chasma | FAREWELL

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farewell

FAREWELL

ALL GOOD THINGS

must come to a (golden) end

WELCOME TO THE LAND OF PROSPERITY

Morning comes, and the world is alive.

Rays of warmth gently reach out to a place that has never seen the sun, bringing with it more vivid color than the world has seen before. The sky is clear, free of clouds and smog and gray, a picturesque scene to welcome a new day, a new life. The voices of the harpies welcome the dawn for the first time with a soft but joyful song, their voices light and sanguine as they take to the skies to sing of freedom from the powers they've always feared and served.

Drawn out by the familiar voices of the harpy, lifted into something beautiful, something heartfelt, are the ghosts that were hidden within the caves. Despondent, hopeless, beaten down for aeon by the harpies, they peer out into the open world that the bomb's explosion created. They watch the sun rise on the Land of the Dead - a sun many have not seen since time forgotten - and there is new hope. Slowly, one by one, the ghosts of the long dead and recently dead alike, those that have been ferried across to the resting place created by the Authority, begin to walk out into the sun.

And, just like that, they begin to fade to Dust, smiles on their faces after so long in the dark. The gold drifts in the air, to rejoin the world anew. Free will, intention, knowledge - soul.

The Tree of Knowledge thrives in the light, the last of the Dust of angels a perfect fertilizer to make it grow and stand tall over the participants of a competition they never chose to join, its branches blooming with flowers of white. And the participants themselves, all of you...

You, too, are alive. The icy touch of the ghosts has faded into something more natural and warm. Color returns to faces, and even without the touch of magic, all wounds are healed. You are alive. Your story will continue, and your happy ending awaits.

It's just across the river, and Charon is ready to take you there, through clear air where the mists have lifted. And when you finally arrive...

...Your souls are here to welcome you home. Even those who have lost that part of themselves will find it again, waiting at the docks to find their way into your arms the very second you step out, another second away simply too much to bear. And at last, your daemons shift, one last time, to settle on a form you may or may not have seen before - and you know, in your hearts, that this is a good thing, something natural, something to celebrate, no longer the herald of trauma or some misdeed.

Beyond the docks, the suburbs buzz with an energy it hasn't seen before. The ghosts, like your own, feel more warm and solid and real. The lost and misguided have a spark of hope in their eyes, their delight at the changes in this world unmistakable as they point to something, a little further out. Follow their gazes, and you'll find the source of their excitement easily.

A window to another world. Two - three - and more. As one person reaches out, a city on the other side slowly changes to a field of flowers. A small village changes to a desert market, through which the merchants wave people to come in, come in, they'd love to see you. Through another window, an empty and barren world littered with rubble shimmers to instead show a world filled with water and memory, perfectly intact, and someone new steps into this world to embrace a familiar face among the crowd.

The windows stabilize, allowing everyone to come and go as they choose. The Land of the Dead is no longer a prison, after all - merely a waypoint, just another stop along a journey that need only end when wanderers are ready.

What some might call an end, after all, is often a new beginning.

Welcome, travelers, to your golden end.

Dead and alive both have been revived, injuries healed, and powers returned to normal. Your daemons have all returned to you, though they will settle into one form, and will no longer shift - though this form does not have to be one of the three taken over the course of the game, and may yet be something new entirely.

Keep your coins! A new symbol has taken the place of the clock face or comet that marked your teams - a great, blooming tree. With that, you will be able to return to the Land of Prosperity at any time, and visit any other world that you wish to see.

Your characters are free to continue their stories however they choose - in their own world, or another.

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[ cute... ruoye has been held. he is being snuggled!! he squeaks and chitters and tucks his face against tanhua, happily, and xie lian lays there in the dirt for a moment.

and then he just smiles up at hua cheng. just. joyful, warm and happy. for once, with not a burden on his shoulders, like things used to be. ]

Hello.

[ they're just going to roll around like this, i suppose, which hua cheng watches with some mild amusement. he's acknowledging them! amazing!

with no wings to account for, it's easy for him to gracefully fold down, settling in with xie lian. he rests his weight on an elbow, putting his cheek in his hand. it's extremely gay over here suddenly. ]

Hello.

[ is it? it's celibate over here

xie lian will sit up with that so they can sit together! and that smile on his face remains. ]

...There's been some measure of importance placed on stories here, lately, hasn't there? I know you don't much want to spoil the ending of our own.

I still have many questions of you, though. With no limits - would you answer them for me, or leave me to learn them?

If you ask them, perhaps I will tell you - now that it's my choice to, and not someone else pulling the strings.

[ a hum of amusement, as he settles in with him, lazy and content almost. some sated predator that's finally at ease. it isn't necessarily an unusual sight for xie lian, but he's... well, there are fewer worries.

he'll go home soon. he has to. they all do. but just a little longer. ]

A few stories for the road, and something, perhaps, to change yours.

How long will it be until I see you again?

[ that's the most point blank, simple question. xie lian's not a patient person; it becomes less how long will i wait and more how soon can i find you? ]

I cannot leave the village too quickly; I still need to work alongside Feng Xin and Mu Qing to ensure the others can eat. But... if our paths are bound the way that they seem to be, then... perhaps that will not matter.

There's a traveling merchant that you may find on the side of a road, not far from the village. He's selling lanterns with spirits within then - spirits of soldiers from the war. One such ghost fire is a young soldier that was told he would excel with a saber.

Perhaps if Dianxia would like to expedite the next part of our story...

[ it's easy to say, at least for this. because he's already thinking of all the things to send xie lian back with, all the ways he can help, all the things he can tell him to be more careful, more mindful... if he can avoid catastrophic events... ]

[ there's a beat, and then. ]

... Well. I am very good at expediting. There's a parade that I once completed in three laps alone.

Is that so? [ he did it while holding hua cheng. he knows quite well. ] That's a rather impressive feat, I think.

Impressive... or, really, very stupid.

[ ha ha... xie lian's face screams "not sure whether to laugh or cry", but after a moment, it fades. ]

...But, it was worth it. I saved someone's life, you see. And I would do it over, and over, and over. There is not a moment of it that I regret.

[ tanhua rolls over, careful not to squish ruoye, and puts his head in xie lian's lap, in response to hua cheng's dislike of that brief moment. he is satisfied immediately afterwards. ]

Better to live with your victories than linger in your regrets. Even one life saved is, still, one life saved, to go on to impact others with the kindness that you showed.

...I suppose you would know, hm?

[ as tanhua suddenly rolls into his lap - and ruoye chitters happily and hops over tanhua in a great leap to land on hua cheng's thigh - xie lian turns his head to look at him, gaze flicking from that coral pearl up to hua cheng's handsome face. ]

Such wise words to follow. Are you sure you haven't ascended? [ teasing, there because he's pretty sure he did, actually? thanks mt tonglu! ]

I suppose I would.

[ hua cheng smooths his fingers over ruoye's head, scratching at his little ears and booping his pink nose with soft affection. as always, that starburst warmth is in the pit of his chest - he's getting a little better about not feeling like he's going to turn to putty every time, now, but not by much.

a soft croon comes from the huli jing, both eyes closed. content. ]

... once. But I would not have stayed in a Heaven that was cruel and without the sole god I believed in. So, I decided that descension was the only appropriate action to take.

...I'm not sure if that made me a good example to follow, or a bad one.

[ a little huff of a laugh, there, because...yeah. even now, the cursed shackle feels like a weight around his neck, but the words of another believer entirely echo in his head. wear it proudly.

...maybe not yet, but, it is something he wears without a single regret, so that, perhaps is worth the same amount of weight.

xie lian looks up at hua cheng. ]

...I am looking very much forward to our banquet, San Lang.

[ ruoye's ear twitches, but otherwise, he continues snuggling into hua cheng's hand. ]

It was a choice I would have made, regardless - there were still people in the Kiln, after all, that should not have been there. I think that was the good example.

[ because what help would ascension be, truly? he will take his mantle as the only supreme ghost to ever ascend to true godhood, though, and he'll rub it in all of their faces for the next 800 years as well. hell, it'd even before he rose to supreme. truly, a blight for the heavens.

and yet he sits here with xie lian, rubbing his thumb against one of the ferret's white cheeks with gentle care. hardly a threat. ]

You will have many hundreds of years of banquets. I'll be glad for at least one version of myself to stay by your side through them, when I could not until very recently.

[ ah... xie lian's heart squeezes a little, remembering the people in the caves of mt. tonglu. knowing hua cheng protected them, knowing that soldier must have fought like hell to do so. xie lian always liked that about hong-er - he was one of the only believers xie lian ever actually had that listened. that knew how much he hated the thought of being prostrated to, that prayed to him in the way he wanted.

it's nice, to know that that never changed; that that little boy was still this ghost king, with his heart made of gold.

the ferret chitters softly as hua cheng pets him, and nuzzles his face into those thumbs, soaking up the attention happily. ]

... I am, too.

[ xie lian's expression is soft and fond. ] Though... I think perhaps I will not tell this other you much of our journey together in this place. I want to learn of him the way I've learned of you - even if it feels as though I get to cheat a little, in doing so.

[ hualian speedrun ]

[ a heart of gold that he buries in red and silver, though so many people seem to have caught him, in this group. he'd rather they look away.

... xie lian can keep looking, though. he'd gladly give him the heart of him, no matter how deep it ran - he knows he won't ask, but it's willing, anyways. from the most devoted believer to the only god who ever listened, whoever helped him. who ever cared.

he bends his head down, squishing ruoye's cheeks and touching their noses together. tanhua sighs softly where he rests, all of his tails giving a flick. ]

I did get to cheat a little, myself, so I believe it is only fair that Dianxia gets to do the same? [ a laugh ] Some things, I would like to keep as memories, but others I will be telling the Dianxia waiting for me. He would like to know of the people that an even younger self of his managed to help.

[ the dianxia waiting for me.

he turns his gaze back down to tanhua in his lap, that happy little sigh he lets out, and strokes his hand gently over the top of his head, scratching him behind the ears as his expression goes quietly thoughtful. ]

...I suppose I have one more spoiled question, I would like to ask.

You may ask many, of course.

[ he straightens back up again, relaxed, easy. every xie lian is still xie lian - not yours, yoo joonghyuk had said. no. every single one is still taizi dianxia, the god who saved a falling boy who had been teetering on the edge anyways but had been too awestruck to throw himself down to the streets below. who gave him purpose.

xie lian is xie lian is xie lian. ]

What is this one?

[ there's a moment where he falters.

...xie lian doesn't know how to put this question into words. ]

.. In your future. [ are things better? does it ever get better? will i be a god of misfortune and misery for the rest of my life?

will you know how you've saved me?

...

he bites his lip. ]

... You and I, are we...

[ happy? ]

Yes.

[ to every unanswered question, to every unvoiced hesitation, hua cheng answers in only one, simple word. but he says it easily, the moment that xie lian trails off and seems to no longer have the words to say.

happier. better. easier. together. i know, i do.

at least one answer is a little different, though, which he expands on: ]

And you are a god of the people again.

[

the look on xie lian's face will be familiar to a hua cheng from eight hundred years from this one's future - just utterly, completely touched. awestruck. full of hope, when his hope has been crushed and stomped, when all that really awaits him is for it to get worse.

(many things await him, and none of them are kind. 33 gods who would mock him and taunt him into nothing. the white no face's cruelty. a temple, an altar, a hundred stabs with a sword. a terrible choice - and a much better one.)

... but to know there's a light at the end of the tunnel makes his heart swell. even ruoye stops, holding still for a long moment, before he shifts and buries his face in hua cheng's hand, nuzzling into his palm, letting off a starburst of warmth. ]

... I see.

[ his voice is soft, there - endlessly grateful. ]

There are some things I would warn you about, now. Some things that I would send you back with a word of caution regarding. Our meeting will change many things, and yet I know that many others will remain unchanged.

But I would still give you the knowledge, and the chance to face them with strength, rather than grief.

Better to rise in hope, than wallow in despair - even if it's done with a little cheating.

[ hua cheng would burn every temple and palace and shrine to the ground again, across universes. he would chase down the white shrouded figure on a mountainside, he would raze the whole thing, would tear apart the shrine the altar the hundredfold that gathered.

but he will arm xie lian with choice. with free will. with knowledge to decide. after all, even across the universes that stand parallel, that is the reality of it - they have forged these bonds that will last them lifetimes, they have made their choices, and they have earned the right to make many more.

(and, it's not as if xie lian will be alone, this time. it's not as if he will have to spiral into loss so swiftly. he will go home, he will kiss his mother, he will make amends with his father, and he will have them for a time much longer than he would have.) ]

[ hua cheng truly does have a way with words. he knows exactly what to say to xie lian, knows how to make his heart swell. to rise in hope - that is all he can do, isn't it? that's all he's ever been able to do.

he smiles, again, gentle and soft, and turns his head enough to rest his cheek on hua cheng's shoulder. ]

I don't know how to thank you for all that you've done for me, and yet, you still do more.

[ ruoye chitters quietly and starts climbing up hua cheng's arm. up, up, up, until he can mush his face against where a heartbeat would go were he living, rubbing his cheek against his chest. xie lian himself isn't so good at words of affection or actions of it - and never will be - but ruoye understands, and ruoye says i love you, i love you, i love you without a single word. ]

[ with a soft laugh, at ruoye's sudden movement, hua cheng draws him closer - as if, maybe, the ferret could very well become his heartbeat. he holds him like he's xie lian's, though because... well, isn't that what he is?

easily, readily, he tilts his head to rest his cheek against xie lian's head, eye closing. ]

Dianxia saved us. [ and that isn't hua cheng answering, while still being hua cheng's answer.

tanhua's voice is a little lighter than hua cheng's while still being low, but somehow rougher, too, as if disuse has made it that way after all this time of speaking so very little when he's been able to all this time. his person makes no move to silence him, and doesn't react. xie lian could be forgiven for thinking that maybe he imagined things. ]

... whatever I can do, however I can do it, I always will.

[ um

hello ]

...Ah?

[ xie lian's eyes snap open at the little voice - he almost jolts, nearly accidentally bonks into hua cheng, head whipping down to look at tanhua, and then at hua cheng quickly.

???????? ]

FAREWELL

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