Gwydion:
And they like us enough to deliberately tear holes in the fabric of spacetime to visit!
"That's not how it works," Irina added still seemingly focused elsewhere. She finally turned and looked at the twins,
"Is it?"
They shook their heads as they looked at their Dad, clearly pleased with his excitement.
---
Euryleia joined in the song along with Eppagelía and noticed that Brun seemed to be unconsciously tapping his fingers in rhythm even though he couldn't hear the music. He was perfectly in sync even when the tempo changed.
---
The afternoon continued with pleasant and amusing company until Agravina suddenly announced, "It is time we must be going. It has been so wonderful to meet you all and experience you as you were, as we are. Please, know that the fight is worth it. Not just for all of us, but for the countless lives that this realm safeguards."
"Don't worry, we'll all be together again upon the Wall. See you soon," Mordwynn added. Their clothing rippled for a brief instant and was suddenly replaced by the armored suits that the group had witnessed the previous day and suddenly the three visitors were gone.
Queen Valerie La Guin's vision was returning, but it was still less than perfect. Sometimes there were artifacts, amorphous shapes that were not really there, in her field of vision. Products of her brain trying to interpret the imperfect signals given to it by her healing eyes. She was surprised, then, when one of those artifacts flicked into existence and proved to be solid as she ran into it.
The artifact, a tall figure, dressed in a scorched flight suit, judging by the texture and smell, was clearly disoriented.
"Val? The Battle! Where's Ember-Rend," the figure asked clearly confused.
"John," gasped Valerie La Guin, as she instantly recognized the voice
"Goddesses, is it really you?"
"Val? What's going on? Is this a dream," the figure asked clearly confused.
"It is for me," she said as the tears fell. She threw her arms around him and for the first time since she lost him, she truly felt alive again.
Brun stood before two figures in shimmering armor, one black, one white. Gleaming faceplates, not unlike the one once worn by his beloved, covered their faces, but he knew them.
"This is the only way. It must be done," he heard his own voice say, weighted with the anguish of certainty.
"The King Must Die."
Brun felt something shift, his own awareness displacing itself through the tides of time.
"The future is not written! Gwydion lives! Now...." He looked at each of his squires as he regained himself and finished.
"...make sure he stays that way." He couldn't see it, but he knew they were both solemn beneath their helms. They understood the importance of their duty. That they had only one opportunity to get it right. In the next instant they vanished.
They reappeared only a heartbeat later. Their faceplates retracted and then two figures became three. Another joined the two young squires standing before their knight. Tall with curly dark hair, they had an androgynous look, both striking and fair.
"Well, you three made short work of that," John Arthur said as he strode out of the dimminess behind Sir Brun and ruffled the girls' hair like the proud great uncle he was. He managed to do the same to Eppagelía who was unable to escape despite knowing that it was coming.
"John," admonished Valerie La Guin, older, though still every inch the warrior queen in stature if not in title.
Brun smiled. The King Must Die. It was the only way. The only path to victory. In every branch, the Dragon exacted an unthinkable toll. Only John Arthur's death was enough to stop Gwydion from being claimed instead. The King Must Die, yes. Or at least come close enough...
Brun stared out the viewport as, one by one, he felt a trillion possibilities collapse into a single one. For the first time in a long time, he was anchored again. Alive only a single moment at a time.
"They've done it. The G.R.A.I.L is made whole. The Final Hour is upon us."
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:37, Tue 07 May.