Eternium ~ Epilogue!

Well, guys, this is a bittersweet moment. Here is the final chapter of the divine dungeon series. Enjoy!

~ Epilogue ~ 

I had gathered all the leaders of the races and the people that had been my council. I hadn't put out a call or anything, I simply whisked them over and dropped them on the ground. Even the people that had been sealed away into the specially-prepared crates - like Madame Chandra - were able to project a semblance of themselves to interact with the world, which I thought was just nifty. There was only one real issue: I couldn't find Barry. As much as I wanted to fix that issue, I needed to handle the rest of the people right now though.

<Hello, everyone!> I projected into all of their minds, making them wince. I created a body for myself and waved. A few people looked at my body, Dale, in confusion, not realizing who I was. I thought it would be easier to give them someone to talk to when I was speaking, but I also found that this form really restricted my sight of the surrounding area. Not something I would use often if possible. Dani suddenly zipped into the area and began inspecting me thoroughly as I spoke, while Grace simply landed on my head and snuggled in.

“As you all know, we are inside my soul right now.” I, from my mouth as Dale, informed them. “I want to know what you all want to happen, and what you would like to do about a little situation we find ourselves in.”

“Hi Dale!” Hans called from the crowd I had gathered. “Nice place buddy! Sorry for looking at you so strangely when you told all of us that you wanted us inside you! Ow!”

“Why, Hans?” Rose scolded him, red-faced. “Why?”

“Dale, please continue.” Queen Marie ordered, her arm around King Henry.

When I told them that the world was all messed up, they nodded. Bu~u~ut when I told them that I had been wrapped in chaos and there was no escape, some of them got a little testy and tried to kill me. Obviously that wouldn’t work here, I simply locked them in position and let them struggle. “My house, my rules, folks. You all agreed to my terms when you came here. Your Mana lets me do whatever I want, and I don't have to do anything for you except bring you back after you die. Now let’s try again.”

“I want you to let me hunt the Wolfmen.” Odin demanded, staring at Aiden Silverfang, who offered a rude gesture in return. “When I arrived, he was hunting and killing Amazonians! They have all made a commitment to me, to serve as my Valkyries until both our people are restored!”

“Brother… is this true? How could you?” Tom was staring at Aiden in total shock, his worldview shattered.

“The Dark Elves must die!” The High Elf elder demanded, pointing at Princess Brianna. “They came here through trickery and deceit!”

“You tried to murder us all by not granting access to the portal!” Brianna scoffed, twirling her dagger. “It’s almost like you don't like me or something.”

I cut into the outbreak with a thunderous clap. “So instead of a paradise for all of you, you want to kill each other and hold ancient grudges so that only a few of you survive?”

The instant ‘Yes’ still took my by surprise somehow. “Great, well… I guess I’ll split you all up and let you get at it then.”

I raised my hand to send them back from where they came when a voice cut me off. “Wait! I cannot seem to use my Mana properly!”

I looked around, and by all the nods this seemed to be a common problem. I took a look at someone, gestured him forward, and had him cast a spell. I watched the Mana use, how it dispersed, and most importantly how his Mana was lessened.

“Interesting.” I followed his Mana back to its source, finding that being surrounded by my soul caused his link to the node in the Tower of Ascension to be cut off. “I guess… I’ll need to create a method to get you Mana again. Good thing we have forever! Until then, I guess… use your Mana conservatively? It isn’t coming back.”

The looks of horror were priceless. When they ran out of Mana, they would essentially be regular people again, or possibly worse off than before. Perhaps they would suffer horrible mana deprivation pains, and die over and over and over as I bring them back?

Happy eternity!

A man stepped forward with a sunny smile, and raised a hand in greeting. Artorian was a bundle of enthusiastic pleasantry as he spoke to me directly and with warm familiarity. The headmaster, - unlike a good majority of the crowd - had no issue with the experience that his disciple and oath-holder were now truly one and the same.

“Hello there, Great Spirit, my boy! I’d love to help you figure this mess out, maybe work off some of my debt to you right away? I fuffed around a bit to have a look, and had a few ideas about improvements we could put in place!”

“Sounds good, Artorian. Welcome aboard!” Dale had done a few things right for Mountaindale, and the acquisition of a good administrator was certainly going to be helpful.

The projection of Madame Chandra also spoke out. “I have no interest in fighting an unceasing war. Is there something I can do to help you spruce this place up?”

“I’m sure we could find something.” I banished the rest of the crowd, then reached out into my soul and pulled The Master to us. “How about you, big guy? Want to help out?”

He looked around, then felt at his new body. “So… weak…”

“You sure are, The Master!”

“No, please, I am so sick of that title. Can I leave it behind and take a new name?” When I nodded, he gave a sigh of relief and smiled. “Many thanks. I wanted to leave all of that life behind me. I have so much information to give, and I'm sure we will find more that was hidden, or forbidden on our old plane of existence.”

“Let’s call you ‘Occultatum’, then.” I offered easily. “Work for you?”

“Perfectly.” The newly christened Occultatum replied. “Ah, that reminds me! We had been discussing what we would title you as when you reached a high enough rank, and I think that we settled on a proper homage to how you use your abilities.”

“What do you mean?”

Madame Chandra chimed in, “You know how I am Madame Chandra? He was ‘The Master’, and Barry was ‘The Devourer’?”

“Yes?” I smiled politely as she rambled. 

“This might not be the best time for this, but we may as well do it now. Dale, Cal, we have settled on a title for you as well. No matter who you are or choose to be: Cal, or Dale, or some amalgamation of the two… from now on, you are…” Madame Chandra and Occultatum both rested a hand on my back and pulled me in for a combined hug. Chandra finished her statement, a tear dripping down her face.

“The savior of all of our peoples, you have truly earned the title:” 

“The Divine Dungeon.”