotta be looking to find new enemies, new wars to fight. We need to put a stop to that right away; if we let things get out of hand, we’ll replace the Fiends ourselves, and everything the four of us did will be meaningless.”

“The Fiends were not the only evil in the world.” The newly crowned King of Elfland mused. “My land in particular saw a man who, while far less powerful, was just as twisted and cruel.”

“Exactly.” Drake nodded. “We’d like it if the world’s governments started up an alliance right off the bat, to help each other out instead of thinking about wars. To start with, I believe Lefein is in need of rebuilding. With Tiamat gone, they can finally do so; maybe if everybody else helped, that would set the right example.”

“It shall be done.” King Mark nodded firmly. “I pledge Corneria to this goal, and all of her strength.”

“And I Elfland.” The Elf King agreed.

“And I Cardia.” Bahamut boomed. Following that, the other rulers had no choice but to agree as well. Some enthusiastically, some reluctantly, but all said the words, and all vowed.

“There are other evils in this world as well.” Mary continued once they were done. “Those species’ who are not gathered here, who served the Fiends. Trolls, Ogres, Giants, Sahagin, and the like. They still remain.”

“Aha.” The king of Pravoka nodded, smiling. “So we shall have an enemy to fight again after all.”

“Belay that kind o’ talk, matey, or I’ll knock over yer capital again!” A voice jeered from the back of the room.

“Ahem… no, not at all.” Mary coughed. “Just the opposite. Without the Fiends, I think it’s possible that they can change their ways. We’d like to try and make contacts among them, see if there are any who are willing to learn better. Maybe we can teach them a different way.” This prompted angry mutterings from some of the gathered nobles, but that broke off as the Cardia delegation all began to cheer.

“I like it.” Bahamut echoed the other dragons. “And to all of you, if you didn’t want peace, you shouldn’t have asked for the Fiends to be taken down. Take it from somebody who’s just finished a war against his own kind that went on for far too long; that kind of thing should always be avoided.”

“Well, then.” The King of Corneria nodded. “I think with that in mind, we can all agree to that as well.” This time, there was no opposition. “I take it you all have specific roles in mind with these undertakings?”

“Me and Mary were kind of figuring on kicking off the efforts to communicate with the baddies.” Drake agreed. “Gotta do something with our time, after all. So we’d like everybody’s permits to have the run of your turfs, and do whatever we can to bring this all about. No uproars if we bring a couple nervous-looking Sahagin into Onrac City one day to have a few drinks and meet the royal family, that sort of thing. I think we can pull it off, but let’s be frank, only if you all play fair with this. If we hear that this program breaks down because somebody on ‘our’ side was playing silly buggers, well, we’re not going to be happy.”

“Somewhere along the line you changed that from asking for a reward to making a threat.” Mary noted.

“Did I?” The elf shrugged. “Silly me.”

“My own request is not quite so blatant.” Vlad spoke for the first time since entering the throne room. “If we’re going to be repairing the world, magic could play a very helpful role, but only if we do it right. With that in mind, I was thinking of compiling an archive and place of study from all of the different countries and peoples, that mages from all over the world could come to in order to learn and contribute.”

“Five gold says it’s right next to Gurgu!” The anonymous heckler in the back of the crowd yelled again.

“Ahem.” Now it was King Mark’s turn to cough. “I think we can agree to that.”

“With that in mind, I wish to ask for some pardons for a few people who would be interested in helping me start.” Vlad nodded, then paused. “Well, the hydra probably won’t be any help, but you never know. In particular, they had access to sources of magic that are no longer available to any other in the world. I’d like to get those down on paper.”

“You don’t mean those four who the Cornerian Guard found buried under rubble behind the Temple of Fiends?” The King of Melmond sputtered. “You can’t seriously expect us to let off servants of the Fiends! And you’re a fool if you’re actually trusting them!”

“I never said I trusted them.” Vlad responded with a cold smirk. “I believe I am quite capable of associating closely with people without doing that. Although I do believe that the Wizard of Marsh, Giygas, was observed by many to scream an interesting phrase immediately upon regaining consciousness. Sentiments which were echoed by his three contemporaries in full.” He glanced at the Commander of the Guard.

“That is true.” Luke’s brother, Leon, nodded. “To be specific, the recorded statement was ‘That’s it! Screw the Fiends, screw Garland, screw evil, screw the whole lot of them! If I ever meet the Light Warriors, I’ll give them the goddamn floor plans to the goddamn place and tell them everything I goddamn know, and then I’m joining a goddamn Clinic!’ He then attempted to persuade his guards to provide him with materials to construct an effigy of Lich that he could set fire to.”

“The defense rests.” Vlad shrugged.

“That sounds pretty believable to me.” Bahamut agreed. “And it would set a good precedent for getting along with species we were formerly at war with.”

“Oh, all right.” The King of Crescent Lake grumbled. “Full pardons for the lot of them, although you’ll probably want to keep the one named Carlton out of our local Sage’s sight.”

“Suggestion noted.” Vlad agreed.

“While we’re on the subject of pardons, I believe there’s another man here who belongs with these four.” King Mark suddenly smiled. “Bikke the Pirate, please step forward!” After some muttering, the pirate captain somewhat hesitantly walked out of the crowd.

“Ah, yes, yer honor? Er, yer Majesty?” Bikke muttered, looking out of place despite his best efforts at dressing respectable, even braiding his beard for some unknown reason.

“Bikke the Pirate, you are an unaccountable rogue, wanted throughout all kingdoms of the world save Merlish and Cardia for crimes beyond counting.” King Mark informed him solemnly. “However, more recently, you have aided and assisted these four heroes in all things, facilitating their salvation of the world greatly. For this, we have agreed; you are a hero as well, Bikke, and all your crew. Your crimes are forgiven. A full pardon, for all past offenses no matter how great, to you and all of your crew.”

“Arr, never thought I’d hear those words ‘til I was standin’ at the gates o’ the afterlife!” Bikke crowed, backflipping theatrically and bowing. “We be honored, yer majesties.”

“With that in mind, we would appreciate it if you continued to maintain your current motives.” The Elf King added. “As he said, it’s a pardon for all past crimes. The future is up to you.”

“Don’t get caught, got it.” Bikke winked. “Don’tcha worry, fellas. We’ll play almost straight from now on, ya got Bikke’s word on that! And if any o’ ya ever need somebody taken care of that ya can’t execute official-like, for politics or sumthin’, yeh all know who to call for dirty deeds done dirt cheap.”

“Don’t worry, folks.” Bahamut snorted, observing the faces on some of the nobles. “I’ll keep an eye on him. And a claw, if need be.”

“Special discount fer yeh, ol’ scaletail!” Bikke replied.

“That just leaves me.” Luke cut that off. “Well, to start with, I was thinking of supervising the effort in Lefein. However, before that, there’s something I need to ask of you directly, my king.” He looked at the Cornerian monarch, who nodded slowly.

“I believe I already know. Sir Luke, hero of Corneria. With her permission, I would bestow my younger daughter’s hand in marriage upon you.”

All eyes went to the Princess of Corneria, who had maintained her stately image throughout the proceedings without a word. Now, she spoke the formalities, only a slight trace in her eyes showing how much she hated doing so.

“I would be pleased to accept, Sir Luke. However, I must ask as to your intentions upon leaving the country shortly after…” She trailed off, eyes widening as she realized the meaning.

“Yeah.” Luke nodded, dropping to one knee. “Come with me, Sara. Stay with me. Please. Don’t make me leave you again.”

“I accept.” The Princess stated simply, eyes now shining with the opposite of their previous emotion, and the room was once more filled with cheering.

“Then it shall be done!” King Mark declared. “All boons granted, all wishes fulfilled, and we shall continue to bend all efforts towards the goals expressed! Let the world be repaired, and let all gathered here swear to this!”

“It shall be done!” Bahamut roared.

“It shall be done!” The other rulers echoed.

And the Light Warriors looked around them, and were content with their work.

It was the evening of that day, and to absolutely nobody’s surprise, the solemness of the ceremony had given way to a boisterous party without a fight. Men and women from all twelve kingdoms danced and sang and drank side by side, all through the streets of Corneria City. Two of the most avid partygoers were currently taking a break from the wild festivities, sitting on a park bench and watching some of the Gaian nobility taking impromptu shanty lessons from Bikke’s pirates.

“My ma always told me class differentiation was a load of hooey.” Drake told Mary wistfully as they watched the antics of the two vastly different societies. “Looks like she was more right than she knew. Think everybody would be able to get along this way if they just knew how to try?”

“I’m sure of it.” Mary agreed, then paused, her acquired streak of cynicism from her adventures refusing to let her leave it at that. “Well, it might take amounts of alcohol equivalent to the current situation. But it’s certainly possible!”

“So the road to world peace is found in the bottom of an ale mug?” The elf shook his head. “That’s a bit much, even for me.”

“Arr har har, whyzat, matey? Sounds ‘bout right to me.” Bikke chuckled, stumping over and taking a seat nearby. “I ain’t interruptin’ nothing’, am I?”

“Oh, hey, Bikke.” Drake greeted him cheerfully. “Nah, not yet. Give us a few more hours. Ow!” He winced as Mary lightly kicked his shin.

“We’re fine, Bikke.” The White Wizard smiled as well. “What happened to the fireworks? I thought you were going to go set off that stash you had collected.”

“Ol’ Bah-Mutt took ‘em offa me hands.” Bikke explained gloomily. “Wouldn’t let me set ‘em off. Sumthin’ ‘bout levellin’ the entire city. What a spoilsport, eh, mateys?”

“Levelling the city? Er, Bikke…” Drake coughed. “Where did you get these fireworks, again?”

“I toldja, looted ‘em from that flash bastard Warmech.” Bikke shook his head disconsolately. “Scaletail was there to bring ‘em down too, ye’d think he’d get it about spoils o’ war. S’a damn shame, lads, a damn shame.”

“Life’s hard sometimes.” Mary nodded sympathetically. “I’m sure there’s more explosives on the Icarus somewhere.”

“Yare, probly.” Bikke nodded, brightening up. “Speakin’ of which, we still leavin’ tomorrow on that baby like we planned?”

“As far as I know.” Drake agreed. “We’ll come back for Luke and Sara’s wedding, I guess, but the sooner we get people started on this project the better. Have you thought about where you want to go to get the work done?”

“Aye. Shipyards o’ Onrac ‘re the best in the world. Pravoka’re the only ones who can almost match ‘em, and those folks probly still ain’t too keen on me.” Bikke nodded. “The ladies back there know some folks in the right places. We can get the work started soon as we touch in.”

“Right, and the two of us can find some folks who are willing to come along.” Drake began ticking numbers of his fingers. “We’ve got humans, an elf-me-and a robot already. Did you try and talk that one dragon from your city into joining up?”

“Aye.” Bikke nodded. “He ain’t agreein’ yet, but he will once Diane an’ Denise tell their ma they’re comin’ along. Always wanted to show the girls the world, an’ if this ain’t the right time, nothin’ is.” He paused. “Oh, got another recruit when we picked up the Gaian nobility, by the way.”

“Oh?” Mary blinked. “The only other member of Gaia who came here aside from the nobles and my parents was-” Her eyes widened. “Senna? The fairy?”

“Aye!” Bikke chortled. “An’ who am I to say no to someone like that?”

“Right, that’s a dragon, merfolk, and even a fairy too.” Drake nodded. “That just leaves a dwarf or two.”

“We’ll stop by the ol’ cave and see if any of the old boys fancy some terms on the high seas. A couple of ‘em have taken a few years with us before.” Bikke shrugged. “No problem. Then once the ship’s completed, we’ll be on our way.”

“The biggest ship in the world, with a crew of every species around on our side.” Mary shook her head. “I’ll give you boys this, when you dream, you dream big.”

“If that doesn’t convince the people we’re going to be trying to talk to that we don’t care what they are if they want to be friendly, nothing will.” Drake grinned, looking up at the star-filled sky. “We’ll let the governments and whatever help with furthering connections once they’re made, of course, but the first move’s gotta be made by us. They’ll just screw it up otherwise.”

“I never was much for retirement anyways.” Bikke shrugged. “We’ll give the Icarus back to Lefein once it’s ready. We’ve had some good times with the bird, but the sea’s the place for us at the end o’ it all. And then, adventure’ll call us again, just like it always does.” He stood up. “Well, I’ll leave ye two to that few more hours business. Time to see about the rest o’ those kabooms ye were suggestin’. Be seein’ ya when it’s time to go tomorrow.” He walked off, and Drake glanced back at Mary.

“You okay with this? I think it’s the best way to start things off, but if you’ve got doubts…”

“No, I think you’re on the right track.” Mary agreed. “Making contacts with people like Sahagin and Ogres can’t be done with strictly law-abiding official types to start with. It’s got to be somebody they can find something in common with, and pirates certainly fit that criteria. Besides, they’re good people.” She paused. “Now, anyways.”

“Yeah, might not want to go too far into a past criminal record that’s being wiped out anyways.” Drake agreed. “And you’re okay with keeping up the vagabond lifestyle too?”

“Of course.” The White Wizard assured him. “We’ve talked about this before, remember? After being cooped up in Gaia City for all those years, seeing the world outside never gets old for me. Frankly, I don’t think I could settle down in one place if I tried. I don’t know how my brother’s going to be able to stand it, even in somewhere as nice as Crescent Lake.” She paused. “No, wait, actually I do know.”

“Haha!” Drake grinned. “Might not wanna let him hear ya talking like that, or else he’ll start muttering something about even you turning on him. But yeah, I get where you’re coming from. It’s the same as me after all those years on Elfland City’s streets. We were made for each other.” He looked up at the starry night sky. “World’s bigger than either of us ever imagined when we were younger. Let’s go out, and see it all again, and again, and again. There’ll always be something more.”

“There always is.” Mary agreed.

Side by side, the Thief and the White Wizard remained in the heart of the party, and were joyous.

It was midnight of that same day, and the party following the ceremony hadn’t even started to die down yet. Amid the bright lights, loud music, and multitude of alcohol, it had reached the point where one of the guests of honor felt able to slip away without being noticed. His efforts proved successful, and with a smile gracing his harsh features, Vlad returned to his chambers in the castle.

“Well, I suppose that was fun enough.” He informed the empty room. “But right now, that sort of thing isn’t really my scene. Perhaps I’ll enjoy those things more when I’m close enough to Gurgu that you can accompany me in your human form.”

“Oh yeah.” The Element of Fire agreed as she appeared out of the air. “That’ll be a real blast. Shame they probably won’t be as big as this one.”

“We can always use Time magic to come back here once you’ve recovered your powers to the point that you can come to Corneria.” Vlad suggested, flopping unceremoniously onto a chair. “After everything all those stooges have done, just once I think I’d like to see the look on my face when I do something crazy to me.”

“If my siblings hear you talking about ideas like that, they’ll go into collective apoplexy.” Fire smiled. “So this has some serious potential.”

“Har.” The Black Wizard chuckled. “We can talk about that later, I think. For now, though, could we talk about some other things?”

“Oh.” Fire sat down as well, careful not to light up the furniture. “This is about what happened back in the Temple of Fiends, I‘m guessing?”

“Yes.” Vlad confirmed, thinking back to that bizarre, brief moment when he had been merged with the Element, both of them combining into the avenger that had struck down Chaos. “I don’t believe my vocabulary can cover that, and that’s a first. I got some of the story, but…” He looked at her directly. “I’d like to know the rest. It’s important to you, I know. That means it’s important to me too.”

“Are you sure?” She pressed, staring back into his eyes. “It’s complicated, and there may be some parts of it you wouldn’t want to know. If you really want me to, I’ll tell you, but…”

“I do.” Vlad confirmed without a moment’s hesitation, then glanced at the Orb of Fire, lying on a nearby mantle, glowing warmly. “You and me are closer than the other Elements are to the other Warriors. I don’t know where my life’s going after this, really; oh, there’s that magical school I’ll be starting, but there’ll be a point when I’m done with that. Maybe I’ll get old, and fade away, but I suspect there might be an alternative. You said you wanted me to always be with you. To help you when bad things happened to you. I can, but I have to know how. Tell me. Anything.”

Without a word, Fire began tracing a hand around the room. As if she held a paintbrush, the surroundings were replaced by a trail of black, starry darkness. Space surrounded them, with nothing but the void, and she began to speak.

“In the beginning, there was nothing but Chaos.” She spoke, and a face appeared in the darkness, inscrutable, undefined, a face without any identifying detail at all. “For a time, Chaos was alone, but eventually even Chaos became lonely. And so, it created companions.” Four more faces appeared, just as strange and unworldly, but of bright colors instead of the blackness that made up the first. Brown, red, indigo, yellow. “Earth, fire, water, air. We came into creation, with consciousnesses and wills of our own. And that was where it went wrong for Chaos, because we were beings of order. And we weren’t satisfied with the universe as it was. We needed more.”

“The world.” Vlad realized as the four faces all turned to a rapidly appearing sphere of the elements, growing and changing. “You made the world.”

“This one was the first.” Fire agreed as the world took shape, becoming more than just the raw elements, turning to the familiar continents and oceans. “We started here. But more came, later.” Other worlds began to grow in the endless stars, each one somewhat alike and yet different in many ways. Looking from one to another, Vlad saw flashes of each. An Empire that spread out to conquer all within sight. A world with a moon so close that the satellite grew its own civilization. A place divided between dimensions, one for humans and one for magic. An industrial company, changing and altering the natural way to something mechanical, manmade. A tropical paradise of islands, where water was everything, sport and life and even God.

“All these worlds out there, different…” Vlad murmured. “I never would have guessed. I thought this was all there was.”

“That’s how most people think.” Fire agreed. “All of them, really. Except for us, and of course Chaos, who was not happy with what we had created.” The first, dark face changed to anger, to rage. “It was too much order. We had gone too far, but we refused to back down, to unmake the worlds we loved so much. So he decided that he would do it himself. We couldn’t keep him out; like us, he became part of the worlds.”

“Chaos Knights.” Vlad nodded.

“No.” Fire shook her head. “That’s the way it worked on this world, but on others, things are different. On some of them, he’s always been there; on others, he’s shaping the world without taking form, waiting for the right mortal. He needs humans, you see; that’s the price of not making the worlds. He doesn’t have a physical form of his own, he needs to warp somebody else’s. But they always come, when he makes them.” Again, the images of each world flickering through Vlad’s brain. A formless, shifting cloud of eternal darkness, spreading out endlessly. A mad clown, capering wildly among thousands of mutilated corpses. A one-winged demon who called himself an angel. A titanic sphere of water, roaming the world as a natural disaster.

“Compared to some of these, we got off easy.” The Black Mage shook his head. “Christ. These worlds are in for hell, aren’t they.”

“Yeah.” Fire agreed somberly. “And if that wasn’t enough, he changed us too.” In the dark void, the black face snarled at the other four, and they changed, twisting, shifting colors. Orange, blue, purple, green, the faces of the Fiends snarled back, and then all five grinned horribly. “On most of the worlds, he’s got us completely. This one was actually the one on which we remained the strongest, since it was first; keeping control even some of the time. On the others… the me that’s there… it’s worse.” Flashing images, one by one. A roaring, twin-headed dragon that bled lava and breathed ash. A tall, demonic man in a violet cloak. A Kary-like cobra-woman, body bound into the hood. “The others are all the same.”

“So you decided to make a stand here.” Vlad guessed. “Where you still could.”

“Exactly.” Fire looked pleased at his understanding. “We knew it was possible. If Chaos was slain when he was in the full force of his power, he would be cast out from this world, unable to return. So we wrote a prophecy, and created heroes, to fight the greatest and most dangerous battle of all. We said you were meant to kill the Fiends, but that was just a means to the end of forcing Chaos’ hand, and making you strong enough to remove him once he had. It took time, and effort, and more risks than I care to remember, but in the end it all worked. Chaos is gone forever from this world, and with him, so are the Fiends.”

“So one world, at least, is safe now.” The Black Wizard looked among the cosmos. “And the others? What of them?”

“The precedent has been set. If one world can be recovered, so can the others.” Fire explained confidently. “On those worlds, like this one, heroes will eventually come, and they will challenge Chaos in whatever form he takes to attempt destruction of that world. You four started it, and the other worlds will follow. And I will watch from here, as the worlds free themselves one by one, and aid them once they are in any way I can.”

“Then I will do so as well.” Vlad decided. “However long it takes, I don’t really care. I’ll stay here with you, and when you go to those worlds I will too, and we’ll watch the heroes defeat Chaos again and again. As long as you have work to do, I’ll be there to help you with it. Tomorrow, we start with this world, and after it, well…” He smiled. “Just tell me what to do. Anything. Everything. I’ll be there.”

Together and alone, the Black Wizard and the Element drifted through the sea of stars, and were content.

And then, finally, came the morning of the next day. By the time the sun had finally rose, the celebration had died down, all of its participants either sleeping or unconscious. All save for two, who now sat in familiar places on a balcony of Corneria Castle, where they had met time and time again for years.

“Drake, Mary and the Pirates will be leaving soon, I bet.” Luke suggested as the first rays of the sun began to creep over the horizon. “They’ll want to be well underway before many other people come to.”

“Small chance of that, with how much most of them drank last night.” Sara shook her head in mirth. “What was that huge pirate’s name? Mr. Smith?”

“Smite.” Luke corrected. “Mr. Smite.”

“Yes. Seeing him waltzing with that stuffy, pompous toad, Duchess Malian…” Sara’s shoulders shook with the effort of not bursting out in loud laughter. “That’s something I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.”

“How about seeing the look on her face when she wakes up and realizes what she was doing?” Luke suggested. “I think that’s her under the tree down in the garden, isn’t it?”

“Oh gods, that’s why her servants couldn’t find her.” Sara covered her mouth quickly and didn’t remove her hands until the shaking had subsided. “If she ever tells me I’m not behaving like a proper lady again, I’ll have her.”

“Well, that probably ain’t going to be too likely.” Luke shrugged. “By the time she recovers, with luck we’ll be out of here.”

“To Lefein.” Sara agreed, looking wistfully out over the horizon. “The Yahnikurm Desert. What’s it like?”

“Hot. Cold. Sandy. Monsters.” Luke shrugged. “Once you’ve killed one sandworm, you’ve killed them all.”

“So I just need to able to kill a sandworm, and I’ll be fine.” Sara replied dryly. “Oh, good. I should be able to manage that, no problem.”

“Oh, yeah.” Luke scratched the back of his head. “Sorta forget about that sometimes.”

“Sweet, but not very practical.” The Princess tapped her foot thoughtfully. “The Dragon King, Bahamut-he was your master for some time, right? Think he could be talked into teaching me a few things?”

“That might work, yeah.” Luke agreed. “I’m sure something can be worked out.”

“Good.” Sara smiled, ruffling his hair fondly. “You may have gotten ahead of me in swordplay for now, bucko, but I’ll be on your trail soon. Count on it.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.” Luke leaned back in his chair, eyes fixed on the sunrise. “Drake’s good with swords, and the other two are the best spellslingers I could ask for, but no matter what happened out there, something was just never the same as when you and me were out learning from Imps.”

“Learning off of Imps.” Sara corrected.

“Right, right.” The Knight muttered, then pressed on. “Anyways, we’ve got plenty of swords now that are worlds above standard issue. There’ll be one you like the feel of, and then I’m sure we can persuade Bahamut to work with you. He owes me a few favors, I think.”

“Having him stick around will keep the nobility terrified, you realize.” Sara pointed out with a smirk.

“That too.” Luke admitted. “Then we’ll get married, head off to Lefein, and we’ll never come back to this city unless you want to.”

“Well, I will want to see my family on occasion. You will too, of course. But aside from that, yes, I think I could do well without seeing much of this place for a long time.” Sara shook her head. “It’s a good thing I’m the younger daughter. If I was the elder, you’d have to be the next King, and me the Queen.”

“That right there would be the point at which it became a good thing to be well-acquainted with a band of notorious pirates.” Luke winced at the mental imagery. “Ah well, way things are we don’t have to go that far. S’good enough to be workin’ for the best of the world.”

“That’s what I’ve always wanted to do, you know.” Sara smiled, leaning her head against his shoulder. “Work for the actual best of the world, beyond all the nonsense and rules about royalty and nobility. Work for what’s actually important. And now, I’ll be able to.”

“We both will.” Luke kissed her. “And nobody will ever be able to tell us no, ever again.”

Together once more, the Knight and the Princess watched the rise of the sun, and were hopeful.

Knight and Thief, White Wizard and Black Wizard, Princess and Element, Pirate and Dragon. Those who had shaped the world and saved the world watched as it awakened around them, in all its beauty and glory, and were satisfied with the work they had done. And the world changed, and grew, and lived once more around them, as the four Orbs of light shone once more, now and forever.

Author’s Note

Once, the Temple of Fiends had been a derelict place, abandoned and collapsed upon itself like a rotting fruit. Shrunken stubs of towers, windows covered and broken, the shining white marble faded down to a dull, diseased grey. Once. Now, the Temple of Elements was a wondrous place once more. A perfectly square, white marble building with four corner towers, each one dedicated to one of the Temple’s masters, bright and shining from the many windows that allowed the sun’s light to smile upon the temple’s interior. The people had not yet returned-old habits died hard-but in time they would. For now, though, the Temple’s four occupants were content with their solitude as they looked upon the job they had done and were pleased.

“Well, that’s a wrap, looks like.” Earth clapped his hands. “I think we did pretty good, all things considered, with the material we had to work with.”

“They did pretty good, you mean.” Fire corrected. “I’m the one who got the most screen time out of us, and even I was in the background for almost the entire thing.”

“Yeh get more done that way.” Water shrugged, then cocked an eyebrow at his other sister, who was gloomily shifting through a pile of mail. “What’s wrong? I’m guessin’ that’s about the cleanup, but so far as I can tell he didn’t even have any of his own characters in here this time that did much. Mr. Smite was about as close as it gets. I’ll have to watch him bug Bikke’s crew. Should be fun.”

“That’s the thing, brother.” Air sighed, throwing the mail over her shoulder. “In case you’ve forgotten, we weren’t exactly in the game either. Doesn’t matter that we make logical sense.”

“Ahhh geez, I knew it was too early to celebrate.” Fire smacked her forehead. “Right, I won’t even bother with the obvious asking of when he’ll be here. Get in here, you, and let’s get this over with.”

“Ha ha… you people are starting to catch on.” The man standing in the Temple’s doorway chuckled as he walked in. A tall, pale man clad in Black Wizard’s robes, his blue hair and sunglasses were oddly matched. “Although I still don’t get why you all seem to find my presence so offensive.”

“Look at it like a metaphor.” Earth suggested. “You need to break down the fourth wall for this, and we get to be the battering rams. Headfirst.”

“You know, that almost makes sense until you actually start thinking about it.” The weird man commented, dumping a briefcase on the central altar and popping it open. “Actually, that fits most of my logic, so I can’t complain.”

“Just get to work.” Water growled. “Put the damn bold letters up already, and don’t go forgettin’ ‘em here when yer done.”

“Don’t worry. Learned my lesson about that when Agahnim’s daughter spiked them into my spinal column last time.” The stranger snapped his fingers.

Youse Thank Legalities Ande

“Hm, that doesn’t look quite right.” He frowned up at the hanging letters.

“It’ll do.” Fire assured him. “You should see some of the patch jobs we’ve had to do around here some days.”

“Really?” The weird man glanced at her.

“Quiet!” Air snapped at her. “Er, nothing, sir. Please, continue your work. Don’t mind me.”

“If you say so.” The stranger turned back to his work, and all four Elements smiled in relief. “I’ll just let Internal Security investigate it directly, then.” The smiles disappeared. “Okay then! Legal shite as usual, Final Fantasy is copyright Square and I make no claims as to the series, game, yadda yadda yadda. I don’t want any trouble. And neither had anybody else who even thinks of posting this somewhere else and claiming it as their own, hint hint. Right, next. Thank-yous.” He glanced out a window. “All right, get in here.”

“Not again.” Air groaned as the window swung open (remarkable considering the lack of a hinge) and a grey cloaked-and-hooded man dropped in. “Sahasrala told me about this. What’s next, the third brother showing up too?”

“Nah, he stays pretty well clear of this crap.” The second man shook his head. “So far, anyways. And I’m not even going to bother pointing out everything that’s wrong with that title. What did I tell you about WUIs?”

“Hey, I’m not drunk. Yet.” The first man defended himself. “It just came out like that.”

“Yeah, whatever.” The other man snorted. “Anyways, for those of you who don’t know, I’m this clown’s editor, primarily spellchecker, since the automated one’s about as useful as an umbrella in a rain of mack trucks. Were it not for me, his stuff would probably read a lot worse. At least I think he’s improving from earlier.”

“All right, enough.” The first man grumbled. “You’ve said your bit, now get out of here.”

“Hey, can I throw him out if he won’t leave by himself?” Water grinned, forming an orb of liquid in one hand.

“Sure.” The first guy shrugged.

“That’s it, I’m gone.” The other one backflipped back through the window, failing to notice that it had closed itself in his absence. All four Elements winced as the glass shattered. “Ow! Why the hell do people always do that to me? Get some fresh air once in a while, dammit!”

“Oh, go mug some Creep!” The first man yelled, then shook his head. “Right then, back to the point. The rest of the thank-yous, fortunately, are much simpler. Erico, friend and mentor in writing. Still owe you that six-pack of grape, boss. Masboy and SapphireFlame, who’ve given me line-by-line feedback. Very helpful; thanks, fellas. My longest-term internet pals, the Ethereal Ferret, Chibi Schala, Mr. Chimpo, and Lark. Sorry I’m not around much these days, if any of you actually read this tripe. And finally, all my readers. S’no point in writing this if nobody’s gonna read it, and though I seem to be going through a rough stretch in whatever ‘popularity’ I have, I still wanna thank whoever’s still bothering to keep up.”

“Yeah yeah, pity party, we got it, move on.” Fire shook her head.

“You want your next memo to come in the form of a ten-ton lead block?” The stranger threatened. “No? All right then. I’m moving on anyways.” He snapped his fingers once more.

Let I Getters!

“That ain’t right.” Earth commented.

“No shit, Sherlock.” The weird man frowned. “Maybe I’d better get Mechanical to have a look at that. For now, though, let’s just keep going. Only about half the people bother reading this anyways.”

“How self-conscious.” Air murmured.

“Shaddup. Right, this is to answer questions in letters/reviews that I haven’t already in the text or another fashion.” The stranger began pulling papers out of his briefcase. “First, Amethyst Nighthut asked about Garland. Specifically, as to whether he planned to lose, or actually hoped to win. It’s the latter; as I tried to make clear, old G-Man’s mental state was pretty busted up by that point, especially when the Fiends weren’t around to help him out. He had no idea of the contingency plan at that point. Right, moving on. Next, the Random Reviewer asked if I was going to do any character bashing.” He scowled. “Absolutely not. I take these tales just a bit too seriously for that kind of shit. This is a story, not an editorial, and personally, not much pisses me off more than mindless ‘OMG SO-AND-SO SUCKS BECAUSE I DON’T LIKE THEM.’ The day anything along those lines ever shows up in my work is the day I give my brother license to shoot me in the head.”

“I’d do it, too.” A voice from outside the window commented.

“Get outta here!” Earth yelled, hurling a boulder through the opening.

“Okay, next.” The weird man paused. “Well, this one’s not really a question, but… Stewie pointed out the references for the super-minor villains Garland hand-picked for his trip through time. Sorta. While Myria was indeed in Breath Of Fire 3, I actually had her role in Breath Of Fire 1 in mind. See, that way they’re all SNES golden age RPGs.”

“You are such a nerd.” Fire shook her head. “But I’m hooked up with Vlad, so I guess I can’t talk.”

“Exactly. Quiet.” The stranger packed the letters back in his briefcase. “Right, that’s it for that. Last section, ho.”

Blah-Blah-Blah

“Yeah, definitely gotta talk to Mechanical about that.” The weird man muttered. “Well, anyways. This time, I’m gonna try something different. Specifically, I’m gonna ask all of you who are still reading this for a favor. Details in reviews. I want to keep getting better, and there’s only one way to do this; figure out what I’m good at, and what I’m not. Does Drake need a six-month crash course in comedy clubs? Do my fight scenes come off worse than Dragon Ball Z? Is the romance so embarrassingly bad that I’ll need to read stuff specifically about that to get it right?” He shuddered, then straightened up. “If I want to be published some day, I need to know what to work on. So if you really enjoyed this, please, help me out a little. I appreciate it, I really do.”

“I think they get the point already.” Earth noted mildly. “Was there anything else?”

“Yeah, just one more thing.” The odd man nodded. “Next time, it’s Mega Man 7, hopefully to nobody’s surprise. And needless to say, this one’s going to be important. Failure is not an option this time. So it’ll probably be a few months before it comes along-this time, I’m preparing exhaustively. And hoping whatever the hell is wrong with the upload system that keeps cutting off the ends of my chapters is fixed by then.” He paused. “On that note, I’m genuinely sorry for the break after Chapter 10. I explained in my Profile, but for those who didn’t check there, my lousy paying job crushed my time to the point that I couldn’t keep up with the update schedule, so I felt it was right to take a break and build up a lead. And even with that lead, it ended up awfully close-at the time I’m writing this, the end goes live in one day. Life sucks sometimes.”

“Beats the alternative.” Fire commented. “Now are you done?”

“Yeah, all right.” The stranger packed the bold letters into his briefcase. “Get back to work, you four. Just because I don’t plan a sequel to this one doesn’t mean you get to slack off. I’ll be in touch. And I’ll take this-don’t think the owner needs it anymore.” Grabbing a straw hat off the coatrack by the Temple’s door, he walked away into this distance, humming to himself.

Magus523 May 05, 2007