The Memoirs of Elikai: The Children of the Solstice

Prologue: After the Final War

Prologue

After the Final War

Her laughter warmed my doleful soul as she danced around the Meadow of Victory. I sat in the meadow, surrounded by breathtaking white lilies that represented peace, victory, and sacrifice. The honey scented air made the flowers dance in the emerald grass. I caressed the petals, and my finger touched the small sunbursts of red and yellow, with flecks of green and purple, that surrounded the sepal. This beautiful meadow had been created when the Final War ended, and the Victor had at long last been crowned. This meadow was a remembrance to everything we had lost, and to those who had fallen in the Final War.

The memory of me standing next to the Victor burned in my mind. I had watched as he sacrificed everything for his people. When the Children of Creation had finally discovered the truth, their hearts ended the war. The crown had been claimed for all eternity, even though the throne currently remained vacant.

I wished that everyone had found peace. However, because of the choices of the heart, it was not meant to be. I could still see their faces, the faces of those who fought against us, those who had believed in the misguided philosopher and his teachings, and even those who had turned away from his beliefs in the end. I looked to the white kingdom on the horizon, and I could feel those who had fought for the false ruler, those who, by the grace of the true Victor, had been permitted a chance at redemption.

I gazed down at my flawless hands, and I could remember the blood upon them. I remembered the overwhelming stench of death as the dead were piled around me. The war had torn Creation apart.

I could still remember walking through the hellish battlefield as I watched sons fighting their fathers with incredible powers, friends hacking at one another with immense force, and siblings screaming at each other while their weapons clashed. I observed the entire conflict before me as Free Will and Destiny collided in the last war Creation would ever host. I watched as almost every living soul fought in a war that would determine the fate of everything that ever was, or will be. I marveled over how their hearts healed the world, and how the true ruler gave everything for the Children of Creation. Now, I sat here in this peaceful meadow of remembrance with the final soul.

I glanced down at the simple checkered flannel blanket, a blanket that had survived countless arguments, battles, loving embraces, and even the Final War itself. I turned to my daughter, the one I had promised to keep safe, and to love for evermore. Her soft white dress had small golden flowers embroidered at the hem. Her hair was pulled into a small ponytail, and she looked as graceful as a fairy.

The tolling of the grand bells in the Celestial Kingdom warned me that I did not have much time, and I felt a tear stain my cheek. I knew that those who remained were ready for the final soul to decide. Their time was nearly over, and the Victor's unbelievable gift would finally pass into history, like everything else. My daughter was the last soul released after the Victor was crowned. Every child born after his sacrifice had to choose their own fate, just like the countless souls before them.

"What's wrong, Papa?" I heard her say, and when I turned back to her, my breath caught. She had those eyes, the same beautiful eyes of the one I loved, the one I had lost when the war ended. She had a goofy smile that spread across her face, and my heart yearned for my true love, the love that had slipped through my fingers countless times, no matter how hard I tried to hold on. My brother had seen to that with his curse that was as eternal as myself, and for the final time, he had taken my love from me.

I sat on the blanket holding my arms close to my chest as I remembered the warmth of my love's embrace, and the memories threatened to break my heart all over again. I looked into my daughter's eyes and found the steadiness, the calm that only those eyes could bring me.

"I have a tale that I would like you to hear." The choking words fell out of my lips, and I felt the remains of Creation fall silent to listen to a story it had already experienced countless times.

"The Final War?" She asked, sitting before me.

I could feel the atrocities forming together as I reassembled the story in my head. As the Historian, I had been entrusted with every memory of this brutal war. It was not a blessing, but rather my punishment. My crimes, actions, and deeds, although noble and for the good of the people, had finally caught up to me. This was her punishment as well, but these were the chains I had to bear. I knew once my daughter had chosen, the last soul decided, I would finally be free.

I closed my eyes and tried to find the strength to relive it all one last time. After this, I would finally be able to let go of my lover, the Victor, and Creation. I would be allowed to fade into the past.

"I'm ready, Papa." Her soft hands touched mine, and it filled my heart with a feeling that had not been there since the day the Final War had ended.

"I know you are."

"But how will you do it, Papa, when I already know who won?" Her eyes were filled with hope, and my heart ached at the knowledge that this might be the end of her existence. But I knew that this was the way Creation, and the Victor, wanted it to be, because this was how we won.

"I'm going to put all your memories of the Victor and the Final War behind a veil. That way, when the story ends, you will choose for yourself from what you have seen and felt, and what your experiences have taught you to believe." I heard my own voice crack.

"Veil?" She asked curiously.

"It's a wall in your mind. You will not know the true outcome as you know it now. Not until you have experienced everything that had happened," I explained, placing both of my hands on her temples. I shook away my fear, because I knew that this was the only way for peace to be everlasting.

My daughter closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. I placed everything in her mind behind a shimmering wall, and started the story from when it all began.

Before I can tell you about the Final War, I must first tell you about a boy. My voice was only a small whisper in both of our minds.

Why? She asked in our minds, and the story opened as I sent her back to the day that everything started.

Because these are the Memoirs of how the Final War began.