Nightslayer - Postlude

 

From nearby – but unseen to everyone – the Bespectacled Man watched and smiled. Everything had gone better than he could have imagined, and, now, there were new gods in the world – and not just in this world, but in the totality of the cosmos. For that was what had been broken by the Cataclysm – the cosmos, itself – and there were now many worlds where life existed. Previous iterations of the Divine Council had discovered this, of course, and had even created the Halls of Twilight to bolster what was left, but now, beings walked who might be able to remake what had been broken.

The Bespectacled Man didn’t know if they would succeed. First, they had to try and stop Hel – who, the Bespectacled Man now remembered, had been called Emily in the days before the Cataclysm – and she already had a head start on them. If she found the book the Key was hidden in – the Bespectacled Man wished he could remember who had named that book The Seven Points of Night, but he thought there was something very familiar about its title – then she could open the Gate. And that would bring about the Final Doom. Once that happened, nothing could be done to save what was left. All of it would be reduced to ashes, including – despite her belief that what was imprisoned beyond the Gate would grant her powers beyond imagining – Hel, herself.

The Bespectacled Man – Geoffrey – wanted to stay and see what would happen, but, now that the true Divine Council had been reborn, his time was over. It was his turn, now, to join Aaron – and all the others of their kind who had come before them – in the endless sleep of oblivion. Maybe there was an afterlife – maybe Geoffrey would be reunited with those he cared for the most, as, long ago, before the Cataclysm, he had once believed – but, even if there wasn’t, death, for him, could no longer be avoided. He had done his part, and now, it was time for him to rest.

Before departing into the Void for the last time, Geoffrey took a moment to think about what he had witnessed. Something – he knew not what – had come down and finished Zoe, Thaddeus, and Aylander’s transitions into the beings they had become. A part of that something had felt, to Geoffrey, very much like what was supposed to be imprisoned on the other side of the Gate. But what could it have been? There were no other powers like that one, no other beings. Unless, of course, they had all been wrong.

I guess I’ll never know, Geoffrey thought, taking his spectacles off and putting them into his pocket. He wouldn’t be needing them, anymore.

Turning, Geoffrey stepped back into the Void and pulled the door closed behind him. No one would ever open it, again.