The Avengers gathered in a great clearing of flowing golden grasses, carved by Strom's power. A beautiful clear stream meandered through the field and disappeared into a forest of pristine green trees. As they began to rebuild the world, the world began to come alive, and that life began to work against what Death had wrought. Not everywhere was so beautiful; there was still so much work to be done. But they would see it through. Bodies scared and whipped by the horrors of the Dark Reign now felt the cool rains and the warm sun. Hands calloused and made strong by the feel of iron and steel now joined together in friendship. Arms that once held back the tides of war now held up wood and stone, and rebuilt the world.
They stood together, Avengers no longer. They were now caretakers of the fledgling world, gardeners and shepherds. The former Avengers stood in the field with those most scared by Samhain; with Genesis Primus, Arahon Alpha, Uriel Seraphor, Castiel Cherubei, and Rhea Ophania. This great group, Avengers and avenged, would guide the world on its path. Hyperion had gathered them in that beautiful field so they would understand that fact.
The white knight slowly descended from the sky and smirked inwardly as they turned all their attention towards him. His cape flowed majestically behind him. The sun struck him and cast its brilliant light over his armor. As the White Hand of God Herself, he struck an imposing sight.
He certainly knew how to make an entrance.
Hyperion stepped forward and nodded to them, and he saw the anticipation in their eyes. What did they think of his request to join him in this field? He who was so stoic and silent...what did his comrades think of him now? Now that he had been made whole, who was he? Thanatos had been made part of him in those final moments. The pieces that had languished in darkness and were twisted by Samhain's voice had been purified and Hyperion was made whole by his own hand.
"Greetings," Hyperion said. "I asked you all here for there is much to discuss, and we have been separated of late. The world requires our attention now more than ever, but even we need a moment of respite."
"So you brought us here for a vacation?" Ajax half-joked. "Why, Hyperion, that's almost friendly of you." Rhea elbowed the knight in the side and he shut up with a huff. "Osiris isn't here, is he?"
"No," said Kairi. "I haven't seen him in quite some time. I think--I think he broke. This was all too much for him. Too many died under his watch."
"He understands now," said Ajax. "When I spoke to him of the burdens of leadership...now Osiris understands. The full impact of your inadequacy does not strike during war. Only during peace do you realize the full weight of your failures. It is the most difficult thing in the world to suffer through." He spoke with the weight of experience; he knew the inner demons Osiris battled better than any other.
"What will happen to him?" Kairi asked.
"One cannot be sure," Ajax answered. "Perhaps he will allow his rage and grief to consume him, or perhaps he will become a recluse and live the rest of his days in solitude. But...but I believe his story is not yet done. Osiris's grief is not a grief that can be shared with any of us. It is a private grief that he must burden alone. But I believe he will come to grips with his existence, and he'll rejoin us when the time is right."
"How do you know this?" Rhea asked.
Ajax turned to her and gazed lovingly into her eyes. "I just do."
"So, Hyperion," said Arahon. "Your message said there was urgent business that needed attending to. What is so pressing?"
"Always to the point, Arahon," said Hyperion. "Your role as leader has not come to an end just yet." Hyperion turned and looked out over the field. "I have given much thought to our situation," he said. "And I have spoken at great length with Caesar on what must be done. We stand now in the light of a new dawn, in the rebirth of a world. But even in this time of rebirth and celebration, we cannot forget those that lay down their lives. We mortals are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so we ask ourselves: will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we are gone, and wonder who we were, how bravely we fought, how fiercely we loved?" He turned to his golden compatriot. "Caesar, if you will."
Caesar nodded and stepped forward. He closed his eyes and plucked a single strand of reality. The ground before them began to move. It jutted into the air, a great pillar, an obelisk of the purest, whitest marble. Caesar stepped back and opened his eyes.
"It is done, Hyperion," he said. "As you requested, a memorial to last for all the ages, a memorial that might withstand whatever may yet come, a memorial to all those lost, so that none may forget their sacrifice or their names. We need only speak their names for the stone to know them, and the stone will speak them to whomever may come to remember."
And so the once-Avengers spoke the names of friends and allies lost. Oberon. Valra. Ragna. Braon. Boagrius. Fabian. Karmas. Quintus. Gatmuz. Theron. Tytania. Each name was imprinted into the data of the stone, so that while its surface remained untouched, it would speak those names to whomever passed by. That was Hyperion's hope, should any free soul come across that place, in all the countless centuries yet to be. May all their voices whisper to them from the ageless stones, "Go tell the Avengers, passerby, that here, for your future, we lie."
"The Blackest Night has come and gone. There is much work left to do," said Hyperion. "But I have ever had faith in your abilities, my friends. I see a world unfolding for you, a future brighter than anything you can imagine."
"What about you, Hyperion?" Genesis asked. "You'll be joining us, right?"
"I'm sorry, my good friend, but I won't," Hyperion answered. "I have my own oath to fulfill."
"Yggdrasil," Ajax whispered.
Hyperion nodded. "Yes," he confirmed. "Yggdrasil. I swore an oath to her, that I would defend her with my life and serve her as her champion until she needed me no more. But now Yggdrasil needs me more than ever, and I must hope that somehow, somewhere, she still exists, somewhere in the darkness."
"But...All-Delete," said Arahon. "I don't see how she could have survived."
"As she lay dying Yggdrasil whispered her final message to me," said Hyperion. "Her final orders to me were 'have faith.' And so I shall. I will have faith that even All-Delete could not truly destroy God."
"What will you do?" Ajax asked.
"I will find her," Hyperion answered simply. He turned and looked into the sky. "If there is a way, I will find her." He strode forth.
"See you again?" said Kairi.
"Pray that you do not, dear Kairi" Hyperion said. "Pray that your peace lasts until the end of time. Pray that we need no longer raise arms together. However, should we ever need to, know that my strength and my sword are pledged to you all, and I shall stand with you until the rushing crack of doom."
"I wish you luck, Hyperion," said Ajax. "I pray that you succeed."
"Have faith, good Ajax," said Hyperion. "Have faith, my friends." With that, Hyperion lifted off the ground and flew into the air. He ripped into the sky, the wind howled in his wake. Thunder roared and lightning cracked as he disappeared from view.
"I hope he finds Yggdrasil," Rhea whispered.
"He will," said Ajax.
"How do you know?"
Ajax looked deeply into her eyes, and she smiled. The knight looked to all the Avengers, assembled to remember those lost; those who had given their lives for this great peace. And he smiled, too.
"I have faith," he said.
=====
Hyperion roared through the sky, piercing through the many layers of the Digital World. The images of his life flashed before him as he soared through existence, ascending unto the Ultimate Divine, the transcendent realm of Valhalla itself.
"I have dreamed such dreams," Hyperion whispered into the endless expanse of the Warrior's Heaven. He remembered his twin births, his twin lives, his twin deaths, his twin rebirths, and the new life that was afforded him. "I was a man dreaming I was a god. I was a god dreaming I was a man. I have known passion. I have known loss. I have known the stars. I have known failure. I have known pain. I have known war. And the end of all things." He flashed through existence. He knew not how long his quest would take, or where it would take him. He only knew that he would follow the path wherever it led. He would find his Goddess, his Queen...his love...his Yggdrasil.
"If there is a way, I shall come for you. I shall always find you. Though the world and fire and the end of all things stand between us," he whispered. "Yggdrasil. Can your soul hear me? Do my words find you, in the hearts of mortals? If they do, then hear this vow. I shall find you, though I comb the four corners of the universe in my quest...
"I shall find you."
The End.