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And there was The Bard again, and Song as well. And even the Lute of Unparalleled Annoyance! The Bard didn't even know how he'd gotten here - Song did, and groomed herself in annoyance. This was the biggest festival ever, bigger than any in all of Om.

But there was still one thing to check on --

The Bard turned his tankard over and sighed; the White Pillar had brought back everything but precious, precious alcohol.

It was touching to hear that. Jericho really had no idea that he had that sort of hold over anyone. A part of him now wondered if... the real him was this mindflayer's...lover? It seemed possible, given the way she was describing what he meant to her.

At the mention of a smile, though, he squinted at her for a few moments. But he soon just laughed and nodded.

"Alright. If you say so."

It seemed that he didn't really have to do much other than simply be here.

It shouldn't be so warm in the darkness, should it? Waves of heat soothed over him, sinking into his flesh and calming him. Did he want to wake? Clearly if he was conscious enough to feel this comforting light, he should be able to open his eyes. But why... it felt nice being here, being asleep.

Only a moment later he fluttered his eyes open anyways, knowing that if he was not dead...well. Clearly there was something worth living for.

Looking around he found himself surrounded by others, looking a little more closely he noticed both Tomo and Erebus, holding hands. That made him quirk a smile. Those two were inseparable the whole time, he was happy for them. At least they had found some form of happiness in this world of mirrors and illusions.

He waved at them both to know that he was indeed safe and sound, turning his eyes to look towards two puppies he knew. One of them Jove... he wasn't scarified apparently, his soul here still lived. Thackery on the other hand, looked his normal self. How would he take being surrounded? Looking back towards Tomo and Erebus, he hoped they would understand he had something to do first before they left.

Approaching Thackery and Jove, Remi stood and waited for them, waiting for his opportunity. He did not feel well breaking up whatever...moment this was, but he needed to say his peace or he would never forgive himself. "Your wrong you know." Remi finally piped up, eyes intent on Thackery. "You never lost anyone, they are still here." Placing a hand on Joves shoulder he gave it a light squeeze to try and drive home a point. "I am not from your world, but the...other me, my look alike, is. The other me is...exactly who you know. He loved you so much, so much that having his memories causes a pain in my chest just thinking about it. He never betrayed you, he would never leave you." He felt something bubbling inside his chest, but he squashed it a instant later, there was no time. "He is still here, they all are. Waiting for you."

Rosy smiles as she gets the small hug from Riley. She wanted to say something, but was unable to. She didn't have words, so instead, before Riley left her, she just returns the small hug, It was short and sweet, and even that about broke the poor girl. Closing her eyes, she takes a deep breath as she turns to continue her search.

She found a few more people that made her chuckle. The Queen, and her friend. Levi and Westus, she believe that was what they were called. She didn't want to bother them, even just to give them both hugs. She wouldn't forget them, the young woman, she she wanted to have the strength she had. Maybe if she did, this wouldn't be so hard. And the young man, something about him, just made her smile.

If only, she got a chance to stay around alittle longer....

Looking away, her eyes finally settle on the one person she was looking for "Spinar.." she held her breath as she moves towards him. Next to him, was a young girl, she didn't know her. Chewing on her bottom lip, she placed her hands at her side for a moment, just watching before she lowers them.

Could she honestly do this?

She knew she could, but she just didn't want to say goodbye to him. They known each other their whole lives. He knew her at her worse, and her best. She laughed with him, she cried being held by him. And now...now...she just wished she could have more time.

Taking in a slow deep breath, she stepped a few more steps, only paused just right behind him.

Erintis blinked, she was dead, she had failed but now she was there breathing living. The pillar had given her another chance frowning slightly she moved to the edge of the group and just watched. There was so much that she needed to do and she knew there was very little time for it. But for now, she could watch and be happy with the little time she had left.

Separated. It was certainly a nicer way to think of things than the one he kept coming back to. He wasn't sure he quite believed her words were true, but they were still nice. Westus tried to envision the other young man who shared his face and got to touch this girl whenever he wanted. He thought about fighting with her and the way he felt when she... there. When she touched him back. Maybe he and this other West were really the same after all.

"Okay," he said. "I'm going home then." As long as she remembered her time here, as long as he existed in this... boil she loved, he wouldn't truly be gone, right? "And no matter how you look at things, my—" He paused, folding his arms across his chest and frowning for a second. "Any way you look at it, you certainly made things interesting. Levi." He squeezed his arms a little closer. It was a small comfort. "I am glad to have met you."

The first thing Aymet saw was darkness. Just an endless void, and emptiness not unlike the one that had consumed the tower and the whole world. So this was the end for such creatures as himself. Funny, it wasn't what he had expected at all.

He would have closed his eyes again if not for the shimmer at the corner of his vision. A huge wall, of perfect glass, rose up beside him. Foggy and opaque, impossible to see beyond. It repelled his touch, and sent him stumbling backward.

He tried to get his bearings here, in this nothingness. Someone stood behind him, eyes closed. A twisted reflection of himself - or perhaps the one who had cast him. Pale as the dead of the Violet Kingdom, all skin and bones, and plain. Just a child, really. The faintest glimmer of light came from the pendant around their neck, growing steadily brighter with every minute.

So this was the real him. The one he had been expected to die for. There was a pang of jealousy. Somewhere there was a world where this Aymet got to live, while the King remained here, trapped and forgotten. What would happen to him, when the dreamer awoke? Even after every warning, the Black King could not prepare himself for the weight of the truth. He was just a fragment, and so was everyone he had ever known. But if he was a fragment, he was part of a greater whole. Whatever that made him, he suspected that even in death he would not be forgotten so easily.

He couldn't help himself. He had to reach out, and understand-

The dreamer awoke.

"You..." They seemed to lock eyes for a moment, eerily, but the other began to move forward and through him as if he wasn't even there. To reach out toward the glass, shifting his weight and sending cracks spiderwebbing across the surface. "What are you doing?"

There was no answer. Why should there be? He was so faint, so powerless here. The other him paid him no mind, and soon the cracks deepened into fissures, shards beginning to rain down. When the whole thing finally burst forth from the center the skeletal double stood there, as if in a daze, like a sleepwalker. The gateway beckoned, and he passed through.

"No, you cannot leave-!" Aymet rushed to the makeshift doorway as if his life depended on it. There was no one on the other side, not even a hint there had ever been save for the broken glass. He darted through the puncture in the glass and found only void there, as the last few broken pieces of the opaque crystal fell to earth. Not even the wall remained now.

The Black King pursed his lips but did not waste his breath yet. His hands balled into fists, but there was nothing to take his rage out on. In his final moments he had been robbed of everything. The Voice had lied to him, and to the others. There was no True King. They were all indeed nothing more than the reflections of glass, fragments of others, kings of dreams and nothing more.

As the seconds passed he waited for an end that did not come. He was just as solid, as real, as he had always been. Punished by the Voice for his failure. All he had were memories, of all that he had lost, to comfort and torment him. His people, his kingdom, his Moon. They lived on only in his mind now. Alone, in the end; alone, in the darkness. To wait for all eternity in silence.

Painfully, agonizingly alive.

"No," spoke an unfamiliar voice, everywhere and nowhere. A bright light and a commanding presence, like the Voice before it. Accursed thing. "You were alone."

He turned to follow it, the bright pillar. There was nothing he wanted more than answers now, explanations for why he was here and how he could escape, but he had little to bargain on but try to find whoever had followed him into this darkness. There, in the distance, behind him - a door? Cautiously he approached, and it seemed to acknowledge him. It warped, transparent, until he could see through to the other side.

They were there. They were all there. His people alive again, whole, Shadows once more unto the end. What did they wait for...? If it was a trick, it was by far the cruelest. But Aymet had nothing else here, now, or forever, and if the end lay on the other side, at least it would be among his soldiers. A true warrior's ending.

He reached out, and pushed through.