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End of An Era
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There is a legend throughout all of the UnderCurrent's long histories - A story bent and moulded to different cultures and lands, yet always present in every era. A story of 'Three Keys' - Beings of power, kindness or sometimes the ability to move the world itself.
Some believe this a self perpetuating myth, a simple act of sorting history into convenient coincidences - Others truly believe that in every generation, there are three born with the power to change everything given the right circumstances.
But like all things, myth long ago died away, in the age of technology where even space is conquered, what room is there for simple folktales?
The following is said to be an account, the final known conversation of the last two keys thought to of existed or to of atleast been remembered by history. How something like this could of possibly been recorded, whether it is mere fiction or bears seeds of truth - And if these truly were the last two keys to have ever lived - We will probably never know:
The air is filled with the stench of the end. The two figures stand alone atop a small rise in the land, the sky behind them a startling shock of magenta, the ground around them long since scorched and ashen.
There is a seemingly endless moat around the two, a sea of 10,000 blackened corpses, disfigured and unnatural - Some are large and animistic, others small, impish - All pertain near no features but sharp claws and piercing metallic eyes.
The two women at the centre, stand back to back with poise and practised grace. One once the shade of strawberry red, the other of ocean blue - Both colours now long since faded from both their outfits and hair, left only as sparse streaks amongst the sea of silver flowing locks that make up their braided hair.
They carry weapons, worn and chipped - Yet loyal and defiant. The silver haired warriors look young and steadfast, yet beneath their grace lies the hints of a prolonged life filled with endless strife.
"How many waves is that now?"
"Thi- Thirty three, I think."
"Good, good. That should be enough right? Any more and they'll start re-growing, right now there should be just enough for the regular forces to finish them off when we're gone. Heh, guess we did something heroic in the end - Had we left 34 waves behind us, a whole country might of fallen!"
"I- I still believe we did lots of good."
"Maybe, maybe not. End of the day none of this would of 'appened if we didn't exist."
"We couldn't of known that...."
"Is that really the truth? There were signs, we just ignored them - Who wants to believe stuff like this happens to real people, it sounds like some silly twist in a book. 'All along the aliens only attacked because the hero's protecting against them, were also what attracted them', but life is cliched like that ain't it?
She realised it though didn't she, that's why she did it, to cope with the guilt - Took her own lif--"
"Don't say it like that! You make it seem so flippant..."
"....... Ya, sorry. But ya' know it really should of been our biggest clue eh? For so many years the three of us together fought the monsters, always just barely scraping a victory from defeat - And then, when our leader, strongest of us dies - The two of us alone are suddenly enough to keep holding the line, almost as though..."
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"As though the monsters have always been balanced to match the number of us..."
"Ya. All these years since her passing and we've ignored the real 'key' av'ent we? The monsters decreased when she died, so if we were gone for good - The monsters themselves would also stop. No more bloodshed, no more innocents dead. No more fighting endlessly."
"We had hope, we didn't do it maliciously."
"Hope, hope is one hell of an anaesthesia."
"They say St.Aardig could of been a key, and that she simply left one day, escaped."
"But did she really? All our research would suggest the keys each face something different, we've had this endless force of monsters rampant on destroying us and everything around us - While Aardig, she slowly lost herself. Her personality, emotions, everything leaving her a husk. Did she really escape when she was being hunted from the inside out? Meanwhile we got 'blessed' with never aging, always ready to be attacked from the outside."
"We didn't ask for this."
"So? Think of all the people who've stood with us, adventures, armies, entire nations! All thinking we were their only hope against the faceless dark! That one day we would eventually overcome it, one day we would break through the curse and defeat them once and for all!"
"... 'Hard work and guts' she used to say."
"But sometimes that just isn't enough, doesn't matter how much you believe in yourself, sometimes it just isn't possible to break reality or whatever this hell is... We just delayed the inevitable, while shedding innocent blood all the way - There was always only one solution to it all."
".....I still love you."
The taller girl who had once owned such brilliant red hair, froze a moment upon hearing those words before letting her weapon fall to the ground with a clatter, and turning to embrace her partner in a passionate hug, their lips locking.
The shorter, once blue haired girl's eyes shot open for second at this before, closing gently and returning the kiss tenderly.
As they finally stood apart from one another, the once red-head grinned brightly, brushing a stray lock of hair out of her partner's eyes; "Of course you do, all these years, decades, and I still love you too - Nothing is changing that."
"I hope we can meet again."
"What like reincarnation? Didn't think your religion spouted that."
"It doesn't I just want to believe we meet again, as other people, or birds or in another place and time - All three of us once more."
"That sounds too kind an idea for a world like this to have in store for us."
"Kind? No I don't think so - To be born again, have to live and suffer all new trials - To die over and over. Not kind at all, but if we could meet again, I think it would be worth it."
"Heh, by that logic we could of already done this, thousands of times even. One of us could of been Aardig in a past life, who knows how long the Keys have been cycling this curse."
"If I was with you again, I wouldn't mind being a key one more time."
"Pah! You're crazy, all this again? No thanks!"
"Even for me?"
"........ Well, maybe."
"Anyway I think, or I guess hope... That it's ending now - They say magic is dying out, that the old races are fading - We two could be the last Magi to exist, the last Keys."
"Wouldn't that be nice. You're right though, I've heard tell that the last dragon is dead, that the Empire's remaining colonies are declaring independence - How many years until technology eliminates what's left of the old world? How many years has the Second Age got left in it, a few hundred maybe? But as for us, I don't know - I think this curse might be immortal."
"Maybe, but we never did find any proof, that any of the other keys are about to do what we are - For all three keys to leave this world, not of disease, not from falling to the monsters - But of their own violation..."
"We could be breaking the cycle after all these millennia, maybe there is some hope."
"I thought you didn't like hope?" The shorter of the two giggled softly.
"I got to meet you and her right? I guess there might be a little, just a little though mind you." The taller grinned back boisterously.
They drew their final breaths and readied for the end - The last of the monsters would indeed soon be beaten - A new day would at last rise, and the Second Age would end, with the Keys thought to be lost forever - Atleast for now.
"I love you."