#and theeeeeeere it is !! a wrap :bunglad:

[nelithic]

whatever armistice they had reached, discussion would have to wait another day. clamor rings out, burning in sudden torchlight and the bent reflection of feathered bows and makeshift clubs. graverobbers? were these the villagers? nel looks suddenly to the newly-corrupted as if remembering for the first time that it was there, but rafal thinks quicker. perhaps he had even expected an outcome like this to pursue him. and with an order, he sends the reincarnated life to its second death by the same hands.

perhaps it marks a fitting end for a cycle of humans who could not reach accord, the necrotic bridge of two settlements who would war each other until more polluted what little water remained between them than the disease of their corpses. certainly in times past, there would be no shortage of those who would call this justice, or divine retribution. perhaps it is both or neither. like the ouroboros that consumes itself, pride and hatred surfeited the fangs to gouge their own flesh. it would come to an end — just as gradlon had, just as elyos had.

and they, too, would survive this. survive as they always had, born from the womb of death and desolation and finding its tombstones scattered henceforth no matter where they went, no matter what paths of peace they walked.

they too would survive this — another tragic tale too small to be acknowledged, pleading within a paradigm too full of tragedy to be remembered. and they too would forget one day, as dragons do, an ending eroded by the infirmities of time and the weight of more experience than the body was meant to carry. just as gradlon, just as elyos: the hand of the world inscribing memoria upon scales too dark to discern, for what better being than they to call imperfect Witness?

one hand in the other's, a tether of blue to red amidst the wood, of black to white beneath the stars, they run.

two twins to live another day. two children between whose palms that blood was clasped.

a constellation carved out within the velvet; a scene unremitting and adored.

and within it, two have begun to discern the truth. in this world, god gives no apologies. their dreams have yet to sleep here.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　₊　theory of resurrection　┃┃┃　end.

　𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

　　　　　╰　　❪　board: fracture / + authority　❫