CHAPTER 271: BOOK 4: END OF AN ERA

The moment Kauku realizes he's dying, all the fight leaves his body. I suppose he wasn't lying about only being interested in revenge against the other Scions. He doesn't seem to hold much of a grudge against me, for all that I was the one to essentially deal the killing blow here.

We're... separate from the others, in a manner of speaking. When I struck his core and cracked it, I felt his will intertwining with my own, drawing him into his own version of his Soul Realm. Within it, I can see Kauku's physical form, riddled with golden cracks and slowly dissipating.

There's no hostility radiating from him, though. Only a strange sort of tranquility.

"You know," he says. "I think a part of me was hoping that you'd win."

"This would've been a lot easier if you'd listened to that part of you, then." I'm not sure what else to say. It's not like I wanted to kill him—for all the destruction he's wrought, he's at least been fair in his dealings with me.

Granted, he was planning to betray me. But he also made sure I'd stand a fighting chance.

My feelings about all that are kind of confusing, honestly.

Kauku laughs a bit. "That's probably true," he agrees easily, taking a seat on the ground. For the first time, I take a moment to look around—his Soul Realm is quite different from my own. It resembles a lush forest, though the plants and grass and even the sky is nothing like anything I've seen. A lot of the trees are pink, for one thing.

"It's hard to let go of something you've worked toward for so long," he says idly. He brings up a hand, and I watch a strange, black blob float above it, shuddering every so often.

"Is that..." I start to ask, and Kauku nods.

"What remains of that Integrator parasite," he says. "Rhoran. I shook off the last of his influence right after you cracked my core. Sometimes you just need a good beating to get that nastiness out of you, you know?"

"I don't think I do," I say dryly, and Kauku laughs. Then he clenches his fist and shatters it, to my surprise. I watch as lifeless blobs of black ooze drip down through his fingers before being absorbed into the dirt.

"I meant what I said, you know," he says. "I think we could've been friends, if things were just a little bit different."

"But we can't now?" I ask. He chuckles.

"No, I'm quite dead." He doesn't say it with the severity a sentence like that would normally invoke—instead, he's rather matter-of-fact about it. "You weren't holding back with that hit. Critical damage to my core, and the damage is rather irreversible, I'm afraid."

"You said you were just an aspect of the Sunken King."

"That's true." Kauku shrugs. "I am a manifestation of his will, given a being of my own. Once I die, some fragment of my memories and thoughts will return to him. You don't need to worry. He's not going to come after you."

"You seem very sure about that," I say carefully.

"I'm tired," Kauku says. "We're tired, I suppose I should say. And we like you well enough that pursuing you across the universe just to get revenge just doesn't seem worth it, unlike the Scions."

"For what it's worth, if I ever run into them and they're as terrible as you say, I'll probably end up trying to kick their ass," I say dryly. Kauku snorts at that.

"Hah! Now I wish I'd live long enough to see that," he chortles. "Do us a favor and upload your memories into the Interface when you do. I bet my greater self will love that."

"You aren't going to tell me to free him?"

Kauku gives me a considering look. "Right now," he says, "you're not ready for the full might of a Scion. Neither are any of your friends. But if you keep moving along this track, and something tells me that you will, then you will be ready. Very soon. I think my greater self can recognize that it's worth nurturing a talent like that—not to mention all your fellow humans."

"And if we decide to shut down the Interface?" I ask. Kauku looks startled, then bursts out laughing.

"I should've considered that," he says after a moment. "It's not a good idea. I know what you're saying and why, but if you shut it down, you're going to unleash... well, me. And as much as I say I'm not your enemy, you can't wake what lies beneath all Firmament without breaking many, many things. Even if I'm careful, it's going to shatter more cores than I think either of us want.

"Mind you, if you really want to do it, I'm not going to stop you." He shrugs again. "That's why you're here, after all. Consider it a... gift, for my protegé."

I raise an eyebrow. "A gift after I killed you?"

"Frankly, that's tame in the politics of the wider universe. You'll see." Kauku grins at me. "I'm sure you've realized that I have more control over the Interface than those Integrators do."

"Because a part of you is the Interface."

"Yes, well." Kauku lifts a hand, and after a moment, a glimmering key manifests in it—a mixture of gold and silver and the light-blue glow of the Interface. I eye it as he holds it out to me, then hesitantly take it from him. "Now that burden is yours. You'll do a better job with it than me, I'm sure."

"What exactly do you want me to do with this?" I ask, holding the key gingerly. He just grins.

"Whatever you want," he says. "I hardly think you'd listen if I gave you some final task to complete, would you?"

I snort. "Probably not."

"Exactly. This is a gift, Ethan. Or a reward, I suppose, for defeating me. Do what you want. End the Trials. Make the Interface available to anyone that wants it. Make Integration a voluntary thing. You get the idea." He waves a hand.

"This gives me full control," I say, eyeing the key with interest. "I can lock the Integrators out of their Interface with this?"

"Oh yes." Kauku grins. "If you're going to do that, I almost wish I'd be alive long enough to see the looks on their faces."

"Hah." I hesitate for a moment. I'm not sure what I was expecting when he brought me into his soul, but it wasn't this. It's strange to be talking so casually to one another after such a desperate battle, and it's even stranger when I was the one to deal the killing blow.

He's consistent, though, I'll give him that. He holds a grudge against the other two Scions and nothing else—in his mind, it was perfectly reasonable for me to want to stop him. I sigh. "It feels weird saying this, but... thank you. I think."

"You're welcome," Kauku says. He seems to contemplate something for a moment, and then his expression turns a little more serious. "I hope you realize, though, that the universe is far more dangerous than you might think. The fight isn't over just because you've beaten me."

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It's not exactly a surprise, given everything I've learned. I smile faintly and shrug. "When is it ever?"

"Good question." Kauku chuckles, leaning back into the grass. "I can't help you against what's coming for obvious reasons. What I can do is share all the memories I have about the wider universe. Some of it is going to be a little outdated, but it's better than nothing—and if you're ending the Trials, you're going to need to be prepared."

"I feel like I'm going to regret asking, but... why?"

"For the same reason a scientist might check on an experiment if they receive an alert that something has changed," Kauku says evenly. "Those other two Scions are probably lording the power of Firmament all over their fellows in the wider universe. If anything about it changes, they're going to know. And knowing you, things are definitely going to change."

"They already have," I point out. To my surprise, Kauku bursts out laughing.

"Indeed," he says. "I suppose it is an inevitability, at this point. But you should have plenty of time still. Knowing them, those lazy bastards are going to take years to realize anything is wrong, even if you do something drastic. Things go wrong with Integration all the time, and with the sort of timescales we Scions operate at..."

He shrugs. "You might have decades. Maybe more than a century, if both of them happen to be in seclusion, but that's stretching things a bit far."

"I'll need to prepare for them either way," I say.

"You will need to prepare the galaxy," Kauku corrects. "There are dangers out there that even my greater self would not dare contend with. If you wish for your home to survive first contact, it must be prepared, and you will need every ally you can muster."

"You're giving me advice on getting allies, now?" I raise an eyebrow. Kauku smirks.

"I suppose there's a certain irony to that," he says. "This galaxy remains a home and a prison to my greater self. I would prefer not to see it destroyed, especially if I'm not going to benefit from it."

"How noble of you," I say dryly. He's got a point, though. If the other Scions are as strong as he says...

"One more thing," Kauku says. He tosses a green, flickering orb at me, and I snag it out of the air, frowning. It feels strangely familiar, though it takes me a second to place it.

Teluwat's Talent.

"Consider it a final gift," he says. He looks amused by the look of disgust I'm giving it. "Use it well. Or don't, I suppose. It's of no concern to me. If you plan to destroy it, though, I suggest you examine the Transcendence Protocol first."

"You can't just explain what it is?"

"Oh, I'm about to." Kauku grins. I realize what he's about to do a moment before he does it and scowl.

The Sunken King, it seems, cannot handle goodbyes. Or at least this aspect of him can't. We're sitting in a fragment of his soul, so he can't quite hide his own fear of death from me, no matter how good a front he tries to put up.

He's sharing his memories with me, just like he promised. Flooding me with them, really, a split second before he lets his fear of death get the better of him. Presumably because he doesn't want to be seen as someone scared and broken. As someone mortal.

So I borrow a little trick from Gheraa. He'd managed to send me a tiny fragment of his being, once—a vestige of his personality, constructed from Firmament and imbued with his memories so he could guide me on the nature of the Integrators and Firmament. I don't have as much time as he did, of course, but then I don't need it; all I need is to splinter off a tiny fragment of my soul.

That way, at least, Kauku won't have to die alone.

Then I let the memories sweep me away in a flood of information, telling me everything I need to know about the greater universe and all the dangers that lie therein.

When I wake, I'm still not back in reality, but I'm not in Kauku's core, either. I know this because everything around me is a shifting kaleidoscope of colors and solidified time, and because there's a very familiar presence sitting in front of me, smiling.

"I must say I'm impressed, Ethan," Hestia says. "I did not think the second timeline would turn out so well."

"Why am I here?" I ask. She gestures to the cracks in front of me.

"Because there is one last thing that must be settled before you can be returned to the normal flow of time," she says. "Your timeline—the only one of its kind—is now the prime timeline. But there are many people that exist in these dying pockets of time, in the former Trials. I assumed you might want to retrieve them."

"I can do that?" I ask, sitting up straight.

"Not for everyone," Hestia says, her words gentle. "Only where events have been rewritten, at the end of every pocket of time. You cannot use this to bring back your friends without also altering time in your own pocket of reality, and you know the consequence that would bring. But the Trialgoers of the past, and the former, repaired versions of the Great Cities... they can be restored, if you so wish.

"Only be aware of this: the people of Hestia have grown from many of the catastrophes they have dealt with, and to remove them all would be to move the planet backward. I ask for your help here in stitching together one history, one final truth, of a planet that has been lost in time."

"Must I do it on my own?" I ask after a moment. Hestia eyes me, then smiles.

"No," she says. "Who would you wish to help?"

I don't hesitate. "Everyone we can get."

Hestia smiles and waves her hand—

—and one by one, Trialgoers from past to present appear. Many of the people of Hestia, too, though not the entire planet's worth of people. Mostly just the ones I've met. Tarin and Mari, the rebels of Isthanok, the Hestian Trialgoers...

There's quite a lot of chaos and confusion at first, but where we are, time is variable. It takes both an eternity and an instant to get it all sorted out, and once it's done, we begin to stitch together a final history for the planet of Hestia.

One last chance to get it all right. They realize the stakes, I think. They're talking to one another instead of trying to force the changes they think are best—it helps that Hestia herself is here. No one can use skills or fight in this space dominated by her presence. They're pretty much just forced to talk.

Guard, Gheraa, and Ahkelios join me as I watch them, and I give them a small smile.

"What do you guys think?" I ask.

Guard is silent for a moment. "I had not dared to believe such a chance to rebuild was possible," he says. "I am... grateful, Ethan. Thank you."

"This is going to take forever," Ahkelios says, although he doesn't seem to mind. He's smiling a bit, even. "At least they're talking, though. You think we can visit Inveria after this?"

"Definitely," I say. I glance at Gheraa, who stares out at the crowd with something akin to wonder. "What about you, Gheraa?"

"I think..." Gheraa says, and then he shrugs, hiding his smile. "I think they'll figure it out. What about you?"

I survey the cracks slowly being sealed. "Whatever happens isn't going to be perfect," I say slowly. "But... it's going to be better. And more importantly, you know, it's not like the world is going to end anymore."

Gheraa chuckles. "Well, not yet. We haven't even dealt with the Integrators yet."

I roll my eyes. "Problem for the future," I say. "Right now, well... I think things are going to turn out okay. And that's good, isn't it?"

"Best we could ask for," he agrees. He reaches out tentatively, wrapping his hand around mine and squeezing. "Thank you, by the way. For bringing me back."

"And me," Ahkelios says, snagging my other hand.

"And me," Guard adds, resting a mechanical one on my shoulder.

I laugh. "What are you guys trying to do, restrain me?" I ask. None of them answer, and it takes me a moment before I realize they are, in fact, holding on pretty tightly. Not so tightly that I couldn't escape if I wanted, but...

Gheraa manifests a beanbag out of Firmament. "You," he says, "are going to rest. It's over. You can let everyone else handle things, for once."

"But—hey!" I start to protest, but at this point they're all dragging me down into the beanbag, and I don't have the heart to resist them.

Now that I think about it, I am pretty tired. I don't remember how long I've been going. It feels like things haven't stopped happening since the Ritual backlash in the Sewers—even the tiny break we had in the Empty City was done with the threat of Kauku hanging over our heads, and then I'd had to figure out a way to get the entire city inside my soul.

"A break does sound nice," I finally admit.

"Good," Gheraa says, sounding just a little bit relieved. "Let's just watch for a bit. This is their planet, after all; it should be their show."

"The people of Hestia can decide for ourselves what our true history should be," Guard agrees, although he makes no move to join them. He notices me looking and offers a surprisingly human-like shrug. "I find myself more and more certain that my place is by your side. I will have to speak to Harmony, of course, but I believe more than anyone, he wishes to see what other worlds may have to offer."

"Which means it's time to reminisce!" Ahkelios cheers. "We still haven't talked about what Hestia told us, you know. Was she saying the reason everything is so different is because you met me?"

His eyes are practically gleaming with pride. I laugh. "Small changes lead to big things, I guess," I say, ruffling his antennae affectionately. "And us humans aren't really made to be alone, you know? Let's not get too sentimental yet, though. There's a whole timeline that needs to be rebuilt."

"Are you saying we'll have time to get sentimental after?" Gheraa jokes.

I roll my eyes. "Maybe if you're good."