A Past that Haunts a Future

Epilogue

Its been a full month since the events of Koshchei's demise and I have practically recovered, but sadly my arms and legs are permanently scarred from the over exertion that occurred. Since then not much has happened. Talulah is currently my second in command over the new nation of Sarkaz living in Kazdel - which was rebuilt thanks to Nian and Mudrock. We still have to build more but for now, we have a city. W, Mudrock, Surtr, Nian, Crownslayer and Lappland all live in the palace grounds as well, as my esteemed extended family. We also built a memorial tomb on palace grounds for Theresa, Patriot and Frosty.

Apart from that not much else has happened.

I decided to walk around the gardens of the palace, they were a literal maze to most, but I knew my way and I went to visit the memorial for the fallen.

"Hey Mum, Frosty, Patriot. How have you been? I hope wherever you are your doing better than ever. Being king feels strange to me still you know. I never sought to be king of the Sarkaz but here we are. I'm glad I have avenged you all, just wished I could've prevented this... I blame myself for what happened to you all. I should've done more and made the most out of my time rather than be so self centred that I..." Silence took a hold as a few tears started to fall.

"Raven? Are you OK?" I turned to see Talulah standing there. A few tears escape from my eye as I try to hide my sadness. She saw straight through me though, and walked up to me and hugged me.

"It wasn't your fault. You didn't start this and without you, none of what has happened since would've changed. You have made this world a better place: and for that you have to realise you've done good." After all that had happened, the words I heard hit differently.

"How much have I tried to burden alone? Was is just the death of Theresa? No. She was only the first in a long line. Theresa, Faust, Mephisto, Frostnova and Patriot. The people used by Hawks and Koshchei. I blame myself for not doing more. Yet your right, it isn't my fault but how can I not blame myself for trying harder?" I took a moment to calm down, I was getting frustrated and this wasn't meant to be aimed at her.

"Listen, T, I almost died several times from over exerting myself, back when I was Pathetic, and as soon as I start going all out I start slacking and it cost lives. That is my burden and nobody can change that, I'll live Infinitely and remember that, I have nothing to die for. So I will stand as the wall that protects the weak, not using my over the top arrogant state of mind, I'll beat the bad guys: The old way, Pushing myself to the brink, without flames." She was taken by surprise by my statement. This was me rejecting who I became and trying to return to the version of myself I respected.

"I am proud of you, Ray. You can handle that blame for so long, without letting it consume you. I wish I was as strong as you sometimes, I can still hear the screams of pain and terror caused by Koshchei as he killed people whilst his conscious was in control. I have my own regrets like you. But we are here, right now. Back then we couldn't make a difference, but now, we can. Right now we have the power to save the infected without causing pain to anyone, but we have to be strong." Her words hit hard. She felt the same I do and she probably still feels that way.

"Listen, T, I will shoulder your burdens, not for you, but with you - Would you do the same for me?" She smiles as she nods.

"Then, lets do our best T, for the sake of our future!" She smiled, smugly, as if to say 'I know how to motivate you'.

"I'll see you one day, Patriot, Frosty... Mum..." Then I proceeded to walk back into the palace with Talulah at my side. I saw a court waiting for me to make my speech, this was my first day back after recovering after all.

"To my comrades, my people. Today I have a message to you, not of the past that hangs over our head, but rather of the future and the hope we can have going in to it. After all the pain, the sweat and tears, we are here, back in Kazdel we are alive and we live here freely under the banner of Sarkaz once again! We are far from done here but do not worry, what ever we still need to do, we do together! This is a message of hope, we will rebuild, we will save the Infected, from all walks of life and mainly: We will regain our fellow infected FREEDOM! I hereby declare the recreation of our former institute: BABEL!" With my words, the crowd roars with positivity and support, I then look to T who's smiling proudly, and then to the others who all smile, with W even raising a thumb up, I smile back.

"Today begins the future, the past no longer has a place here! We are the deciders of our fate, so live each day to the best you can and most of all: Live free, Sarkaz!" The roars as I step away from the microphone can be heard for miles, as I walk away into the new boardroom for Babel: Myself, Talulah, W, Surtr, Mudrock, Lappland and Crownslayer all make our way into the future, The Future that we walk together to save those around us, to build up and protect the infected and one day to cure them.

The Future That is Saved.

The Future No Longer Haunted by the Past...

The End?

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Hey all, Crow here for the last time in this story, Its been an experience to write this for you all. Genuinely been the most fun I've had in a while. Straight up though I want to thank everyone for reading it. When I first like 1000 reads I was just taken aback because I didn't expect that many people to read it, and now we are almost at 10000, its mind blowing to me.

So whats the plan for the future going on? I think I mentioned before that there would be a break for December (this was finished up on November 30th in preparation for December 1st) and then I would be returning in January. I will be returning January 1st, with the next instalment in the trilogy, The Future Forged, The Past Laid To Rest. Which will be a follow on to this story. I am really looking forward to continuing to write for my audience because without the support, I wouldn't be at this point honestly. So I hope to see you all next time.

Take care in these difficult times, and I'll see you next time...

Crow

PS I will be editing all the chapters and correcting every spelling mistake, in my earlier work there was a lot more partially because I never check it but also because my friend who was meant to check it that I know personally in my local area decided to not make any adjustments during the Publishing phase. I wanna make sure its of a good standard and some phrasing may or may not change depending on that.