THE END

[mayfield_mods]

You've walked for what feels like ages down the highway as a group- all those who chose uncertain freedom over certain death. Within an hour, Mayfield became a distant speck on the horizon before ultimately fading into the hills and trees. The only sign of the place you've escaped is the sky, which remains an eerie brown even after night falls and you've put Mayfield hours behind you.

Try as you might, it's impossible not to imagine that you've been led into a trap. What if this is all part of some new sick game of Johnson's- or even Zemekis'? It certainly wouldn't be the first time. What if the events of the past few months- saving Annie, Gray's "ghost", Zemekis' apparent death -what if it's all been nothing but the latest in a long tradition of Mayfield's-

These thoughts fade when you see the first sunbeam.

This road isn't like the ones before: the roads that looped endlessly into themselves, inevitably leading back to where they began. This road has an end.

Keep walking forward and you'll find yourself in a new town, both similar to Mayfield and utterly unlike it. The buildings here are crude and unfinished- the streets little better than paved paths of dirt. There are no drones here, no hazmats, no one in sight other than you and your companions. But all of these things are nothing more than trivial details, when compared to what you feel the moment you enter its boundaries.

There's power here- you can feel it in your fingertips. Each and every one of you can, from the most godlike seraph to the most ordinary human: power, faint but unmistakable. The power to build a world, and to destroy it. The same power that's been lorded over you for four years... but now, it's yours to command.

You can create a new life here. It isn't the home you remember- the home you remember, after all, was never yours to begin with. For some of you, that's a blessing. For others, it's a hard truth you'll have to live with. But even though you can't go home, with the power you've been given, it might just be possible to bring home to you. Bits and pieces of it- locations you remember, small creatures from your world- no people, though. That's one power Annie decided not to give you.

The place you've found isn't perfect- there will be work, hard work, and pain. The place you've found is your own: there are no overseers here, no Zemekis, no Johnson. The place you've found may not be paradise- but it's the nearest thing you're going to get.

You've found, at last, a better place to live.

Comments

[theappriser]

[ He stares at Minato, as if that had not before occurred to him. ]

I... can.

[ He pauses a moment, though, and looks down at himself. ]

I am uncertain how to forge my own path like this...

[ And he wonders if he has the courage to do so. Would it not be easier to resist the attraction that life and humanity holds for him and leave them untroubled? He does not forget, after all, that his Death, and one way or another he will know them all in the end, anyway... ]

[doudemoe]

[Oh Ryoji. There's a soft glow around Minato, as he floats up in front of his face.]

Just start small. First let's see you change back to normal.

[theappriser]

[ Well, that makes it a little easier to talk man to man! Or well... man to personification of a concept sort of thing. But whatever. ]

I do not know how to go back.

[doudemoe]

[Would have come in handy during the escape from Mayfield. Ah well, such is life.]

Have you tried?

Here, Nyx has no influence over you. The voices calling for her can't reach you either. You're free. No one has to command you anymore.

[theappriser]

[ He shakes his head. ]

I do not wish to risk separating again and causing difficulties in this new place.

[ It may not be a very large risk, particularly as Ryoji has a very solid personal identity, now, but he knows all the same that his true forms are not... pleasant. ]

[doudemoe]

[They aren't. But Minato continues to reassure him.]

It'll be alright. The people here are strong. Some may even be more powerful than I. So even if that should happen, we'll be able to handle it.

[...And now he'll have to tell him this.]

Besides, you never did all that to begin with.

[theappriser]

[ That assurance is, well... assuring. And he thinks maybe ... maybe it might be okay. But before he can really respond or start to try, that last sentence has him distracted. ]

What do you mean?

[doudemoe]

You and I, we're copies of Ryoji and Minato. All their memories, their traits, and powers are within us, but we're different people.

This place can't bring in people from different universes. All they can do is create clones.