Monster Age

by GR Griffin

  "Hope remains. Hope that, maybe, both sides were better than that. Hope that someday they could throw aside their differences and unite together as equals. And then there's the last line: true power awaken upon greatest strength's dawn."

  Zeus responded, "I'm sure we're fully versed on that part."

  To which Kanika's face lit aglow – more so than it already was. "A-ha! But you see, while forgiveness was the greatest strength,—" her marvel caught everyone off-guard "—the wish was never the true power."

  Silence ensued. The obvious follow-ups would include "it isn't?" or "what then?" The not-so-obvious follow-up brewed within the complex intellect that was Papyrus: "If a train leaves a station carrying ninety-two passengers and travels north by north-west for three hours and twenty four minutes at one hundred and eighty one miles per hour…

  Before any of those could come to fruition, Kanika answered everything except the train dilemma.

  "The true power… it lies inside all of you." She gestured to everyone, young and old alike. "Don't you see? You didn't need the wish to make the world a better place, you all contain the power to make it better yourselves." She pointed randomly to the crowd. "You! You! You! Each and every one of you! You all can make the world wonderful. Beautiful. If you believe that you can, believe in yourselves, then you can achieve more than a better world – you can achieve anything! This is exactly what Kanika's been waiting for – I can feel it! She's proud. I think she's finally at peace."

  Among those monsters were those who fought under the banner of the Empire, who donned argent armour and waved their flags, and those who sought to undermine them, those of the Rebellion. Together, they saw each other no longer as foes, but reflections of themselves; lives trying to live; people with loved ones, problems, and eases.

  A series of events from the past week flicked through Zeus's memories. Something snagged. "You don't suppose everything leading up to this point was meant to happen, do you?" he asked.

  "I don't know. All I do know for certain is that you three—" she pointed to Zeus, then Fleck, and then Asriel "—were the only people to hear my voice."

  The only three. The monster who found the Outerworld, then found it in himself to forgive those who wronged him, ending a cycle of revenge which led nowhere. She called out to him, feeling the great loss which ruptured his soul, turned his entire life inside out.

  The human who survived the Underground, then survived the Outerworld, and changed the Universe. Kanika, before Fleck was abducted, heard the echo in their soul. A grievance for the one they couldn't save.

  The flower whom the wish was used on; the boy who strived to give every story its happy ending, at the cost of his own. She felt nothing at all, but a vast emptiness. A yearning for more. She spoke and filled that void with her echo.

  That couldn't have been a coincidence.

  "So now it's over," Zeus said. "Are we expected to get home by ourselves now? How are we going to manage that?"

  Kanika responded confident with, "Like this."

  The once invisible barrier surrounding the seven islands, reducing the sun into its pink shield, began to shimmer into crystal. The shine expanded out, flowing around the lands, the ruins, and the people itself. Family, friends and strangers expected the worse as the castle ruins faded and their homes evaporated, yet not a bump or an earthshattering rumble frightened them. Before they knew it, the ground had crumbled into a soft, grainy substance. The warm texture curved around soles and between toes.

  Sand? Had they been whisked to the Oasis? To the paradise of its powder beach and clean water? No. This sand was different. Harsher. Grittier. Warmer.

  The barrier faded. The sands stretched far to the north and south as the eastern horizon lay level and in a concoction of blue and gold. The surroundings had vanished along with the borders which comprised the seven islands. There was no Highkeep Enclave, or Bob, or Oasis, or Rocklyn. The one remaining thing which resembled home was the Obelisk, slanted slightly in the sand.

  Juhi was stunned. "Wait… this beach. Do you recognise it?" he asked his son, tugging at his elbow. "I swear we've been here once before."

  Zeus gazed at the ocean, then swung to the land, to the cluster of trees not too far away. "Yes, I do." He saw past to the shape of the horizon. The pattern within the terrain. The shade of green in the grass. "I sat at the very edge of that forest over there when I was…"

  Six years old.

  "This is where it all began," Kanika explained. "Home. I feel… I feel Kanika wished to see this place one last time before she died. Maybe I've been carrying that same dream ever since. If so, she can rest easy now."

  The barrier surrounding the thousands of monsters began to falter and dwindle, fading in an out of reality, revealing brief glimpses of the skies true nature. Hundreds and thousands of living creatures packed onto the large beach, disorientated and staring at the flickering around them, wondering what was going to happen the second it ended.

  Kanika went on. "It's nearly time." Her voice went to every ear. "In a few moments, the last traces of magic will run dry and the Outerworld will be no more. Which means its power will no longer sustain any of you. You'll all start aging normally again." She paused. "And the Grey Ones… Well…"

  Silent glances fell from Kanika to those ashen. Juhi, Danyell, Eden, Rex, Dunmore, Rita's parents, and a ton more lives locked between life and death.

  Danyell gazed up in awe. His arms slack in an expression many would call inappropriately calm for a time like this. "Could it be…?" he said no louder than a breath. He had dreamed of this moment for far too long. "Could it really be?"

  Overseer Eden straightened his protruding straws, rubbing off excess ash in the process. This was what death's door looked like, and he wanted to be as dignified as he could be in his undead condition.

  "This moment," he said, clairvoyant, "has been long overdue."

  "It's about time…" Dunmore remarked after having said enough, seen enough, and done enough. As a young cauldron, he was terrified at having his life cut short, having all his hopes dashed by the whims of others. It took him a long time to realise the terrors which laid in the opposite, of not dying. He had lived far beyond his boundaries, continued to walk and talk and think long after his body rusted and his mind weakened little by little. Now, he wanted nothing more than to sleep forever.

  Somewhere in his madness, Rex stumbled upon the last rational thought he had. His perpetual aggressiveness drifted away, and he stood as calm as a stream.

  "Rex… finally die…"

  Rita turned to her parents. She had lost them so long ago for them to return in the worst possible fashion. She felt great pain; her parents felt it throbbing like a festering wound. The discomfort for the state they were in mingled with pain for losing them once, coupled with the sudden prospect of losing them a second time, was too much to bear.

  "You're-you're goin' away now?" she dared to ask, afraid of the answer she knew was coming.

  Her mother glanced down at her wrist, envisioning the silver watch she wore since her daughter was ten.

  "It's awfully late… pet…" she said as tired as someone who had too much party wine, and eager to get home to bed.

  "Yes, dear…" Rita's pa answered. "We should… be going now…"

  Rita's head shook in denial. On one hand, she did not want them to leave her again; but, on the other, just seeing them like that was in itself torture. Her parents, caught in this cycle of undying, their minds weathered on whetstones. Rita wasn't even sure if they recognised her as the woman standing before them there or the child they cared for.

  She pulled them together close; her parents were there, but not there at the same time. Alive but dead. Sane but insane. Aware of reality and stuck in a fantasy land all at the same time. The brief traces of which she could call Ma and Pa, she latched onto those, cherishing them as the minutes dwindled away.

  Sam was at Rita's side, his hardened wrappings held her softly. He struggled to look, and str
uggled harder on what to say. "Rita… Honey…"

  "I don't know what I want. I don't want you to leave me again…" Rita choked. "But… I can't stand to see you like this." She stammered. "I don't know."

  Whether her parents held her now as she was, or as the toddler with the soiled pinafore and scraped knees, Rita would never know nor would she care. In some inane hope, she believed that she held the people who brought her into this world. The same way they held their daughter, Rita, one last time.

  As his own doom closed in, it was not himself who Juhi was concerned about. "What about you?" he asked Kanika's missing link.

  She answered on a sombre note. "I am one with its magic." She looked at her starry hands. "Once it goes… I go, too."

  "Are you afraid of what will happen next?"

  "Are you?" she threw right back.

  Juhi gazed at the sun; the first time he had seen it like that in a while, destined to be his last. "I learned the hard way that some things are worse than death. I've lived far too long to be afraid. In some strange way, I think I've earned this. I think we all have. I can leave this world behind now, knowing it's in good hands."

  "You and me both. Despite all I've seen, I do wonder what the next world holds."

  "Then let's find out. Together."

  One corner of Kanika's lips rose. She switched from the sun, to Juhi, then back, carrying some of that natural sunlight with her look at the previous emperor. She had spent far too long watching other people's adventures play out from start to finish. Now it was time for an adventure of her own, and it lay out there across the water.

  The barrier crystallised its strongest – metaphorically breathing its dying breath – before the entire wall began to crack and shatter, starting from above and working its way down. The field keeping them in and the world out diminished, and crumbled into shards which fizzled into twinkling stars. Behind it, the diluted sky saturated, contrasting vibrant colours of orange to red, red to violet, violet to indigo, indigo to navy. When it was all gone, the full force of the real world slammed into those thousands of souls.

  The Outerworld citizens gazed out across the ocean, from its blue roots to its golden petals on the horizon, made valuable by the setting sun, large and orange. The lapping of the ocean. The hint of salt in the humidity. For the first time, they saw the outside world without the looking glass, witnessing true colour, sight and smell.

  It was like General Juhi was a young man again, back at the start. He stood there exactly how he stood in a time long forgotten, believing his life to be over. The rays on his body. Sand beneath his feet. Wind in his hair. Never before had he felt so alive.

  They forgot about everything; every trace of evil in the world, for one moment, and basked in this dusk.

  "It's beautiful…" Danyell said, giving the overseer a nudge on the arm. "Glad we got to see it again."

  "Indeed…" Eden replied. "One last time."

  Danyell, the proud scout – wounded during the war and lived long above the clouds – sighed with relief as a gentle breeze carried him away. His body flaked away molecule by molecule until he was but ashes in the wind. Overseer Eden remained distinguished, back straight, hands meeting behind back, as his dusty matter joined Danyell's, leaving a few straws where he last stood.

  The strength of natural sunlight made Rex fell very sleepy. He hunched down onto all fours, crawled around in circles a few times, stretched his back straight from his neck to the tip of his tail, and then curled up on the warm sand.

  Half asleep, the sun was the last thing he saw. He mumbled his farewell to the world: "Nighty… night…"

  At last, he found sleep.

  Dunmore sat down and rolled on the natural curve in his back. He had no last words, or regrets either. He gazed up at the multi-coloured sky, looking back on his life, remembering the good times before the wind carried him away.

  Rita's dusty parents in the direct sunlight was the future they could have had. Sam held his wife just as how her parents held each other.

  "Time… for us to go, dearie," Rita's father announced. "Take care of yourself…"

  "And Sam, darling…" the mother said, gesturing her featureless head his way. "You take care of Ritie… you hear…?"

  Sam nodded. "I will. I promise."

  Rita wiped at her glowing eyes. "I'm gonna miss you…"

  Even though she couldn't see it, Rita knew they were smiling.

  "Knock 'em dead, Ritie," her mother said. "Love you. Always."

  Together, in each other's arms, Rita's parents remained unified as their bodies crumbled, carted off into the air. She watched unblinking as those figures became unrecognisable above, becoming one with the mist.

  Each and every member of the ash gave their final goodbyes to their loved ones as the last remnants of magic piecing them together ran out. Monsters crumbled after bidding their farewells, between embraces, and after sharing final words of wisdom:

  'Follow your soul.' 'Wash behind your ears – all four of them.' 'Be in bed by eight.' 'Love means never having to say you're sorry, except when it isn't.' The usual riffraff.

  Before their dust danced in the air, the looks on all those grey faces were not that of sadness, but of joy, happiness. It was written: this was not a moment of despairing, but of rejoicing. The tears which cried for their loss also cried for their freedom, and for the memories they shared.

  Kanika felt it in her atoms. She was not constructed of dust, yet those gone beckoned her name; a space amongst them reserved just for her. An invitation to join them on their final journey. How could she refuse such an offer?

  "The journey may be long, but I'm almost there, Kanika," the final shred of hope stated to herself, reaching out to the body she had been subjugated from. "I'll find you." One by one, her stars floated upwards, joining the twinkling ash in the wind. "I just know I'll find you."

  As the magic ceased, so did she. Her stars dispersed and joined the swirling ash above.

  The numbers dwindled one after the other until a single soulless figure of dust was left. Juhi. He watched as his comrades swerved around and around above, waving and flowing to no obvious pattern or any rhyme. An unpredictable flow of knots and diamonds, weaving in and out.

  "They're waiting for me," he said. "I better not keep them any longer."

  As he glanced back down, he discovered that not only was Zeus there to say goodbye, but also Barb, Haze, Rickard, and Leigh.

  The bounty hunter was first up, hands clenched together as if in prayer. "Hey, Juhi," she said, sounding small for someone of her reputation. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to say goodbye the first time."

  "That's quite alright," Juhi replied. "Be glad you're here to say it now. You've got a bright future ahead of you. Get out in the sunlight more. Meet new people. Wear something a little less… constrictive. You'll do fine out there." His outlined eyes scanned the features of those he called his allies, comrades, and aged friends – Haze a little older from the last time he saw him. "You'll all do."

  Uncharacteristically, Professor Haze graced his old friend with a good-natured chuckle. "Knowing my future," he said, "I'll be seeing you again sooner than you think."

  "I most likely won't be that far behind," Leigh, the tiger general, added before massaging his neck.

  "Then I expect to hear some extraordinary stories from both of you later," Juhi said. He saw them not in the pink shade thanks to the protective field, but under pure light. He had never seen them in such colour – such vibrancy. He scarcely recalled seeing such in the Dark Ages, back when he had real eyes. "Thank you both for everything. For your innovations, and your dedication to the military. I couldn't have asked for better allies."

  Haze hobbled forward on his walking stick and shook hands with the man he knew from the start. "Until we meet again, your highness."

  Juhi chuckled as he detected a hint of deadpan in that pronunciation of your highness.

  "It's been a pleasure while it lasted," Leigh said, and shook the same hand
which Haze shook.

  Finally, it came time to Rickard to say his peace. However, on his cue, he refrained from speaking. He appeared empty without his trademark pad and pen, which should be taking notes on this momentous occasion: the day the Outerworld went free.

  "You know, Rickard," Juhi said, "I think your talents were wasted on note duty."

  Rickard, after hearing that, snapped his chin up. Whether he should he be humbled or insulted by that remark, he could not tell.

  He continued. "You're better than you think. You're one of the bravest souls I've ever met in my life. But you don't believe it yourself." He pointed to him, almost tapping the tip of Rickard's nose. "I want you to start believing, Rickard. Get out there into the real world and make something of yourself. I know you can."

  Rickard's mouth opened. The albino rat had something to say. "My Lord. Thank you. For everything."

  It did not sound like much. However, to Juhi, it meant everything.

  The dying lion said, "Make yourself proud."

  Particles began to flake off Juhi's body, rising like embers in flame, the steam off of hot springs. His life fading away contained such an unusual, fascinating beauty.

  "Dad, I…" Zeus was slouched, switching back and forth between the ground and him before settling on the ground. "I wish I could have saved you."

  Juhi smiled. "You already have," he said before taking a few steps back. "Goodbye, everyone. Goodbye, my son."

  As Juhi diminished, joining the rest of his kind, he couldn't take his eyes off his son.

  "That's my boy…" He stretched his hand toward Zeus and said it proudly. His voice so cracked it belonged to a weeping man. "That's my boy, right there!"

  In that moment, it struck the Emperor. He couldn't hold himself back any longer.

  He rushed forward, reaching out. "Dad!"

  Hand outstretched, he reached where his mighty father stood and grabbed empty air. The tall, imposing frame of the late Emperor Juhi faded away in the wind and became one with the storm which eclipsed the dying day.