[The months pass into years into decades into centuries, and the world becomes a little different. Rolance and Hyland's peace turns into a complete unification, which they've experienced before, as is written deep in the dark crevices of the history books. A Shepherd quells the resulting malevolence.
A great library is built in Ladylake. It burns down when a country from across the sea invades and sacks the city. A Shepherd calms the small calamity, and the invaders become immigrants. There are more and more Shepherds now, and it becomes a reasonable goal for children to aspire to. Some live unfortunately short lives but all of them succeed at their job thanks to Lailah's guidance.
Children are born in a village outside Elysia, and they learn to see seraphim as Sorey did.
Mikleo writes like his last day will be tomorrow. Some of his books seem more like memoirs to Sorey, about their journey or about the events that have transpired since his sleep. Some are drier, more historical texts. There is one book he writes under a pseudonym, and only one, but it becomes wildly popular and inspires everything from paintings to plays to music.
It's a book of poetry.
Edna and Zaveid spend time together, but they part ways when it becomes clear that Zaveid no longer wants any part of a sub lord's burden. He's fine just lending Mikleo the support he needs. Sometimes they even go through ruins together, but it's not the same.
And Dezel--
He loves Rose completely, entirely, and they share that bond even when she is a retired Shepherd on her deathbed. Her last breath leaves her and Dezel is the one to take it. He carries it with him. He carries it after the mourners have gone. He takes it to Brad's grave, to Alisha's, to Sorey's altar. Then, unfettered by mortal bonds, he travels the world for a while with her wind in his ear. He never pledges his loyalty to another Shepherd, and he all but disappears from history entirely.
But he isn't gone. Even Dezel has grown to love the world that Rose and Sorey protected. While looking over the newest band of the Sparrowfeathers as they ride down the road, he feels a shift in the wind. It feels warm and familiar, and he isn't sure why. As he turns his head toward the pillar of light at the end of the world, a man with red hair asks, teasingly, why Dezel is making such a strange face.
He goes to check the ruins by himself and leaves Zaveid in his place. A few days' travel is made blissfully short when one can windstep, though it still takes a great number of hours. If Sorey has woken up, he might not remember anything. He might need Dezel there, who has forgotten more than he's ever remembered. He has no way of contacting the others while he's on the run, something that rapidly-advancing technology still hasn't addressed.
That's fine. It might not be anything, anyway.
Maotelus' altar is still as creepy as it ever was, though it's awash with light that he can feel. He steps on a stone and it wobbles, then crumbles into a massive abyss; Dezel decides to windstep across the bridge ahead rather than testing it.]
Someone here?
[Dezel looks much the same as he always has, minus the hat. Zaveid still hasn't given that back, and really, Dezel has accepted it. But his sight hasn't returned and maybe it never will. He's long forgotten what it was like to know the color of his own eyes or the plumage of a bird.
He's feeling a little nervous for some reason, so he calls out with more volume:]
Hey, kids, this isn't the kind of place you want to play around in! It's the sacred territory of the seraphim!
[Ugh. Maybe he'll make a run up to that village and see if any of the kids are missing again. This happens every century or so, and it looks like it's Dezel's turn to fish whoever fell into the ruins out of them.]
no subject
A great library is built in Ladylake. It burns down when a country from across the sea invades and sacks the city. A Shepherd calms the small calamity, and the invaders become immigrants. There are more and more Shepherds now, and it becomes a reasonable goal for children to aspire to. Some live unfortunately short lives but all of them succeed at their job thanks to Lailah's guidance.
Children are born in a village outside Elysia, and they learn to see seraphim as Sorey did.
Mikleo writes like his last day will be tomorrow. Some of his books seem more like memoirs to Sorey, about their journey or about the events that have transpired since his sleep. Some are drier, more historical texts. There is one book he writes under a pseudonym, and only one, but it becomes wildly popular and inspires everything from paintings to plays to music.
It's a book of poetry.
Edna and Zaveid spend time together, but they part ways when it becomes clear that Zaveid no longer wants any part of a sub lord's burden. He's fine just lending Mikleo the support he needs. Sometimes they even go through ruins together, but it's not the same.
And Dezel--
He loves Rose completely, entirely, and they share that bond even when she is a retired Shepherd on her deathbed. Her last breath leaves her and Dezel is the one to take it. He carries it with him. He carries it after the mourners have gone. He takes it to Brad's grave, to Alisha's, to Sorey's altar. Then, unfettered by mortal bonds, he travels the world for a while with her wind in his ear. He never pledges his loyalty to another Shepherd, and he all but disappears from history entirely.
But he isn't gone. Even Dezel has grown to love the world that Rose and Sorey protected. While looking over the newest band of the Sparrowfeathers as they ride down the road, he feels a shift in the wind. It feels warm and familiar, and he isn't sure why. As he turns his head toward the pillar of light at the end of the world, a man with red hair asks, teasingly, why Dezel is making such a strange face.
He goes to check the ruins by himself and leaves Zaveid in his place. A few days' travel is made blissfully short when one can windstep, though it still takes a great number of hours. If Sorey has woken up, he might not remember anything. He might need Dezel there, who has forgotten more than he's ever remembered. He has no way of contacting the others while he's on the run, something that rapidly-advancing technology still hasn't addressed.
That's fine. It might not be anything, anyway.
Maotelus' altar is still as creepy as it ever was, though it's awash with light that he can feel. He steps on a stone and it wobbles, then crumbles into a massive abyss; Dezel decides to windstep across the bridge ahead rather than testing it.]
Someone here?
[Dezel looks much the same as he always has, minus the hat. Zaveid still hasn't given that back, and really, Dezel has accepted it. But his sight hasn't returned and maybe it never will. He's long forgotten what it was like to know the color of his own eyes or the plumage of a bird.
He's feeling a little nervous for some reason, so he calls out with more volume:]
Hey, kids, this isn't the kind of place you want to play around in! It's the sacred territory of the seraphim!
[Ugh. Maybe he'll make a run up to that village and see if any of the kids are missing again. This happens every century or so, and it looks like it's Dezel's turn to fish whoever fell into the ruins out of them.]