Hikari

Free-write for short story "A Perfect Circle", end scene:

His breath had frozen in his throat, and he threw the branch aside. There it was. A glowing ring floating just a few feet off the ground in midair, with a step made out of earth leading up to it. The ring was a blarring, yellow light, with a blue film outlining it. The ring contained a window, as if a window bathed or stained in a color similar to the golden red sunsets he had grown up with. It was a strange window contrasted to the gray sky around him, debris still flying around in a frenzy after the battle.

Cautiously, he stepped closer and closer. As he stepped, some kind of light broke forth from within the window of the ring. It got brighter and brighter and brigher, and by the time he got to the step, it was nearly blinding him. He could feel its heat. He stepped up.

Then suddenly, he panicked. No. I can't, I cannot do this. I can't. There is no longer strength within me to take this. I cannot. Please, do not make me. He thought of running away, back to the village, back to Shatin. He would teach me his ways, I would become his apprentice just like he promised, and I will be happy.

But he knew this was a lie. Shatin's influence and skill with antrax was just as strong outside the Aeterna as it would be in the great Beyond. Stepping through the Aeterna would mean nothing. What would change would be that time now had power, and he would no longer fight anymore. There would be only choice.

He knew that if he did not let go now off everything behind him, as the elders said, he would be destoyed by his own madness even now after the battle. He would have to take everything behind it, squeeze from it all feeling until only memoy remained, and then move forward with only that. He could no longer cling to the past.

His chest heaved upward as he breathed deeply. Then, he stepped into Aeterna.
The light enveloped and consumed him.


*****

He opened his eyes. He was on a mountain side, in a field lush with fresh, green grass. The sky was an eternal sunset above him, and yet it seems also like a sunrise. The breeze caressed his face.

Suddenly, Jarith appeared from the bottom of the hill he was standing on, running towards him. People started following. Jarith grasped him firmly in a great hug. "Welcome, brother. You did it. We did it!"

Amaya was there, too. She smiled and cocked her head sideways as she grinned at him. He hugged her. Then Xergart, Baxir, Geoff, Nakina, Lithur, Sukana...they were all here! Not back in the village, but here! He was overjoyed beyond words. He had been so scared that he would be the only one. That he would be alone. But here they all were, those that he feared he would never see again.

They would never leave him. He knew that now.

Then, he saw a bright light just ahead. There was a silouette. A girl, her hair flowing in the breeze.

He knew it was her.


The ending is...

Tour de force
Coup de grace
End credits
Finale
Curtain call
Fade out
Black out
Track end
Rewind
Fin
Stop
Zero
Forever. The ending is forever.