Age Of Miracles | Pietro Maximoff

Epilogue: Show Me A Hero

Music is "Dreamscapes and Wishes" by Future World Music.

Picture is Glory.

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"Show me a hero, and I'll write you a tragedy."

- F. Scott Fitzgerald, quote used in Age of Glory, Chapter One

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EPILOGUE

{Two Years Later}

What makes a story end? When is it time to put "the end," or "until next time?" A chapter, an act, a book: there are different types of endings, each with their own sadness. But I live my life challenging the limits, the boundaries, the norms. I want to challenge this idea that stories always have an ending.

Who's to say that stories ever end?

The sunlight streams through the thin curtains of my Sokovian home, bringing a light across the horizon from a star ninety-three million miles away. My eyes flutter open, and a smile instantly forms on my face. As I sit up, I feel Pietro roll over and groan beside me. He's never been the morning person I am.

My feet hit the wooden floor with a feather-light touch. When I round the mattress, I place a kiss on his platinum hair, whispering, "Good morning, Piet."

He shuffles, still sound asleep. I leave him to continue sleeping. The clock on the way to the kitchen tells me that it's barely past five in the morning. As usual, I rise before my twins and husband alike. For the next couple hours, the house is mine alone.

I make a hot cup of tea and step out onto the porch with a comic portfolio in my other hand. Once cozy on the outdoor sofa, I take a long sip from the cup and enjoy the surroundings. The golden sunlight is spilling over the mountains, gently prodding this valley city from it's slumber. The air is cool and crisp, the dew is still across the lawn, and I can smell the snow on the tops of the ridges. The world is just starting to wake up, and I get to watch it rise.

After another few sips of tea, feeling the warm liquid wake up my insides, I put it down and open my portfolio. Inside is my current project: a comic book in the same storyline as the one I started after the training facility opened. I'm still in charge there, most of my time is still occupied with training and caring for the superheroes of the future, but I make time every morning and evening for me. Me time equals art time, and there's no greater source of inspiration for me than a sunrise.

But today is bittersweet. Today is the day I finish the final volume of this character's story. Like many other things, endings are hard. I find my pencils dragging as I attempt to conclude my character's story. It's come full-circle. My hero has grown up and come to the end of this adventure. I know that there will always be more stories to write, more plots to discover, more adventures to explore, but endings are hard nevertheless.

My story has been similar. I've written it all down over the past two years, even put parts of it into my comic book project. There's no better source for your stories than what really happened to you, and I find that sharing my personal adventure has given me some peace. People all over the world know about Gloria Maximoff, Lightspeed, and now they know exactly how it happened. They know how I went from being a college kid with no family, no powers, and no idea about her future to being the hero, mother, and wife I am today.

Every story has an end, and as I sketch the last frame of this comic, I find myself sensing that another story is just around the corner. When the portfolio closes and the sun rises above the mountains, I stand tall and look towards the heavens. A smile forms on my face and my eyes close.

I know who I am. I know why I'm here. I am not afraid.

I am Gloria Maximoff. I am Lightspeed.

I am ready for another adventure.

Though this may be the end of the page, who is to say that the story ends here? We will go on for infinity, in the minds of those who remember what we did. So, those of you in a parallel universe where my story is merely fiction, remember what we did, those lives we saved and those battles we won. But also remember those friends we failed and those battles we lost, for they teach us as well. There is no victory without defeat, no heroes without sacrifice, no age of glory and miracles without an age of darkness.

So take this as an invitation. Become your own hero, for Frigga knows we need more of them. Don't just put this book down and say, "Well, that was a good story." If you do that, you've read my story and missed the point. Edmund Burke once said that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Don't waste the opportunity you have been given to change your world, no matter what universe you live in.

One thing I am certain of is that this will not be the last time I defend my Earth. Though there be evil in this world, good will always arise to counter it. Heroes will come when villains threaten. It is a law of any universe, just as certain as any law of science by Einstein or Newton.

This is not the end. This is not my end. This is my origin story.

And so I wonder: Is it ever really the end, or just another beginning?

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GLORY WILL RETURN

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THE END